Single Dad's Surprise (Wilder Brothers #1) Read online

  “Mind my asking why it was only a few months?” I asked. “Isn’t the school year longer than that?” I wasn’t trying to sound accusatory; I just honestly couldn’t remember how long the school year was because everything in my mind right now was a blur. I was pretty sure it was longer than a few months, though.

  “Yeah, honestly, I just didn’t want to teach,” Annika responded. She looked uncomfortable when she answered the question as if I were going disqualify her for bailing on being a teacher. Quite the opposite, though, I appreciated her honesty. “I just didn’t think it was my passion. I know that might sound stupid, but I want to be in love with what I do. I adore kids, though, that much has never changed. And I think I would be a great nanny.” She looked around the room a little. “Is your daughter here?”

  “Poppy is upstairs,” I said. “We’ve had a few other interviews this morning, and I think it wore her out a little, so I decided just to do the rest on my own.”

  “That makes sense,” she nodded.

  Again, another long and awkward moment of silence that I kept tripping over.

  “Well,” she said in order to fill in the gap. “I am very familiar with the third-grade curriculum, so if Poppy needs any help with school, I can definitely assist with that.”

  “She does need some guidance with school,” I said. “But not really so much with the classwork, more with how to behave. My daughter is a wonderful girl. I’m biased because I’m her dad, but she truly is a sweet kid. But she has some issues with acting out in class in order to get her mother’s attention. I haven’t quite been able to figure out how to get a handle on that part of things yet.”

  “Ahh, yeah. I can relate to that,” Annika said. “My mom died when I was little, and I remember doing things as a child that I probably shouldn’t have, simply because I needed the universe to know how I was feeling. Not exactly the same thing, but close.”

  “That actually is very close,” I said as I became more and more sure that I was going to cancel the remaining interviews.

  Annika seemed to know a lot about education and children in general. The true test was going to be how she responded to Poppy. I already knew how Poppy was going to react to her, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.

  “Would you like to come upstairs to meet my daughter?” I asked, mentally preparing myself for the mayhem that was inevitably about to ensue.

  “Yes,” she said eagerly. “I’d love to!”

  I led Annika up the staircase slowly as if I were marching to my death.

  Please, at least try to be good, Poppy, I thought to myself as we got closer to Poppy’s bedroom. If I could just find someone she wouldn’t scare away long enough for me to catch up on some work, then I stood a chance of not watching my company take a complete nosedive this quarter.

  When we got to Poppy’s room, her door was closed. I knocked gently and then pushed it open to the sight of Poppy sitting in the corner of her room, completely immersed in playing dolls. She loved dolls, and she had nothing shy of a million of them. She was surrounded by her favorites and their horses and accessories and was on her stomach with a doll in each hand engaged in a deep, monologuing conversation.

  I could see out of the corner of my eye that Annika’s face immediately lit up like a kid in a toy store. Maybe she liked playing dolls too? Or maybe she was just flabbergasted by the size of Poppy’s room and the gluttonous amount of toys I had bought her to overcompensate for her lack of a decent mother. Either way, she looked a lot happier about meeting Poppy than Poppy was about seeing us standing in her doorway to interrupt her playing.

  “Poppy, this is Annika. She came to see about being your nanny, and I thought you might like to meet her,” I said as calmly as I could, even though my nerves were just waiting for the tantrum to explode.

  Poppy stared at me with indignity and was obviously abhorred that I felt it was okay to bring a stranger into her room. I felt bad that I had invaded her space. But I also felt like Annika might be the exact person we needed, so it was important for Poppy to meet her.

  Annika again pulled us both out of the uncomfortable silence.

  “Hi, Poppy,” she said. “I really like your room and all of your dolls.”

  “I don’t care,” Poppy said as she set down her dolls and sat up to look at us.

  Instead of being offended or trying to force the conversation, Annika simply sat down on the floor of the room near the doorway and looked around. I had to admit; it seemed like an odd thing to do.

  “What are you doing?” Poppy asked her.

  “I’m just feeling your space,” Annika replied with a smile. “It feels very magical to me and very creative. It makes me think that you like a lot of quiet time to play and imagine, right?”

  Wow, she pretty much nailed Poppy’s entire personality in one sentence.

  Poppy stared at her for a minute and then looked up at me with a fierce glare. “Why are you doing this to me?” she shouted at me. “Why do you keep trying to replace Mom? Just get out of my room and leave me alone!” Poppy’s face turned red, and her eyes became glassy. This was the explosive moment that I knew was coming.

  “Poppy,” I said as I tried to appeal to her eight-year-old emotions. “If you would just give her a chance.”

  I saw Annika get up off the floor and take a step back toward the open doorway. She didn’t look upset or hurt; she actually looked sympathetic.

  Poppy completely ignored me and turned her back as she started to play again, acting like we weren’t even there.

  “I’m really sorry,” I said as I turned back around to Annika. “She’s just—”

  Annika interrupted me before I could finish my sentence. “Please,” she said as she smiled gently at me. “You don’t need to explain anything. And your daughter is right to feel the way she does; it’s completely natural. I was in her space, and she didn’t like it. You should be proud of her for speaking up.”

