“Yeah, I think that’s what this means.” Fuck. She just needed a few minutes. Just a few to scream into a couple of pillows. Maybe trash the place. Finding the girls a new nanny would be the first thing on her list. After she called the feds on Tess. “Are you hungry?”
Avery tipped her chin in a firm nod. “So hungry.”
“Can you do something for me? Go ask Addison what she wants on her pizza. I’ll be right there.”
“Okay.”
“Thank you.” She pressed a hefty kiss to Avery’s temple, then set her back down on the floor. “I will be there in just a few minutes.”
Avery nodded, then turned and bolted down the hall. Once she was alone, Sloan realized she wasn’t breathing right. Her full-time, live-in nanny had really just up and quit, and abandoned her freaking children in the middle of the day. No phone call. No text. Nothing. When her heart stopped racing, Sloan would grasp onto the silver linings, like how both Avery and Addison were perfectly fine even though they’d been left unsupervised for hours. That was the most important thing. They were okay. Sloan would focus on that, she really would, just as soon as she figured out just what the hell had happened to Tess.
“It’s okay to cry. What she did was pretty fucked up.”
“I’m not crying,” Sloan huffed as she shoved the sheets she’d just torn off Tess’s bed into the washing machine. She stood up and wiped the tears off her cheeks, then slammed the washer door shut. It was barely ten p.m., but she’d cycled through a whole bunch of emotions surrounding Tess and her unnecessarily over-the-top resignation. Sloan had ordered dinner and got the girls through their evening routine with relative ease, considering the day they’d had. They were handfuls and a half, but they knew when Sloan had hit her emotional limit. She was tempted to press them for more information about Tess’s departure, but decided against it, especially when they asked if Tess really wasn’t coming back and if she didn’t like them anymore.
Sloan wanted to box Tess in the street for leaving the way she did, but she really wanted to mess her up for making her children feel like they had done something wrong. Even if Tess hated Avery and Addison, Tess didn’t have to pull this crap. Talk about unprofessional.
After the girls drifted off to sleep, Sloan tried calling Tess for a third time. Her first two attempts had been sent right to voicemail. She left messages and sent a few texts, and just as Sloan debated calling the police—Tess did have a boyfriend, and maybe he forced her to quit—a reply text popped up on her phone.
Child care just isn’t for me. I’m sorry.
The keys to the house and the Tahoe are in the basket.
Relief flooded Sloan for a few seconds until the truth settled in. Tess really had just up and quit with no warning and left Addison and Avery to deliver the news. Sloan knew there was nothing she could do. Even if begging were an option, she didn’t want Tess’s irresponsible ass back. Finding a new nanny for the girls as soon as possible was the priority now. She also knew she had to fill the twins’ father in on what happened.
She did not want to speak to Drew about this. She knew exactly what he would say. That she and the girls should move back to Seattle. She could come work for him at his practice. His mom would watch the girls. They’d never be together again, so Drew would at least try to have his way and, at every turn, take his chance to remind Sloan she couldn’t have it all.
The thought of even having to have a conversation with Drew? About the girls? That pushed her anger and frustration to a boiling point and, unfortunately for Sloan, her extreme emotions usually came with tears. She raged cleaned as much as she could and then, instead of calling Drew, she called her friend Xeni.
“Girl, cry it out,” Xeni said. “Someone you trusted with your children and your home just up and ditched you. It’s completely reasonable to be upset. Express that emotion. It’s healthy. And when you’re done and you feel like you can think more clearly, I just need to know what kind of hex you want me to put on this bitch when we find her.”
Sloan laughed, but the tears still leaked down her face as she leaned back against the dryer. “Don’t waste your magic on her. She isn’t worth it.”
“I know, but she has it coming. Or, I mean, you could leak me her address and then I’ll just go have a chat with her.”
“Yeah, that’ll be great for your career. ‘Local kindergarten teacher arrested after assault on former nanny’.”
“I would just do the talking. You know I’d make a call for the heavy lifting.”
Sloan chuckled some more. Xeni had six elderly aunts in South Pasadena just looking for a reason to get in a knife fight. “I appreciate the gesture, but no. Tell the Everly sisters I won’t be needing their services.”
“They can make it look like an accident, but fine. Whatever. You got the girls covered for tomorrow? I have meetings at school until one, but I can sit with them for a bit until you get home.”
“No, it’s okay. My neighbor’s daughter is going to watch them ’til the end of the week. The girls love her, so at least I won’t get too many complaints about this transition of power.”
“Can you hire her full time?”
“No,” Sloan sighed. “She goes back to college next week.”
“Ahh man. Well, I’ll help you tag team this. You ask around the hospital tomorrow and I’ll ask up at school. I think between us we can find someone or at least link you up with a reliable agency.”
“Yeah. Okay. Thank you.”
“You know I got you, babe. You get some sleep. I’m gonna look up the street view of Tess’s man’s house and find the best entry points.”
Sloan burst out laughing. “Will you stop?!”
“Never.”
