Tea Parties and Feather Boas (Luke Kuechly)

Chapter Two: Milk, Oreos, Hired!

"Thank you for coming by Miss Johnson," Luke smiled sweetly at the woman in her late sixties who had applied for the nanny job. "I'll get back to you soon."

"Ok, goodbye dearie," she waved as she walked towards her car.

Luke waved again before shutting his front door and groaning in defeat.

She was the fifth person he'd interviewed for the job and the linebacker wasn't going to employ any one of them to watch his daughter. Miss Johnson was sweet but too old. The other four had other things that made Luke not want to leave Isla alone with them. One was older than miss Johnson. Another had young kids of her own. The one before miss Johnson had acted like a complete ditz, as much as he didn't want to say it, and he wouldn't have trusted her with a goldfish and all this was leaving Luke Kuechly feeling rather discouraged.

"Daddy?" Isla asked, coming into the kitchen dressed as a princess for the day.

"Yes, princess?" Luke smiled, picking her up, making her laugh.

"Can I have a snack?"

"A snack?" The single dad teased. "Why would you want a snack?"

"Because I want one," Isla replied, placing her smaller hands on her dad's cheeks. "Your cheeks are scratchy, daddy."

"They are, aren't they?" Luke laughed, making a mental note it was time to shave. "Do you want Oreos and milk?"

"Yeah!!" Isla cheered, her dad smiling as he set her on the counter. "Daddy?"

"Yes?" Luke asked as he grabbed glasses and Oreos out of the cabinets.

"Who were all of those ladies who came to our house?"

Luke grabbed the milk and set it beside Isla. He sighed. "I'm trying to find someone who can take care of you when I have to go away for games. She's called a nanny."

"Is she like a baby sitter?"

"Mhmm," the linebacker nodded.

"Why haven't I had one before?"

"Because I am very stubborn and hard headed," Luke said.

"Well think you're very fun," Isla giggled, putting her hands back on Luke's cheeks. "And scratchy."

"You're something else Isla Joy," Luke chuckled, kissing his princess's cheek.

As the father and daughter enjoyed their snack, Isla chatted away about her ballet and tap class. Luke enjoying every bit of the chatter though. There was never a dull moment with his little girl, nor a quiet one. Isla was a talker and she could talk and talk and talk and then talk some more. Luke swore she could talk an ear off of a deaf man.

Luke was a little surprised when someone knocked on the door. All the nannies he had emailed had been told to be at his house between 12:30 and 3:00 and it was 4:00 now.

The opened the door to find a young woman biting her nails and looking around nervously. "Can I help you?"

She looked startled as she whipped her hand behind her back. "Mr. Kuechly?"

"That's my dad. I'm Luke," he smiled.

She smiled back shyly. "I'm Lydia Miller. I'm here about the nanny job," she said. "I know I'm terribly late but I got lost. I've lived here for 2 years and I still get lost every time I go to the grocery store. It's ridiculous, I know. I'm working at it and I tend to ramble a lot. Especially when I'm nervous," Lydia finished, with a huge breath. "Sorry."

Luke chuckled. "It's all good. Come on in."

He stepped aside to let the young woman, about his age, into his home. Luke could see her taking in her surroundings, the way her sparkling blue eyes never stopped moving. "Thanks," Lydia smiled at him once she had finished.