Scream For me

JADE

On Monday morning, I parked my car and walked toward the office with a skip in my step. I hadn’t been in a mood this good in a long, long time. Not since I’d started working at Placement. I didn’t love my job thereI hadn’t wanted to do admin or even become a nannybut I didn’t hate it, either.

Today, everything looked different. It was funny how the world changed when I was in love.

My phone rang, and it was Olivia.

“I know you’re on your way in, but you have to tell me everything,” she said.

I giggled. Last night, I’d sent her a text telling her that Aaron wanted more, but I hadn’t expanded on it.

“It’s a lot to explain now,” I said. “I’m about to walk into the office…but he does want more! Can you believe it?” “I told you so,” Olivia said.

I laughed. “Yeah, something like that.”

“How is the nanny thing going to work if you’re more than just his nanny?”

I frowned. “I’m not sure how it will work out. We haven’t talked about it. I’m with Ben all this week, and Aaron and I don’t see each other often when that’s the case, but he wants to take me out on a proper date this weekend. That’s what he said. So I guess we’ll talk then.” “Oh, my God, it’s so dreamy,” Olivia sighed.

I giggled. It was dreamy. I was living in some kind of fairy tale. The kind that had become real.

“I just keep thinking that it’s too good to be true,” I confided to Olivia. “I have to pinch myself to make sure all this is real, but even when I know it is…something about it makes me nervous that it won’t last.” “Why would you think that?” Olivia asked.

“I don’t know…after Mike…I guess I’m just nervous about being this happy. It makes me feel like something is going to go wrong.”

“Or nothing will go wrong, and you have finally found your prince charming. Sometimes you have to kiss a couple of frogs first, and Mike was a frog. He wasn’t the end of your story. This is. It’s not a crime to be happy, you know. You deserve this! Especially after Mike and how he treated you.”

I nodded. Maybe Olivia was rightI deserved to be happy, and all this was good. Nothing would go wrong. The fairy tale was real, and I was living the dream. Aaron had promised me. With Ben in the picture, there was so much more on the line, and he wouldn’t just change his mind about me. I just had to keep reminding myself of that and push the fear and uncertainty away. Aaron deserved the benefit of the doubtit was unfair of me to expect the worst of him when someone else had screwed up.

Maybe Olivia was rightI’d learned and grown.

“I have to go,” I said. “It’s time to do my job for a change.”

“Did you get a lot done last week?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I think Hannah will be happy with me. I feel good about this job.”

“It’s been a while since you were able to say that,” Olivia pointed out.

I nodded. It had been a while. I’d thrown myself into my work the past week, and having enough time off to be able to do it had helped so much. I wanted to prove to Hannah that I could be an asset to her company, even if I made mistakes sometimes. The fact that I’d also done it to hide that I’d been in Aspen with Aaron was beside the pointit had only motivated me to work that much harder.

“Hi,” I said brightly to Marlene when I found her in the office. “It’s great to see you!”

“Hi,” Marlene said, but she wasn’t as upbeat. “How was your week last week?”

“It was good,” I said and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. I couldn’t tell Marlene exactly how good it had been. “I think I’m finally finding my stride.”

“Hmm,” Marlene said. She stared at her screen, avoiding eye contact.This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .

I frowned. “Is everything okay?” She wasn’t usually this closed off. “Did something happen to one of the nannies?”

“You could say that,” Marlene said. “Have you spoken to Hannah?”

“Not since last week when I sent her an email with updates…what’s going on?”

“Maybe you should talk to her,” Marlene said tightly.

My stomach twisted into a knot of nerves. Something was going on.

Marlene was acting strangely.

I stood from my desk where I’d just sat down and walked to Hannah’s office. She sat behind her laptop, typing away furiously.

She glanced up when I appeared at her door.

“Jade,” she said. She didn’t smile at me the way she usually did. Her eyes were serious and her lips pursed into a thin line. “Close the door.”

I swallowed hard. Hannah never asked me to close the door. I did as she asked and sat down opposite her.

“How was your week?” she asked.

Why did everyone keep asking me that, like I had something important to say about it?

“I think it was a productive week. You got everything I sent you, right?”

Hannah nodded. “Yeah, I did. It was a good week for youyou managed more than you did in a long time. I was impressed with how you pulled up your socks and committed yourself to the grind.”

I smiled, pleased that Hannah was happy. Her words suggested she was happy, but she didn’t look happy.

“Do you want to tell me what you were doing posing as a nanny?” Hannah asked.

My stomach dropped. “What?” I felt sick.

“You’ve been working as a nanny these past couple of weeks, haven’t you?”

“I…” How could she know that? “I’ve been working, doing all your admin, making sure everything is up to date. I haven’t made a mistake since you talked to me about it last. I’ve given everything I have.” The more I talked, the squeakier my voice became. I tried to stay calm, but I felt lightheaded and sick. Would Hannah be more forgiving if I threw up on her desk? Would she cut me some slack?

I doubted it. Hannah looked murderous now.

“I got a call from Dominique over the weekend. She was confused about an email from Placement putting her on the payroll for a position here in Seattle when she’s in Switzerland, looking after a family there. You can imagine how confused I was.”

I didn’t know what to say. I’d never emailed Dominique back after I’d decided to fill the role myself and be Aaron’s nanny. I’d never thought to tie up loose ends. I’d panicked, and gone to the interview myself, and since then, it had slipped my mind completely.