9. Chapter 9 #3
“Have a good day at work,” I call out, waving at him. He doesn’t respond and climbs into his Metallic Grey Porsche Cayenne. A rich person’s car, if I had ever seen one. I stand there until he drives off into the distance, and head back inside and upstairs to start unpacking.
Midway through, things finally start to settle. Today is my first day on the job, and the only rule is, don’t screw this up.
****
Crap, I’m screwing this up.
I’m screwing this up!
I scold myself as I march back to the house for the third time, just to make sure I had activated the alarm system correctly. Forgetting to do so the first time, and then halfway down the second time, I get the inkling I did it wrong - I had.
Once I’m 100% sure the house is protected and that the house key is still clutched tightly in my pocket, I race down the road like I was training for the Olympics, towards my destination.
Ugh, today had not gone to plan at all.
After spending most of the morning unpacking my things, I did as Oliver told me to do: saved all the numbers and emailed Nigel all of my contact info, went through his extra-large email, trying to memorise Theo’s routine so I wouldn’t be stuck on my phone around him.
Then I did a small clean around the already clean house.
Hoovering the carpets and giving all the surfaces a daily wipe-down.
There was no need to go shopping because the fridge was stocked alongside the large kimchi container Gran made for me, as well as a bunch of household spices, so I had a quick lunch, started prep for dinner later and sat down to write some new ideas into my Dream Diary.
I hadn’t touched it in ages, and the prospect of my new paycheck inspired me… But I fell asleep.
My body was exhausted, and I was up early.
Gran made me triple-check I packed everything.
LJ gave me an earful for accepting this job from the monster Macy works for, which was wrong, no matter how desperate I was, and Gran had to add in how happy she was to walk around the house naked.
Then the movers came; I spent the morning signing over my soul to Surly Bastard, and after all those chores, I finally passed out.
I woke up at 3 pm, and Theo always comes out of school at fifteen past three according to his schedule, hence the rush to leave the house. But someone in the universe clearly has my back because the Primary school was a short walk from where Oliver lived, so I reached there in record time.
Cutting through the small park was a good shout. Thank you, Google Maps.
After checking which classroom is Theo’s, I stand outside amongst a group of mums, a few other nannies, and the odd dad here. We all wait for the children to come outside.
I use those last few minutes to run through Theo’s schedule one more time, and block out the unnecessarily loud whispers about who I was and who I was here for and what I was wearing.
To some extent, I got it.
Although this was a public school, it was home to a lot of rich people’s offspring, and I wasn’t exactly dressed like the other middle-aged nannies, my curls wrangled in a messy bun with my worn-out crewneck with a ketchup stain from lunch, an old pair of black leggings that were more grey than they were black and my white platform sneakers.
There was a plan to freshen up, but well…
Here I was, no make-up, just a layer of sweat coating my face from my brief jog here.
I may as well look homeless to these rich people, but I did my best to ignore any of that.
The school bell rings, and I put my phone away in desperate need of a hug from a cute, curly-haired boy.
Theo’s classroom opened, and children came bursting out like someone let the dogs out.
I made sure to stand tall, not too far from the door so Theo would be able to see me as I patiently wait for the swarm of children start to die down.
as The nannies collect their round of children, the odd dad scoops his little girl into his arms and on his shoulders, leaving the group of mums who erupt back into chatter whilst their children ran circles around them.
Whereas my little friend was the last of the herd.
Unaware that I was the one collecting him today, he scans the playground full of strangers before his perfect green eyes blow up like balloons, mid-gasp as he darts towards me.
“LUNA!!” Theo screams at the top of his lungs. I fall to my knees and envelop him in the tightest hug possible, feeling his tiny arms latch themselves around my neck.
“There’s my Theo!” I sing in relief, as I did get a little worried when I didn’t see him at first. “I missed you so much!!” Theo cries, pulling away from the hug, giving me that smile I patiently waited for and so desperately needed.
I didn’t know what it was, but this little boy had a bright aura attached to him that was bright; it was impossible not to want to bask in happiness with him, unless you were one of the prissy, stuck-up mums we were currently surrounded by.
