Page 22 of The Unconventional Nanny
Eventually she fell asleep on the couch and I used the time to decompress. Oh and to talk to Annalee.
Which brings me to my present situation. Sitting in my brother's driveway because I agreed to dinner while I was distracted by the demon child screaming at me.
Now that's not to say I don't enjoy someone else cooking for me. I truly do. I even enjoy my brother and Annalee's company. What I don't enjoy is being so tired I want to fall face-first onto my bed and sleep for the next week.
Is this how parents feel on the regular? If so, I'm not sure why anyone willingly does it. I mean, I guess it's needed for the existence of our species, but seriously? This shit blows.
To make myself feel better, I decide to play a little game I like to call“How obnoxious will my brother and Annalee be?”And the first way to score is if either one of them opens the front door looking like they just rolled out of bed.
Stepping out of my vehicle and walking up the short sidewalk to their door, I knock once and wait. And wait. And wait some more.
I'm definitely scoring points tonight.
Yup. One point for me as Annalee opens the door and there's no denying what she and my brother were doing before I arrived. They are so damn predictable.
"Hey, Gracie." My brother's girlfriend beams at me. "There's no need to knock. You're always welcome here."
"Your buttons are a little messed up." I wave my finger at her shirt and chuckle when Annalee's face goes from slightly sex-flushed to pale to bright red in an instant. "And while I appreciate the hospitality, I would prefer not to walk in on whatever was happening before I arrived."
It isn't just Annalee's shirt that's messed up, her hair has the just-fucked look that I miss wearing.
I sigh to myself. If only . . . I immediately cut that thought off before it can go any further.
"Hi, Gracie." Owen joins us in the front entryway and wraps me up in a hug that only a big brother can give. "I'm glad you decided to come over for dinner."
"Five minutes sooner and I would've seen more than I bargained for." I push away from him with a smirk.
Unlike Annalee, my brother doesn't get embarrassed. Instead, he looks pleased with himself, and that makes me gag a little. It's my own fault for teasing the couple, so I quickly change the subject. "What's for dinner? You never said in your text."
Owen also never asked. He just demanded I come over to eat with them. And considering I'm running on fumes after the day I've had, there was no reason for me to turn him down.
"Homemade mac ’n’ cheese with grilled chicken. Your favorite."
I stop our forward progress to the kitchen and come to a screeching halt. "What did I do to deserve this?" I practically wail.
Owen looks at me like I've grown three extra heads, but it's Annalee who gives him away with her guilty look.
"What are you talking about?" my brother asks with a huff. "We asked you for dinner, so I thought it would be nice to make your favorite."
"Ah no, big brother. You might be a skilled liar, but your girl here isn't." I wave at Annalee. "You only make what I love when you either want to bribe me or give me bad news, so which one is it?"
My brother looks at his girlfriend and sighs, but it's Annalee who speaks first. "I told you my face would give it away."
I want to scream,“No shit, Sherlock.” No offense to my one day sister-in-law, but poker isn't one of her strengths.
"It's not bad news, per se."
I throw my hands in the air because anyone who has ever heard those words knows what it really means is that it's bad news. "Just tell me already and get it over with."
"Annie's left Chicago and no one knows where she is," my brother blurts out just as we step into his kitchen.
I find an island stool and drop down onto it. This is worse than I thought. "Does Nolen know?"
Nolen is one of my brother's best friends, but he's also the older brother of the man who broke Annie. She hasn't been the same since they split five years ago. No one knows why. Noone can get either of them to talk about it. It's a giant friggin' mystery.
"I haven't told him yet. We don't exactly discuss the relationship. It almost ended our friendship when it happened, and we both swore we wouldn't let it come between us again."
Well, la-di-friggin'-da to them. I'm so glad they could put it behind them, but I have yet to speak to Nolen, and I'm not entirely sure I want to. I realize it's not his fault, but something tells me he knows more than he's letting on. Let's call it gut instinct.
