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I open my window. “Have a nice day, dear,” I call out.
She flips me the bird as she walks away, and I giggle and look down at Samuel. He bites his bottom lip to hold back his smile.
“Well, she’s clearly not a morning person, is she?” I widen my eyes at him.
He shakes his head and fidgets with his hands on his lap.
“Where is your school, buddy?” I ask.
“We go up here and turn left.”
He directs me again as I drive, and ten minutes later we get to his school. I pull up out the front. I dip my head and look around at the empty playground. “Where is everyone?” I ask.
“Oh.” His little face falls. “They don’t get here yet. They don’t come until right on the bell.”
“What do you do until your friends get here?”
He shrugs. “I just sit in the playground near my classroom.”
“By yourself?” I frown.
He shrugs again.
"What time do you get to school each day?" I ask.
“About 7:50 a.m.”
“What time does your bell go?”
“9:15.”
“So, you just sit here in the cold every morning, all by yourself?”
He nods.
I stare at him for a moment and shake my head before I pull back out into the traffic.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“We’re going for hot chocolate. You don’t sit in the cold alone on my watch.” I reach over and squeeze his little thigh, and he smiles broadly. “We might even have chocolate cake.” I tickle him, and he laughs, wriggling to get away from me. “Don’t tell your dad we had cake for breakfast, will you?”
He shakes his head with a big goofy smile on his face, and then he takes my hand in his on his lap.
This kid has got me already.
I get back home at about 9:45 a.m. I got completely lost and had to use the maps app on my phone to find the damn house. When I walk inside, I can hear a vacuum running upstairs. The cleaner's clearly here. What was her name again? Damn it, I need to sleep. This jet lag is kicking my butt. I glance into the office near the staircase, and I tentatively walk up the stairs and down the hall. The cleaner is in Willow's room, and I open the door to introduce myself.
An elderly lady is inside vacuuming, wearing a light blue uniform and looking every bit the part of the housemaid. She looks up and smiles broadly. "Hello."
“Hi.” I smile, grateful to see a friendly face.
She turns the vacuum off and shakes my hand. “I’m Janelle. You must be the new nanny?”
I nod nervously. “Yes, I’m Brielle, but call me Brelly.”
She smiles as she looks me up and down. She has this warm, safe feel about her. “How’s it going?”
I roll my eyes and flop onto the bed. “Really bad.”
