Page 80 of Eleanor & Grey

“Where do you take her?” he snapped, completely ignoring my comment.

“Excuse me?”

“Where do you take her?” he barked once more, this time his voice louder, scarier.

I took a step backward, unsure of what he meant.

“I don’t know what you’re asking me, Grey—”

“Mr. East!” he hollered, making me take more steps backward.

He was fuming, and I had no clue why. I’d never seen him so upset. For the most part he just coasted on a nice wave of detachment. In this moment, though, he was mad—livid, even.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, trying hard to not take his temper personally.

“I received an email this afternoon asking for an update on Karla. It turns out she hasn’t been to school in weeks, specifically since you’ve been driving her. So tell me, where have you been taking her?”

“I…” My voice shook as my mind tried to catch up with the words he was speaking. How was that possible? How was that a thing? “I take her to school every day after I drop off Lorelai. I don’t understand how she wouldn’t be attending.”

“You see her go in every day?” he questioned.

“Well, no, because I drop her off a few blocks away like the other nan…” My words trailed off and reality set in.

Oh, my gosh, I am an idiot.

Karla had lied about the other nannies dropping her off blocks away from the school building, and I was the stupid person who’d believed her sob story.

Greyson hadn’t caught on to the realization I’d come to, though. He kept staring at me with a hard glance, waiting for answers. I swallowed hard and explained the situation, looking away from him.

“You’re joking, right?” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I—I just thought…” I stuttered, feeling as if I’d been fooled by a fourteen-year-old. My face grew warm, and I couldn’t look at Greyson. I was humiliated by my naïve mistake. She had played me. I’d been royally played by a teenager. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t make up for the fact that she has missed weeks of schooling.”

“How does that even happen, though? Don’t they notify the parent if the student is missing from school for more than a day or two?”

He grunted. “That’s what I’m looking into now. Until then, go retrieve Karla from her room and bring her in here so the three of us can talk this through.”

“Yes, of course.”

I hurried out, feeling a sharp pain in my gut from my anger with Karla. I went out of my way to treat her kindly, to make her comfortable, yet this was the result I received. The closer I got to her bedroom, the more upset I became. Greyson had blown up at me because of her lies.

Then my emotions shifted to worry.

If she hadn’t been going to school, where had she been?

What was she doing?

Were there drugs involved? Alcohol?

Oh, great, now I was angry and worried. I wondered if this was what it was like to be a parent, feeling every single emotion all at once. It was exhausting. Each emotion came in like a wave crashing against the shore, and I wasn’t sure what to do with all the emotions I was experiencing.

I felt as if there was a split personality disorder going on. I wanted to yell and speak gently at the same time. I wanted to be the good cop and the bad cop. I wanted to be her friend, and her comfort but also the drill sergeant.

There is no middle ground when it comes to parenting teenagers. You always have a feeling of being crazed.

Before Karla could even witness my worry-anger, the biggest knot formed in my gut as I walked into her bedroom only to find it empty.

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