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work and yeah, he knew he was bucking the
trend, but he’d never figured on the inbuilt bias against a man wanting to work
with kids.
    “I
considered regular teaching and I still might go down that track in the future.”
It was easier with older kids. There was a demand for more male teachers to
counter the number of single parent families where mum was in charge. “For now
I want a nanny position because little kids fascinate me.”
    “They’re
loud, sulky, erratic egomaniacs, who haven’t got a clue they don’t run the
world.”
    “Yeah,”
he laughed. “I love that. Look, I know this is the most basic question, but if
I tell you I love kids from two to five years old, I sound like a dirty
pervert. Particularly because I look like this.” He kept his eyes on Audrey,
waiting to see dismissal. “But I do love kids this age. They’re like aliens
learning everything for the first time and I find that exciting.”
    “How
often do you work-out?”
    The
abrupt change in tack surprised him. “I, ah. I worked my way though my degree
as a builder’s labourer. That’s what I thought I wanted to do with my life,
build homes. My size is genetic and I keep fit, but if you’re worried I’ll want
time off to work-out, don’t be. The job comes first.”
    Audrey
gave a solemn nod. And fair enough. His physicality was always the elephant in
the room, courtesy of a father he’d only seen pictures of and a whole past life
she didn’t need to know about.
    “Tell
me about your child care roles.”
    Mia
bought him a page of scribble to look at while he told Audrey about the Flannery
boys and then Jayden Ramsey. But neither of those jobs would help her feel
comfortable about him caring for Mia. She listened politely but she was
somewhere else while he talked about Jayden’s hyperactivity and Liam Flannery’s
diabetes. Mia bought her colouring and sat closer to him. What he really needed
to do was to tell Audrey about the girls, but that meant telling her about his
family and it didn’t seem professional.
    “You’ve
got excellent experience caring for boys.”
    He
wanted to ask what she thought the difference was. Every kid was different. Callum
Flannery loved to play dress-ups, the more it glittered the better. Some
mornings he wouldn’t leave the house without lip gloss. He was five and he had firm
opinions about his haircuts. This was going to happen to Reece in other
interviews unless he only ever applied to care for boys.
    “I
also cared for my four sisters.”
    Audrey
smiled one of those polite grins that looked more like pity for a try-hard. Family
didn’t count. Except that for him it did.
    “When
I was ten, Charlie—that’s Mum, remarried. She had four kids in six years, one
set of twins. My stepdad was a long distance truck driver, he wasn’t around
much and when he was, he was sick. He died of cancer the year my mum was
pregnant with my baby sis, Pippa.
    “When
I was sixteen Charlie got sick. With all that I did a lot of child care. It was
me who looked after the twins and Pippa. If I wasn’t at school, I had family responsibilities.”
    He’d
been too busy to be frustrated and angry about that at the time, but later,
what a blow-out, but not something Audrey needed to know about.
    “Charlie
had to work and she went to hospitality college so she could get a better job. I
changed nappies, I made up bottles. I washed, cooked, cleaned, and supervised
homework. Mum worked shifts, doubles whenever she could.”
    And
those hard times when he’d had to choose family over friends made him who he
was. He’d rebelled, as soon as he was out of school, three years of being bad
tempered, resenting the girls, and Charlie especially, until he realised he was
only hurting himself. He loved his family more than anything else in his life.
    “I
helped to bring my sisters up.” He stood. He’d hacked this up, there was no
point sitting through further questions. “I know you probably think family
doesn’t count in