Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Flora
“Yes!” I squealed as I hung up the phone. “I only went and got the job!”
My sister, Maddie, rushed to me and hugged me tightly. “I am so bloody proud of you. You are a warrior.”
I frowned.
Maddie held my gaze. “You are. You are stronger than you know, smarter than you believe, more beautiful than you see and an all-round badass. You get that from me.”
Wasn’t that a quote from Winnie the Pooh?
It didn’t matter, it was still kind. Sort of.
I laughed. But in all honesty, she was a badass and took no shit from anyone, ever.
Unlike me.
I had never been much of a party animal.
She was the original good time girl. During my late teenage years I had overindulged in alcohol but discovered I was a melancholy drunk.
Eventually, I showed a little more restraint and whilst I enjoyed a cocktail or a glass of wine, I rarely drank to excess.
Maddie was the life and soul of the party sober, but with a few drinks she was off the scale.
She was vivacious, loud, confident and would make her own fun wherever she went.
I remembered countless occasions when she had ended up as the unofficial entertainment in pubs and clubs; she danced on tables, sang karaoke when it wasn’t karaoke night, took part in an open night at a comedy club that we hadn’t known was a comedy club.
Then there was the time we’d ended up in a back street pole dancing bar and she had left with two hundred pounds more in her purse than when she’d entered, and my personal favourite, the time she’d challenged a huge Hell’s Angel to an arm wrestle and won.
Yeah, Maddie really was a party animal and an all-round badass.
We were similar, but quite different and it worked. We worked. I loved my big sister and we were close. We were often mistaken for twins, more so when we were younger, but I guess that was understandable as there was less than a year between us.
Maddie had lots of friends, including my own.
When the chips were down it was just the two of us, battling for each other.
She was my best friend as well as my big sister, had been since our parents died in an accident when I was fifteen.
We had moved in with our grandparents and stayed there for a few years before we’d moved out to share a place.
I moved into my own place for a time, a couple of years later when Maddie had set up home with her boyfriend who was now her ex.
That was something we both had in common, failed relationships.
“Onwards and upwards now. Right, get your tightest jeans, lowest top and highest shoes on because we need to celebrate.” Without another word she was heading for the stairs calling for me behind her, “Flora, now!”
It had been a while since I’d shared a big night out with Maddie and as I seemed to have little choice in it, I decided to enjoy it.
We started with dinner, at a very fancy restaurant, the tiny portions for the three courses doing nothing to soak up the bottle of wine we’d shared, then we hit a bar for cocktails and then a new club, or at least new to me.
Of course my sister was on first name terms with every staff member there.
There was an offer on the spirits which Maddie made full use of.
I watched her down yet another double something before heading to the dancefloor, dragging me behind her.
I already knew she was going to have the mother of all hangovers come the morning, but for tonight, she was happy and having fun.
We danced for what felt like hours, the music sounding as if someone had put mine and my sister’s soundtrack together and were now serenading us with it.
I was going to miss Maddie when I took up my new job.
She was the one constant in my life and had always been there for me.
A frown marred her face as she stopped dancing and looked across at me.
“Come on,” she shouted above the music, already taking my hand in hers, leading me to the toilets.
The rather long distance to the bathroom allowed me to fully take in this place; shiny chrome flashed, mirrors reflected lights, it was all accented with soft muted colours giving the place a feeling of luxury and class.
The bathrooms were no different. They even had a beauty station with counters to sit at in front of huge mirrors and lighting that made you look like a Kardashian.
The toilet doors were a dark grey but adorned with an inspirational quote from influential women.
I was distracted as I began reading them, jumping when Maddie pulled me down onto a chaise near the beauty station.
“What’s wrong?” she asked with just a hint of a slur.
“Nothing.” I was clueless as to what she meant.
“Out there, on the dancefloor, you pulled your sad face.”
The penny dropped. “Ah, I was just thinking how weird it will be not to see you every day when I start my new job.”
She dropped her head into her hands and rested her elbows on her knees for a few silent seconds before looking back up at me. “You don’t have to go—except I think you do—there’s nothing here for you. This could be a chance for you to make a good life for yourself. It’s a brilliant new start.”
I could feel my eyes drying as I stared at her, unsure if she wanted me to go rather than just supporting the move.
“I will miss you like crazy. I can’t remember my life without you,” she said and sniffed loudly. “But I want you to be happy and fulfilled and I have a gut feeling this is the right move for you.”
I nodded, fearful of speaking for a few more seconds. The tightness in my throat and the fire burning there threatened tears. “I think you might be right.” I smiled, taking her hand into mine. “But do not ever say there is nothing here for me, our grandparents are here, and you, my big sister.”
