The Dandelion Chronicles Ch. 04-06

Chapter 4

I heard Arthur speak the words 'right person for the job' and my spirits lifted. The extra part about smelling really good was just a cherry-on-top. I sat up straighter in my seat, and I smiled in response.

"Does that mean you are offering me the job?" I asked. I didn't want to read too much into his words and get too excited, but the prospect of being in a house for part of the day was very fucking exciting.

"I guess," he said. "Although I don't know what the going rate for a nanny is."

"Let me do a little research," I said. "I also know what you expect from me as a nanny."

The dirty thoughts that ran through my head made me blush a little and I picked up my drink and took a sip. Luckily he was looking down at the table thinking.

"Well, I need someone to watch Adeline and Tommy," he said. "The cost of day care is highway robbery," he laughed.

I smiled in agreement, even though I had no idea how much tuition was for day care. I had to assume it was close to what he said if he was looking to get someone into the home to watch the kids. Unless he had a job that had weird hours. I guess there were plenty of reasons to hire a nanny.

"I guess keeping the house clean and picked up was also something that could happen," he said hesitantly.

"Hold on," I said, swiping up on my phone screen. "Let's get some help from the internet." I typed in 'what are the duties of a nanny' and started reading them off.

"Childcare duties, like feeding and hygiene and routines."

"Yep, I like that," Arthur said, nodding.

"Education and development like age-appropriate activities and outings," I continued. "Household tasks like laundry, shopping and keeping things neat."

"All of that sounds good!" Arthur said with a bit too much enthusiasm for me.

"I'm not sure you can afford me," I said in a deadpan tone, to test his sense of humor. I took another sip of my drink to keep from laughing, but then I saw the disappointment on his face and I felt horrible.

"Wait," he said. "I'm sure you wouldn't have to do all of those things."

Arthur had an almost panicked look on his face and I knew I had to save him to be able to save this golden opportunity. I found that I liked Arthur, and liked being around him. He had obviously given this whole nanny thing some thought before contacting me. Most single men would have jumped at the opportunity to have a hot young college girl in their house.

"Arthur," I said and reached over to put my hand on his. "I was just kidding. I'm sure we can work things out."

A wave of relief swept over his face and he let out a large breath. He took a sip of soda before answering. "You had me fooled Dandelion."

The effect of hearing and watching him say my name was entrancing, because I could hear in his tone that he enjoyed saying it. I let the moment pass while he regained his composure.

"I think all of those are fine," I said and pulled my hand back. I didn't want to seem like a creeper by holding the hand of my potential employer too long during the interview.

"What about school?" He asked. "I don't want to get in the way of your education."

"I already checked, and I can take my classes online," I lied. "I'm sure there will be some down time while the kids are napping so that I can do some work, and then I'll finish up at night."

Arthur furrowed his brows, and I could tell he was deep in thought, trying to determine if I was shoveling him a line of shit or not. Eventually he responded, "I'm not sure you're telling me the truth. As part of this agreement, I will need access to your school records to make sure you are making the proper progress."

At first I was offended that he thought he had the right to know what my grades were, and then I realized that he was just doing things that were in my best interest. I bit back the words I was about to tell him to fuck himself, and quickly changed to something more civil.

"Of course we can do that," I said. "I do have some things I will have to do in person, so I don't know how you want to work around that."

"Do you want to come to dinner at my house tomorrow?" Arthur asked. "We can tour the house and you can see first-hand what you are getting yourself into before you fully agree. Adeline and Tommy will be there also."

His last statement struck me as funny, because where else would they be? Unless he thought that I thought he was asking me on a date. The idea of being on a date with Arthur made my body tingle and my nipples hard. I had never been on a date with an older man, and I let my mind wander to how that might be.

"I said Adeline and Tommy will be there also," he repeated. "Will that be okay?"

"It's a date," I said with a smile. I stood up to signal that the conversation was over for now. "You can text me and we can work out the details."

Arthur stood up and I stepped in to give him a hug. He didn't really have a chance to say no, and after a brief moment of hesitation he gave in. Like I said before, I'm a hugger, and I think that fact surprised him.

