Page 11 of Nanny for the SEALs

5

Katie

I had a place to live,and a job being a nanny to the twins. Rick said that he would be with the twins this afternoon. I’d only been on the job for five days, and so far, apart from being nervous every day that Stan would change his mind, he seemed to be quieter and I noticed he was nothing but a gentle giant.

I changed my clothes after his comment about black. I did come to L.A. three years ago with some clothes I’d never worn, but they were still in the apartment I shared with Ben. Stan was kind and gave me some money—he wanted to give me a thousand dollars, but I told him it was too much. It was more than my salary working in the diner. It felt wrong to take so much money from him, seeing as I was living here and eating for free. So, we settled on half of that, in case I was out and needed to get something for the twins.

I bought a couple of shirts for myself, the twins, and even shoes. I was wearing the beat-up sneakers I’d worn that night when I was working in the diner or walking around my apartment block. But here in a fancy penthouse, it just felt completely out of place.

I text my BFF and she said she had an hour free for lunch and we should grab something to eat at Palermo’s, which was near the diner. We worked there, and the last thing we wanted to do during or even after a shift was eat there. Even if the food was pretty good for L.A., we always craved another type of scenery.

“Hey,” Dawn screamed as we met outside the diner. “Look at you, all Miss Fancy in your fancy shoes and dress.”

Oh yeah, I bought a dress, too. One I couldn’t resist, because it was pink—something Ben said I should never wear because it made me look too pale.

“Oh my, showing the cleavage, the one you keep under wraps all the time. Come here and give me a hug.”

She wrapped her arms around me, and I must admit, I couldn’t comment about her style because to me, she looked exactly the same. The same peroxide blonde hair, piercing, goth style, and wearing it so naturally. Ben used to hate that she was my friend, He would always comment about being confused about her style and having a friend who had no idea on class.

“You’ve only gone away for a few days, yet I can finally feel some meat on you.”

“Don’t say that!” I pulled away from her.

She cupped my face. “You could do with putting on a few pounds, babes. Being all sticks and bones is not good for you. Not healthy.”

“I’m not skinny,” I said defensively. “There’s no way, I’m skinny. I’m not exactly a size zero.”

“I didn’t mean it like that. You know I didn’t. Sometimes, as Mom says, I’m too blunt and some don’t like it. You look good, Katie. Beautiful. Your eyes are lit up, and you’re wearing pink and not some busted-up sneakers and not dressed in black.”

I teased her, “You wear black all the time.”

“But, in my case, it’s some fashion statement. In your case, it’s cause your messed-up ex told you, you were fat and he hated plus-size girls, so you decided to not eat and act as if you’re not a plus-sized girl. Just crazy.”

The only thing which ever bought tension between us was whenever Ben’s name was involved.

“We eating at Palermo’s right?”

I nodded as she enveloped my arm and we headed down the main street. She was talking about her latest gig. She worked at the diner, but like most in L.A., it was her way to earn money while she tried to follow her real dream—her love of music.

“Yeah, I’m starving, and after you said not only would we go there, but your treat… Well, I couldn’t refuse, could I? What kinda girl would I be?”

She fluttered her eyelashes as if she was trying to show her innocence. I knew she was far from innocent, especially when it came to matters of the heart.

As we paused at the traffic light waiting to cross. She said, “I’m happy when you’re happy. You know that.”

I nodded, thinking maybe I’d been too harsh earlier.

“How the heck did you go from working in a diner, working two jobs, to now being a nanny? I swear, K, your life is more adventurous than mine, and I work in a diner, and play in a band.”

I smiled. This was by far the most exciting thing which had happened to me since I moved to L.A.

“Well, they are ex-SEALs—”

She lifted her hand up to stop me from talking, the light turned green, ready for us to cross, but we stood there frozen.

“They?”

“Yeah, there’s three of them.”

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