Melt Your Headaches, Call It Work

By the time Christmas was rolling around, I was ready for presents, fun, and well, rest. As much as I loved Georgie and Ryan, they were exhausting to live with. Georgie was just a constant ball of hyperactivity and insanity, while Ryan was so mysterious and awkward that it was painful to be in the same room alone with him for more than ten minutes. However, nothing from the two Ross’ prepared me for what was to come.

I was struggling to get Georgie to eat breakfast when the doorbell rang. Blowing a lock of hair off my forehead, I gave Georgie a warning glance and pointed to her bowl of oatmeal, signaling she was going to have to eat by the time I got back.

Jogging from the kitchen to the front door, I patted my hands against the sides of my tank top in an attempt to brush the brown sugar that had spilled from the bag when I was mixing it into Georgie’s oatmeal. Without even bothering to look through the peep hole, I opened the door, smiling.

“Hi there, can I help you?” I asked the couple before me, noticing the frown on the man’s face. The woman turned, her blonde hair swirling delicately over her shoulder. Glancing me up and down, a confused look melted over her face.

“Who are you?” she questioned, her tone of voice set at confusion rather than anger.

“I’m Libby O’Callaghan, the Ross’ nanny,” I explained, laughing slightly. “And you are…?”

“Mommy!” Georgie shouted, sprinting past me and tossing herself against the woman, her face pressed tightly against her thighs.

“Georgie!” the woman—whom I know realized was Mrs. Ross—cried, bending down to scoop the eager child into her arms. “Hi there, baby, how are you?”

“Mommy, what are you doing here?” Georgie asked, her arms wrapped tightly around her neck.

“I came to surprise you! Are you surprised, sweetie?”

I was in shock. I had always pictured Mrs. Ross as this evil woman who had chosen a career of dance over her daughter, and had abandoned her family in the hopes of making it to be a Rockette. Instead, here was a beautiful, smiling woman whose entire face was alive just by the sight of her daughter.

“Hey, Libby, who’s at the door?” Ryan yawned, coming down the stairs in a rumpled tee-shirt and low-slung plaid bottoms.

“Hello, Ryan,” ex-Mrs. Ross called, glancing past me towards her ex. Ryan froze, the back of his neck reddening. He turned slowly, glaring at her.

“What are you doing here, Keltie?” he hissed. Catching sight of the man behind her, his expression turned, if possible, even angrier. “And why the hell did you bring him here?”

“Ryan, why can’t you be civilized,” ex-Mrs. Ross snapped, dropping Georgie to the ground. Georgie wrapped an arm around her leg and held on tight, not noticing their angry expressions.

“I am civilized, just not when my ex-wife shows up with my ex-best friend, her new husband,” Ryan growled, advancing forward. “Now what are you doing here?”

“I’m here to spend time with my daughter, Ryan.”

“I have Christmas with her! It’s my year!” Ryan protested. “You can’t do this!”

“Daddy, what’s—”

“I can do what I want! And I’m not taking her on Christmas, Ryan!”

“Hey, Georgie, let’s go get dressed,” I cut in, grabbing her hand and half-pulling her up the stairs. Shutting her door firmly behind me, I took my time helping her get dressed, talking extra loud so as to drown out the sound of their argument.

However, it was in vain because by the time I took her back downstairs, the fight was worse, now taking place in the living room. Ryan was gesturing up at us, his face blood red, while ex-Mrs. Ross was pushing him back with her tiny tanned hand.

“I have every right to be here, Ryan, and see my daughter!”

“It’s my year, Keltie!”

“You didn’t let me see her at Thanksgiving!”

“You canceled, Keltie!”

“Just let me spend the day with her, Ryan! You can’t keep my own daughter from me!”

“Um, Ryan?” I squeaked out, holding Georgie’s hand tightly. Both turned to me, breathing fire and spitting mad. “I’m going to take Georgie to her appointment, remember?”

“What appointment—OH! Her appointment, right,” Ryan sighed, rubbing his temples. “I should go with you for that…Dr. Cisco, right?”

“What?” Keltie exclaimed, glaring at him. “Oh no you don’t! I’m coming too!”

“Fine! Just barge in on our lives once more, Keltie!” Ryan shouted, storming from the house. “Come on, Georgie, Libby!”