I wrapped my arms around him, which pressed my breasts against his chest. I squeezed him tight and felt his face brush my hair, where he took a deep breath. I gave him another opportunity to breathe me in before I broke the hug and turned to the door.

"Make sure you text me before you go to bed tonight," I said over my shoulder. "And no dick picks this time."

I could feel the eyes of the patrons all turn to look at Arthur as he stood red faced fumbling with some money to leave a tip. As I turned the corner to walk to my car I looked in the window and our eyes met. I gave him a smile, a wink and then blew him a kiss.

As much as he tried to keep an angry face, his frown melted away and was replaced with a smile. A second later he was laughing and I knew that I had found an alternative to living in my car.

Chapter 5

Waiting sucks. I'm sure there are plenty of wise or whimsical quotes about waiting, but none of them were helping me at this current moment. I just finished a cup of ramen and was waiting for my phone to give me notification that something exciting was going to happen, or at least anything to distract me.

My laptop was open, with no less than 30 tabs open. Several were actually related to classes, while others were a variety of social media platforms and other sites that I liked to visit. Even though I had most of them bookmarked, there was something about closing windows down and the possibility of missing something.

I guess you could say I had a touch of the FOMO syndrome, but I had more of the FOSIMCFTROMFL syndrome. In case you're not familiar with that one, it's the 'fear of sleeping in my car for the rest of my fucking life' one.

The school commons was where I spent most of my time when I wasn't in my car, and plenty of students milled around. I loved to 'people watch', while silently hoping that no one would bother me. Unfortunately, today I wasn't so lucky.

Even though there were plenty of other places to sit, someone thought that sitting across from me was the right thing to do. As I was slurping noodles from my ramen cup, I fucking knew he was going to do it. When I noticed him, he was talking to two other guys that all looked like they played sports of some sort.

He kept looking over and one of his buddies even had the audacity to point in my direction. Eventually he left the security of his friends and walked over. I could feel my annoyance starting to rise the closer he got. He was good looking enough, but had an air of 'I'm better than you' that radiated from the way he carried himself.

All of you know what I'm talking about. It happens in school, in work, at restaurants, and really any social gathering. There are those that carry themselves like royalty because of one self-affirming reason or another. It might be that they play on the school's sports team, or they have a higher title, or they come from money. It doesn't matter how you spin it, it doesn't matter what you do or have done, just be a decent human being.

I slurped my noodles extra loud, hoping that would deter him from his approach, but no luck. He stopped at my table while I looked up from my delicious and nutritious meal. I raised my eyebrows to let him know he had my attention and could speak.

"Um, Hi," he said.

I put more noodles in my mouth before answering and then gurgled a 'Hello" back to him, although it sounded more like something you would hear from a wounded animal, I felt some of the broth run down my chin and I let it drip to the table. He seemed unfazed, which made me really wonder what he was doing here.

Could it be that we had met before, or maybe I had him in class? It was probably the fact that I was blonde and had nice legs and really didn't give a fuck about anything. It finally hit me; I WAS A PROJECT AND HE WAS GOING TO FIX ME!! I almost spit out my noodles trying not to laugh.

"Is anyone sitting here?" Mr. Fixer looked at the vacant chair across from me.

I looked from him to the empty chair and back to him like he was an alien.

I swallowed my noodles and decided to have some fun with him. "Do you want to sit there?" I asked.

"We're in the same class together," he answered, deciding not to answer my question. Apparently he wasn't ready for my fire.

"Let's cut to the real reason you're here," I said. "Is there some kind of bet involved with you and your bro's?"

His split-second hesitation let me know I guessed right the first time. I wasn't a fixer-upper with a great ass and beautiful tits, I was a wager that he was going to be able to woo me with his athletic prowess and sink his dick in me to heighten his stature among the other juvenile sport jocks.

Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of jocks I fucked, but it was always on my terms. I took away their cell phones so there was no chance of images of me circulating around the school or internet. It was never at a party where others might 'stumble in' and decide that what's good for one was good for many. I never fucked jocks while alcohol was involved, no matter if it was with men or women.

