CHAPTER ONE- A NEW HOME IS BORN

Tara looked down unenthusiastically at the pile of mail laying untouched on her bed. She could hear her parents in the background, but she wasn’t in the mood to listen. She closed her door and flopped down onto the bed. She picked the mail up into her hands after heaving her jacket onto the chair beside her desk. She flipped through the letters, nothing new, a bank statement, some special deal from some company she’d never heard of, yet knew her, a letter from her best friend, Clarrissa. She stopped dead her finger poised on the simple white envelope with the
“ISN” logo printed in the top left hand corner.
“The international school of Nanny’s” she muttered to herself
She’d put in an application about 2 months ago, Tara had figured opening her horizons to new job prospects couldn’t be any harm. She’d done some courses and some training in the field, but not nearly enough as she thought she would need to do.

The sudden realization that is was probably just a letter informing her they’d received her application and that they would let her know if anything came, hit her relatively hard. She ripped open the flap of the letter, and hurriedly pulled the letter from it’s bed of white comfort.
“Bad news should be dealt with first” she sighed unfolding the letter.

Slowly she began to read:

Dear Miss Tara Dallas
We have received your application and it is with great joy we give you this news. A couple form the east coast of the USA had enlisted our services into finding them an ideal Nanny. They searched our databases and in the process were given a copy of your CV and the interview tape you provided.

After seeing both these they were delighted to inform us that they would like to meet with you in person and hopefully come to some arrangement.

All details will be sorted out in a meeting, still to be set with you and the family. Please respond to this by phone within the week, so we can arrange a meeting.

Yours sincerely
Robin Cook

She looked down in complete, utter disbelief.

~ 1 WEEK LATER ~
Tara nervously chewed on her already short nails as she sat in the waiting room of the ISN. She’d lived in what she called her personal hell all of her life, a small country where nothing of interest ever seemed to happen, everyday her father would without fail remind her that a place is what you make it, and she made New Zealand to be shit, nothing more, nothing less – a “great place to visit, or retire, but not to live” she sighed.

“Miss Dallas? You can go in now” the short thin secretary smiled pointing across the room to the plain wooden door.

Tara stood up, straightened her knee length skirt and followed the directions into the interview room.
“Tara? Please have a seat” an older lady, Tara had recognized from her first interview to get into the ISN
“This is Mr. & Mrs. Richardson” the older lady – Robin introduced
“Please Kevin and Kristen will do” the petite women smiled extending her hand
Tara took it, grateful for the lapse into a more casual feel. The man too smiled, and kindly shock her hand as
Tara sat down across the round wooden table.
“How about I just leave you three to talk, get to know each other that sort of thing, just tell me if you need me” Robin smiled before exiting the room
“So Tara, you look quite young” Kevin said looking at her closely
“I get that allot” Tara smiled “I'm actually 19, though I do occasionally get confused with an 16 year old”
“We have only one child, but we’re both away allot” Kevin explained
“What we’re looking for is someone who will be there if we need them, see with both Kevin, and my type of work we find ourselves jetting around the world in a days notice. Samuel, our son, is about a year and a half old, in fact he’s nearly two” Kristen smiled, obviously madly in love with the little boy
“You’d be expected to live in the house, and duties would essentially include the normal nanny duties, and just helping out where you can, how does this all sound to you”
Truthfully – it was over powering.
“It sounds great” Tara replied
“We’ve taken a look at your CV and talked to some people you used to work with, we honestly think you genuinely have a great personality. We live just out of the city, in Orlando, Florida, so of course you would have to leave your present home, would that be a problem to you at all?”
“No, not at all”
“So? Would you like the job?” “Definitely, it sounds like you are two very loving parents and I definitely love to be a part of it all”

They chatted a bit longer, slowly beginning to get to know each other. The contract would be finalized and signed that afternoon. Everything seemed to move so quickly for Tara, and as she left the school, that afternoon she realized that she had the biggest task ahead of her, telling everyone

The contract was pretty simple, she was a live in nanny, room and board as well as $9.00 per hour pay. There was to be 3 week trial basis, and then after that a ruled up contract would be done for whatever terms they decided upon. Tara would leave in about 2 weeks.

