Page 97 of Worst Nanny Ever
“Tests make me mad too,” Ollie says with a shrug. “Mrs. Applebaum keeps giving them to me to test my grade level. It’s no fair because everyone else gets to do fun stuff like make art outof trash.”
Sophie beams at him. “Thatdoessound fun. Maybe we can work on a trash-into-treasure project for The Crafty Monster.”
“Yeah,” I say. “I’m sure parents are aching to hang up a bunch of cereal boxes on their walls.”
Sophie shoves my shoulder good-naturedly. “You’d hang up Ollie’s cereal box.”
Well aware that Ollie’s watching me with a hopeful look beneath his turtle face mask, I reply, “Of course I would. I’d hang up all of them. My wall would look like a grocery store, and I’d love it.”
Briar leaves, keeping her mask on, because we convinced her it would be more fun to show up at the meeting that way.
Ollie, Sophie, and I watch a final episode ofTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which is surprisingly addictive, and then my phone buzzes with texts from Travis.
Sorry.
I’ll be home later than planned. Rob’s here, and Dottie and Eugene and your brother. Would you be able to put Ollie to bed?
Sure.
Use my credit card to order some dinner. Whatever you want.
So we have pizza, and then dessert (thank you, Travis), and afterward Sophie and I get Ollie to bed.
After he snuggles up with his stuffed sloth, I kiss him on the forehead and leave the room. The sight of my turtle painting on his wall makes me smile. He wanted it up, so up it went. I figured Travis was hardly in a position to get mad at me for putting a hole in his wall.
Sophie is waiting for me on the couch with a couple of sodas. She hands one to me, her eyebrows raised. “Well, they’veall had too much to drink, apparently. So Rob’s playing taxi driver for all of the drunks. He should be here soon with Travis.”
“They’realldrunk?” I ask, wide-eyed, thinking of Eugene and his bottlebrush mustache, sweet Dottie, and even my brother, who has an infamously high tolerance for alcohol. I’m a little bit annoyed that I missed their epic night out, especially since it was at Big Catch.
“Sounds like it.”
“Is there any chance we can convince Rob to stop here first so we can get a look at them?”
“Heisstopping here first. I volunteered to give Dottie a ride home to help him out.” She laughs. “Why are you this excited at the thought of seeing a bunch of drunk people? I’m surprised you didn’t get sick of it at Big Catch.”
“I mostly want to see Eugene, but Dottie’s also a delight when she’s shit-faced. Liam’s mostly just silent and broody. I wonder what Travis is like when he’s drunk.”
“You can look your fill and then head home. After Rob drops Eugene off, he’s coming back. He said he’d stay over here tonight.”
“No way. I’ll stay with Travis and Ollie. He’ll probably even pay me overtime.”
“Hannah,” she says in an undertone.
“Oh, please. I’m not going to take advantage of him when he’s wasted. He made it very clear that he doesn’t think we should hook up again, and drunk guys don’t do it for me.”
“It’s not that.” She blows air into her cheeks, then lets it gust out. “He doesn’t want to see you.”
Fucking ouch.
She must see the hurt on my face, because she grabs my hand. “Rob said he was embarrassed. Travis is probably worried he’s going to throw up on you. And after last night…”
“Well, too bad. There’s no reason for Rob to stay. Get your man to come home with you, and I’ll take care of my boys.”
She gives me a look that says she noticed what I said and we’ll be talking about it later, but she nods. “Okay. I know better than to argue with you when you use that tone.”
She darts conspicuous glances at me as I settle down next to her on the couch to wait. I’m guessing she’s trying to spur me into conversation, but I’m not going to make it easy for her.
“So you really like Travis, huh?” she finally asks.
