Federico impatiently bounced his legs and looked outside. He saw people walking around in the garden and wanted to do that too. "Can I play football, please?"
Jane looked at the little boy; he was really struggling to stay focussed. She knew him good enough to know that if she pushed him to do his homework, he would only fight against it and rush his work. "How much do you have to do?"
"Ten more exercises."
She nodded and was debating in her head what she should do now. "Can we make a deal?" Jane seriously looked at Federico; he nodded. "You can play football for thirty minutes..."
Federico got up from the chair and wanted to run away.
"I'm not finished yet," Jane strictly said and raised her eyebrows. Federico looked at her. "Thirty minutes, and then we go back to work. Deal?" She raised her hand.
"Deal," Federico sighed and gave Jane a high-five. He left the room and ran to the backyard.
Jane wouldn't say Federico was an annoying child and difficult to deal with, but he surely had instructions. He didn't like to study or to go to school, he didn't have the patience for that. It was challenging for Jane to keep an eye on him.
"Can I also play football?" Francesca softly asked. Francesca, on the other hand, was a hard and serious studier.
"Of course," Jane smiled and collected some papers that were lying on the table. "Have fun."
"Do you want to join?" Francesca looked hopefully at Jane when she got up from the chair. "I'm not as good as Federico..."
"I will be there in a minute," Jane replied, reassuring and ran her hand through her hair.
It was only the beginning of the week, but Jane was waiting for the weekend. There was so much work to do for school, the third semester was at its end, and the finals of that semester were about to begin. Essay's needed to be hand in, projects were finishing. And work. It was just a lot at once.
Jane sat in the study room of the massive Italian home. It was a typical villa in Tuscany, a mansion that you saw in films of people with a lot of money. It was unreal to Jane, it felt like she was living in a dream, while she had to be here a couple times a week for her work. Being in Italy in itself was something special.
She left the study room and walked through the hallway. A lot of guests were already gathered around. A polite smile was plastered on Jane's face, she had no idea who these people were. But that didn't matter, she wasn't here for the guests, but for the two children. Once she was outside, she saw more people. The garden was decorated with tiny lights, beautiful white accessories and tables. It looked dreamy, but chic.
"Jane!" The boy was waving at her and overplayed the ball to his sister.
Jane walked through the garden, only to walk to the grass field at the back. "Hello," she said and was standing next to the imaginary football field. Her eyes fell on the mass of people at the house. "That is a lot of people..."
"And there are only more people to come," Francesca mentioned and stood next to Jane, having her arms crossed in front of her chest.
Jane raised her eyebrows and looked at the young girl. "Really? My gosh."
The two women were scanning the area, both looking questionable and perplexed. Just when they thought there couldn't be more people, more people entered the garden.
"Alright," Jane breathed. "Let's play football, shall we?" She looked down at Francesca, who nodded. Jane was glad she was wearing something simple; jeans, but a chic top and trainers. "What's the score?"
"3-1 for me!" Federico happily said, he was already talented at this age.
"Cool, cool," she replied and nodded. "Let's begin then. We are gonna win," she told Francesca.
Francesca heavily nodded and ran away. Jane made a low bun in her hair, hoping it would look decent. If Jane was wearing a low bun, it either looked like crap, or it took her fifteen minutes to make the bun in her hair.
The game started, it was more like an overplay match than an actual match. Jane let Francesca and Federico play, she was jogging around for the support. She cheered when Francesca scored, but also when Federico scored.
"Hello there."
It made the three people look up. A group of men were standing on the sideline, watching the two kids play football. They all smiled politely and stopped the ball. Jane counted them, it were nine young men. And that guy from the restaurant of two months ago.
"Hey!" Federico friendly said.
"Can we join the match?" Someone asked. "Only if it suits you, of course."
Federico nodded. "Sure," he decided for everyone. "We have teams. Me versus Francesca and Jane."
"Cool," a guy said. "We will divide ourselves. No worries."
The group made two new teams. Five guys added themselves to Federico's team, and the other four guys joined Jane and Francesca's team.
