Chapter 9

 

Summer

 

As the next week continued, I really never felt like I was getting the hang of being a nanny at all. I survived, and at least I managed to get the kids to school and pick them up. But I inevitably forgot things on a daily basis.

“We have soccer today,” Thomas said as we pulled away from the school.

“Soccer? I thought it was dance. Darn it, I brought the dance clothes,” I sulked as we drove all the way home before we could go to the soccer field.

Again, the kids were late for their practice, and the coach looked at me as if I was some ditzy blonde who couldn’t figure anything out. At this point, even I felt that way. Even when I was positive I had everything on our schedule, and I was ready to lock in our day as perfect, I would screw something else up. Being a caretaker was much harder than I could have imagined.

I collapsed into the shade under a tree while the kids did their soccer practice. I was so exhausted, I could hardly move. I’d finally figured out what the nanny was supposed to do while the kids were at school; sleep. I got up early, got them to school and then came home and slept a few hours until it was time to pick them up. Even with a nap, I couldn’t seem to concur my day with the kids, though.

“Summer,” I felt Faith shaking me away. “It’s time to go home. We are done with practice.”

“We have karate today. Remember,” Thomas said with a huge smile on his face. “We have it on Friday this week because we missed it on Wednesday.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said remembering the mishap earlier in the week.

The sun shone through the trees right into my eyes as I tried to gather myself and wake up enough to safely drive the kids to their next stop. It was inhuman how much they did in a day, and I honestly understood why they went to bed at nine and never had a problem falling asleep. These kids were like little energizer bunnies.

“Okay, let’s get to school.” I laughed. “I mean karate.”

“We don’t have our outfits,” Thomas reminded me.

“Ugh. You’ll have to wear your soccer outfits for today.”

Neither of the kids seemed very happy at that idea at all. They both groaned as we climbed into the car, but they didn’t complain. At this point, they were probably just happy we were going to make it to karate on time and not be late for that practice too.

We pulled up in front of the karate studio with five minutes to spare. As I walked in, I shrugged as I motioned for them to get ready for class.

“Sorry, we forgot the outfits,” I said to their teacher.

“It’s alright. I’m glad they made it,” he said with a smile.

I couldn’t help wondering if I was truly the worst possible caretaker this guy had seen before. The pity in his eyes made me think that I was. I sulked back out to the car to hide there while the class was going on and maybe catch another nap while I waited. But no sooner had my butt hit the seat than Tyler was calling me.

“Where are you guys?”

“I missed karate class earlier this week, so we are having it today. We will be home in an hour. Are you done working?”

“Yes, I just ordered pizza. It should still be warm when you get home. They said it would be forty-five minutes or so.”

“Perfect.”

“Are you feeling alright?”

“Just tired. I’m going to nap while they are in class. See you in a bit,” I said without giving him the chance to reply.

Tyler and I were getting along much better than the first few days. The sexual attraction between the two of us had calmed down a little, and our communication had increased as well. Overall, I was happy with the job, but I didn’t feel like I was doing it all that well.

There had been no more touching incidents. Honestly, I was too tired to even think about him like that. Instead, I was purely focused on making it through this month so my father could help me out. Every day I was sure I was getting better at being a nanny, and every day I felt like I failed when the day ended.

I liked Tyler and loved Faith and Thomas. If I could get the hang of this job, it was something I could see myself doing for a few months at least. But I just hadn’t been able to get a hold of all the jobs. The house was a disaster, the kids’ rooms were a mess, and I still hadn’t unpacked my own suitcases. It was basically a mess everywhere, and Tyler was putting up with it.

Somewhere in the midst of our first week of awkwardness and yelling, Tyler had found a way to let me learn the ropes. He was helpful when I needed help and always answered questions when I had them. I think he was just happy that I was there, and he could get caught back up at his job. From what I understood, he had a big event coming up, and he and his partner were going to have to work really hard to land this new client.

As karate class ended, the teacher walked the kids out to the car. I rolled my window down since he was looking at me as if he had something to say. I couldn’t help hoping he wasn’t going to scold me for missing on Wednesday or not having them wear their outfits today.

“Hey, I’m Cole,” the man said as he put his hand out for me to shake it. “I don’t think we have formally met.”

“Hi, I’m the nanny.”

“Do you have a name?” he asked playfully, and it took every bit of self-control I had not to roll my eyes.

