I wait outside the main office for Mr. J. He told me yesterday that he might be a few minutes after the final bell so I take a seat. Ingrid agreed to let me babysit, and even gave me a later curfew than normal knowing the bus ride home itself will take half an hour at least.
"Emma, sorry about the wait, I was just finishing up a skype call with a member of the board," Mr. J explains as he walks out of his office.
"No problem, thanks for driving me,"
"Of course. Shall we?" he smiles, and walks me to his car. It's nice, similar to Killian's actually with the sleek black design although Mr. J drives an SUV, probably to fit his growing family. "Melody is excited to see you again. She was babbling about it all morning," he chuckles.
"That's cute,"
"So she's in bed by 7:30, and don't let her persuade you otherwise. Normally she only gives her mother, and I a hard time about going down, but she can get cranky. She loves warm milk, and it normally knocks her right out when she's in a bad mood," he explains.
"Ok easy enough. What about dinner?"
"She's easy, eats everything. Just prepare something easy like Kraft Dinner, or grilled cheese." Grilled cheese does sound good right now.
"We're here" he announces a little while later as we pull into the drive way of a large grey house. There's a double car garage, and a perfectly tamed garden with a cobble path leading to the front door.
"Wow, nice house," I say trying not to sound too taken aback when he opens the door to dark hardwood floors, and a large staircase leading to the second floor. He must be rich. Why is he a teacher then?
"Thank you, it's a bit unsightly at the moment with Melody's toys, and all of the new baby stuff that doesn't have a place yet,"
"No, trust me this isn't unsightly," I say wide eyed. I don't think I've ever been in a house this big, or this nice.
"Emma!" Melody squeals as she runs down the hallway at full speed.
"Melody slow down!" her mother scolds, running after her. "Oh, hi Emma nice to see you again," she greets me, and we shake hands. Her pregnancy is more obvious now because of her 6 month belly.
"Hi Mrs. Jones,"
"Oh, please call me Ariel, I'm not your teacher," she jokes.
"Emma look!" Melody yells, making me look down to her. She's already wearing her leotard for gymnastics. She slides down into the splits with a cheeky smile, clearly proud of herself.
"Wow, good job," I say holding out my hand for a high five. She happily reaches up high fives back.
"Where's Killy?" she asks, looking at me. I try to hide the heat that brings to my cheeks.
"You're with Emma tonight Mel, no Killy," Liam tells her. She looks at me as if she's confused why we aren't together. Smart kid.
"Um, anything else I should know?" I butt in before anyone can make anything suspicious from it.
"Alright you," Mr. J says picking up Melody, "You behave for Emma,"
"Mhm daddy," she nods. He puts her back down, and she runs off to the living room.
"If she misbehaves we have a timeout chair in the living room. She knows right from wrong, but she gets testy sometimes. She seems in high spirits, I wouldn't worry about it," he explains to me. I nod in understanding.
"Here, I'll give you a quick tour, then I have to get class," Ariel says.
"Class?" I ask. I didn't know she was a teacher too.
"Yes, I'm a national level swimmer, well was," she says looking down to her round belly. "I retired when I was pregnant with Melody, now I teach," she answers. Maybe that's why they have so much money?
"Does Melody take swimming lessons?" I ask.
"Of course, once a week, we have a lap pool in the basement as well that she practices on. She's still a little young to be competitive, but she's getting there."
"Do you teach her?"
"Oh, no, she has her own coach. I coach adults, one of my students is competing for the Olympic team this fall."
"Wow," is all I have to say.
"Anyways enough about me, let me give you the tour," she smiles.
~ ~ ~
After the house tour, both Mr. J, and Ariel leave. I pack Melody's bag with a change of clothes, and some snacks. She's old enough that she's potty trained so that's not an issue.
We take the bus down to the gymnastics studio, which is only about 15 minutes away, and get there in time. We walk in, she holding onto my hand.
"Ok Melody I'll be watching from the window, have fun," I say walking back to the benches after leaving her with her class. She skips into the crowd with a big smile.
~ ~ ~
Gymnastics goes off without a hitch, and Melody is happy as we walk through the front door of her home. It's about 5:30.
I put on a movie for her as I make us some grilled cheese. Sitting down alongside her I watch the Princess and The Frog. Melody seems content, and entertained, but the movie doesn't have the same effect on me.
When the credits finally roll I'm cleaning the dishes in the kitchen. Melody comes over, and I hand her some juice in a sippy cup. She's definitely tired, I can see a flutter in her eyes. I can't imagine she'll have a hard time going to bed, she might even go down early.
I get Melody ready for bed, and read her a story, her pick Oh The Places You'll Go. It was entertaining hearing her talk alongside me, obviously knowing the words by memory. She fell asleep fast after that, and I just waited for her parents to come home.
Mr. J walks through the door at about 8:50.
"Ello Emma. How was she?" he asks putting his briefcase down, and loosening his tie. He never used to wear ties, but he has been more often since he became the principle.
"Great, she was pretty tuckered out after gymnastics, and went down easy."
"Oh great. Thank you for doing this, I know it must be strange to be in a teacher's house." Less strange than being in a teachers bed.
"No, it was fine really. It seems you have a lot to handle lately. Were you working all this time?" I ask him. If he was that's dedication.
"I left at about 6:30, but had some errands to run after that. I'll drive you home in a few minutes, Ariel should be back very soon."
"Oh you don't have to drive me, I know the bus route."
"No, no, that will take you ages. I don't mind," he offers.
"Ok," I agree, seeing that arguing wasn't going to do any good. He's definitely Killian's brother.
~ ~ ~
Mr. J was right, getting a drive was almost 20 minutes faster than bussing would have been. I give him my address, and he drives down my street. Killian hasn't even seen where I live, I never let him.
We pull up into the driveway, and he takes his wallet out, fishing for money. He hands over $60, and my mouth drops. I was expecting $40 at most, but $60 for the night?
"I can't take that much," I say, not reaching for the money. "It was only for like 6 hours, and she's been asleep for two of them..."
"You deserve it, you spent your whole night watching my daughter, that's not something I want to cheap out on. Take it," he insists. I hesitantly take the money from him.
"Thanks Mr. J," I say and get out of the car. I smile at the money in my hand. He really loves his daughter to be giving me this much. He seems like a great father, like the father I'd always imagined having. I wonder if Killian would be the same. Ugh it doesn't matter Emma. That's over.
A/N
Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadian's reading!
Plus last nights episode was one of my favourites of t eh whole show! Captainswan was so cute, and perfect!
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