Page 26 of The Accidental Nanny
“I wanted to press the buttons like Granny lets me, but Gemma wouldn’t let me touch it.”
“Right, I see. Well, I’ll leave that for your father to dealwith. I best be going. Are you okay with the microwave?” he asks, looking at me.
“I think so,” I reply, looking and feeling confused by at all the buttons.
“This one here. Ten minutes.” Charlie shows me the timer.
“Thank you.” I smile at him. At least I can’t mess this up.
Three hours later, the kids are overtired and restless. I tried to wait for Alex, as he promised to be home by five, and now it’s gone eight. The children are wild, running around the living room, screaming and jumping. Exhausted from the day, I sit on the sofa, giving up. The kids aren’t listening to me; they only want their father.
At last, the front door opens and shuts with a loud force. Alex walks straight into the living room. The children stop and look at him.
“Why are they still up?” Alex yells at me.
“By the way you slammed the door, I’m sure you would have woken them up anyway,” I retort. He can’t talk to me like that. “Besides, they wanted to see you. You said you’d be back by five. I finished three hours ago. It’s been a long day for me.”
His eyes are weary, with a heavy frown crinkling his brows. He looks troubled. The kids continue to scream, running around the room completely out of control.
“Bed,” Alex shouts at them.
“No!” Eden screams, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at him. It hits a small vase, smashing it to pieces.
The room falls silent.
“What have you done?” Alex speaks, almost through gritted teeth. He bends to pick up the pieces.
“It was an accident.” I jump in to defend Eden.
Alex glowers at me. “They’re meant to be in bed. I hire you to watch them, not act out.”
“You said you would be home at five o’clock. The kids were waiting to see you,” I reiterate calmly. I don’t want the kids to see us arguing.
“Do your job,” he retorts.
“It’s just a vase. We can buy another one,” Eden tells him.
“That’s not the point, Eden. You shouldn’t have done it,” Alex shouts at her.
“I want Mummy.” Eden starts to cry. “I hate you. You’re mean.”
“Eden,” Alex yells.
“Go away. I want my mummy.” She’s crying now.
“Well, it’s tough. Mummy isn’t coming back. It’s just me.” Alex’s hands fly over his mouth at his words, and his eyes widen when he realises what he just said.He turns to me. “I need to talk to the children alone. Take tomorrow off. They won’t be going to school. I’ll need to be with them.”
I leave the room, but pause outside the door, trying to listen to what Alex is telling the kids in private. It isn’t until I hear the loud crying from two very small children that my heart sinks.
Whatever I thought about my job and being here matters little in comparison to this. Hearing them cry like that is too upsetting. They are so young to be hurting so much.
Ace opens the door, running past me, his eyes red. Alex is still holding onto Eden in the living room, cradling her in his arms like a small baby. She’s tiny compared to his six-foot frame. He carries her up the stairs. I wait for him to come back down, but he doesn’t show.
I fidget and then go to clean the kitchen. The least I can do is make sure it’s tidy for Alex in the morning if I'm having the day off. Besides, I can't sleep knowing how upset the children are.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Alex
