A Little Help

Chronologically, this piece of the story takes place before Honey leaves town.

"No more arguing, Carrie. You need help with Emily." Henry leaned back in his chair, tapping a pen against his hand, and studied his friend and employee. She looked tired. "Have you heard from Todd?"

"Yeah," Carrie shifted in her seat. "He says he's sorry and wants to come home."

Henry's mouth tightened. He had received a similar call after he'd sent Todd's final paycheck over to his parents' place. "What are you going to do?" he asked neutrally.

"I can't trust him, Henry. I just can't."

"I know."

"At the same time," tears welled in Carrie's eyes, "he's Emily's father..." she trailed off, staring at her fingers as she twisted them in her lap.

"Are you sleeping okay?"

"Who sleeps with a baby in the house," Carrie said wryly.

"Which is why I want to hire a nanny."

"That's not your responsibility."

"Yes. It is. With the summer season coming up, we're going to be busier than ever. We're already booked through July, and August is nearly full. I need you. Think of it as employer run daycare."

"You pay me well enough to find someone to watch Emily when she can't come here to the house."

Henry narrowed his eyes, "I don't pay you well enough to have a live-in nanny."

"Then give me a raise."

"Damn it, Carrie!"

"I know what you're doing. You're not looking for someone to watch just Emily."

"I'm," Henry tossed his pen on the desk and sighed. "I'm worried. It's not like you to give up, and when Frank and I found you --"

"Oh for God's sake," Carrie groused. "That was two weeks ago! Let it go. I'm doing a lot better."

Henry stared out the window for a moment. He hadn't wanted to use this. "Would you do it for me? For Ellie?" He looked back at Carrie. "You know she's worried." He didn't mention the debt Carrie owed her. She knew.

Carrie sighed softly, slumping in defeat. "Fine."

"Great," Henry leaned forward and opened a drawer. He pulled out a folder and slid it across the desk. "Here are the three finalists. I've already run background and reference checks and conducted two interviews." He held up his hand, "Don't worry. I know what questions to ask a nanny. I Googled."

Carrie snorted. "Do you always get what you want?"

"Almost," Henry grinned as Carrie rolled her eyes.

Carrie studied the three applications, a color photo neatly attached to each one. "Her."

"She's the first you want to interview?"

"No. She's the one I want to hire."

"Don't you want to talk to all three?"

"No," Carrie said decisively.

"Why her?"

Carrie shook her head. Standing up, she started to leave. At the door she paused, staring at her hand on the door knob. "She's the only one of the three who is not drop dead gorgeous. There's no way in hell I'm having a beautiful nanny in the house if..." sighing, she walked out the door.

Henry sat silently for a moment. "I guess he's coming back." Picking up the phone, he started to dial.


This was a piece of fiction based on the Red Dress Club prompt: Write a scene in which a physically beautiful character is somehow impacted by that trait.

The nanny is a very tiny part of this post, but her apparent lack of beauty is what opened this door and closed the door for the other two candidates.

Again, this story takes place before Honey leaves town. And it looks like Todd is coming back.

If you want to read more about these characters, visit Fictional Mandyland.