44 pages • 1 hour read
Lana FergusonThe Nanny
Lana FergusonFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 1-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 1 Summary: “Cassie”
Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses child neglect.
Cassie Evans details her nerves when making her first video for her account on OnlyFans, an online content subscription platform often used by sex workers. However, knowing that she is in control of her own choices and wearing a mask and a wig makes her feel secure and brave.
Years later, Cassie stresses about being able to pay for rent when she loses her job as a therapy assistant at a children’s hospital due to downsizing. She is a third-year graduate student studying occupational therapy, and she barely makes ends meet with her salary. Cassie complains to her next-door neighbor and best friend, Wanda Simmons, a 72-year-old woman who offers to let Cassie sleep on her couch while she looks for another job. Wanda suggests Cassie return to her old side hustle—OnlyFans. Though Cassie made good money from paid subscribers to her channel, she deleted her account years ago and does not want to restart it, saying that she learned a lesson from it.
As Cassie looks through job advertisements, she finds a listing for a live-in nanny position with great pay and emails the person who posted the ad. Aiden Reid, the person in need of a nanny, asks Cassie to meet with him as soon as possible. They arrange what Cassie assumes is a dinner interview at a fancy restaurant, and she feels out of place and underprepared. Waiting for Aiden, Cassie is approached by a handsome chef to whom she is immediately attracted. She is stunned and embarrassed when she realizes that this man is Aiden, who wanted to meet her on his break, not have dinner together. However, Aiden is impressed by Cassie’s credentials and is in desperate need of a nanny for his strong-willed nine-year-old daughter, Sophie, due to his demanding job and Sophie’s penchant for scaring off nannies. Aiden mentions that it is just him and Sophie living together and that Cassie would have nearly a whole floor of the house to herself. Cassie is nervous but she accepts the job.
Many chapters are followed by short message exchanges on OnlyFans between Cassie and her subscribers or other excerpts from her past. In the excerpt that follows the first chapter, Cassie receives a message with a tip from a person with the username @alacarte.
Chapter 2 Summary: “Cassie”
Wanda is suspicious of Aiden as Cassie packs up to move into his townhouse, but Cassie tries not to worry. When Cassie arrives at Aiden’s house, he is covered in flour and syrup and asks her if she knows anything about making pancakes. Aiden wanted to make pancakes with Sophie for Cassie’s first day, but despite being an executive chef, he is terrible at making pancakes. Luckily, Cassie makes pancakes that impress Sophie, and Aiden is surprised by how quickly Cassie and Sophie bond. He later tells her that Sophie has been acting out since the sudden death of her mother, Rebecca, nearly a year ago. Though Aiden and Rebecca co-parented Sophie, they weren’t in a relationship, and Sophie mostly stayed with her mother due to Aiden’s busy schedule. When Aiden leaves her to unpack, Cassie scolds herself for being attracted to her employer.
A flashback shows Cassie receiving a gift from an OnlyFans subscriber who goes by the initial “A.”
Chapter 3 Summary: “Cassie”
Cassie gets to know Aiden more as they talk about Sophie. Cassie reveals that she doesn’t have a relationship with her parents, so she doesn’t totally understand the close relationship Sophie and Rebecca had. When she calls Wanda the next day, Cassie says that she is worried Sophie doesn’t like her. Though she tries to give Sophie space, Cassie eventually gets Sophie to watch a movie with her after Sophie realizes that she is not going to be left alone if she doesn’t. They watch several movies and fall asleep together on the couch, where Aiden finds them after work.
A message on OnlyFans shows someone asking for a private show from Cassie’s account, @lovecici.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Aiden”
The narrative switches to Aiden’s perspective as he rushes Sophie to get ready for school while dealing with a problem at his restaurant. He and Sophie talk about Cassie in the car, and it is revealed that Aiden is just as attracted to her as she is to him. He feels guilty that his job is taking him away from spending time with Sophie, but he is happy that she seems to be bonding with Cassie. Aiden tries to avoid spending time alone with Cassie, despite enjoying learning more about her. She tells him how she got into occupational therapy to be there for children who didn’t have anyone else, and she also shares Wanda’s theory that he plans to hide her in his basement.
A flashback shows Cassie giving a private show to one of her subscribers. She realizes that she enjoys hearing this man’s voice.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Cassie”
On a phone call with Wanda, Cassie mentions bringing Sophie to meet her and Wanda infers that Cassie is attracted to Aiden. Sophie’s aunt, Iris, comes to visit while Aiden is at work, and Cassie can tell she doesn’t like her or that Aiden leaves his daughter with a stranger. Cassie continues to think about her strange meeting with Iris the rest of the night and finds Aiden in the kitchen when she goes to get water. Aiden reveals that Iris wanted Sophie to live with her after Rebecca’s death. Aiden feels bad that his career makes him so busy, and Cassie is reminded of her own absent parents despite knowing Aiden is nothing like them. Cassie and Aiden have an awkward conversation about their sex lives before Cassie escapes to her room downstairs.