~ THAT NIGHT ~
“What do you mean you don’t think I'm old enough?” Tara screamed
“Exactly what I said Tara, you cant go gallivanting around the world, you don’t even know these people” “Look forget it okay, I'm not asking for your approval, I'm Telling you I'm going” she announced turning around and marching off.
Just because she was the youngest her parents took it upon themselves to treat her like she was 5. She huffed loudly as she slammed the door to her bedroom. She picked up the phone and began to dial?
“Hello?” Clarrissa answered “Carrey? It’s Tara”
“Hey girl, what’s up?”
“I got a job”
“I thought you had one”
“Yeah, I did, I got a BETTER job”
“Really? Doing?”
“It’s a nanny position”
“You mean like smelly nappies and shit?”
“Something like that”
“We’ll good on you, where abouts?”
Tara remained silent, her and Clarrissa hadn’t been separated since they were like 10, now how was she supposed to tell her in the wink of an eye she was off to Florida, half way around the world.
“It’s in Florida” Tara responded quietly
“Florida? As in, in the USA?” Clarrissa screamed in shock
“Uhuh”
“No way girl, you’re leaving, you’re going?”
“Yeah I guess I am”
“But what about us?”
“We’ll always be best friends, promise, I’ll write all the time, and call you like everyday”
“Yeah well you better. So tell me about it?”
Clarrissa seemed, reluctant and not quite as happy for Tara as she had hoped, but that was Carrey, she’d come around.

~ 2 WEEKS LATER ~

Tara looked down at the clouds below imagining what the city looked like form a way up here. She’d left her friends, and everything she knew only a matter of minutes ago, her eyes still wet from the tears, she’d spent the last 2 weeks wondering if she was doing the right thing, in the end she knew she was doing HER thing and when it came down to it, that was all that really mattered – or so she thought.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~
Alicia closed her eyes briefly to the startling Florida sun. She peered down at her clothes in disgust, she smelt like a mixture of smoke and beer, a permanent going away present from her last job as a waitress in a bar. She wasn’t sure what had dragged her to this place, or where the next place would be that she would soon find herself in. Everything she owned was crammed into 2 suitcases and a carry bag, all of which she held tightly to her as she hailed a taxi.

Deep down she knew what she’d come back for, the chance to rekindle something she’d lost 2 years ago, a wild goose chase she knew it was, but that was her weakness, always searching for something she’d probably never find.

Her parents had died in a car accident one year and a half ago, almost to the day. Before then she was what most people would consider happy, after they died, she dropped out of college, refused to hold dreams and aspirations and for months she would lie on her bed, silent and just cry. In the last 9 months she’d slowly but surely pulled her life together, she was only 22, but carried the emotional scares of an old lady. Month after month she found herself in a new place, hoping to surround herself in people that wouldn’t bather with her, no one to care, no one to let down………….

It was not Florida’s turn, she’d remembered him that much, she’d been tortured by his face, staring down at her from the music posters in the windows of the shops. She hated herself for coming here, but she was here now, and soon she’d again be on a bus elsewhere.

~ LATER THAT NIGHT ~
“You mind getting your hands off me?” Jasmine snapped slapping back a wandering hand.
AJ lowered his glasses to study the women in front of him. The beer was dulling his head, but hell the life he created when he was drunk sure bet reality.
“Shit women, come on” he laughed pinching her ass
“I'm not your god damn hooker, for Christ sake, men are such pigs” Jasmine announced, glaring down at AJ
He shrugged his shoulders, girls like her were a dime a dozen, he could get a million of her, she wasn’t THAT nice.
Jasmine took center stage, after hurriedly composing herself. The jeers and wolf whistles echoed out through the low lying cloud of smog and the heaving stench of beer. God, she hated these places, but for now they were all she had.

Blocking them out, she closed her eyes and began to sing, the words of the song flowed from her mouth with ease and perfection.

Even in his half drunk state he could tell she was good, he knew a voice when he heard one.
“Who is that?” he questioned looking across at the bar owner
“That? That’s Jasmine, not your type I think” the older half bald man laughed “Got venom dripping off her tongue” he added
“She’s got a great voice, that’s all I was meaning. Just give her this okay?” AJ said handing a card to the owner.

Chapter 2
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