"I'm offended," he said while turning his palm up, but the flush of his cheeks gave him away as a piece-of-shit liar.

"What was the wager?" I pressed.

He fumbled with some words, but nothing intelligible left his lips.

My phone vibrated with a notification and I looked at my phone; it was from Arthur. A tingling sensation raced through my body as I picked up my phone and swiped up to unlock the screen. I ignored the guy standing at my table and tapped on the new message.

Arthur: Hello Dandelion, it's Arthur. How are you?

I thought about telling him that some guy was bothering me, but I'm not sure what response I would want? Did I want Arthur to drive down and get rid of the guy for me? Did I want him to be jealous? Hell, I didn't even have the job yet and I was wondering if he would be jealous of a guy hitting on me. I kept things business casual for my response.

Me: Hi Arthur, it's great to hear from you. I'm just doing some homework waiting for your text.

"I'd really like to get to know you better," the guy standing at my table said.

I had forgotten he was there and let a giggle escape my lips.

"Well, my boyfriend wouldn't be happy if he knew you were bothering me," I said. "So, you can go back to your little friends and tell them you lost the bet and you can all have a circle jerk."

Arthur: I'm really excited to have you stop over to see if we can work things out. What works out best for you?

"Whore ..." the guy said under his breath as he turned and walked away.

I ignored him and gave my phone my full attention while I thought of the best response. During the day wouldn't be good because he had to work, so sometime at night might be the best. I decided to test the waters to see exactly how excited he was to get me over to his place.

Me: Do you have time tonight? I can be there by 7:30pm, I'll even bring pie.

My grandmother always said that you could tell a lot about a man if they liked pie or not. Everyone liked cake, so that was a given, but pie offered warmth and an array of textures and flavors a cake could never replicate.

Arthur: What kind of pie?

I smiled from ear to ear. He was playing with me and I loved it. I thought about all the kinds of pie available and what was the right answer. After a bit of contemplation, I knew what it had to be.

Me: Cherry Pie ????

Arthur: Don't be late.

Chapter 6

I didn't know the search for a cherry pie would be so involved. I typed the words 'best cherry pie near me' into the search bar and waited impatiently for the results. After several seconds the results were in and a place called Uncle Mike's Bake Shoppe took top billing.

The name was right for a place with good pastry. It felt so much better than something like Pie Pizzazz or Desserts-R-Us or some other quirky play on words to lure people into their location of mediocre baked goods. I felt like I could trust Uncle Mike to provide me with the right cherry pie to secure a spot as a nanny.

Before I drove over, I checked my cash supply and a wave of panic washed over me. I had less than $20 to my name. Was I willing to spend that on Arthur? I guess I could always grab the bag and beat ass out of the place and hope they didn't call the cops. But if I was going to steal, I might as well go to some grocery store where I had a better chance to walk out without being noticed.

No, I had to pay for it and felt under the dash for something my father slipped me the last time I was home. It didn't take long to find the item secured by painter's tape. I pulled until the tape gave way and soon I was holding a $100 bill in my hand.

Just before I left home, he had hugged me and slipped the bill into my hand like we were cold war spies and he was giving me the location of the local safe house. He whispered in my ear, "Keep this until there is no other choice. You will know when the time is right."

There wasn't any further discussion. I slid the money into my pocket and my mom was none the wiser. I'm not sure if my father would approve if he knew what my intentions for the money was. Would he be okay with me buying a cherry pie for an older widower with two young kids, in the hope of convincing him that I was the best candidate to be a nanny?

I could almost see his face right now. He wasn't very vocal about his thoughts, but his calm face would judge me. He would wonder about my real intentions and consider if I was involved with the widower romantically. I laughed as I thought about the politically correct way people described similar situations.

There might be some romance involved, but it was always driven by sex. No man or woman cheated on their spouse if the hope of sex wasn't the goal. No one risks disrupting their lives, unless the lure of a hard thick cock, or a new younger pussy wasn't a possibility.

