kind,’ he said.
‘And inappropriate. Sorry.’
He shook his head. ‘That’s kind,’ he repeated. ‘But at the moment tea isn’t going to help.’ He looked at her. ‘Given your business, you must know people in lots of different career areas. I don’t suppose you know any nannies, do you?’
‘Nannies?’
‘That call just now was from the agency which supplies the nanny who looks after my daughter. Cindy—our nanny—broke her leg last week when she was on a skiing trip. And the agency has nobody available to stand in for her right now.’
So he needed childcare help?
Maybe she could turn this into a win-win situation.
‘So I need someone to invest in Plans & Planes, and you need a nanny.’
He looked at her. ‘Yes.’
‘Maybe,’ she said carefully, ‘there’s a solution that will work for us both. A business solution.’
‘You know a nanny?’
‘Not exactly.’ She took a deep breath. ‘What type of hours are we talking about?’
‘Sienna’s at nursery school five days a week, nine to four-thirty.’
Long hours for a little one, she thought. ‘So your nanny takes her to nursery school, picks her up, and that’s it?’
‘And works evenings and weekends.’
So when did Jamie Wallis spend time with his daughter? she wondered.
More to the point, it made her own half-formed plan unworkable. Time management was one of her best skills, but even she couldn’t cram an extra twenty-four hours into a day. ‘Can that be negotiable?’ she asked.
‘How?’
What was the worst he could do? Say no. Which was pretty much what she thought he’d say anyway. She had nothing to lose—and potentially a lot to gain. And she wasn’t afraid of hard work.
‘I could be your temporary nanny,’ she said, ‘and you could invest in my business.’
He stared at her. ‘You’re a qualified nanny?’
‘Not a qualified nanny,’ she said. ‘But my parents’ next-door neighbours own a nursery school, and during sixth form I had a part-time job there—Wednesday afternoons, when I didn’t have lessons, and two hours after school on the other weekdays. So I have experience of working with under-fives. Even if it was ten years ago. Plus I have a four-year-old niece and a two-year-old nephew, and I’m a very hands-on aunt.’
‘Define “hands-on”.’
‘I see them every week. I babysit, so I do everything from playing to craft stuff and singing. I do bathtime, bedtime stories and the park.’ She looked at him. ‘I sometimes have to work with children as part of an event, so I—and all my staff—have an up-to-date Disclosure and Barring Service check certificate. And I’m happy to give you Anna’s details so she can give you a reference from my time at the nursery school.’
* * *
A quid pro quo.
Sophie Firth wasn’t a qualified nanny, but she was the next best thing.
‘So you’d give up your job for the next two months?’ he asked.
‘No. That’s why I asked about compromise,’ she said. ‘My business partner is leaving in six weeks’ time. We need to reallocate all her work and recruit a new member of staff. Plus I already have a full diary. I can reallocate some of my work, and do the rest while Siena is at nursery school and at weekends.’
So he’d be with Sienna twenty-four-seven. Just the two of them. His throat went dry at the idea. He couldn’t do it. ‘I need a nanny and weekends,’ he said.
‘I can do one day. Two halves, if that works better for you. But I need experienced staff, and recruitment takes time.’
This was starting to sound workable. ‘I could lend you a couple of my staff to take off some of the pressure. Ones with experience in the travel industry and who’ve worked with—well, not events in the way you run them, but promotions. There must be a fair crossover in the skill sets involved.’
‘There is,’ she agreed.
‘So if I lend you some staff, you’ll do the full weekend?’
‘Two half days or one full,’ she repeated.
‘I’m in the middle of negotiating a new resort. I can’t take time off work right now.’ That wasn’t the only reason, but he wasn’t discussing the rest of it with a total stranger. Even if she was potentially sorting out his huge headache.
‘You said you had siblings. Can’t they pitch in and help?’
‘They live too far away.’
‘What about your parents?’
Absolutely not. His parents had never been hands-on when he and his sisters had been tiny. They’d always been focused on the business. Until the next generation was old enough to have their lives organised—and that was one of the reasons why his sisters had moved to Cumbria and Cornwall respectively. Gwen Wallis had tried to run their lives in the same way she ran her business. Not wanting to explain that, he shook his head.
‘I apologise if I’ve just trampled on a sore spot,’ she said softly. ‘That wasn’t my intention.’
It sounded as if she thought his parents were elderly and frail, or had passed away. That wasn’t the case but it was too complicated to put into words. ‘It’s fine,’ he said. ‘So you do weekends?’
‘Two half days or one full,’ she repeated.
He wasn’t sure whether to be more exasperated or admiring. She wasn’t budging. Then again, she was already making a big compromise—giving up a large chunk of her working week and meaning that she’d be running two jobs at the same time.
Admiring, he decided. Sophie Firth had a good work ethic—and she’d thought on her feet to come up with a solution that would benefit them both.
This was crisis management. Good crisis management. She’d seen the problem, come up with a solution and seen where the gaps were. It was the best proof she could have given him that she was good at her job, and investing in her business would be a sound decision on his part.
‘Obviously I need to check out your references with the nursery school,’ he said.
‘And talk to Eva—you know her, and she’s known me since our first day at university. She can give you a personal reference.’ She took out her phone and handed it to him. ‘Just so you can be sure I’m not calling her while you’re otherwise occupied and priming her on what to say.’
He really liked how quick she was. The way she thought. If it wasn’t for the fact that she