I hadn’t put on makeup in a week. I felt like I might actually be dying because I was so tired, and this guy was going to hit on me. Great, yep, that was exactly what I wanted to deal with at that moment.

“My name is Summer,” I gave in and answered.

“Well, Summer, that’s a beautiful name. I was wondering if I could get your number and maybe call you sometime?”

“No, I don’t think so. I’m really busy with the kids.”

“How about I give you my number, and if you happen to have some spare time, you can give me a call? I’ll drop whatever I’m doing for a chance to go on a date with you.”

Cole hurried and wrote down his number on one of the karate studio business cards and handed it to me. I already had the car in reverse and was slowly pulling out of the parking spot.

“Have a good night,” I said as I kept pulling away from him. “Wow, that was awkward.” I laughed as we got on our way home.

The kids were nearly asleep by the time we got to the house. I managed to wake them up, and they shuffled into the house. Both of them could barely keep their eyes open though as they sat down at the table where Tyler had pizza waiting for us.

“Wow, you all look pretty darn tired. How was your night?”

“Our karate master likes Summer and asked her out on a date,” Thomas said as he devoured his first slice of pizza.

“Oh, so you got a date?” Tyler asked as he raised an eyebrow playfully.

“No, he asked me out. I never answered.”

“Ouch.”

“Hey, I can hardly manage my days right now. I definitely couldn’t hang on a long night out. I’d be a horrible date.”

I really wasn’t feeling well, so I got up to go use the bathroom. On the way down the hall, I bent over to grab some toys that were on the ground, and as I stood up, I knew something was wrong. The room was spinning, and quickly I felt my legs slip from under me.

 

***

 

“There she is,” I heard Tyler say as I felt Faith brushing my hair out of my face.

Her little hand was so adorable as she rubbed it across my face and then my forehead. She was trying to take care of me, and as I opened my eyes, she looked like she was about to cry.

“You’re not dead?” she asked.

“No honey. I’m okay,” I reached up and gave her a big hug.

Faith was such a sweet little girl. This week would have been torture if I had naughty kids I was trying to take care of. But instead, I had pretty darn great kids, and that had helped a lot.

Tyler was sitting on the floor with Faith in his lap, and Thomas was next to them. They were all staring at me as if I had been on the couch for a very long time, although I didn’t remember how I got there or what had happened at all.

“Okay, let’s give Summer some time to rest. I’m going to get these munchkins to bed, and I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere,” he said. “I’m serious. Stay put. I need to check you out before you get up and move around. Okay?”

“Yes, sir,” I said playfully as Faith and Thomas both laughed.

I felt terrible. My hands were trembling, and I was pretty sure I had a cold sweat going on. There was no way I was going to venture to try and move. I closed my eyes and waited for Tyler to come back.

As I lay there, I tried to think about what it was that I could have done to make myself feel so awful. I’d been sleeping at night. I was taking naps every day. I probably wasn’t eating enough, but that was pretty normal for me and usually didn’t end with me feeling so horrible. Only since coming to work for Tyler had my light eating habits been an issue for me. Perhaps all the running around after the kids was going to require me to put more of an effort into my diet and calorie intake. I certainly didn’t want to get fat or anything like that, but I could use a few hundred more pieces of pizza at the moment. In other words, I was starving.

Thirty minutes later, Tyler had the kids tucked into bed, and he was kneeling down in front of me. The genuine concern in his eyes was heartwarming as I held onto his hand for a minute and sat up. Tyler was a nice guy. I wouldn’t have known that after our first few days together, but he was growing on me, and I really did think he was nice.

“Do we need to give your parents a call?” he asked.

“No, I’m fine. Really. I’m just so horrible at this job. I’m sorry. Don’t call them. Ugh, they will just go on and on about me not taking care of myself.”

The last thing on earth I wanted Tyler to do was call my parents. They already thought I couldn’t take care of myself. This would just give them the ammunition they needed to continually rub my face in it.

“It takes a little getting used to this job. But I bet you’d do better if you were actually taking care of yourself. You can’t keep burning the candle at both ends if you want to be able to have the energy to run after them. I’m sure your parents would just say the same thing.” Tyler gave me one of those all-knowing grins of his.

“Yeah. I know. I was just thinking that I needed to eat some of that pizza.”