Chapter 6 Summary: “Cassie”
Cassie feels like Aiden is avoiding her for the next few days, and when they meet one morning in the kitchen, they have another awkward exchange before Sophie interrupts them. Cassie takes Sophie to the beach, where they talk about how Sophie misses her mom even more when her dad is not around. When they get home, Aiden admits to Cassie that he was avoiding her so as not to make her uncomfortable, leading to yet another awkward exchange.
A flashback after the chapter shows Cassie giving a private show for her top subscriber. He accidentally sees a scar she has on her back, and he mentions he has one too.
Chapter 7 Summary: “Cassie”
When Cassie and Sophie come home from playing at the park, Iris is waiting for them. After sending Sophie inside, the women argue about Aiden’s efforts to be involved in Sophie’s life, and Iris accuses Cassie of having a relationship with Aiden. Cassie decides to talk to Aiden about it later that night, but she falls asleep on the couch waiting for Aiden to get back. She is awoken by the sound of Aiden in the kitchen, who spilled something and is using his shirt to mop it up, and the two talk. Cassie shares that Sophie told her that she misses Aiden but doesn’t want to tell him for fear of hurting him. Then, Cassie tells Aiden about her own absentee parents. She also tells him about Iris, and Aiden is thankful that Cassie defended him even though she didn’t have to.
Cassie notices a heart-shaped scar on Aiden’s stomach that he says he got from spilling hot oil. Cassie is immediately terrified as she remembers hearing this story before from “A,” her top subscriber. Cassie begins to piece together that Aiden is A, not only a man who watched all of her OnlyFans videos and paid for private shows but also the subscriber she planned to meet up with in the real world who didn’t show up, leading her to delete her account.
Chapters 1-7 Analysis
The opening chapters of The Nanny emphasize the impact of Cassie’s past on her present, contextualizing Cassie’s loneliness, insecurities, and complex relationship with Aiden and Sophie. In the first chapter of the novel, Cassie alludes to a bad experience on OnlyFans. Readers later learn that she is referring to a failed attempt to meet up with a subscriber she was falling for, an event that highlighted many of her deepest insecurities. Cassie carries many of her past insecurities with her and thinks of them often. Not only does Cassie worry she is unlovable after being stood up by “A,” her most active subscriber, but she is also very much affected by her childhood. Throughout the first few chapters, Cassie reveals that her parents were neglectful and made her feel that she was a burden. She tells Aiden, “I put myself to bed, I made my own dinner, I spent weekends talking to a ridiculous number of imaginary friends just to simulate some sort of human contact. That kind of loneliness can really fuck a kid up” (105). Cassie tries not to see similarities between Aiden and her parents as she knows Aiden does not want to spend time away from Sophie. Nevertheless, whenever Sophie talks about being lonely or Aiden comes back from work later than expected, Cassie is reminded of her past. The format of The Nanny also continually reminds readers of Cassie’s past through flashbacks and excerpts from OnlyFans conversations between chapters. Through these excerpts, Lana Ferguson shows that Cassie felt at ease around A and was beginning to fall for him. The stark contrast between the flashbacks and Cassie’s loneliness in the present day evokes her sense of loss and shows just how much Cassie still clings to her past.
The past is an idea that permeates the text and relates to its major themes, all of which are introduced in the first few chapters of the novel. Throughout The Nanny, Cassie must make attempts at Overcoming Self-Doubt, much of which is influenced by her past perceptions of herself. When she first meets Aiden at his restaurant, her inner monologue shows how out of place she feels. Though Aiden remarks that she is the most qualified person for the job, Cassie still feels underqualified, even once she begins to bond with Sophie. Similarly, in the chapters Aiden narrates, it is apparent that he also doubts his abilities, particularly his ability to be a good parent. Aiden worries Sophie doesn’t want to be around him, while Cassie sees how much Sophie misses him while he’s at work, alluding to the theme of The Effects of Parenting on Children. While Cassie tries to separate Aiden’s actions from those of her parents, she still sees how his absence affects Sophie. This first section also places an overall emphasis on loneliness, particularly the loneliness experienced by the two main characters, which stems from their past experiences. Like Cassie at the beginning of the novel, Aiden is desperate for help and feels alone. Their isolation sets up the theme of The Necessity of Support Systems, which also applies to other characters like Sophie and Iris as the novel progresses.
Many tropes of the “workplace romance” subgenre are revealed in this section, highlighting the intricacies of Cassie and Aiden’s forbidden attraction. The main characters must navigate the complications of forced proximity and professionalism, all with the added facet of living together. Countless awkward exchanges occur when Cassie or Aiden sees the other in a state of undress or brings up their sex life, so much so that Cassie can tell Aiden is avoiding her because he doesn’t want to make her uncomfortable. However, both Cassie and Aiden use the excuse that the other is “out of their league” to avoid the reality of their complicated situation and ignore their attraction to one another. Sex is an important motif in The Nanny, but in these early chapters, the characters try to ignore it as much as possible. Ironically, as Cassie discovers at the end of Chapter 7, she and Aiden have already had much more of an intimate relationship than she ever imagined was possible with her employer.
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