When Duty Calls

It wasn’t part of her job description, and Michelle often told her not to, but Andrea usually found herself doing housework. It was usually while Ella was sleeping in the morning to stop her from getting bored, but with Brian keeping his daughter entertained she had time before lunch to clean the kitchen. As she cleaned she sang along to the radio, allowing her mind to wander.

Andrea sat on the chair opposite Brian, nerves swimming in the pit of her stomach. She’d had an interview with them two days ago but they’d called her back, asked her to come and see them again. That could only be a good thing, right?

As they waited for Michelle to return from the kitchen with drinks, Brian played peek-a-boo with his laughing baby girl and Andrea played nervously with the hem of her t-shit and biting at the inside of her lower lip.

“Ok, here we are.” Michelle said walking back into the room and setting down a tray of drinks onto the coffee table. She passed Andrea a glass of lemonade and sat down next to Brian.

“Ok, so, no point keeping you in suspense any longer is there. Brian and I have talked it over, and taking into consideration your experience, references as well as Connor and Ella’s reaction to you, we have decided to give you a month’s trial.” Michelle said smiling broadly at the young woman sat on the sofa opposite her.

“Really? Wow, thank you so much.” Andrea replied with a wide smile.

“Welcome to the family.” Brian added with a smile from where he sat next to his wife.

“I won’t let you down I promise, I’m just so, so happy.” Andrea replied excitedly as Ella began to clap her hands as she giggled.

“Well, the children love you, which is the most important thing, and you just stood out from the other applicants.” Michelle said as Connor bounced into the room and jumped up onto the sofa next to his mother.

“Is Andrea going to be looking after us mommy?” he asked, a wide smile over his face.

“She is the one you wanted right? The one you liked the best?” Brian replied quirking an eyebrow at his four year old son.

“Yeah, she was lots better than that other girl, she smelt kinda funny.” The boy replied scrunching his nose.

“Ok, so me and daddy decided to let her look after you for a while and if you still like her and you and your sister haven’t scared her away then maybe she’ll stay longer.” Michelle explained. A wide smile crossed his face again before a frown appeared as he leant over his moms lap to face his baby sister.

“Don’t scare her okay Ella, I like her she’s fun.” He said matter-of-factly, nodding his head slightly as Ella reached her small hand over to touch his face. The adults in the room giggled as Connor quickly went back to sitting next to his mother.

“So, when do I start?” Andrea asked eagerly.

“Monday morning?” Michelle asked. Andrea nodded, glancing at each of the family members opposite her as they all smiled back at her.

“Great, I can’t wait.” Andrea smiled back.

“Brilliant, we’ll go through their routines and stuff then.” Michelle replied standing up from the sofa. Andrea followed suit as did Brian. she followed them over to the front door.

“So, we’ll say about seven thirty? That way you can come on the school run with me, meet Connor’s teacher.” Michelle said as she opened the door to let Andrea out.

“Yeah, that’s fine, see you Monday, and thank you again, so much.” She replied.

“Hey, Andrea are you ok?” Brian’s voice coaxed her out of her thoughts. “I’ve been calling you from the living room.”

“Oh, sorry, I was in a world of my own.” She replied with a smile.

“Was I with you?” he asked with a smirk as he walked over to her with Ella in his arms.
Andrea chuckled as she turned back to the fridge and took out the lettuce and tomatoes.

“Actually, I was thinking back to when I first got this job, so yeah you were there.”

“Best decision we’ve made was hiring you.” Brian replied, his smirk still intact as he moved closer to her. Andrea looked up from the salad she had began to prepare for lunch to find him stood right next to her with Ella in his arms.

“I don’t think Michelle would agree if she knew why you were saying that.” Andrea replied, quickly turning her head and focusing on making lunch.

“Probably not, but I know that she loves you working for us as much as I do, you’re great with the kids and I know we’d all be lost without you.” Brian replied watching her as she diced some cucumber.

“For different reasons.” Andrea muttered under her breath.

“I’m glad you decided to stay.” He whispered.

“For the kids Brian, not for you.” she replied as she tore off some lettuce leaves for the salad.

“Didn’t feel like that this morning.” Brian replied. Even though she was concentrating on the plates of food on the counter in front of her, she knew that Brian was smirking.

“Ok, maybe I couldn’t walk away from you as easily either, but I decided to stay because of the kids. You should have seen Connor’s face when I tried to explain to him that I’d have to leave at some point. He was heartbroken Brian. I couldn’t do that to him. I’d rather live with the guilt of what we’ve been doing behind Michelle’s back than break his heart.” She replied solemnly. “But we’ve got to stop Brian, this should never have started.” She added.

“What if I don’t want it to stop?” Brian asked as Ella began to cry.

“We have to Brian; I don’t think I can do this anymore.” She replied taking Ella out of his arms and walking out of the kitchen with her.