“Just so you know, I actually think you’re doing a really good job. The kids haven’t been this happy in a very long time.”

“But the house,” I groaned as I looked around at the mess. “I’m sorry.”

“Okay,” Tyler said as he sat next to me and grabbed both of my hands. “We are done with being sorry and all of that. This job is hard. You’re basically a parent of two school aged kids. You’ve got to give yourself some slack.”

As Tyler held my hands, I started to think about how I had gotten onto the couch. Had he just picked me up off the ground and carried me there? That was pretty embarrassing, but yet really sweet of him.

“Did I faint?” I asked as I was finally putting everything together.

“Yeah,” Tyler laughed at me. “What did you think happened?”

“I don’t know; I thought I might have lain down on the couch and fallen asleep. But then I was thinking about it, and I couldn’t remember coming over here to lie down. Gosh, I don’t even know what I was thinking.”

We both laughed at how absurd my memory was at the moment. I really did need to get some food into me as my brain wasn’t working well at all.

“By the way, you seemed to be keeping the house clean when you were home,” I said as I remembered the first day I visited him. “I don’t understand how you were able to do it, but I can’t seem to get anything done around here.”

“I’m probably a little meaner than you are.” Tyler laughed as he continued holding my hands in his. “But you have to find your own way with the kids. Just don’t put this all on yourself. They are old enough to pick up after themselves. You don’t need to do it for them. Don’t let them convince you that it’s your job to pick up their toys when it’s really their job.”

“Okay.”

“And you have to take the time to eat. I swear I’ve only seen you eat three bits since you’ve been here. That’s just not going to work for me. You’ve got to promise to make a better effort in that area.”

“I will.”

“Those kids care about you. I care about you. Taking care of yourself is essential. What if you had been driving, and you passed out? That’s pretty dang scary, right? So you have to eat; I don’t care how mad at me you are.” His eyes squinted a little as he smiled at me.

“Thanks, Tyler. Thanks for being nice to me even though I suck.” I laughed.

Tyler gave in and laughed with me. As much as I wanted to be the perfect nanny, it was clear I wasn’t doing the best job at it. At least Tyler was willing to give me more time and let me try and figure out how this job worked with my personality. Maybe I was just going about it the wrong way. Maybe I was trying to be Mary Poppins instead of just being me.

“I should probably let go of your hands now.” Tyler laughed as he realized he was still holding onto them. “I think you should rest tonight. Eat the rest of that pizza. Then make some plans to go out with your friends this weekend. Maybe a fun weekend with your friends will help get your spirits up.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I’m home, and you look like you need some time with your friends. I need some time with the kids anyway. I’m not used to having to be at the office all day long. This will work out perfectly.”

“Yeah, I like that idea. Give me that pizza.”

I downed a few slices of pizza and was feeling much better by the time I crawled into bed. The last two weeks of my life had been harder than I remember anything being before. I couldn’t quit this job; I didn’t even want to quit. But it was hard. I sucked at it, and I was really excited to have the weekend off to hang out with my friends and finally relax a little.

Before falling asleep, I sent out some messages to everyone to get things started to go out on Saturday. I had barely talked to any of my friends that week because I was so busy, and I knew they were going to hammer me with responses. I flipped my phone to silent and went to sleep. Whatever they had to say was just going to have to wait until morning. I really needed my sleep.

I didn’t set an alarm, and it was fabulous to sleep through most of the morning and wake up to the warm afternoon sun. My stomach was growling again, and I couldn’t wait to make a healthy breakfast and visit with Tyler and the kids before I made my way over to Patrick’s apartment for the night out on the town.

Since I was asleep, everyone took it upon themselves to decide what we were doing that night, and that was just fine with me. I was supposed to get my butt over to Patrick’s apartment by eight o’clock, and everyone else was going to meet up there as well. Then our crew was heading to Club Lively, one of our favorite dance clubs in the city. Lively was a much younger crowd, and I’d never been able to find a decent guy around there, but I didn’t care at all. This weekend I truly just wanted to hang out with my friends and have some fun after the two most stressful weeks of my life.

The house seemed really quiet as I came downstairs, and for a minute, I thought I had read the clock wrong and it was much earlier than noon. But as I looked at the stove and the microwave, I was assured that it really was a little after noon and everyone appeared to have taken off for the day.

