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“It’s not just the money, baby.” Another cough. “I can’t… I can’t keep living like this. I need, we need, to consider a home, baby.”
Her words invited thoughts that I didn’t want to entertain. I didn’t want to think that my mother could be getting old, that her health was deteriorating, and I may not have as much time as I wanted. I swallowed and shook my head, willing the tears not to fall from my eyes. As much as I wanted to deny the fact, I knew that she was dying.
My mother was dying.
“We will, mama,” I told her. “We’ll look into homes and make sure that you’re taken care of.”
“I’m tired. We’ll talk later. Goodbye baby.”
“Bye, mama.”
Even though I tried so hard not to show how I felt, the tears streamed down my cheeks. It was any child’s worst nightmare to think that their parents weren’t invincible, that they would die.
I’d already lost so much of my family, and it wasn’t fair that I was being forced to lose more, to lose the one member of my family that I still had left. I was far from okay.
By the time that I’d gotten to the elementary school for Paige, I’d managed to stop crying, and the tears had completely dried up. The kids were out of school, but hadn’t been so for long. I got into the line, looking through all of the students until I found Paige’s familiar, grinning face. She was the happiest person I’d ever met.
When she saw my car, Paige was quick to run towards it. Before I started working with Ezra, I used to drive a cute, small Chevrolet Malibu. It was a shade of off-white, and it had almost two hundred thousand miles on it. But it was mine. I’d worked hard for it, and I was proud of it.
But Ezra had taken one look at it, called it a ‘hunk of junk’ and stated that it wasn’t safe. So, for my first day of being a nanny, he’d given me the gift of a brand-new Lexus he deemed safe enough to travel with his daughter inside. And it wasn’t as if I could complain or deny his request. He was my employer, after all.
“Quinn!” Paige exclaimed, as she settled into the car and beamed at me. She had a sucker in her mouth and she was chewing on it excitedly. She wrapped her seat belt around her small body, and once she was buckled in, her full attention was on me. “We had a party today.”
“Did you?” I asked her, a smile coming to my own face as I started the directions to the house.
“Yep, it’s the end of the year party. And we had cookies and chips and cake. Don’t forget the candy. It was so much fun!”
“That sounds like so much fun.” Just as my school year was coming to an end, so was Paige’s. I thought it was funny that both of us were having our own little parties, although obviously hers was a little bit more kid-friendly.
“It was!” She told me. “And I got a boyfriend.”
My eyes widened. Paige was only six years old, and she was having better success with relationships than I was, which wasn’t that surprising. I hadn’t been with anyone since my freshman year of high school. To say that I was rusty was the understatement of the year.
Still, what was her father going to say when he found out? Ezra was quite the protective father, and if he knew about his daughter being in a relationship, he would completely flip his shit. “And how did that happen?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, seemingly confused about the entire thing herself. “He brought me a dandelion and said, ‘will you be my girlfriend’ so I said yes.”
I nodded. “Is he cute?”
“Adorable!” She was bobbing her head up and down. “I think I love him.”
I smiled. Kid love was so cute. “That’s good.”
“Don’t tell daddy, okay?”
“My lips are sealed.”
This last month, I’d been a nanny for Ezra and his daughter. The job wasn’t difficult, and it was actually something that I enjoyed. Paige happened to be one of the most delightful children that I’d ever met. Usually kids her age were brats, and with a father like hers, they were probably used to getting every single thing that they’d ever wanted. But nothing about her was bratty. She was a sweet girl who went out of her way to make everyone else’s day. There wasn’t a person who could meet her and not like her.
In the beginning, I’d been so intimidated by this little girl and this job. The pay rate was so high that it made me think there was a reason why. A bad one. But I should have known better. Kayley had given me a full rundown of what being their nanny would be like, yet I hadn’t taken her for her word. That was my problem. Everything was exactly as she had told me it would be. Ezra was cold and unreachable, and his daughter was warm and full of joy.
But I’d grown comfortable with both her and her father. I didn’t spend very much time with Ezra, but that was a given. After all, I wasn’t his babysitter. In fact, most times, I had a feeling that he purposely made sure that our paths didn’t cross. Perhaps it was my mind playing tricks on me, but I wasn’t sure.
What reason would he have to avoid me? If he didn’t like me, or I’d done something to upset him, I was sure that he would’ve fired me. Yet, here I was, still working with him and his daughter. Obviously, he’d liked how I’d done, thus far.
“Do you have any homework, kiddo?” I asked Paige, pulling into their driveway. Just as I’d expected, Ezra wasn’t here. It was likely that he was still at work, which wasn’t a surprise. He was hardly ever here by the time that I got Paige home.
I saw Paige pouting in the rearview mirror. “A little bit,” she admitted, with a sigh.