  I was astounded. Not only was Annika completely in tune with how Poppy was feeling, but she also didn’t seem to take any of it personally.

  “Poppy, I’m going to walk Annika out now, and then I’ll be back up to talk with you,” I said before leaving the room.

  Poppy answered me with a wave of her hand over her shoulder, which let me know that she heard me but was still too mad to speak to me.

  As Annika and I walked down the staircase together, I couldn’t help but feel like she was the perfect thing for Poppy, even if it was painful, and that she was probably the perfect thing for what I needed help with, too. I didn’t want to look for any other nannies. I was pretty sure that I wanted to give Annika the job, assuming that she wasn’t ready to run out the door already. I knew that I should have given it more thought and that I needed to talk to Poppy about what had just happened, but I couldn’t help it; she was the perfect fit, whether Poppy saw it or not.

  “Annika, I’d like to offer you the position,” I blurted out before we had even reached the bottom stair. I figured that she would decline on the basis that she could see my daughter didn’t like her.

  “Thank you,” she said politely. “I’d like to think over your offer for an evening, but I can let you know my decision tomorrow if that’s okay with you?”

  Well, it wasn’t a “no,” at least.

  “I’ll double the pay that was listed in the advertisement if you can start immediately.”

  Yeah, I was definitely making myself seem way to eager. I was an expert at negotiating. I’d negotiated enough record deals to know that you never made an immediate offer, and you never ever made yourself look desperate by offering more than what the other person expected. But all of that went out the window as I tried to pull out every stop to get Annika to take the position and stay. The amount of money that I was offering was more than what she would have made with a teaching salary over the course of three years. My negotiating experience also meant that I knew how to seal a deal when I really wanted to. Money talked, and fortunately, that was something t
hat I had a lot of.

  “Double?” she asked s her mouth hung open.

  I found myself wanting to kiss those parted lips, and I immediately reeled myself back in and shook the thought from my mind. “Yes,” I confirmed for her. “Double. Please, we really need you.” I meant it when I used the word “we.” We did really need her, more than I had realized.

  Annika stopped and stood on the inside of the closed front door. She looked like she was considering the offer, and I tried to think if there were anything else I could throw in to sweeten the deal.

  “Please just give it a shot. If it doesn’t work out, then you’re free to go with no hard feelings. But if you choose to stay, you’ll have a huge salary, your own wing of the house, and a daily spending budget for you and Poppy. I’ll give you one of my cars to use, and any of the time that you’re off work for the day, you’re free to come and go as you please.”

  It was an amazing offer, with the only caveat being that she’d need a thick skin for dealing with all the crap my daughter was surely going to put her through. I watched as she looked like she was thinking more about it. I couldn’t think of anything else to add to the offer, aside from what I’d already said. Fortunately, I didn’t need to.

  “Okay,” she smiled. “When would you like me to move in?”

  Chapter Three (Annika)

  I felt like I held my breath the entire drive back to my apartment. I was still in shock that I took the job on the spot. But how could I refuse an offer like that? It was so lucrative that after one year, I would have enough money to go to Europe as I had planned; hell, maybe even after six months.

  I walked into my apartment and looked around at all of the stuff I would need to pack. Jake had said that he would “take care of the moving,” and I wasn’t really sure what that meant. I would have stayed to talk to him a bit more about the logistics, but his daughter was already upset enough. He really needed to go talk to her about the fact that I would be moving into their house soon.

  Calling it a house was definitely an understatement. It was more like a giant mansion. I poured myself a glass of wine and reached for a box to start putting stuff into. Since I only had like two boxes, I would need to go hunt down some tomorrow before I could put any serious effort into packing. I figured that I probably had at least a couple of days, especially since it was still the weekend.

  There had been another super-awkward moment right before I had gotten ready to leave Jake’s house. I had wanted to clarify a few things, and it seemed like he had wanted to explain some stuff a bit more, but instead, we both just kind of stared at each other until things got uncomfortable again. I decided I would just go ahead and thank him before heading out. We exchanged numbers, and I knew that I could text him later with more specific questions, like when exactly he wanted me to move in and what my official start date would be.

  I spent most of the night looking up things about Jake Wilder on the internet. Not only did I now find myself even more intrigued by who he was, but I also thought it would be a good idea to know a bit about the person I would be working for and living with. I decided to wait to tell my dad about my new job because as pleased as he would be about the salary, he would definitely give me a lecture about moving in with some single guy with a kid, no matter how rich or highly publicized he was.

  Google didn’t tell me too much about Jake that I didn’t already know. I knew that his ex-wife was Maleah Wilder and that she was a beautiful and talented singer who had a history of making bad decisions. A few articles praised the success of his record label and one that was some sort of tabloid featuring a nomination for “Hottest Silicon Valley Bachelor.” After quite a bit of digging, I found an old picture of Jake, Maleah, and Poppy when she looked like she was only about two or three years old. They were a pretty family, but even back then, they didn’t really look happy. I ended up drinking half a bottle of wine by myself and falling asleep on the couch with my computer still in my lap and a bunch of nervous and exciting ideas in my head.

