My eyes were drooping closed and I had to keep sitting up straighter just to stay awake. I'd been browsing nanny jobs, au pair jobs, and special education internships forever and I only had come up with two jobs that I thought were worth applying for. 

"Fuck my life," I whined, letting my head fall to the desk with a bang.

"Juliette? Are you all right?" My sister called from the living room of our shared apartment. She and her boyfriend were still awake watching a marathon of The Saw movies.

"Yes," I called back to her. "Only I'm going to graduate in less than a month and I have no internship lined up and my life is going to be a complete and utter failure."

Helena appeared in my doorway. "Dramatics again? When will you learn? There is no way on earth you will ever be a complete and utter failure, Miss Perfection."

"Maybe that's my problem," I whined. "I'm a perfectionist, therefore I expect to have the perfect internship lined up after college, but I just don't." I looked up at my sister with a cheesy smile. "Will you feed me and clothe me if I become homeless? I'll wash your car and shop for you and keep the place clean-"

"Stop catastrophizing!" She snapped. She made up that word. Just for me. I do tend towards catastrophic thinking when things don't go my way. I so badly wanted to find a nanny or au pair job with a special needs child. I was getting my degree in special education and I wanted to have first-hand experience caring for a special needs child in the home environment. I knew it would give me an excellent vantage point that would ultimately help me to work with students and parents alike if I knew the challenges of raising a special needs child rather than just spending a few hours a day with them in the classroom.

"Look, Jules, it's after midnight. Why don't you just call it a night and you can look at it with fresh eyes in the morning?"

I slumped in my chair and kicked my feet like a fractious child. "I have to write that essay tomorrow! It's due at 3:00 PM."

"Okay, then why don't I do some searching for you?" She suggested. "I don't have to work tomorrow." She raised her voice to a subtle yell, "And Damien was just leaving!"

"What?" I heard him yell back from the living room. Two seconds later, he appeared next to Helena. "Why am I leaving?"

"Because I'm going to help my sister make something of her life since it's falling apart at the seams," she told him.

His response reeked of sarcasm. "Oh, please. She could get hit over the head with a cast iron frying pan and still ace the LSAT or MCAT or whatever you have to take to be a teacher."

"Those are entrance exams for law school and med school," I said in a snippy voice. "For teachers, it's Praxis. But seriously, you guys think I'm super smart or something when I just work really hard at everything."

"Well, it's smart to work hard," Damien said, curling one lip up in a Duh! kind of look. He was basically my brother and it probably would be legal in the not-too-distant future. He and Helena had been dating for four years and everyone expected him to propose at any moment. Lord knows Helena has dropped enough hints.

"Good luck, Julie Bean," Damien said to me as he kissed my sister good-night.

"Thanks, Demon," I called after him.

"So, what are the parameters I should search for?" Helena asked, tapping away on her phone. "Single dad, rich, handsome...."

"Ha! No thank you. Just because you're ready to get married doesn't mean I'm anywhere close to making that big of a commitment. I would like to help care for a special needs child under the age of ten, anywhere in the continental United States or Canada. Is that too much to ask?"

"Nope, I'm on it," Helena said. "Now get some sleep, Beaner." My name had devolved into many different things over the years, from Juliette to Jules to Julie Bean and then Helena went the extra step to call me Beaner. Other members of my family had a variety of nicknames for me as well - Julie B. Jones, Juliet O'Hara (from the TV show Psych), Jewel, Ettie, Jetty. Seriously, come up with any possible combination of letters in my name and I can assure you it's been used as a nickname. Helena and Damien had crazy nicknames for each other, too, but I was the only one who called him Demon.

I washed up in my bathroom and then hit the sack. Grabbing my phone when I was already half asleep, I set the alarm for 6 AM. I had trained myself to survive on limited amounts of sleep as most college students do, but I was going to have to schedule in a full 10 or 12 hours pretty soon or I'd surely have a psychotic break.

The next morning, I got to work on my essay about the inclusion of special needs children in mainstream classroom settings. I'd been working steadily for about an hour when Helena popped her head into my room and handed me a cup of coffee.

"You're a lifesaver," I moaned in gratitude, letting the steam curl up into my nostrils before taking a calculated sip.