Jane didn't know any of the guys, only Marcus, the guy who was her lifesaver that evening. He was part of Federico's team. They shared a quick look, both smiling. After that evening, Marcus brought Jane home, and that was it. It was surprisingly a fun evening, Jane had more fun that evening than she ever had in her relationship with Leonardo. It made her wonder if Marcus recognised her too.
The match started. The guys were playing football on the children's level, they were helping them score and just being supportive. Laughter filled the field every now and then. Jane noticed they were not the type of people who would go to this dinner voluntary. It made her wonder what they were doing here.
"Here, here!" A guy raised his arm and looked around him.
Jane passed the ball to that guy, being the architect of an amazing goal. She cheered and gave her teammates a high-five.
"That was a good pass," the guy complimented Jane.
"Thanks," Jane proudly smiled. Her eyes found Marcus' eyes, who gave her a nod. She quickly looked away and looked at how the match began.
Francesca had the opportunity to score, but Federico intercepted the ball. She pouted and looked down.
"Hey," someone said. If Jane remembered his name right, that should be Callum. "Don't worry about that, it's okay. No sweat," he told the little girl. "We will take away the ball together, yeah?" Francesca nodded. "Come on, then."
Jane had no idea who these guys were, but it made her heart melt how they acted around Francesca. They all were good with kids and really supportive. It was so attractive. Jane walked around the field, but quickly checked her phone. Her eyes widened, those thirty minutes turned into an hour. She tried to find the perfect moment to stop the match, but she owed one more goal to Francesca.
To her luck, that happened fast. Everybody cheered, something made the insecure girl smile. "Well done, Fran," Jane widely smiled and clapped in her hands. "But shall we go back inside? We have some work to do," she said to the twins.
Federico groaned. "Can we please stay here?"
"Remember the deal?" Jane asked and raised her eyebrows. "We already broke it. Let's go back inside. The sooner you finish your homework, the quicker you will be scoring again."
"Please, Jane?"
"Go on, champ," Jane strictly said and nodded at the house.
Francesca and Federico left the ball at the field and ran inside. Jane pressed her lips into a thin line. She was barely twenty years old, and she had already stress like a mother.
"I will leave the ball here, in case you want to play football," Jane mentioned to the guys. "Thanks for joining." She politely smiled.
Marcus walked over to Jane. "Are you staying for dinner, Jane?" More guys seemed interested in that question, or the answer on it.
He remembers me. Tinglings were feelable in her stomach. "No, I'm not. Leaving in an hour or so. Nanny duties." Jane pressed her lips into a thin line, but managed to turn it into a smile. "If you will excuse me." She gave the group a nod and left.
It was a weird meeting or re-meeting. She pulled out the elastic from her hair and shook her hair loose. She politely greeted a few people and made her way inside.
"Jane!" Emma yelled. Emma was the wife of Giuseppe, the parents of the two children, the hosts of the dinner. Jane looked behind her and saw the woman walking towards her between everyone. "Jane, my dear," Emma said. "How're you feeling?"
"I'm fine, thank you," Jane politely replied. Emma was like the perfect woman; beautiful face, a killer body, a beautiful personality and... money. "How about you? And happy birthday!"
The woman nodded. "Thank you, dear. And I'm fine, yeah..." She looked around her, she looked a bit stressed. "Our housekeeper just went home, migraine. I really don't want to bother you, since you do a lot for us, but can you stay with Francy and Fede until their bedtime? I will pay you extra for those hours. You can grab dinner, watch tv... but this dinner is too important for us with all the investors." Emma looked hopeless. In other words: entertain my children so they won't bother us or give us a bad reputation in front of the important people.
"Don't worry, Emma. I will entertain them until they go to bed. I will put them under the shower and tuck them in," Jane assured her and gave her a warm smile.
"Really?"
"Really," Jane said. "Go back to your guests, leave it up to me."
Emma relievedly sighed. "Oh, goodness. You're my angel. I can't thank you enough."