Chapter Eleven
TraceyAnn was on a tear this morning.
Even Luna, who was normally oblivious to TraceyAnn’s bad moods — especially when they were directed at her — was steering clear. The lanky girl whispered to Lily, “what’s up with her, do you know?”
Lily had to say yes, but she was quick to assure Luna, “Don’t worry, it’s about me.”
Luna nodded. “It’ll blow over soon, I’m sure.”
Lily wasn’t as certain. The previous night she had gone straight from the Staff Caff where Simon had made that amazing offer, and tried to talk with TraceyAnn about it.
The result was…explosive.
The older woman had thrown a grown-up temper tantrum in response to the news, her headdress bobbing with her fury.
“I was counting on you, and you go and quiton me!” Her normally loud bellow was now approaching shriek level.
“I’m not quitting,” Lily was quick to interject. “I was hired by Simon to—”
“Oh, so now you’re on a first name basis with the owner now, are you? You just got yourself hired here to nab yourself a rich husband?” TraceyAnn’s face was mottled with fury, her bust heaving. Lily suspected that TraceyAnn’s tantrum was motivated by jealousy as much as it was annoyance over the inconvenience.
Lily took a deep breath, lowering her voice in hopes that would help calm the woman, or at least, not alarm the kids.
“It’s not like that. It just means a few hours a day, several times a week, and I’m still here for all the other hours that Staff Childcare is open.”
Even that hadn’t mollified the woman, between her rants about how Lily—or Katie— knew that TraceyAnn wasdesperatefor help, and to put her in this position was justbeyondinconsiderate…and so on, until one of the kids drew Lily’s attention to a spill and TraceyAnn spent the rest of the evening in a huff.
At least Lily had been able to get the woman to grudgingly confirm that Lily would be at Staff Childcare whenever she could, just not all the time as she had originally thought. It didn’t seem to help much. She got the sense that TraceyAnn was a glass half empty kind of person.
In looking around Staff Childcare now, with Luna cleaning up the debris of the afternoon snacks and the mess she created when she accidentally dropped an open container of milk,TraceyAnn’s grumpiness was the only thing that kept the situation from being absolutely perfect for Lily. The sounds of cheerful kids, engaged in fun or educational activities all around her underscored what a dream job this would be. If it weren’t so close to where Rey could find her, she’d be happy to stay and make a new life here. TraceyAnn’s sour demeanor made it somewhat easier to remember all of this was temporary. But only somewhat.
She looked at the clock, and then braced herself to remind TraceyAnn that she would be leaving in a few minutes for her first session “doing her magic” as Simon put it.
“Well, don’t forget you promised to be back afterwards. I’m not going to be here past 9PM, and it’s only Luna on shift. And God help us all if she’s here by herself with the Terror Twins.” TraceyAnn glared at Luna, who fortunately paid her no mind. Possibly because she was busy picking up a box of crayons that she had knocked over when she tripped. Luna was a magnet for accidents, and being around these kids by herself was a disaster waiting to happen.
“I’m going to be brought straight back afterwards,” Lily promised. She saw the older man with the brush cut from the other night heading towards the Center. ”In fact, that’s my ride right now.”
“Well, hellllooooo there.” TraceyAnn’s demeanor suddenly did a 180 as Miller approached the door. She puffed up her chest and quickly straightened her three-sizes-too-small corset as the door opened and Miller entered.
He lit up, spotting Lily, but TraceyAnn quickly got between them. “How are you doing, Miller?”
Lily hid a smile at TraceyAnn’s flirtatious tone. She heard a small giggle behind her and knew it came from Luna.
“No complaints,” Miller said, barely looking at her. His eyes met Lily’s over TraceyAnn’s shoulder.
“I’m Miller Armstrong, Simon sent me to accompany you to the house.”
“L—Katie Cooper,” Lily said, mentally kicking herself, but if Miller caught anything amiss he remained silent. Damn, she hated living a lie.
TraceyAnn stuck a hand on her hip, jutting it out in a parody of a provocative Medieval Wench pose. “So, Miller, are you going to be at Ye Old Taverne tonight?”
“No plans to.” Miller said. He might as well have saidI would rather eat fried wormsgiven how TraceyAnn seemed to visibly deflate.
“Oh well, see you around,” she muttered, and shuffled over to Luna. Lily winced as she heard TraceyAnn loudly whisper “He’s playing hard to get!” to the girl, but this time there was a twinkle in Miller’s eyes.
“Shall we, Ms. Cooper?” He smiled, and the laugh lines that crinkled around his eyes softened the toughness that he exuded.
“Please, call me Katie.” Lily said, and left for her first session with the boys. She found herself hoping that the session would include the one whose eyes she still remembered.
