Page 19 of Nanny Crush
She takes a long breath. “Wow, you’re really dedicated.”
“Yeah, but I’m making killer money and since I don’t have to pay many bills, so I can save almost all of it. By the time the kids no longer need me, I’ll have enough money that I won’t ever have to stress about a job again.”
“Yeah, but you’ll also miss out on your youth.”
I shrug. “I’m not much for going out anyway. You know that.”
She nods. “But how are you ever going to find a husband?”
I laugh. “That’s the least of my worries. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.”
She waves as I walk out with my coffee. I make the drive over to the store and get a poster board, some markers, and some colored star stickers along with happy faces and sad faces. When I get back to the house, the food on the stove is gone, so I know that Liam ate, but he’s already back up in his office. I quickly clean the kitchen and then start a load of laundry before starting on my little art project.
I put both the kids’ names on it and then a bunch of little boxes and the days of the week. If they get in trouble at school, they get a sad face. If they did good, they get a silver star. If they do good at home, they get a gold star. I think if they have all stars by the end of the week, we’ll go for ice cream or something to reward their good behavior. I also think of little chores that they can both do to earn more stars. Maddy will have to pick up her toys and make her bed. Xander will have to help me set the table for dinner and help me load the dishwasher. Proud of my little chart, I hang it on the island at the kids’ eye level. If they can see it, they’ll think about it more and make better choices.
With my art project done, I go upstairs and gather all the dirty laundry from the upstairs bathrooms and bedrooms. I pile it all in the laundry room, making my way through one load at a time. While I wait for the wash, I deep clean the bathrooms.
At noon, I take a break for lunch. I make two sandwiches and pour some chips onto the plate. I take one plate and a bottle of water up to Liam’s office. I listen to make sure I’m not interrupting an important phone call before knocking.
“Yeah?” he calls out.
I open the door. “I made you some lunch,” I say, walking in and setting the plate down on his desk in front of him.
“Oh, thanks Sasha, but you know, you’re here for the kids. Not me. This is completely unnecessary.”
“I know, I was just making one for myself and thought that maybe with all your work, you’d be hungry too. Is there anything you want me to pick up from the grocery store?”
“Ugh, yes actually. I’m out of shampoo in my bathroom,” he says.
“I’ve cleaned your bathroom and have already added it to the list.”
“Oh, well, thanks.”
“No problem,” I reply with a smile as I step out and close the door behind me.
I take my lunch into the living room to watch TV while I eat. I get engrossed in a new series on Netflix and end up spending the rest of my time on the couch, watching TV. I change out the laundry before picking up and heading back to the school to get the kids. After finding a place to park, I walk over to the front of the school and wait for the kids to come out. Maddy comes running out first and she leaps into my arms with a big hug.
“Did you have a good day?” I ask her and she nods.
“Everyone loves my Elsa braid,” she says, pulling it over her shoulder.
I laugh. “Good.”
Xander is out minutes later and he has a paper in his hand. He walks over with his head down and when he reaches me, he holds up the paper. I take it, and find a note from his teacher.
Xander has had a bit of a rough day today. I asked the students to take out their math books and Xander didn’t listen. Instead of sitting down and doing his math, he crawled under his desk and covered his ears so he couldn’t hear me ask him to come out. He ended up spending the rest of the morning under his desk and he ended up having to sit at his desk with his head down instead of going out to recess after lunch.
“Xander, why did you do that?” I ask, taking his hand and walking him over to the car.
He shrugs. “I didn’t want to do math today.”
I load them up into the car. “We’re going to sit down and talk about this when we get home.”
I drive home and Maddy chats the whole way while Xander doesn’t make a peep. At the house, we all go into the kitchen, and I prepare their after-school snack. I give them apples with peanut butter, some raisins, and a couple of cookies along with some juice. I set their plates on the table and sit down beside them.
“Guys, do you see anything different in here?”
They both look around.
