Page 10 of Nanny for the SEALs

She shook her head.

“So, how did you end up at the club?”

“I was following my boyfriend, Ben. My ex… not that he knows.” She paused, either waiting for a reaction, but I said nothing, encouraging her to continue her story.

“I thought he was cheating on me. Then the bouncer asked if I was the nanny. I hated doing it, but I lied, and then Rodney brought me to your home.”

I didn’t say a word. I could tell eye contact and lying were a thing she struggled with, and the realization we had more in common became apparent as she tied her ponytail up into a bun.

“I can cook, clean, look after the twins. I mean, you don’t even have to pay me,” she stuttered as she met my eyes. She was nervous about something. At first, I thought it was me, but the more she talked, I realized had nothing to do with me and only to do with Ben.

“Ben would tell me another lie. Like he always did… he’s spending time with other actresses, they could help him get a lead. Besides, he could never invite me because I needed to lose weight or I was too skinny, or not pretty enough to be an actress.”

Now, the weight thing made sense. It was her ex who made her feel insecure. What a jerk!

“Really, there’s nothing on you. I don’t even know where you could lose it from,” I said and then I pinched my stomach, as if to show her, if someone needed to lose weight, for sure, it was me. She giggled, and then waved her hand as if to say, it wasn’t that bad. It was, and part of me didn’t really care that much until now. I felt humiliated showing my stomach like that, especially because I wore clothes so big to hide it.

“So, you can cook and look after the twins. Rick’s the father, but I’ll pay you extra for it.”

She jumped up and wrapped her arms around me. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” she said excitedly as I pulled her away from me. Embarrassed that she’d made contact with me, and she could probably smell my body odor because I hadn’t washed in days.

“You won’t regret it.”

She was right about that. I made us leave so we could come up with a plan. I had to get out of here, because if I saw one more person sitting near us eating a muffin or any pastry, I could end up turning into a monster and grabbing every last one of them and stuffing them all in my mouth.

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