With a single sob, she pulled me in for a hug, a move I reciprocated and clung to her even when she attempted to release me. I wasn’t quite ready to let her go, not yet.
Fortunately, our night had proven pretty tame after our little emotional heart to heart, resulting in a good night out with only a thick head for me the following morning rather than a fully-fledged hangover.
Maddie appeared in the kitchen and looked a little bleary eyed. She headed straight to the cupboard that housed the headache tablets. She’d had more to drink than me the night before. The way she winced at my simple breakfast of fruit and yoghurt confirmed her fragility.
She sat opposite me with a glass of water. “Are you sure you’ll be okay living that far away from me?”
I laughed at her concerned expression.
“Two hours in a car and probably less via a direct train.”
She still stared.
“If I’m not, I will come straight back and I will call you, often.”
She nodded now and offered a small smile. “Promise.”
“Scout’s honour.”
“Neither of us were ever scouts, Flo.”
“You’re splitting hairs, but I have a good feeling about this, and I haven’t had one of those for quite some time. Plus, when I was having a wobble last night, you were the one telling me this was the right thing to do.”
“Okay, I was the one saying that, wasn’t I .
. .” She sighed, sipping her water gingerly.
“Go and knock them dead, but always remember I am here for you, forever. We have each other, and even though I’m not there to straighten it, you better make sure that you remember you are a bloody queen, so keep your crown on straight and knock them all out. ”
I leapt up and circled the table so I could engulf my sister in my arms.
“Thank you, for everything, but I just turned twenty-nine years old and need to get my arse in gear. And if ever my crown needs straightening, I know where to find you.”
She sniffed back tears. “Yeah, you and me both, and you can’t be twenty-nine because that would make me almost thirty and I refuse to be older than twenty-five.”
“Sorry, my mistake.” I stuck my tongue in my cheek, trying not to laugh.
“Too right. Now, when do you need to leave?”
“I’m going back at the end of the week, just for the day to sort the final details and then it should be the week after that.”
“Well, in that case, we had better make the next couple of weeks count, but not now because I need to go back to bed.”
I nervously knocked on the front door and waited for a sound or sign of movement. Seconds passed by and as I pulled my phone out to check that I had the right date and time, the door flung open.
Mr Walker, my new boss, greeted me in a casual outfit of tracksuit bottoms and a tight white vest that clung to the obviously hard toned muscles of his chest and abs that were damp with sweat.
I was staring and needed to stop. Looking up at his face, he rubbed a towel over his thick, dark head and face.
Again, I stared. Dropping my gaze slightly, I took in his biceps that glistened, tracing my glance down his tanned arms, corded with muscles before finishing at his hands that he was drying.
With a smile that made his dark eyes twinkle, he extended a hand to welcome me.
“Miss Maynard.” He smiled. “Flora?” he queried, as if gaining permission to address me informally.
I smiled back, “Yes, Flora.” I wasn’t a big fan of formality, especially not if I was going to be living and working in someone’s house.
“Time got away from me. Come in, then. Bea has taken the children out for a while. I thought we could chat and finalise details before I unleashed them on you.”
I laughed at his way of making them sound like a pack of wild beasts, but at the same time glowing with love and pride for them.
“They’re a handful,” he added, as if justifying his own words.
“I’m sure they are. I’ve never known children not to be, in their own way.”
He nodded as he stepped back and followed me into the hallway, passing me so he could lead me into the kitchen that was a perfect fusion of modern and traditional, the large number of windows basking the room in light.
With a cup of tea in my hand, I looked around, waiting for Mr Walker to return from his shower.
I avoided dwelling on thoughts of him wet and naked and instead wondered how things would work here, with me and the other nanny, Bea.
This was her domain and whilst I would be taking over from her, I hoped the handover of the baton would be a smooth one.
“Right, sorry about that, but I’m sure you’d rather speak to me when I’m clean than drenched in sweat and smelling like the children’s week old socks.
” He laughed at his own reference, whereas I sat staring at him, jaw slack as my mind continued to hang onto the image of him in well-fitting jeans that slouched in just the right way and a white t-shirt.
Now I couldn’t decide whether I would have preferred his earlier sweaty and smelly self or the current one .
. . all clean and fresh . . . as delectable as Tom Cruise following the beach scene in Top Gun .
. . the jury was out because both had their own attractions, much like the man himself.
I reminded myself, not for the first time since my initial interview, he was my boss which meant he was out of bounds for anything more than eye candy, and there was no harm in looking, was there? I could appreciate the menu and not order from it.