On the phone, she said, "Actually, I was planning to hire a head-hunter, you know, someone to find opportunities that aren't publicized."
I smiled. "Awww. But you don't have to do that."
"I know," she laughed. "But I want to, unless…" She paused. "Are you planning to take the job?"
"That's why I called. Do you think I should?"
"I don't know," she replied. "Are you sure you have the stomach for it?"
No. I wasn't.In fact, my stomach had been fluttering like crazy while dancing with my prospective employer. But surely Arden meant something else.
I asked, "What do you mean?"
"Well, he's not very nice," she said. "And if he weren't Brody's brother, I'd be saying a lot worse thanthat."
She paused for only a moment before adding, "Like, I might say that he's one cold S.O.B., or that he's not any nicer in person than he is on the TV show."
Blast was the popular remodeling show that starred all three brothers. And thanks to Arden, I now realized that Brody was the only brother who remodeled the houses full-time.
As for the two older brothers, they showed up only once in a while to look pretty for the cameras – although you'd never know it from watching the show.
It wasn't that the older brothers couldn’t do construction, but rather they handled other aspects of the family business, and left Brody to handle the show.
In my car, I listened as Arden rattled off a few more things she "might" say if Mason weren't the brother of her fiancé.
She concluded by saying, "But I won't say any of those things, because he's almost family. Plus, Brody's opinion of him isa lothigher than mine." She paused. "Even if Masonisa little scary."
Alittlescary?
Oh, I was scared alright.But it wasn't in the traditional sense. Mostly, I was terrified by my reaction to him.
Still, I had to smile at Arden's description. "Good thing he's family or you might'vehintedthat you don't like him."
"He's not familyyet," she said with a laugh. "But to be fair, I haven't spent a lot of time with him, so he could be nicer than I realize."
I blew out another nervous breath. "Or not."
"Exactly! So, what kind of job was it?"
"You can't guess?"
"No," she said. "I have no clue."
I paused for dramatic effect. "It's the nanny job."
"Ohhhhh," she said. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Do you know, thelatestone lasted only a month?"
"So I heard. But do you know why?"
"No. But Idoknow that she was hustled out of there in the middle of the night."
"Really? How do you knowthat?"
"Okay, get this. It's like three in the morning, right? And Brody gets this urgent phone call from Mason, asking us to come over, like right away."
"You mean to Mason's house?" I felt my brow wrinkle in concern. "Why?"
"Because," Arden said, "he's got to leave for the airport. And apparently, he'd just kicked the nanny to the curb,literally,with no notice whatsoever."