“Anyone home?” I yelled out, although I was pretty sure I knew the answer.

As I walked into the kitchen there was a note from Tyler:

 

Took the kids to the park and then a baseball game.

Have a great night with your friends. – T

 

I smiled as I held the paper. I already felt like a million pounds of pressure was off of me since he told me I was doing a good job. I hadn’t thought of how happy the kids were, and they certainly did seem happy with me around.

This night was so needed, though. It was going to be wonderful just to get out of the house and not have to worry about Faith or Thomas for the night. I really wasn’t used to having to take care of anyone else besides myself. Heck, I wasn’t even that great at taking care of myself.

With the house quiet, I made myself some coffee and went to enjoy the peacefulness of the backyard. It was an entirely different experience back there without the kids running and screaming.

The grass looked a little greener than it had the last time. The trees along the back fence even seemed a little taller to me. I sprawled out on one of the lounge chairs and just took in the warmth of the sun. This was what I had pictured myself doing while the kids were at school. But instead, I was curled up in my bed totally exhausted.

For the rest of my afternoon, I took advantage of the beautiful day we were having and sat outside as much as possible. I made some eggs and brought them out first and then since I was still hungry, I made a sandwich and brought it out as well.

I even went and grabbed my swimsuit and threw it on as the afternoon warmed up even more. With a good book and my shades on, I did my best to fully relax and enjoy the day. I didn’t have to start getting ready until at least six o’clock, so I was going to really enjoy the quiet I had going on.

“Summer is naked!” I heard Thomas yell as he slid the back door open.

“I am not,” I protested. “This is my swimsuit. I’m getting a suntan.”

Thomas and Faith just blasted right past me as they ran out to their fort in the back of the yard. As I stood up from my lounge chair, Tyler was standing in the doorway staring at me with a smile he just couldn’t wipe off of his face.

“What? I’m not naked,” I again protested.

“Pretty close,” he teased.

“This is a normal swimsuit. It’s not that tiny.”

“Let me see, do a spin,” he said as he playfully motioned for me to spin around.

I did as he asked just to play with him. This particular swimsuit was actually covering me more than any other from my collection. It had cheeky bottoms but a full top. Nothing like the string bikinis I had decided not to bring with me.

“You like?” I teased.

“Yeah, that’s a nice swimsuit. But I thought you were going out with your friends tonight?”

“I am, just not meeting up until later. I really enjoyed spending the day out here. The house is a lot different when everyone is gone.”

“I always found it hard to relax when I had the house to myself – like when I would take the kids to school and work from home. It was creepy as it was so quiet.”

“Well, I better go get in the shower and start getting ready,” I said as I walked over to the sliding glass door, but Tyler didn’t move.

His eyes were glued to my body as he stayed right where he was. The look of desire that filled his face was clearly the same one I’d seen before. I wasn’t sure if I’d just been too tired this week to notice it or if he had been behaving himself so much that he wasn’t giving me that look.

“Oh, sorry,” he said as he finally realized he was blocking the door. “Call if you need a ride home or anything like that.”

“I can get an Uber, but thanks.” I laughed as I went toward the stairs.

“Where are you guys going?”

“Club Lively.”

“Oh, yeah, I hear it’s nice there. Okay, well, have fun,” he said again as I turned and made my way up the stairs.

I couldn’t help smiling as I closed my bedroom door behind me and hopped into the shower. It only took me an hour to get ready instead of my usual two hours because I just didn’t care as much as I normally did. I wasn’t at all interested in looking for men and just wanted to have fun.

Instead of my usual super short dress that clung to every curve, I opted for a flowing style dress with flowers. I kept my hair down with a couple of braids on either side to spice it up a little, and instead of my super hi-heels, I had on a pair of sandals. It was a great feeling to come down the stairs and not have to worry that I might topple to my death.

“Wow,” Tyler said right away.

“You look like a princess,” Faith added.

“Thanks, guys.”

“I like this look. Very cute,” Tyler added with a nod.

I knew exactly what he meant. I wasn’t dolling myself with a ton of makeup and my super hi-heels. Instead, this felt much more like the real me, and I was one hundred percent more comfortable than I normally was on a night out.

“Well, you guys have a fun night. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said as I gave Faith and Thomas a little hug. “You too,” I motioned to Tyler but didn’t hug him.

“Have fun,” they all said as they waved goodbye.