AllFreeNovel
Share Us
FIVE
HADLEY
Hadley –
Please send me your bank account information so I can have money directly wired into your account.
Kind Regards,
Theo
Theo–
Here are my bank details as requested. I should remind you we haven’t yet discussed any sort of wage, either salary or hourly.
Warm Regards,
Hadley
Hadley–
Your wages will be in line with what the agency normally pays its employees. I will deposit that into your account on Friday. The money deposited today is to cover any expenses incurred over the course of the week such as groceries and gas. I will be home Friday evening. Saturday and Sunday will be your days off.
-Theo
I closeout the latest email, immediately open the bank app on my phone, and almost choke at the amount of money pending in my account. Holy shit. Where does Theo think I’m going to go grocery shopping? Whole Foods?
He’s been gone for most of the week. The kids and I have eaten our way through most of the food in the house, so his deposit is right on time, but it’s still much more than I expect. Now I wonder how much he’ll pay me since he never provided me with a dollar amount.
“Hadley,” Colton says, his sleepy voice coming from the doorway of the guest bedroom. “I’m hungry. Can we go out for breakfast?”
“Sure,” I tell him since my bank account is flush with cash.
I get Piper dressed for the day before making sure Colton’s washed his face and hands and brushed his teeth. The boy is eight, and within a day of knowing him, I realize the image of him as a clean-cut boy is nothing more than a façade; he’s a magnet for dirt and despises anything resembling personal hygiene. It takes a half hour to get them loaded into the shiny black Mercedes SUV designated for my use.
We head to a little café specializing in baked goods and greasy breakfasts where we’re seated at a table overlooking the turbulent waves crashing along the shoreline. It’s overcast, so it doesn’t seem we’ll be spending much time at the beach today, but it’s probably for the best. There’s nothing wrong with a lazy day inside.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” I tell the kids. “Will you be okay by yourselves?” I glare at Piper, who seems to be most likely to disappear from the restaurant, but she crosses a finger over her chest in a silent promise to stay put.
Over the past few days, I’ve noticed people staring and whispering whenever I’m out with kids. This morning is no different as I pass by table after table on my way to the back corner of the restaurant where the restrooms are located. There’s a line, so I lean against the faded seafoam green wall and wait.
“Theo Franklin has a new nanny.” My ears prick up hearing my boss’s name mentioned. I inch my way toward the sound of the conversation.
“I’ve never seen her around before,” someone else says.
“Don’t worry, she won’t last long. None of the nannies do,” another voice chimes in.
“They’re probably dead,” the first person responds. “Just like his wife. What was her name? Serena? She seemed lovely and thenpoof!She disappeared.”
I peek around the corner and find a group of older women sitting in a booth, their hair nearly white and their faces lined with wrinkles. I guess gossip in the Pacific Northwest is as toxic as it is in the South.
“There’s no proof he killed his wife,” one of them insists.
“But there’s no proof he didn’t, either.”
The mention of Theo’s wife intrigues me. So far, there’s been no mention of her, and until now, I’ve never been curious. Is she dead, as these old gossips suggest, or did she simply walk away from Theo and the kids? I can’t imagine any mother leaving their kids unless she was some sort of monster, which could also be the case.
The door to the bathroom opens, distracting me from my thoughts and I dash inside, not wanting to be away from Piper and Colton for longer than necessary. Luckily, they’re still sitting at the table when I return, their noses pressed against the window.
