Undeniable You (Sapph in the City #4)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

Jo

When I got the email that my rent was going up, again, I just burst out laughing. Not because it was funny. No, it was the exact opposite.

Just another hit in a series of financial blows that I’d been nailed with in the past few months. First, my car needed new brakes, new tires, and a new battery, then I got a letter about my financial aid. They’d made an “error” and oops, they’re not giving me as much as they initially said they would, too bad so sad.

My meticulously planned budget spreadsheet was up in flames and it was time for something drastic to get me out of this hole. My cards were already maxed out and that documentary I’d seen about online sex work didn’t inspire me that I’d be able to meet with success.

“Fuckkkkk, I need a job,” I said as I sat at brunch with my best friends. We’d commandeered a huge outdoor table at one of our favorite spots that was thankfully covered with an awning. The food was excellent, but the company was better.

Just a year ago we hadn’t needed so many chairs, but our group had grown now to include not just my friends, but their partners as well.

Cade and Eloise had decided to join us, since Eloise was on a break between writing her bestselling romance novels and before another movie started filming and she got to wear her executive producer hat. Once upon a time, Cade had been her assistant, but now they were practically wrapped around each other.

Next to them were Hunter and Stace, who was yawning after her night shift as a volunteer firefighter. She leaned against Hunter who pushed a cup of coffee in front of Stace and kept poking her awake.

Reid was usually the tired one, but since she’d cut down on her bartending shifts, she was a lot less tired but no less grumpy. Fortunately, her girlfriend Sophie was the personification of a ray of sunshine and had enough brightness and positivity for both of them. They’d only been seeing each other for a short time, but I couldn’t have chosen anyone better to love my friend Reid. If you looked up “opposites attract,” you’d find a picture of the two of them.

These women were the people I went to when things were good and when they were bad and right now, things were pretty bad.

“I’m fresh out,” Reid said, and Sophie smacked her on the arm.

Cade bounced excitedly in her seat. “If you want to be an author assistant, I swear it’s not that hard. I can teach you everything.” That was a possibility, but I didn’t know if I had enough focus left over after I used all of it on school this year. And I still had two online summer classes I had to get through.

I listened as suggestions burst from everyone’s mouth at once. Some reasonable and some not so reasonable.

“You know,” Sophie said once everyone else had talked over each other and tossed out their ideas, “I might have something for you.”

I sat up, interested in what she had to say.

“You know my friend, Larison? Well, she needs a nanny for the summer for her daughter. She’s five.” I knew of Larison. We’d never met, but I’d heard so much about her from Reid and Sophie I felt like I had.

“She’s kind of desperate since she’s so busy with the bookshop.” Now I remembered. Larison was opening up a romance bookstore in the city, which I personally thought was a fantastic idea and would absolutely be patronizing if I ever had enough disposable income again.

“Right,” I said. It was one of the most reasonable ideas that my friends had put forth. I loved working with kids, which was why I was going to grad school to become a reading and literacy teacher, and why I’d gotten my undergrad in early childhood education. Teaching the next generation to read was one of the most important jobs on the planet as far as I was concerned, so being a nanny was already in my wheelhouse. I still had to find out what the pay and the hours were, but it was a solid lead.

“Let her know I’m interested,” I told Sophie, who gave me a bright smile.

“You’re so helpful,” Reid said, grabbing Sophie’s attention and kissing her. Being the only single one with a bunch of couples was something I was used to at this point, but it still hurt a little being surrounded by so much love and romantic bliss.

I was fine on my own. Having a relationship right now would be the worst timing in the entire world. Going to Sapph on nights when Reid was working to get free drinks was as good as it got when it came to flirting and dating. Sometimes I’d dance, but most of the time I’d watch from afar and imagine a future where I had a good job and a wife and maybe some kids. Two dogs and a yard and bake sales and matching Christmas pajamas and mess and love and chaos. I desperately wanted all of that. Just not right now. I had other things to get accomplished first.

We all finished our drinks, stacked the empty plates, hugged goodbye, and promised we’d all get together soon.

“You wanna come over?” Reid asked me. She and Sophie had finally given up their respective apartments and got one together after looking at every single available apartment in the city and some outside of it. For a grump, Reid had been surprisingly picky when it came to apartments. She’d even rejected a place in my building for not having the right “vibes,” although she could never specify what vibes it was supposed to have. Thankfully, they’d found an adorable place just a short walk from mine so now we got to see each other more often.

I had just finished up finals and was only taking two classes this summer that hadn’t started yet, so I had a bit of breathing room. It was strange after having to be so focused on school to have a little bit of freedom. I didn’t really trust it. Too many hours in the day that weren’t scheduled. I’d have to actually keep up with my laundry. The horror.

“I shouldn’t,” I said, but the lure of being away from my messy apartment was too great. Plus, Reid and Sophie always had something sweet and or chocolate hanging around and they never minded when I helped myself.

