Truth be told, this is the longest I’ve been home in a while.
“Come in,” I announced after hearing a knock on the door. I rolled my eyes when Rob Zombie jumped onto the foot of my bed and began chattering.
“Are you doing all right, Ki?”
“I’m fine,” I said, returning my attention to the business card.
“Are you sure? You didn’t come down for dinner.”
She closed the door and sat at the computer desk where I used to spend hours cramming last-minute for exams. Grant would not so helpfully remind me that I wouldn’t have to stress out if I didn’t procrastinate. He would typically be met with a demand to leave me alone and a closed door. His banishment was quickly overturned when he slid his old study guide underneath my door.
“I had a big lunch,” I lied.
“Daisy said you only had a salad at lunch.”
“And bread,” I added, scratching at the sphinx cat’s ear.
“For an attorney, you’d think she’d get her facts straight,” Mom said jokingly.
“What was it like being a nanny?” I asked abruptly, derailing the small talk.
“Why? Where is this coming from suddenly?” she asked, peering at me skeptically.
“I received a job offer as a live-in nanny today.”
“Was this job offer from a certain politician?”
“It was,” I confirmed. “Your love life aside, what was it like being a nanny?”
She blew a raspberry and spun twice in the swivel desk chair before addressing me. “Being a nanny was stressful, especially for three children with varying personalities. Going in, I had so many anxieties. I was fearful of what the household dynamics would be like or that I’d be so busy with Jon’s kids that I’d neglect my grieving child. I was afraid that my job had an expiration date. But the job was more rewarding than I ever thought possible.”
I snorted.
“Yeah, you struck it rich.”
She smiled warmly. “The money was only a small blessing compared to the family I found and the friendships and reconnections I made.”
I nodded understandingly.
“Do you think I should take the job?”
“No,” she whispered.
I sat up and confronted her.
“No? Why not?”
“I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s easy to blur the lines when you live with an attractive man and you’re raising his kids.”
“Mom—”
She cut me off with a shake of her head. “Kiyah, you’re an adult, and I can’t tell you what to do with your life, but there are other factors you need to consider.”
“Other factors like what?”
“Grant, for one.”
“What about Grant? We’re getting divorced.”