"The Manny"
"Are you sure this is good?" a weary Kai watched Jessica open a bottle of Pepsi.
"Yes!" Jessica stressed, sitting beside him on the living room couch. "It's basically a root beer float, but with a Pepsi instead."
Jessica's four children told Kai of their mother's guilty pleasure of making a float with Pepsi and her favorite ice cream brand: Häagen-Dazs.
She loved it so much, Jessica told her kids that the expensive dessert was for adults. Her mother had done the same to her, and from experience, she knew all too well that after one taste of Häagen-Dazs, other brands just couldn't compare.
"You trust me, don't you?" Jessica chuckled as she poured some of the dark soda into his cup.
"Oh, I trust you," Kai chuckled himself. "I'm just honored to be the one you'll share your precious Häagen-Dazs with."
"Don't tell the kids," Jessica poured some for herself. "I'll never hear the end of it."
"Your secret is safe with me," Kai had already dug into his ice cream float and in the middle of a euphoric episode.
"I told you," Jessica shifted her ice cream around with her spoon. "Häagen-Dazs is the way to go."
"Definitely can't tell the kids about this," Kai said with his mouth full.
"Nope," Jessica shook her head, snickering.
A comfortable silence fell over the two as they enjoyed their ice cream.
It would soon be six months of Kai nannying for Jessica. She was finally getting used to coming home to a clean and quiet house. Even more so, a man.
After Jessica's husband left her and their sons, she started to have a disdain for men in general. When her friend, Kai's cousin, said that he was good with kids and in need of a job, the single mother was very much against it.
Mainly because he was a man.
Jessica had to figure out life as a single mom. That meant depending on herself and no one else—especially not a man.
If her boys hadn't taken to Kai so quickly, she wouldn't have hired him. And even after she did, she often found it hard to accept that she relied on a man - yet again.
After all, Kai was taking care of her boys while she was working.
"Do you miss it?" she asked him. "Street racing, I mean?"
Kai did time for the illegal sport, so finding a job wasn't exactly easy for him. If it weren't for Jessica giving him a chance, he'd probably still be unemployed.
"All the time," Kai let out a small burp, setting his empty cup on the coffee table.
Jessica cocked an eyebrow, "why don't you just become a racecar driver?"
"Because doing things legally just isn't as much fun," Kai said honestly. "There's just something about that forbidden fruit, you know?"
"Well, I haven't done anything illegal, but I was young. The adrenaline of doing something you're not supposed to can be pretty addicting."
"You? Disobedient? I'm not surprised."
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Jessica scoffed.
"I mean, you gotta be a rule breaker to hire a man to be your nanny. Let alone a felon."