“She is not coming with us,” Keltie hissed, pointing at me. “This is a family affair, not a family-and-nanny-affair!”

“Brent isn’t a part of our family, how come you’re asking him to come?” Ryan yelled, tossing his hand out to point at the man as well.

“Because Brent is my husband and Georgie’s step father!”

“Well, Libby is Georgie’s nanny!”

“And has no relation to Georgie at all!” Taking Georgie’s hand, Keltie pulled her towards her car. “C’mon, Georgie, I’m taking you to the doctors!”

“No!” Ryan and I shouted at the same time, watching in horror as Georgie’s eyes grew wide and her pale face turn tomato red. Opening her mouth, she tilted back her head and let out an ear piercing scream, yanking her hands from Keltie’s grasp. Georgie took off for the back yard, heading for the apple tree. Cursing, Ryan and I chased after her, arms outstretched.

“Do you see what you did?” Ryan snarled as he scrambled after her. He blindly reached for her arm, but she sprinted away, straight into my chest. Wrapping my arms around her tightly, I lifted her off the ground and carried her kicking and screaming towards the car.

“Georgie, calm down!” I grunted, struggling to carry her. “Relax, Georgie, please stop kicking me!”

“Georgie, stop it!” Ryan tried, moving to help me.

“NO! NO DOCTOR!” she screamed, still flailing. Fed up, and quickly flipped her upside down, holding her legs still.

“Georgie, if you don’t stop right now, I’m not going to take you to see Spencer today!”

Georgie froze, lifting half her body up to stare at me. “Spencer?”

“That’s right,” I cooed, moving slowly to the car. “Spencer wanted to see you again, and he promised this time he’d make you an ice cream sundae.”

“But I don’t want to go to the doctor,” she whined, staring at me.

“Then I guess you don’t want to see Spencer,” I shrugged, still holding her. “It’s your choice: go to the doctor, behave, and get to see Spencer, or don’t go and miss out on seeing Spencer. Choose wisely, you have three seconds.”

“Libby—”

“One…two…” Noticing she wasn’t speaking, I quirked an eyebrow and continued with, “Two-and-a-half…two-and-three-fourths…If I get to that last number and you still haven’t—”

“I wanna see Spenther!” she wailed, wiggling back and forth.

“That’s what I thought,” I sighed, flipping her back around and holding her carefully incase she wanted to make an escape. Carrying her back through the gates, I nodded to Keltie before strapping her into her car seat.

“Alright, she’s already to go,” I shrugged as I stepped back.

“Does she always do that?” whispered Keltie as she moved towards me. “Freak out about the doctors?”

“Well, as long as I’ve been here,” I smiled. “She’s nervous around needles.”

“I had—I had no idea,” Keltie mumbled.

“Libby, are you coming?” Georgie called, craning her neck. Keltie nodded, and waved me towards the car. Grabbing Ryan by the back of his shirt, she pulled him towards her.

“You get her back here by lunch, you hear? I’m taking her out for the afternoon, and I swear, if you’re one minute past noon—”

“You have no right to just show up here and demand visiting rights when it’s my Christmas, Keltie,” Ryan snarled, pulling away and fixing his shirt. He marched to the car and slammed the door behind him, shoving the key in the ignition and speeding out of the driveway.

“God, she makes me so mad!” he exclaimed, hitting the steering wheel. “She makes me want to punch something!”

“Ryan, calm down,” I hissed, glancing back at Georgie. “Don’t forget that Georgie’s in the back…”

He nodded, tight lipped, and continued to drive to the doctors.

The doctor’s visit went off without a hitch (actually, that’s a lie, Georgie freaked out and tried to crawl under the examining table, and I was forced to hold a squirming five-year-old as she got a tetanus shot). Ryan had calmed down by the time we got to Spencer’s, but I could tell he was still upset about Keltie’s out of the blue visit.

However, Ryan never said a word, and when it came time for Georgie to leave with Keltie for their day off, Ryan kissed her goodbye and then hid in his office until she returned.

As for Keltie, well, she barely spoke two words to me after this morning, leaving with her husband as soon as she could. That was the last time I would Keltie for a long, long, time.