AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There’s no point,” Leann said, standing on her chair. “She won’t last any longer than the others.”
I began to take deep breaths as I tried to remember that these were my precious angels.
“We will see,” I said. “And you will all be as good as you can, right?”
All three cherubs stared at me with blank expressions.
Fantastic, I thought. I was really getting through to them.
Chapter Three
Haley
“I’m gonna miss you, Hales,” Anna said as we walked into the resort, each of us carting one of my suitcases. I was off the crutches, but my still healing leg was in an air cast. It let me walk on my own, but man, was it clumsy. “This is our first time not living together in our entire adult lives. You sure you don’t want to just let Kevin–”
“No,” I said, interrupting her. “I told you. I can’t accept his charity. I need to take care of my own shit.”
“Okay,” Anna said, her voice resigned but pleasant. “Well, I guess let’s find James and get you settled in.”
We walked to the concierge desk, where a young woman about our age was typing away on her computer.
“Excuse me,” I said pleasantly. She looked up and smiled. “Hi. I’m looking for James Warner. My name is Haley. Haley Birmingham.”
“I’ll give him a call and let him know you’re here,” she said, motioning to a seating area nearby. Anna and I went over to wait for James, who took almost no time at all to find us.
The sound of the children heralded his arrival. The youngest was crying about something, while the older two had some kind of argument which was resulting in the older of the two hitting the younger one–the only boy–whose face went bright red as he swung back at his sister.
Oh, boy.
James, who was on his phone while trying to half-heartedly pull his kids apart, looked exhausted and frustrated. He was younger than Kevin, but it seemed that the stress of owning the resort while raising three kids on his own had worn him down.
He approached and offered a relieved smile to Anna, who stood and gave him a friendly handshake.
“Anna,” he said. “I can’t thank you enough.” He turned to me. “I assume you’re Haley?” I nodded, and he sighed. “Good. I apparently have an emergency I have to deal with, so this is perfect timing.”
I reached out to shake his hand as well, but he was so frazzled he didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he put a key and a folder in my hand, along with a set of instructions.
“Here’s the key and directions to the suite and the instructions for watching them. I’m sorry I don’t have the time to get you properly oriented to the job and responsibilities, but we can always go over it later if you have any questions.”
I nodded, taking the things and feeling ever so slightly hesitant at the interaction. The kids seemed to be a real handful, which I was no stranger to, but to be going in blind was rough.
However, the second James walked away, the youngest, who’d been crying, looked up and noticed Anna.
“Annie!” she cried and rushed into her arms.
Anna laughed and hugged her back. “Hi, Katie,” she said. “This is my friend Haley. She’s gonna be your new nanny.” The oldest girl scoffed and rolled her eyes, and Anna shot her a look. “Leann, that’s not a great way to introduce yourself.”
“Sorry,” she said without an ounce of remorse.
I was about to introduce myself to the boy, whose name I didn’t know yet when a rancid odor hit my nose.
“Oh,” I said, trying to be discreet about it, but not knowing what might have caused it. “Anna, do you–”
“Ben…” she said, giving him a suspicious glare.
The boy, Ben, broke into laughter and turned around, ripping a loud fart at us.
Great. So, we had Grumpy, Gassy, and Weepy, the three little dwarves I was now responsible for.