“I missed you, too, honey,” I reply, planting a big kiss on his cheek, which made him blush, as if that was just possible.
“Here you go, Theo. Look, you dropped this!” I look up towards who I assume is his teacher, holding out his book bag. But the moment we meet eyes, my blood runs cold, and I clutch tighter onto Theo’s legs, holding him protectively in my arms.
I suddenly find it hard to move as his teacher runs his gaze over me. Just how small was the world that he and I would run into each other again…and here of all places. I secretly hope it’s just a nightmare.
“Thank you. Mr Stevens.” Theo replies politely, taking his book bag, with no clue he was voicing a name I once yearned to be attached to mine before I knew the truth. There was no denying it; it was him, but why, why of all people, did he have to step back into my life?
“You must be Theo’s new nanny,” he says politely, flashing a smile that used to make my heart flutter, but now all it does is make me sick to my stomach. I see; he was choosing to pretend the two of us don’t have years’ worth of history, and you know what? So be it.
“Yes, I’m Luna. Nice to meet you.” I respond, reluctantly holding out my hand to him, regretting the moment his skin touches mine.
“I’m Mr Stevens. Theo’s teacher,” he replies in a sly tone.
The bastard is enjoying every little bit of this, in no rush to release my hand, so I take the initiative to snatch my hand back first, wiping it on the side of my leggings to wash the tainted touch of him off me.
I had always wondered what it would feel like to see him again; now all I wanted was to get away.
He smirks, watching me hold Theo in my arms. Almost seven years older than the last time we saw each other, he made me deeply question my previous taste in men.
Standing at 5’9, his lanky build, neatly styled dirty-blonde hair, though thinner than I remember, and his bright blue eyes were filled with nothing but deceit. His looks ticked every box that younger me and most yearned for.
His smile still held the most power, but he was nothing compared to Surly Bastard, a man I don’t particularly love, but his personality and morals alone made him a god against the demon in front of me, and I can bet he has a smile that trumps this man’s from my past.
“Theo has been talking about you non-stop all day,” he adds, offering me a smile that seems to make the woman around me giggle, but just triggers regret for me.
The women around us right now had no idea what they were signing up for when it came to this man. The fact that he was around Theo for more than half of the day disgusted me the most. When I remember, there’s one person I should be focusing on, and one person alone.
“You did?” I ask, turning all my attention to Theo,
“Yeah! I told my friends all about the fun we had last week.” He beams with a sweet grin.
“Well, why don’t we head home for some more fun then?” I beam back at him, turning towards his teacher.
“Nice to meet you, Mr Stevens.” I force through my teeth, then take my escape. Walking past the clique of school mums and making a beeline for the school gates.
“I’ll see you around, Miss Jackson,” he belts in a cheery tone, but I refuse to look back. The contrast of him saying my name, compared to the way Surly Bastard did earlier, had the opposite effect. It made me wanna throw up and forget this interaction ever happened.
****
Once Theo and I got home, I helped him out of his school uniform and showed him how to lay it out for school tomorrow morning, then just as it’s scheduled, Theo picked an orange to have as his after-school snack, whilst he told me what he likes to have in his lunch box.
It was all written down in Nigel’s email; however, I wanted to ask him personally.
Then we sat down in the dining room and went through his homework for the day. I honestly thought it was a little mean to give kids homework every day when they were under the age of seven.
I encouraged him, nevertheless, and ignored the stir in my stomach from seeing his teacher’s name on the front of his homework book when we were done.
Why had I not noticed that last week? But if I had, would it have been the ultimatum that could have made me turn down this job? Yet another thing I couldn’t think about right now.
I needed to focus on Theo, and after homework is done, the two of us have a little fun.
Playing a few rounds of Mario Kart as I try to teach Theo how to drift.
I did show him there was an option to do it automatically, but he insists on learning to do it on his own, as I can, but by the time I needed to make a start on dinner, he was still struggling to get the hang of it.
After trying it on his own in the handheld version of the Switch for a while, Theo runs up to his room to play with his Super Mario LEGO set.