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“Oh, come on, she didn’t ruin anything. She showed up for five minutes and barely said anything,” Joy said. “Don’t let her get under your skin. That’s what she wants.”
Yeah, it was what she wanted, and I couldn’t seem to help giving it to her. It wasn’t my fault she was trying to ruin Mark’s life for money. And I had no doubt at all that she’d ignore the twins and wouldn’t even attempt to be a decent stepmother to them. Honor wasn’t exactly the maternal type. She’d want to ship them off to boarding school in Europe or some shit. Not that Mark and Sadie would let that happen, but still. I’d seen people completely change when they married a partner with strong beliefs.
“Another round?” I asked.
They both cheered.
* * *
After I got homefrom dinner, I rinsed off quickly and then filled up my tub with the best smelling bath bomb, a lemonade with crushed raspberries and mint, a bowl of popcorn, and a little stand that held up my ereader so I could chill in the tub with my book. I even put on one of my favorite playlists of music that mellowed me out.
I floated in the tub, pretending to be a mermaid for a while like I did when I was a kid.
I wasn’t thinking about Honor at all. Not even a little bit. Not for a second.
* * *
Sunday I madeanother fancy breakfast of mixed berry pancakes with maple whipped cream and crumbled bacon, and a mimosa with my coffee.
The sun had decided to be nice to me and was out in full force. I was worried that the day would be cloudy, but there was barely a dot of white in the sky.
I put on my most drapey caftan and took the rest of my coffee to my favorite spot beside the pool. I did get up and stick my feet in for a little while, but soon retreated to the shade of an umbrella, and the first of my books for the day. I’d made a list of what I wanted to get through and I had a schedule to keep.
It turned out to be a little too quiet outside, so I put on the speakers with my playlist again. I tapped my feet to the beat of the music and sipped the giant jug of ice water I’d brought out with me.
Yeah, I could function as a rich person. Someone who had inherited wealth, though, so I didn’t have to actually do anything for it. Mark worked way too hard and had to talk to far too many people. Definitely not for me.
Perhaps I could take a leaf out of Honor’s book and marry rich. There seemed to be a shortage of rich women looking for a wife in Arrowbridge, though. I’d have to go hunting.
My perfect day couldn’t last forever, though, and as the sun moved across the sky, my time alone ticked by. I cringed when I heard a car pull into the driveway but put on a smile when Mark got out and waved to me before going into the house.
I could stay out by the pool and do my own thing, but I went back to the guest house and ate a bunch of watermelon over the sink instead.
The twins had been sending me messages all weekend in the family group chat with their parents. It was sweet, really. I did miss them and would be happy to pick them up from their mom’s house tomorrow morning. The weather was going to be crappy, so I was going to be an asshole and make them clean their room and then reward them with a marathon of their favorite show and a charcuterie board that we were going to make together. I wasn’t like a regular nanny, I was a cool nanny.
* * *
Riley and Zoeyacted like they hadn’t seen me in a million years and clutched me for dear life when I picked them up.
“They missed you a little bit,” Sadie said as she got ready for work.
“I missed them,” I said, kissing each of them on the head. “You got all your stuff?”
They nodded and ran over to hug their mom. I saw the sadness in Sadie’s eyes as she told them that she’d see them later this week. Even though having divorced parents was all the girls had ever known, it was hard on them, and hard on Mark and Sadie.
Maybe that was what enraged me so much about Honor’s obvious ploy to marry Mark. Sure, he was single and fair game, but she didn’t want him. She just wanted his money.
I couldn’t think about it too much, or my eye would start twitching.
The twins piled into my car and we headed back to their dad’s house in the rain.
“Okay, everything upstairs and it’s time to clean.”
You would have thought I’d asked them to scrub the toilets with their bare hands. The dramatics over picking up a few socks and organizing some papers was truly unreal.
“The sooner you get it done, the sooner it’s done. See how that works?” I asked. They were too old for me to sit and direct them, but I did check on them to make sure they were staying on task.
It took three times longer to get their rooms to a normal level of clean than I anticipated.
