At 2pm that day, I was well into chapter four, when my phone beeped to remind me it was time to head out to Will’s school. He got out at 2:30 but the pick-up line got backed up if you didn’t get there early. On the drive over, I called my mom, using the Bluetooth in my car. She answered right away.
“Hey honey!” she said. “I’m so happy you called. I didn’t hear from you yesterday, and I was starting to get worried.”
“Sorry Mom,” I said with a little laugh. “But you know, one un-answered text isn’t anything to worry about.”
“It’s just that you’re always so good at texting me back.”
“I know. Again, I’m sorry. I would’ve texted or called you earlier this morning, but I’ve actually been really busy.”
“You have? I thought Will started school already.”
“He did.”
“Then what? Did you start a second job?”
“No,” I said. “Not exactly. I—I actually started to get back into writing. I busted out three whole chapters this morning.”
“Oh, that’s wonderful,” she said. “I’m so happy to hear that! Can I read it?”
“Soon,” I said. “I still want to do a couple read throughs, make some edits, but I will send it to you once it’s ready. I promise.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
“I know, that’s why I called you in the first place. I don’t want to lose this momentum. I want to really try and keep writing this time around, and the best way I can think of to do that is to have someone hold me accountable. So—I’m designating you as that person.”
“I’m honored,” she said. “And I swear, I won’t let you down.”
“You never do.”
I could hear her smile through the phone as I came to a stop at the back of the pick-up line. I put the car in park, knowing it would be at least another 15 minutes before anyone started moving. “So, tell me what’s been going on in Riverside? How’s the daycare?”
“The daycare is great,” she said. “Nothing really to report. A couple kids aged out this year, but we got a few new ones. Your favorite rosy-cheeked girl left because her parents moved out of state.”
“Not Mimi!” I said. “Aw, that’s so sad. I wish I could’ve said goodbye.”
“You spent a week saying goodbye to all the kids before you went to San Francisco.”
“I know,” I said. “But I was thinking I was going to see a lot of them again, like when I came home to visit for Christmas or something.”
“Are you coming home for Christmas?” she asked. “I just assumed Mr. Becker was going to need you over the holidays.”
“You know, we haven’t really talked about it. I’ll ask him next time I see him though.”
“Rich people often take long vacations with their families over the holidays, and if he does that, he’s probably going to want to take you with them.”
“Nah,” I said. “I don’t think so. He and Will are homebodies, and since he doesn’t have a wife to go on vacation with, why would he need a nanny there? If he were to go anywhere over the holidays, I assume he’d take Will somewhere kid-friendly, and then there wouldn’t be much of a need for me.”
“Right,” she said. “Unless he just enjoyed your company.”
I didn’t say anything right away, and apparently my mom took that to mean I was offended, because she very quickly apologized. “I’m sorry, honey, I was only trying to make a joke. I know you’re not the type of person who would sleep with her boss.”
I forced a laugh. “Yeah. Right. No, of course not. I wouldn’t want to be that kind of person.”
“It could jeopardize your job, and I know you take your work very seriously, and I also know how much you care for Will, so you’d never want to put him in a tough situation.”
“Yeah. That’s—that’s all true. Yup. Listen, speaking of Will, he’s going to be getting out of school any second now so I really gotta go. I’ll call you this weekend okay?”
“Okay! And send me those chapters!”