I had to admit; I had already thought about what Mr. Matthews looked like naked. I wondered how lonely he must be with the loss of his wife and caring for his two small children. I even fantasized how excited he would be to see me naked and put his hands on my body. Even thinking about it now made my nipples hard and hips squirm with excitement.

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I did my best to pass the time until 7:30pm, but the minutes dragged by. I contemplated several options, but in the end, I went to the campus library and doom scrolled until it was time to drive to Arthur's.

He lived close to campus, so the drive wasn't long. As I turned down the road he lived on, I looked for the house with the description he provided. The house was two-story, with a detached two car garage set a bit behind. It was the seventh house on the right, and as I slowed, I could see Arthur was sitting on the front step with Adeline and Tommy.

The sight of them waiting for me gave me a lump in my throat and I wondered if I was doing the right thing for the kids. Sure, I would love a place to stay, but was I really capable of watching two young children? I knew that I could handle Arthur, but the kids were the unknown factor.

I clicked on my blinker and turned into the driveway to the waves of the children. My body was filled with a nervous excitement that made my skin tingle. I wasn't sure how tonight was going to go, but apparently Arthur really wanted it to work out. I turned off the engine and quickly checked my appearance in the rear-view mirror before picking up the bag of baked goods from the passenger seat; I selected several cookies for the kids in addition to the pie for Arthur.

As soon as I exited the vehicle, I could hear the excited screams of the kids. I'm not sure what kind of frenzy Arthur had whipped them into, but it was infectious and I smiled at the two running towards me. Adeline was first to arrive, but I was ready. I knelt on the driveway, setting down the bag and opening my arms. She slammed into my body and I wrapped an arm around her. Tommy got there several seconds later and as I wrapped my other arm around him, I stood up.

"It looks like you're on bag duty," I said to Arthur with a smile as I started to carry the kids to the front door.

He was already walking towards me and smiled as we passed, adding, "I'm so glad you're here."

Dinner was nice, even if it wasn't fancy. Tommy had an affection for noodles, so Arthur made a spaghetti bake with cheesy garlic bread. Spaghetti was a pretty neutral food, because no one really disliked noodles. Cheesy garlic bread was everyone's favorite, and aside from Tommy dropping several noodles on the floor, I really enjoyed myself.

There was no yelling, only smiling and laughing, and Adeline almost melted my heart while we were cleaning up. She looked up at me with her trusting eyes and asked, "Is your name Dandelion?"

I smiled at her and squatted to get to her level. "Yes it is," I answered.

"My daddy said that dandelions are the most beautiful flowers in the world," she said. She reached up and touched my long blonde hair.

I turned from her to Arthur and he had a look of surprise and embarrassment. His face was turning red as he turned all of his attention to carrying dishes from the table.

"That's very nice of him," I answered Adeline. "Do you know what your dad Arthur's name means?"

The look of surprise on her face was priceless. She had no idea that most names had meanings, and I was revealing something to her like opening the door to Narnia. She shook her head to let me know she didn't know, so I continued.

"Arthur means bear," I said with a smile.

"DADDY," she squealed with excitement. "YOU'RE A BEAR!"

Arthur growled playfully for her and she squealed louder. Tommy joined in on the fun and added his baby bear growl to the mix.

"If we're the bear family," Arthur said with a smile. "That must make you Goldilocks."

I wanted to ask him if that meant I got to sleep in his bed tonight, but I thought it might be too soon for a play like that. "Well, I'm too full to eat any porridge," I said and pushed my flat belly out as much as I could. The children mimicked me and more laughter ensued.

As the four of us played and laughed, I let myself wonder what it would be like to be Mrs. Arthur Matthews, and my body reacted with a warm shiver. I must have been giving him a look, because when our eyes met, his face turned red.

"Let me tuck the children in for bed," he said firmly. "Then we can talk about your qualifications."

The way he said qualifications made it seem like he was going to make me strip down for a body cavity search. I'm not sure I would have objected to such a tactic, because once he saw me out of clothes, there was no way he could say no to me being the right one for the job.