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The phone rang, and Joanna threw herself at it, praying that it would be the call she'd been waiting for.

"'Ello"

"Hello, this is Simon Carpenter with Carpenter Childcare Agencies, calling for a miss Erics"

"I'm Joanna Erics"

"Congratulations miss Erics, you've got the job you interviewed for."

"Really? Oh, that's great" A smile widened on Joanna's face.

"I believe that you do not know who you will be working for?"

"No, the interview was anonymous, but they seemed like really nice people."

"They are. The child in question is called Baylee, and he will be three years old in a couple of months. His parents are Leighanne and Brian Littrell. I think you may have heard of the father's band, the Backstreet Boys."


Joanna looked at the phone in her hand, dumbstruck. Slowly she put it back to her ear.

"Oh, I've heard of them."

"Good. Then maybe you understand that working for mr. and mrs. Littrell requires a bit of an extra effort from you. Tours, press, paparazzi and so on. Your task will be to protect Baylee against the two last, while sometimes on the first, and sometimes at their home."

"Of course."

"And do you accept these premises?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good. I will send you the contract. Read it, sign it, send it back to me so that I can start taking care of your travel arrangements."

"Thank you."

"Goodbye miss Erics"

"Bye!"


She remained standing next to the phone, mumbling to herself. "oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my GOD!!!!" She'd got the job, wich was great in itself, but working for Brian of the Backstreet Boys... She shook her head. "Lina is going to kill me!" she said out loud, to noone in particular.


Joanna had been searching for a teaching job since she'd got her teachers degree, but her home country wasn't exactly full of interesting offers, so she'd started looking into going abroad to work. She had decided that America would be the perfect place, not only to work but to get away from everything. She'd left her resumée at a dozen childcare agencies, and it hadn't taken long until she'd got the call from mr. Carpenter, asking if she could consider doing an interview with an anonymous couple. She had accepted, and just a few hours later she got a call from a man and a woman. She liked them from the start, and they had spent an hour and a half talking about children, her education, her background and her dreams for the future. She hadn't had the slightest idea that she was talking to a Backstreet Boy.


A couple of days went by, Joanna signed the contract, after almost choking herself with coffee while reading the paycheck part. She didn't say anything to anyone, just went to work as usual, sat all day in the check-out at a grocery store, went back home to her boyfriend and tried to act normal. Apparently she wasn't doing that well with the normal part, and after a terrible fight over dinner about nothing at all, her boyfriend, Andy, came into the kitchen where she was finishing the dishes. He sat on a counter and asked her what was wrong. Inhaling deeply she looked him in the eyes and blurted out: "I've got a job offer. I'm going to America to work as a nanny."

"That's great love!" She avoided his eyes, turned her back on him to place some plates in a cupboard. "What, Jo? Isn't it great? Are you not happy about this?". Suddenly he understood. "Are you leaving me, Jo?"

She nodded. "Andy.... Our relationship has been over for awhile now. You know that as well as I do. All we ever do is fight. We're not happy. I can see it in your eyes. You don't love me anymore. This is just hurting both of us. I'm leaving as soon as possible."

"God... I DO love you. Why can't you see that?"

"I have to do this Andy. I have to leave! I'm going out of my fucking mind here."

"But Jo... I want you to stay. I need you. We can work this out."

Tears flooded Jo's eyes. She hated this. She was hurting the only man she'd ever loved. But there was nothing more she could do. They had tried so many times, but it always went down in flames. "I'm sorry." She kissed him on the cheek, grabbed her coat and walked out, tears falling free over her face. She walked the short distance to Lina, her best friend, and knocked on the door. She could hear music blasting inside the apartment. Lina was playing Backstreet Boys. "She's going to kill me" Jo muttered under her breath, smiling through the tears when her friend answered the door.

"Jo? What's happened baby? Come in!"

"I just broke up with Andy."

"What?"

"I'm going to America to work."

Lina looked puzzled. "Again: What?"

"We just fight. All the time. I need a break. I hate my job, I want to work with children. So I got an offer to come to a family in America. It seems as the perfect way out of everything."

"You're leaving?"

Jo nodded. "Soon."

"How soon?"

"Four days."

"Oh, darling! I'm going to miss you, and I'm sure Andy will to, but this is flippin' awesome!"

Smiling and drying her cheeks Jo giggled "You haven't heard the best part yet..."

"Tell me. Now! All of it!"

"Well, the people I'm gonna work for... ehm... They're kinda famous."

"Who? Tell me now, you're just teasing me!"

Jo looked up at the huge poster that covered almost half of Lina's livingroom wall. There sat her future employer, looking down at her, smiling. She nodded at the picture. Lina just looked at her, not getting quite what she meant. Then, it was almost as if someone had switched on a lightbulb over her head. "You're lying" she whispered. Jo shook her head and got her copy of the contract out of her pocket. Lina looked at it, her beautiful face almost cramped up. Then she let out a scream that could have woken up every dead person in a twenty-mile-radie. "You lucky b!tch!!! Oh my God, I hate you!" She fell back over the armrest of the sofa laughing as if she'd gone crazy. And for the first time since she'd gotten the news, Jo cracked up and laughed with her friend, feeling as if everything was going to be ok. Suddenly, she just couldn't wait to go.