Page 27 of The Accidental Nanny
Iput Eden in my bed, and she cries herself to sleep. I stay with her until I know she isn't going to wake up. I kiss her forehead, then leave her to check on Ace. He’s sitting on his bed and has thrown his teddies across the room, apart from one he is cuddling.
“Mate, why don’t you stay with me and Eden tonight?” I ask him. His sobs are unbearable to listen to. “You have me. You’ll always have me. I’m going nowhere.”
“She doesn’t want us. What did we do wrong?” he wails, his cheeks red and splotchy from crying.
“Nothing, you did absolutely nothing wrong. If Mummy can’t see that you’re the best thing in this world, that’s her fault.” I tell him. That woman has a lot to answer for.
“Dad,” Ace says in a soft voice like it’s going to break. Taking his little hand, I guide him to my room. It’s just the three of us now. Maybe, that's the way it should be.
After a very restless night, I let the children sleep in while I call the school explaining why they won’t be there. In the kitchen, a chunk of lasagne is left on a plate. I scoop it up to put in the bin, only to find a whole burnt lasagne and a dish. I have never seen food so charred in my life.
Keeping busy, I tidy up the mess Gemma left. It isn't as bad as I remember, so I can only assume Gemma cleaned last night. It was a valiant attempt, but she's in no way a Mrs Hinch.
I sit down with a mug of hot coffee. I need it extra strong if I am going to get through today. Yesterday’s conversation with my soon-to-be ex-wife is going around my head and tying my thoughts in knots. Before long, Gemma is the first person to join me.
“Hey.” She grabs a cup, making herself a drink.
“Morning. Sorry about yesterday.” I must look stressed to her because she gives me an almost knowing look.
“It’s okay. I’ve got stuff to do today. Normally, I’d go shopping, but I don’t have any money. How do people cope with being poor? I only have ten thousand in my regular account. I can’t even buy an outfit with that.”
I raise my eyebrows. Is she being serious? Does she think that ten grand is too little money to shop with? She's more entitled than I thought she was. Still, I can't take another thing away from the kids right now.
“I’d imagine if you didn’t buy designer clothes, you’d do just fine,” I say before taking another sip of coffee.
She looks at me with disgust. “You want me to buy from the high street?" She shakes her head as though it's the most unbelievable thing I've ever said. She sips her drink, then changes the subject. "Are the children okay?”
“They will be,” I answer, my tone sharper than necessary. I need to figure things out.
“I’ll see you tonight, then.” She picks up her drink, leaving me to my dark thoughts.
“Gemma.”
“Yes.” She turns around to face me.
“They will need you. The children,” I say, fighting the urge to clear my throat.
She stands there for a moment before nodding and walking away. I watch her through the window as she climbs into the BMW and takes off.
Ace and Eden wake up late. Neither of them is talking much.
“Why don’t we go out? Let’s go to town,” I suggest. "We can do some shopping."
“Won’t we get into trouble with school?” Ace asks.
“No, I’ve spoken to the school. I’ve explained everything. I think we can do with a day to ourselves. Come on. Let’s go.” I try to sound eager, but they don't look excited.
I take Eden up to her bedroom and dress her in a cute flowery dress and sandals. I brush her hair into pigtails and fix her loose curls with butterfly clips. I check on Ace, who has dressed himself. I run a wet brush through his hair before I help both of them to wash their faces and clean their teeth.
Shopping doesn't go according to plan as the kids aren't interested in buying anything. I drag them from toy store to toy store and stop at a few other places selling stationery and clothes, but they have no interest. In the end, we wind up sitting in the food court area.
“Are you two okay?” The silence from them crushes me; they are wrapped up in their own thoughts.
A large sharing portion of ice cream sits on the table between us, but no one’s eating it. I stare into the brightly coloured bowl as we sit in silence, the thrum of the mall noise happening around us.
“I’ll take that,” Gemma says as she sits down next to me, stealing my spoon.
She takes a large scoop of strawberry mixed with a bit of vanilla and chocolate, licking it in a seductive manner. Does she know what’s she doing?
