Second Heartbeat

Johnny had enlisted the help of Tera in interviewing nannies for Jonnie. They’d interviewed 10 girls so far and none of them were what he was looking for. One more left to go and she was waiting in the study. Johnny was even considering giving up and telling her to forget it.

“Come on, lets get this over with” Johnny said and they walked into the study.

He and Tera both sat down and greeted the girl who seemed a little uncomfortable.

“Riley is it?” Tera said.

“Yes, it’s nice to meet you Mrs. Seward” she smiled shyly

“Oh, no. I’m not Mrs. Seward; there is no Mrs. Seward. I’m Tera, I’m just here to help with the interview process.”

Embarrassed, Riley put her hand over her mouth and blushed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know, I just assumed..”

Johnny held up his hand. “It’s fine. I’m Johnny, it’s my daughter that we are interviewing for”

She nodded still embarrassed at the mistake she made.

He wanted to get it over with and just started to throwing questions at her.

“How old are you?”

“24”

“How much experience do you have with kids?”

“Well I have 8 younger brothers and sisters back home”

“Back home?” Tera asked

“In Chicago” Riley said

“What brings you here to California?”

“I went to college here and now that I have graduated, I have decided to stay, but I have to find a job first.”

Johnny interjected “So you have never been a nanny before?”

“No sir.” She said

“Great, I give up” he said throwing his hands in the air.

“I should go, this seems like a bad time” she said grabbing her purse.

“Not at all, hold on just a minute. Let me go get Jonnie, she’s been a little cranky all day though so she’ll probably be in a bad mood” Tera said kicking Johnny under the table.

When she left the two of them alone he continued with his interrogation.

“Have you ever had a job before?”

“No”

“Two for two. So, why should I give you the job?”

“I..well..” She started to say when Tera returned holding Jonnie.

Jonnie was sobbing and reached for her daddy. She had her fingers in her mouth and she looked really tired.

Tera and Johnny both tried to continue with their questions, but every time they started to speak Jonnie would start to cry again.

“Can I try?” Riley asked.

Johnny rolled his eyes and Tera kicked him under the table again. He got up and handed Jonnie over to Riley.

They both watched as she put her finger in Jonnie’s mouth. “Do you have any baby oragel and some baby Tylenol?” she asked.

“Yeah, why?” Johnny asked.

“The poor thing is in pain, her two year molars are trying to cut through. She’s teething”

Tera smiled and went to get the oragel when she returned she gave to tube to Riley.
Riley applied a small amount to her finger and rubbed it on the Jonnie’s gums.

Jonnie stopped crying and rested her head on Riley’s shoulder. Within a minute she was sound a sleep.

“Did that answer your question?” Riley said looking directly at Johnny.

“Can you start tomorrow at 9am?” Tera asked

Riley nodded as Tera took the baby from her.

“Great, then we will see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you” Riley said before leaving.

Tera smiled at Johnny who was still obviously crabby. “What are you smiling about?” he asked.

“You’re going to marry that girl”