Page 19 of The B!tch List

I knew what it was all about. She was totally aware that I’d agreed to testify on behalf of Mrs. Ranger in her custody case. Mrs. Baker had refused because according to her she wasn’t sure there was a problem between Eddie and his dad. Like hell there wasn’t. I saw on many occasions how that little boy withdrew into himself when he knew it wasn’t his mom collecting him from school. I’d also seen Mr. Ranger and the kids at Delphine’s one night and he’d been on his phone the whole time. Whenever Eddy and Molly spoke to him, or asked a question, he just brushed them off without even looking up.

Anyways, my day had been shitty, and it had got me thinking about what Bronte had said about opening up my own preschool. I would need to hire an actual teacher or more than one, as I wasn’t qualified to teach, and that would take a huge chunk of my inheritance until the place started to pay for itself. Without a building I couldn’t even start to consider it, and I had no clue whether there was any such building available in or around Dayton Valley. Maybe that should be the first thing that I did, check for a suitable building. If there wasn’t anything then it wasn’t meant to be. I’d just suck it up and carry on working for crabby Mrs. Baker. The problem was, even if there was a building, I wasn’t sure I had the nerve to do it. Mrs. Baker had pre schooled the kids of Dayton Valley for the last ten years and her mom for twenty years before that. Who would even trust me with their kids? I pulled out my phone and dialed a number.

Bronte.

“Hey, Nancy. You, okay?”

“Yeah. No. Yeah.”

Bronte giggled. “Well, which is it, honey?”

I sighed heavily. “It’s no, but it could be yes, depending on how you answer this next question.”

“Okay. Go ahead.”

I screwed my eyes closed and tapped a beat on my forehead with my fingertips, beginning to second guess my idea. “It’s okay, I’ve had a bad day and was just thinking…” I trailed off not sure what I was thinking.

“Yes, you were thinking?” Bronte prompted.

“I’m just going to come right out and say it.” I inhaled deeply. “If and it’s a big if, if I set up a kindergarten were you being serious about sending Rett there? And, and d-d-do you think Ellie meant it too, that she’d send her kid there if she and Hunter had one. I meanwhenthey have one because you just know they will with the amount of sex they have.”

“As long as they don’t have it before us,” Bronte grumbled. “I know we had the first grandchild and I know people will say we should let Ellie and Hunter have the second, but I so want to beat them to it.”

“Yeah, but whoever has it, would you… I mean if I opened up a preschool would you, would Ellie send your kids to me?”

I held my breath, feeling apprehensive that she might say no. Now I had the idea in my head, I was excited about it. I’d thought I might put the money from Aunt Willa toward a nice house with a yard, but opening a business was just as good an idea.

“Of course we would,” Bronte cried. “You’re really going to do it? Oh my God, that’s amazing news. I can’t wait—”

“Hold on. It’s just an idea for now. I don’t even know if I have enough money. I need to see a financial adviser and find out exactly what the costs would be. I mean it might be over my budget.”

“You could add daycare. Do you know how many women in this town would kill for a few baby free hours? Do you know how much they’dpayfor those few baby free hours?”

“They would?”

“God yes. I was at baby disco with Rett last week and Mimi Dawson actually said those words, ‘do you know how much I’d pay for a few baby free hours? If only that old trout Mrs. Baker did daycare.’. Seriously, Nancy, you should do it. I’m sure you could get a loan if the money from your aunt doesn’t cover it. What? Hang on a second, Nancy, Carter is yelling something from the bathroom…good idea, baby…yep, I’ll mention it. Nancy, Carter’s made a great point, although how he can hear when I’m in Rett’s room and he’s having a crap down the hall.”

“Okay, too much information, Bronte.”

“Sorry, but we like to share in this family. Anyhoo, Carter suggested that you rent a place and he knows just the one.”

“He does! W-where?” My hands started to tremble, and I felt a whooshing sensation in my belly. Could a silly idea be about to happen?

“The old bank on Greendale. It’s been refurbished with a small kitchen added and there’s an apartment on the top floor, sooo,” Bronte took in a deep breath, “you could live above and if you negotiated the rent, you might find that it works out less than that fancy apartment that you live in now. And I know how much those apartments cost, Carter lived there don’t forget.Welived there together when we first had Rett.”

She wasn’t wrong, the rent on the apartments was pricey, but I’d bought mine outright with the money I received when my folks died. My heart thudded as I thought about them and how they’d died in a fire at their villa while on vacation in Puerto Vallarta. The fire investigator said it was some old wiring and the owner was completely negligent. The insurance payout and the sale of our small family home a few blocks down from where Ellie’s family lived was what had paid for my apartment, my car and to put me through a two-year child-development course at San Jacinto.

“I could sell the apartment and probably raise enough money to avoid having to get a loan.”

“Oh, God, yes. You bought yours,” Bronte said excitedly. “That’s even better.”

I was pretty sure that she was clapping.

“Who’s handling the rental?” I asked, grabbing a pad and pen. “Does Carter know?”

“Baby you know who’s handling the rental on the bank?”

I held the phone away from my ear and winced and then waited until I could hear Carter shouting. It was mostly indecipherable but think I heard the words ‘shit, peace and Belinda.’

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