The three of us walked back toward their place, Reid muttering about tourists under her breath while Sophie patiently listened and swung their joined hands.

They really were cute as hell.

Someday I’d listen while the woman I loved complained about tourists as I held her hand, but that day was far in the future. I had to get my life together first.

Reid and Sophie let me hang out, eat cupcakes, and browse through their combined library for a while, but when they started giving each other heated looks, I knew it was time to go home.

My mom called just as I was closing the door and we had a brief chat. I was an only child and she’d raised me as a single mom, but I hadn’t told her about any of my monetary troubles. Nearly my whole life she’d worked so hard to make sure that I had everything I could need or want, and I couldn’t tell her because then she’d do something like take up another job and show up with a bunch of money or something.

That woman had already done enough for me, and going to grad school was my idea. I was old enough to manage my own shit. Instead I told her that everything was great, and I was looking forward to a summer of relaxing and that I’d definitely come and visit soon. She lived further up the coast of Maine, but with the traffic in the summer it took nearly two hours to get there. I didn’t visit as much as I should and that was something that gnawed at me during the nights when I’d had too much caffeine to finish my schoolwork and then tried to get to sleep. I hadn’t been a good enough daughter to her and, someday, I was going to fix that. Sure, I’d never make bank as a reading and literacy teacher, but just having a solid job with benefits in a field I loved would put her mind at ease. Someday, if I ever paid off my loans, I hoped that I could take her on trips and help her fix up the house.

For now, though, I gave her the glossy, prettied up version of my life so she didn’t worry and got off the call as quickly as I could.

Once that was done, I looked around my apartment and wanted to run away. It was a disaster, as usual.

I didn’t want to be a slob, but grad school had turned me into one. Sighing, I started with the kitchen, clearing one area at a time and starting a load of dishes.

My phone buzzed with a new message. I dried my hands and read it.

Hey Jo, I just talked to Larison and she’d love to meet with you about the potential nanny job. I sang your praises, of course, but she’d like to do a formal interview.

Oh. That was quick. Guess she was desperate. I typed out a quick response.

Go ahead and give her my info. I’m happy to do an interview.

Shit. I needed to make sure I had something clean that would even work for an interview. And find that copy of my resume I’d made last year. I knew it was somewhere on my computer. I had all of my schoolwork mostly organized, but everything else kind of fell by the wayside.

Great! I think you’d be a good fit. Her daughter Juniper is a sweetheart.

I had no doubt that she was. Plus, since she was five, I’d get some real-world experience working with a kid one-on-one. That made me almost as excited as the money. There probably wouldn’t be much, but I’d have to negotiate. I’d already done the math and knew how many hours I’d need to work and what number I’d need to make this work. It made me a little sick to my stomach to think about what I’d do if the numbers didn’t add up. I couldn’t go to my mom. That just wasn’t an option. I’d just have to make it work.

A few minutes later, a message came in from an unknown number.

Hello Jo, this is Larison Price. I got your number from Sophie. I hope it’s okay to contact you this way. I’d love to set up an interview with you to see if you’d be a good fit for me and my daughter. Are you free sometime this week?

It was nearly impossible to get a feel for tone from a message like that, but did it really matter? Sophie had already vouched for her and I trusted Sophie. No immediate red flags, which was a step in the right direction.

I sent a message back that I was pretty much free whenever she was. I assumed that her schedule between the bookstore and her child was more hectic than mine, so I’d work around hers.

She got back to me right away and suggested a few days and times which were all very soon. This was moving fast, but in a way that was better. Didn’t give me too much time to overthink everything and stress myself out too much.

We settled for an interview on Tuesday afternoon. I wrote back to Sophie and thanked her and then spent the next hour searching for interview tips and then tearing through my closet to find the right outfit and then deciding that I didn’t have anything clean that I liked and throwing in a load of laundry that would hopefully have something in it that would be acceptable.

Most of my clothes were casual, made for studying in comfort or going to brunch with my friends. I didn’t have much of an occasion to wear business casual attire. But would a nanny job really require me to dress like I was going to an office? I wasn’t going to be wearing pencil skirts and blazers to look after her kid. So maybe something less uptight was the way to go. I could look clean and cute and put together and that would hopefully work. I sent Reid a message asking for her advice, but she was extremely unhelpful. She usually wore her old shirts from Sapph or jeans or joggers or a vintage T-shirt. She had that “I just rolled out of bed, but I still look effortlessly cool” thing going on.

Sophie turned out to be much more helpful once I had some options and she jumped on to help me choose something.

I was nervous as hell, but if this worked out and the pay was good (of course I looked up what a competitive salary for a nanny would be so I had a ballpark figure to walk in with), this could be what I needed to get me through to the fall semester. I was on track to graduate next spring, but I’d worry about that later. Right now, I needed to bank as much cash as I could this summer and I didn’t have a lot of options.

Please let this work out. This had to work out.