CHAPTER TWO
The sound of her alarm getting louder each passing second woke Indya Marshall, and she hit the snooze button with her palm for the third time. She groaned at having to get up and look after two little horrors who wouldn't have any sympathy for her. Her head was pounding, and she knew without Tylenol she wouldn't survive the next hour let alone until this evening when she thankfully had a night and the following day off.
"Indy! Indy!" shouted the twins through her door. Ben and Sean recently turned five and were full of energy from the moment they opened their eyes in the morning until their heads hit their pillows at night. She groaned, wishing they came with a mute button, or at least a volume control then cringed at the thought. She loved her job as a live-in nanny to the twins and underneath all their raucous energy they were sweet and thoughtful boys.
Indya threw back her covers, put on her robe and opened her door, "Morning to you too," she greeted them. They looked up at her with beaming smiles, which were permanently on their little faces. They were dressed for kindergarten, or at least what five years olds deemed as properly dressed. She was envious of their get up and go. "You're both up early," she said, as she ushered them towards the kitchen. "What would you like for breakfast?" she asked as she pulled out the griddle from the cupboard, knowing the answer before they shouted it - in unison.
"Pancakes please," they said as they climbed on to a stool at the breakfast bar.
She opened the refrigerator and pulled out the butter, milk and eggs, "Are your bags packed?" she asked, grabbing the flour and sugar as she mentally went through her morning to-do list.
"Yes," they both said as they watched her measure the ingredients and mix the batter. "We just need our lunch," said Ben, not taking his eyes off the pancake in the pan. It was his turn to get the first one. It didn't take her long to whip up their pancakes and make one for herself.
While they were eating their breakfast, she managed a quick shower and take her Tylenol. It was a short ten-minute walk to their kindergarten school. By the time they got there her headache begun to clear. Now that the twins had started school, she'd more free time on her hands. It had been five months since she'd almost handed in her notice to move in with Mateo, her cheating ex-boyfriend.
She groaned at the memory and was thankful that she hadn't bumped into him since she called it off and blocked him from every social media account she had. While she loved her job, she hadn't been too upset at the prospect of doing something else, as her job with the Franklins was a live-in position. They often worked late, and she needed to be there to look after the twins. It was around that time that her best friend Lucy, who was also a live-in nanny with another family, decided she wanted to go back to college and become a teacher.
Six months ago, she was the one about to move in with her boyfriend and find another job, while Lucy was single and happy in her employment. Now, she was the single one, still a nanny and her friend was living with her boyfriend and studying to become a kindergarten teacher. She sighed, realizing she'd walked to the park, her usual place to meet Lucy, instead of going home.
Home.
Her home was a room in her employers apartment. Her parents still lived in a suburb of the city with her two younger brothers and she saw them at least once a month. Her older sister had moved out a few years ago, and she hadn't seen her since last Christmas although they kept in touch via messenger. She had tonight and tomorrow off and she planned on staying at Lucy's tonight. It was a week ago that she'd met Noah, lead singer of Stroke of Midnight. He'd come up to her while she was talking to Lucy at the bar and hit on her. Sure he was hot, but she couldn't believe he could be serious, hitting on her. He was a famous rock star and couldn't be interested in her.
Her little detour added twenty minutes on to her journey home, and she had a long list of chores to finish before she could leave on her night off.
She needed to stop day-dreaming and wishing things were different, unless she was prepared to step up and make them different.