"In more ways than one, maybe," she said. "Look at the ad I found." She handed me her phone.

"High Profile Family with 7 year old special needs child seeking to hire a live-in nanny and teacher to work in their home in British Columbia. Candidate will be on-duty during the waking hours of the child and homeschool the child in a predetermined curriculum. Must have experience working with a special needs child. Five days of vacation per month, must be requested at least one week in advance.

In addition to homeschooling, duties will include: childcare, child related cleaning and laundry, meal preparation, grocery shopping/errands, and light housekeeping, administering medication in an exact fashion. Must be patient, understanding, and engaging. Any background in mental health is a bonus. Candidate must be skilled in CPR. Start date: As soon as possible."

"Holy cow, that's a lot of responsibility and not much vacation," I said, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"Scroll down to see what they're paying," Helena told me.

"No fucking way!" I shouted loudly enough for our upstairs neighbors to hear. She pounded on the ceiling with her cane. "Sorry Mrs. Borchard!" I yelled up to her. I looked back at Helena with drool practically sliding down my face. "One hundred thousand per year in US Dollars?! That's unheard of!"

"Not for some of the ads I was checking out," she said. "There's a listing for a nanny in New York, Upper East Side, paying $160,000."

"Let me see that one," I laughed.

"Nah, it wasn't a special needs kid. But the dad was single. And obviously rich." She raised her eyebrows to see if it would catch my interest.

"Will you drop it?" I whined. "Send me this link and I'll call the number. Wait, what time zone is British Columbia in?" I wondered aloud, searching it up on Google. "Pacific, that means they're three hours behind us. I'll have to wait a little bit. I doubt they want to talk about hiring a nanny at four in the morning."

Helena sent me the link and I read it thoroughly once again. "Don't you think it's odd that it's just a phone number? Every other ad required an emailed resume and formal application plus references."

"I don't know," she shrugged. "Maybe they don't care about formalities. But I'm willing to bet they'll want to see your resume at some point and of course, they'll want your references, especially if they're a high profile family like the ad says."

"Yeah, I guess," I agreed.

It was almost noon when I finished my paper. I dialed the number for the ad and waited nervously.

"This is Theodore," said a deep and serious voice.

"Hello, my name is Juliette McGill and I'm calling about the nanny position."

"Your qualifications?" He droned.

"I'm graduating on June second with a degree in Special Education, with honors. I've worked for the public school system and did my student teaching at Springer Academy, a special education school in Cleveland."

"Sounds good. I will arrange a flight for you to Vancouver from wherever you are. You will take a cab to a coffee shop called Perks on Southeast Marine Drive. There we will conduct our interview. Any questions?"

"No, um, I mean, what day are you thinking?"

"You have my number. Send me the dates you are free, along with the airport from which you'll be traveling, your full name and your birth date. I will need it to book your ticket. Anything else?"

"No, thank you. I'll send that information in just a few minutes."

"Thank you, Ms. McGill. I look forward to hearing from you."

"Thank you sir."

Wow, so formal.

I told Helena about the call and she paused, giving me a look of deep concern. "So he's flying you to Canada to meet him for an interview? How do you know he's not some psycho waiting to kidnap you when you get off the plane?"

"Um, I guess I don't," I said, biting my lip. "Hold on a sec." I searched for the coffee shop in Vancouver and looked at it from street view on Google Earth. It was right in the middle of what appeared to be a busy street with businesses all around it. "He said to take a taxi and meet him at this coffee place." I showed her the phone. "I'm not getting into a car with him and we're meeting at a public place."

She didn't look entirely convinced but she agreed, "Okay, just be careful, all right?"

"Of course," I said, waving off her concern. "If you'd like, I can carry a can of pepper spray. Oh wait, they won't allow that on the plane. Nunchuks, maybe? Brass knuckles? Probably can't bring those on board either. Um, let me think...."

She started laughing. "I know you'll be fine. It's just...unusual, I guess."

"Yeah, but I'm willing to do unusual if it means I get this kind of experience and I can make a hundred grand in a year!"

* * * * *

Despite the fact that the title may be misleading, as well as that last line, this is NOT A SMUT BOOK! lol! There will be some "mature situations" (i.e. sexual) but not overtly descriptive.

But I can pretty much guarantee you're going to enjoy it! <3