The Nannies Read Online Free PDF Page B

herself grinned at the camera, her signature platinum blond hair reaching her waist. Her tanned skin was silken perfection, her makeup so well applied that she looked as if she was fresh-scrubbed. She wore white.
    “Hello,” Platinum said, with the faintest tinge of a British accent. “Welcome to
Platinum Nanny.
I’m so glad that you’re here. What you are about to experience will change your life, and change the face of television forever. It also should result in a perfect nanny for my three children.”
    Platinum went on to explain that a series of challenges would eliminate contender after contender, until there was but one
Platinum Nanny
candidate remaining.
    “And now,” Platinum went on, as captioned images of all the contestants flashed on the screen, “here’s your chance to meet the other contestants.”
    Kiley peered intently at the screen.
    Cindy Wu, age eighteen, San Francisco, California. Incoming freshman at Stanford University.
    Naomi Steinberg. Nicknamed Steinberg. Age nineteen, Rye, New York. Performance artist.
    Tamika Jones, age eighteen, Carson, California. Rap artist.
    Veronique Lecouturier, age twenty-two, Paris, France. Professional nanny.
    Jimmy Jackson, age eighteen, Starkville, Mississippi. Star quarterback.
    Her own face. Kiley McCann, age seventeen, La Crosse, Wisconsin. Incoming senior, La Crosse High School. And then, to her surprise, her mother’s. Jeanne McCann, age forty-three, La Crosse, Wisconsin.
    Platinum returned to the screen. “I just wanted to extend a welcome to all of you. Especially to Kiley’s mother. Can’t have little Kiley without a chaperone!” She winked at the camera, and then the screen went blank.
    Kiley turned to see her mom in the doorway, staring at the TV, too. She had a sick feeling in her stomach. Suddenly, it all made sense. “Know what, Mom? I’m the joke.”
    “Huh?”
    “The joke,” Kiley repeated. “That’s why I’m here. I’m the high school kid who had to bring her mom.”
    “It’s a little late for regret, Kiley.” Her mother sat next to her on the bed.
    “What was I thinking? I never should have done this.”
    Mrs. McCann got in her daughter’s face. “You are a lot of things, Kiley, but a quitter isn’t one of them. You just turn that joke right back on them.”
    “And just how am I supposed to do that?”
    “Just because I was sick on the ride over here doesn’t mean I didn’t hear what you said.”
    Kiley sighed. “What?”
    “That you came to win, Kiley.” She took both of her daughter’s hands in hers. “You came to
win.
”

6
    Esme had enough experience with police to know just what to do: follow their orders exactly. She edged out of Junior’s car, making sure her hands were visible at all times. Meanwhile, Junior slid out the driver’s side.
    “Hands on the hood! Both of you!” A cop was bellowing at them over his cruiser’s bullhorn.
    Esme felt ridiculous, putting her hands on the hood of the car. It was something out of a bad movie—the cops ducking behind their open car doors, guns at the ready for the shoot-out with the big, bad criminals. Right. If only they knew that they were accosting a paramedic and an honor student.
    At one cop’s signal, the others leaped forward and patted down Esme and Junior for weapons, screaming at them not to move. Esme suffered through the pat-down with as much dignity as possible. She knew that for some police, it was a sick power game. But here in Bel Air? When all she was doing was picking up her parents at work?
    “What the hell is going on here?”
    The voice shouting those words from the other side of the security fence had so much authority that everyone—Junior, Esme, and the four officers of the Bel Air law—looked to see who was doing the shouting. It was a tall, bearded man in his late forties. He wore faded jeans, a tennis shirt, and a blue Los Angeles Dodgers baseball cap.
    “Possible intruders, Mr. Goldhagen,” the older cop explained.
    Esme had to