  The knock on the door in the morning sounded like a thunderclap, and I jumped so high that my laptop crashed to the floor. When I went to go see who was at the door, the moving company guys practically bowled me out of the way as they barged into my apartment.

  “Morning,” one of them said as if the greeting were a required afterthought as he surveyed the apartment. “What are we looking at?”

  “Excuse me?” I asked in confusion.

  “Mr. Wilder sent us here to get you moved over today. Just need to see what we got, and then we’ll get started.”

  “But I haven’t even packed yet,” I said in a slight panic. I was still in the pajamas I had changed into once I got back from my interview yesterday, and I had the equivalent of half of a box packed.

  “Doesn’t matter,” he said. “We’ll take care of all that.” He waved his hand around in the air, and three other guys went back out to the truck and reappeared again with armloads of boxes.

  “Start packing her up, boys,” he said.

  There was a flurry of movement around me as four complete strangers started rummaging through my closets and drawers and packing things into boxes. I hadn’t even had a chance for coffee yet. I think the head mover noticed the look of panic on my face.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “We’re the best in the business. Mr. Wilder didn’t spare a single expense to get you moved. We’ll be careful with all of your things, and everything will be clearly labeled so you can find it once you get to Mr. Wilder’s house. All you need to do is sit back and relax and let us take care of things.”

  I was sure that I had other, more important things to say to him. But I was in such shock that the only thing that came out of my mouth was, “I haven’t even had coffee yet.”

  As if on cue, one of the men handed me a latte. On the side of the cup, there was a message scrawled in black Sharpie.

  “Sorry, I couldn’t take you out for a morning coffee on your moving day. It’s the weekend, so Poppy isn’t in school today. Enjoy the latte. -Jake”

  Okay, so it was cool that he hired a company to pack me up and move me over, and it was nice that he sent me coffee, but just assuming that I would stop my life and move today was a bit presumptuous. I pulled out my phone to text him and make sure this wasn’t setting a precedent for future things. No amount of money was worth sacrificing my autonomy.

  “Hi, Mr. Wilder, I didn’t think we had set a date for my move. There were still a few things that I needed to take care of, such as notifying my landlord.”

  Within three seconds of hitting send, a reply popped up on my phone screen.

  “Hi, Annika, yeah, I’m sorry about that. I think I got ahead of myself. Please accept my apologies. It won’t happen again. I’ve already paid the remainder of your lease agreement. Also, call me Jake.”

  He apologized, which was good, and I couldn’t believe he had paid off my lease. But he also didn’t call off the movers. I shrugged and sipped my latte, which was probably the most delicious cup of coffee I’d ever had. I’d go ahead and let the guys that were here move me into his fancy mansion today. With as much money as he was paying me and the fact that I literally had to do nothing aside from sip coffee and walk into my new luxurious living quarters, I suppose I could let it slide this time. I went back into my bedroom and locked the door behind me. By the time I had finished a shower and gotten dressed, the movers had almost finished packing and loading my entire apartment. I got into my car and followed the moving van to Jake’s mansion. When we got there, it was already late into Sunday afternoon, and the movers began to quickly unload the truck into my wing of the house. Jake and Poppy were both there to greet me at the door when I stepped out of the vehicle. Poppy looked extremely put-off that she had to stand there.

  “Hello, Annika, welcome to your new home,” Jake said stiffly as though he had rehearsed it.

  Poppy rolled her eyes so big that it looked like it hurt. “This isn’t her home,” she mumbled under her breat
h.

  “Well, it is for a while,” Jake said gently to her. “Come on in, Annika, let me show you to your room.”

  The main staircase was wide enough to park a small jet on, and when it reached the second floor, it twisted around on either side like a pair of ram horns. As soon as we hit the second floor, Poppy went racing off in the other direction toward her bedroom. Jake sighed as he watched her run away again, but he let her go without an argument.

  “She’ll come around,” he said.

  I nodded and followed him toward the opposite side of the house.

  “This,” he said as he made a sweeping motion with his hand. “Is your side of the house. You have your own bedroom, bathroom, library, and an outdoor atrium that looks down onto the courtyard below.”

  Wow, this is absolutely incredible.

  We continued walking toward the bedroom, and when Jake pulled open the double doors, my jaw dropped. The bedroom was the size of my entire apartment; actually, it was probably bigger. Jake walked across the room to open the curtains, which revealed a beautiful view overlooking the city. Then he walked back toward me and watched as the movers started to deliver my things to the space. When one of the guys tried to squeeze past us in the doorway with a large box in his hands, Jake moved aside for him and ended up standing closer to me than either of us had expected. He looked at me with that same awkward expression that he had when I rang his doorbell for the very first time. Then he shook his head slightly as if he were trying to brush off a thought.

  “I’m sure you’d like to get settled in. If there’s anything you need, Annika, just let me know.”

  “Thank you,” I said, feeling completely overwhelmed. I didn’t know what I could possibly need, except for maybe some time to digest it all.

  “I’m going to go help Poppy finish up some of her schoolwork. Dinner will be at six o’clock if you’d like to join us.” Jake diverted his eyes and left the room quickly.