As she began to change Ella’s diaper, Andrea knew that she had a difficult job ahead of her. There was no way that she would be able to walk away from the family now. In three short months she’d built a strong bond with both Ella and Connor. She knew that even though she’d find it hard to stay away from Brian, but it’d be harder to walk away from the children. It’d be hard enough to do that when they were too old to need a nanny.

“This should never have started.” She said quietly as she undid the poppers on Ella’s vest. Ella laughed in reply, shaking her head copying Andrea’s actions.

“Happy Birthday to you!” everyone was gathered in the back yard sang as they celebrated Connor’s fifth birthday.

“Make a wish honey!” Michelle cheered as she held his Spiderman birthday cake in front of him. Connor closed his eyes before blowing out the five candles as everyone cheered.

“What d’you wish for little dude?” Zack asked from behind the video camera.

“I can’t tell you that Uncle Zacky then it won’t come true.” He replied, rolling his eyes, causing every adult around him to laugh.

Andrea watched as Connor ate a slice of his cake before taking off down the steps where his new bike was sat, followed quickly by most of the other children. She stood up from her seat and began to clear away the empty plates, glasses and cups.

“Leave those Andrea, we’ll clear up later.” Michelle said from where she was sat with Ella in her lap, feeding her crumbs of cake.

“It’s ok, I’ll just get these in out of the way.” She replied turning with an arm full of dishes back towards the back door.

As she stepped in to the kitchen her foot slipped on the tilled floor, dropping the dishes onto the floor, falling on top of them in the process. She screamed out in pain as at least one of the glasses smashed under her, slicing into her lower arm. The room was suddenly full of people rushing to find out what had happened.

“Oh my god Andrea, are you ok?” Brian was the first one to reach her.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She replied wincing in pain.

“Honey, you’re bleeding!” Val said as Brian took hold of her and helped her up.

“What happened?” Michelle asked.

“Come here, let’s wash you up.” Brian said before she could answer, leading her carefully over to the kitchen sink.

“I slipped, dropped the dishes and landed on top of them.” Andrea explained as Brian ran the cold water over her arm to wash the blood away. “I’ll replace them all.” She said as again she winced in pain.

“Don’t be stupid, it’s just a few glasses, as long as you’re not hurt.” Michelle replied.

“Ok, listen, I think there’s a splinter of glass still in there, and you may need it bandaged.” Brian said turning off the water. “There’s a first aid kit upstairs, come on.” He added holding her arm gently as he led her up to the bathroom.

“Sit there.” He said indicating towards the counter beside the sink. Andrea did as he said and watched as he took the first aid kit out of the cabinet and set it down next to her. Andrea watched silently as Brian washed away the fresh blood that had seeped out in the time it had taken them to walk up the stairs.

“There’s defiantly some glass in there, can you feel it?” Brian asked as he ran his finger over the small wound.

“Yeah, I can.” Andrea replied, wincing at the feeling of Brian’s finger gently touching the glass splinter.

“Ok, keep still, this may hurt.” He said taking hold of her arm as he placed the tweezers on her skin.

“Aahh” Andrea whispered quietly as she felt him pull the glass out of her arm.

“Sorry.” Brian replied looking up at her with a sympathetic smile.

“Its ok.” she said with a smile as he returned his gaze to her arm, pulling out the small piece of glass.

“There we go, now lets cover that up.” He said reaching for the dressing on the counter.

Andrea sat still as Brian gently covered the cut, bandaging it with care. When he finished he looked up at her, taking a step closer to her.

“Thanks Brian.” she said examining his handy work.

“Don’t worry about it, now are you sure you didn’t cut yourself anywhere else?” he asked, reaching up and running his hands down her bare arms, his eyes not leaving hers.

“Yeah, I think I’m fine.” She replied, finding herself staring into his brown eyes. The next thing she new, he’d moved closer to her, his lips pressing gently against hers. At first she kissed back, distracted by how soft his lips felt against hers, but then her hands came up between them, placing them on his well-defined chest and pushing him gently away.

“What are you doing?” she asked quietly.

“Sorry, I know, I shouldn’t have, I just couldn’t resist any longer.” He replied bringing his hand up to her hair.

“What?”

“Andrea, I’ve wanted to kiss you for weeks.” Brian replied not loosing eye contact. Andrea didn’t know what to say, she just found herself still staring into his eyes. “I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m attracted to you.”

“But, I, we can’t, your married.” She replied still shocked.

“I know, I’m sorry, I just, you look so beautiful today.” He replied with a smile.

“Bri…” Andrea started.

“Sorry, you do though.” He replied before taking a step back from the counter. She watched in confusion as he smiled at her again before turning and leaving the bathroom.

“Come on; let’s have some lunch so you can go down for your afternoon nap.” Andrea said, bringing herself out of her thoughts, cursing herself for allowing herself to smile at the memory.