Playing House

Ben Eager.

That’s who this stud man was.

Benjamin freakin Eager.

As in, the hockey player.

I may have (had) long, excruciating hours to work and two year old twins to contend with, but I loved hockey. How did I not know that Mrs. Jensen was this stud’s man’s aunt??

“So,” he started, snapping me out of it. “You worked at a hotel? As a housekeeper?”

“Yes,” I answered. “But they’re getting all new staff, so we’re kind of out of luck.”

“Yeah, my aunt told me. Same with the restaurant, right?” He asked. I nodded. Just then, two huge Rottweilers came storming down a hallway towards us, and they were barking up a storm.

“Holy shit,” I muttered, instinctively hiding behind Ben.

“Heel,” Ben said calmly. I didn’t hear anything, so I stood on my tip toes to see around Ben’s broad shoulders. I placed a steadying hand on his back as I looked, and Ben chuckled at me. “They’re nicer than they look,” he assured.

“Yeah,” I was not exactly convinced.

“Come on,” he said, grabbing my hand and pulling me forward. “Pet them.” They were both looking at me with their heads tilted innocently. I still didn’t move though, so he put one arm around my waist and guided my other hand toward one of the dogs. It suddenly snapped at me, so Ben and I both pulled back quickly. It was still growling, so I slipped back behind Ben. “Ariel.” He said firmly. The dog stopped growling at once and put the innocent look back on, even wagging her tail.

Bitch.

“Yeah, I guess that was my fault,” Ben said, turning to me apologetically. “She’s never been too fond of other females.” He smirked smugly, but he also looked sheepish so I held back a remark. I also held back the fact that he was still holding me. If he didn’t mind, then neither did I. “But this one,” he said, pointing to the other dog. “He loves everyone. Right Guinness?” The dog started wagging it’s tail excitedly and he pounced up on Ben. Ben just patted his head lightly and the dog removed himself, sitting back down obediently.

Ben grabbed my hand lightly again, and I looked up at him.

“I promise he won’t hurt you,” he said softly. His gaze was making me weak in the knees, so I just nodded numbly. He brought my hand down to Guinness, and I began petting him softly. I smiled lightly and Ben stood up straight. “See? He’s not too bad. I’d uh, stay away from Ariel for a while though,” he mentioned.

“Uh, yeah,” I replied. Did that mean I got the job?

“I mean, you’ll need to feed them and stuff, but we can go over that and the tour of the house and everything when it’s actually day time,” he laughed.

“So, I got the job then?” I asked.

“Of course. You seem like a pretty capable chick. I mean, just hearing your hours before made me cringe, and then hearing that you actually went into work all the time made me realize you were reliable, so, yeah,” he shrugged. “So, leave me your information and we’ll figure everything out.” I nodded and wrote down my info, and he led me toward the door.

“Thank you so much.”

“No problem,” he smiled. “Oh, and I know a really good real estate guy if you need one.”

“Er, what?” I asked, turning around and looking at him. We were both standing in front of the door, and he was about to open it until he saw my confused expression.

“Well, I mean, if you want to keep your place you could I guess,” he shrugged. What the heck was he talking about? “But it might be kind of a waste of money if no one’s gonna be living there.”

“I’m going to be living there,” I told him. He looked at me strangely. “Aren’t I?” He chuckled a little before shaking his head.

“I guess my aunt didn’t explain…I travel a lot, so you’d kind of have to be a live-in,” he said, scratching the back of his neck.

“Oh…”

“Is that going to be a problem?” He asked. I guess his aunt didn’t explain stuff to him either. I wanted to say ‘Unless you want twins going through their terrible two’s breaking shit in your house, then yeah, it’s kind of a problem,’ but obviously I kept my mouth shut.

“Um, yeah. Kind of. It’s…complicated. I should go. Thanks anyways,” I said, turning on my heel and exiting his house. I heard him call out to me but I kept going, feeling like I wasn’t ever going to be able to catch a break.

The rest of the week had flown by quickly, and now it was Sunday, my day off. I had tried to avoid Mrs. Jensen as much as I could, because I didn’t know what to say.

On one hand, I was so thankful to her for finding me this job. And then I kind of blew it, which made me feel a little guilty.

On the other hand, I was mad at her for not telling me it was a live in position and not telling Ben that I had children.

Those aren’t exactly easy facts to forget.

I glanced at the clock in my room, which read 10:17 AM. I had already showered and laid back in my bed in my robe. I loved sleeping in, but I knew my kids would be up soon. As soon as I had that thought, I heard my door creak open. I closed my eyes quickly, and tried wiping the smile off my face. I felt the two of them haul themselves on top of my bed, and they crawled over to me.

“Boo!” I yelled, shooting up a little. They both squealed in delight and I grabbed them both in my arms. “Good morning,” I said, giving them both a quick kiss.

“Mo’ning!” My son Beau replied, both of them giggling.

“What do you guys want to do today?” I asked. My little girl, Madeline, scrunched her nose up, like she always does when she’s deep in thought.

“Beck-fast,” Beau said.

“Ooh, breakfast sounds good, doesn’t it? A biiig breakfast with eggs and bacon and toast and orange juice?” I agreed.

“And pantates wif chips,” Beau smiled. I knew he meant chocolate chip pancakes, but I couldn’t help but laugh at him.

“Okay,” I nodded, smiling. “To the kitchen!” They screamed excitedly and hopped off the bed, scurrying to the kitchen. I sighed and followed, wishing everyday could be this perfect. I had just started making breakfast when there was a knock on the door. I was only in my robe, so I put my fingers to my lips to tell my kids to be quiet. Hopefully the person would just go away.

I kneeled next to my kids, who were sitting in little chairs in the kitchen.

“Shh okay?” I whispered.

“I got dis, mommy,” Beau whispered back, hopping off his seat and running toward the front door. He stood in front of it with his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. “Who’s knocking on my door?!” He screamed. I smacked my forehead but relief coursed through my body when I heard Tina laugh on the other side.

“It’s your auntie Tina, open up!” She chuckled. Beau looked at me, smiling widely. I got up and answered the door, giving my best friend a hug. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I replied. “Come on in.”

“I can’t, I’ve got to run. I just wanted to stop by and see how you were doing,” she explained.

“Alright I guess. Just enjoying a day with the kids,” I replied. She nodded and both kids ran up to her and she hugged them. “Oh, the stove,” I remembered, turning around.

“Oh, don’t go shut it off, I’ve got to go. I just thought the kids would enjoy their coloring stuff!” She said, whipping out all their art supplies. She turned back to me. “You go finish cooking, I’ll set them up with their coloring in here, and then I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Okay,” I smiled, hugging her. She started to set them up so I went back into the kitchen. A few minutes later I heard Tina yell goodbye, and then all was silent again. I turned on the radio in the kitchen, singing and dancing along. I was determined to have a good time today, and not worry about the future just yet.

A little later I heard Beau yell something, but because of the radio I couldn’t hear what he had said. It sounded like he said ‘Who’s knocking on my door’ again, but I figured that was unlikely.

“What honey?” I yelled back, turning the radio back down.

“I said it’s me, Ben,” a deep voice answered.