Eleanor & Grey(36)

Claire gave me the kindest smile. “You’re nervous.”

“Shockingly nervous.” I laughed, rubbing my hands together. “Sorry. I’m bad at this part, but I am good at my job. Actually, I’m great. It’s just the landing of the job that I struggle with. My nerves get in the way sometimes.”

“It’s fine. I hate interviews, too, but there’s no need for the nerves. I’m the easy one here. Round two is where things get rough. But, before we worry about that, I wanted to tell you more about the family. This is a bit of a different situation than what you’ve probably experienced in the past. There are two girls: Lorelai and Karla. Lorelai is five, and Karla is fourteen. The hours are a bit wacky, but mainly you are there early mornings to take the girls to school, you have middays off, then you pick up the girls and prepare dinner and put Lorelai to bed. We’re all still trying to find our footing after losing their mother, so at times things may seem intense.”

“Oh, I thought you were…?” I shook my head, a bit confused.

“The mother? Oh no. I’m their grandmother. Their mother was my daughter.”

The word was stung my ears. “Oh, my gosh, I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Yes. She was my world. She was everyone’s world…” Claire paused for a moment and looked away. It was clear her heart was still breaking over the death of her daughter. I figured a heart always kept breaking when a parent had to say goodbye first.

Claire cleared her throat. “Anyway, their father works quite difficult hours, so over the past ten months it’s been my job to do the first round for hiring the nannies. I cut out the bad seeds first.”

“Nannies? As in there’s been more than one in the past ten months?”

“Six, to be exact,” she told me, which left me a bit stunned. “Like I said, it’s my job to hire the nannies, but my son-in-law finds a way to fire them pretty quickly. It’s going to take someone with a lot of heart to last in this position.”

“That’s one thing I have—a lot of heart.”

“Good, good. I’m glad to hear it. Susan told me that, too. She told me you were a bit awkward when put in situations like this but said it was worth overlooking.”

“Good ol’ Susan.” I nervously laughed.

“She’s a doll, that’s for sure. Back to the girls. A lot of the time the girls will need you to help them before and after school. Get them to school, to karate practice, and therapy appointments, make their meals—you know, the usual things. The position comes with room and board in the guesthouse if you are interested. It helps, seeing how you have to be over so early and sometimes you’re not heading home until nine or ten. The hours can run long due to the structure of their father’s work schedule. Sometimes, he’ll have business trips, and you will be paid overtime and bonuses for those times. Allison, his assistant, will notify you far in advance of said travels. If for some reason you’re unable to work those periods of time, a part-time nanny will be brought in to cover you. Also, when summer comes around, the hours will be reworked so you aren’t working day and night.”

“Oh, okay. That all sounds good to me.”

She smiled and nodded. Then, she leaned in a bit. “I just want to really make it clear, this position isn’t for the faint of heart. As I said before, within the last ten months, we have had six different nannies, which is why I’m wanting to stress how important it is to understand that this family is different than most. Everyone has changed a lot since the accident. Do you understand that there may be a bit of sensitivity involved with the job?”

“I do understand that, yes. I swear I can do this, Claire, and I know me saying that doesn’t matter at all because it’s just words, but I believe I am the right match for this position.”

“It matters,” she cut in. “I think it’s important, you believing you can do this.”

She asked me a few more basic questions and I relaxed a little, my nerves somewhat disappearing, but they came rushing back when she told me it was time for me to advance to round two of the interview process.

“Now, this is going to be a bit hard. Lately son-in-law is a hard man, and he won’t say much. You will feel as if you are being judged, but don’t let him break you. You need a tough skin to work for Greyson East. Otherwise, you won’t survive.”

My lips parted and I sat there, stunned.

Claire raised an eyebrow. “What is it, Eleanor?”

“I’m sorry, did you just say Greyson East?”

“Yes. Greyson East, the CEO of EastHouse Whiskey. I thought I mentioned that when you walked in.”

“No, you didn’t.” Oh, my God. The breeze from the window somehow stopped, the ticking clock on the wall seemed to pause, and a wave of nausea hit me.

“Are you alright?” she asked. “Do you know him or something?”

I nodded slowly as every memory I had of a boy named Greyson East came rushing back to me. “At least I used to. It was ages ago, though.”

“Well, maybe that’s a good thing!” Claire remarked. “Hopefully it comes in handy. Now wait here while I go update Greyson. Then I’ll come back and grab you for the next step.”

She headed out of the room, and the ponds of sweat beneath my arm became oceans.