A Maid for the Mullens

Amberly Gardner, much like her parents wished for her, had graduated valedictorian of her high school and went off to a nice, state college close to home. She graduated with a degree in accounting, but immediately given a job at Dedrick and Sons Law, working as a secretary to her boyfried, Raymond Dedrick.

Now, Raymond Dedrick was a sleazy, ruthless creep, and Amberly had yet to figure this out on her own. Sure, he was a good looking fellow, and Theodora had a soft spot for tall, dark, and handsome, but he had been using the tricks he always had tucked up his sleeve on her.

Raymond and Amberly met when he was finishing his last year in law school at age twenty four and she was finishing her senior year of college. At the time, Amberly was charmed by his cute smile and successful family. Although her parents despised him, she could not find a reason to hate him at all.

That was almost a year ago, and now, Amberly was stuck behind a desk all day, rarely getting to see her boyfriend throughout the day. He was already a busy lawyer and most of the time had to stay late to get his work done. Of course, being the sweet, naïve girl she was, she had no problem, not putting two and two together and realizing that he was doing the nasty with the slutty intern from New Jersey. Her fellow employees looked on sadly at her life that seemed to be crumbling to pieces without her knowledge.

Then suddenly, her desk was cleared off and her belongings were placed into a box on top of it. Confused, she stepped into Raymond's office that gloomy February morning. It was surprisingly warm out for that time of year, around fifty degrees. The rain fell lightly on the patches of snow on the sidewalk below on the streets and into puddles on the streets. It dripped down the expanse of windows on the side of Raymond's office.

“Ray, why is all my stuff in a box?” she asked, busting through the door. Raymond, the first man she had ever loved, stood their holding the giggling intern. He pushed her to the side, tucking at the cuffs of his shirt.

“Amber, there's something I've been needing to tell you for a while now and, well,” he snaked an arm around the intern's waist, who giggled again, “Tanya and I have been seeing each other. And she's taking your place.”

Tanya raised a penciled in eyebrow, her shiny ruby lips curling into a devious smile. She wanted to see Amberly break into tears, beg for Raymond back. That was also what Raymond wanted. Although that was what she instinctively wanted to do, she wanted to walk out of that office with as much dignity as possible. She smiled, a smile that did not reach her eyes, as she sauntered in her stilettos to Raymond's desk. Tanya's acrylic nails dug into Raymond's muscled back as she picked up the hot coffee drink he had sitting on his glass topped-desk.

“You know, Ray, I gave you a year of my life. I'm a smart girl. I had dozens of jobs offered to me as I came out of college. I was a pretty, young, devoted, organized, responsible worker,” she popped the lid of the drink and watched, satisfied, as steam rose from the cup, “I could've been doing great things with my life. I could've met the man of my dreams. Instead, I was stuck in this shit hole while you went behind my back and fooled around with this worthless waste of human life. Now how stupid do you think I feel, Ray? I feel pretty goddamned stupid. But you...you better feel like the biggest moron on the face of this planet to let the best thing that ever happened to you to walk away. You're a lying scum bag and no one as good as me is ever going to give you the time of day, you can be sure of that!”

After she finished her long winded rant, she tossed the steaming drink at Raymond's crotch. He screamed, releasing Tanya, who half heartedly shouted demeaning names at Amberly, who ignored her as she emerged from her ex-boyfriends office. She cheerfully plucked her box of the desk and walked, head held high, out of the Dedrick and Sons Law Firm for the last time.

--- ---

Of course, now, as Amberly packed her belongings away into two large suitcases, that she had nowhere to go.

After she announced to her parents that she was living with Raymond, they told her that if something happened, she couldn't go crying to them. Now Amberly was unemployed, boyfriendless, and homeless. She tried not to let the problem get to her as she sat on her last suitcase, zipping it closed. She looked at her reflection in the vanity above the dresser. Her hair was thrown up sloppily, her eyeliner was smeared slightly under her eyes, and she wore a pair of worn jeans along with her oversized NYU sweatshirt.

As much as she wished she didn't have to, she picked up the her cell phone, punching in the numbers she was hoping she wouldn't have to for such an occasion. After a few rings, a cheery voice answered the phone.

“Amber! Aren't you supposed to be working?” her mother asked worriedly.

“Well, now that I don't have a job, I really don't have to do anything,” she confessed, slipping on a moccasins over her Scottie-patterned socks. “Ray dumped me. And then I threw hot coffee on his junk, so I guess that could be taken as my resigning.”

“Amberly Elisia, I warned you about that little bastard,” he father scolded angrily over a three way call while the sounds of the mechanic's shop made their way into her ear. Amberly groaned out loud and her mother sighed loudly.

“I'm sorry, honey, but your father and I thought we made it clear that you were on your own.”

“Momma, please,” she pleaded, feeling her bottom lip quiver. “Just for, like, a week? Maybe even less. I promise, if you give me a week, I'll be out of your hair sooner than you expect.”

“Amber, you could never be a bother to us. Your father will come pick you up in front of the building in a few hours. He's got to finish up at work. So while you wait for him, I want you to start looking for a job, alright?”

Holding back her tears, Theodora agreed. “I'll look, alright?”

“Good girl. I love you so much, Amberly. Don't forget that.”

“I won't.”

As silent tears fell from Amberly's big eyes, she picked up the phone she had dropped to the over stuffed comforter moments ago. She dialed a number she was always happy to call and pressed the phone to her ear. After a few rings, the phone was picked up with a cheerful greeting.

“Hey! Aren't you supposed to be working?” Daniella asked, her soft voice soothing Amberly through the phone.

“Well, long story short, I am unemployed, single, and homeless and I'm in need of a job search partner. And since you don't work Monday's I was thinking-”

“Say no more! I'll be there in a flash! As long as you don't mind Jackie,” Daniella warned, a wailing cry reaching Amberly's ears. She smiled to herself, hoping Daniella's little bundle of joy would bring her a little cheer.

“Of course not. As long as he doesn't try to eat my potpourri this time.”

--- ---

By three o'clock that afternoon, the Amberly and Daniella had called every accounting office in New York City, finding that none of them were in need of a new employee. They had searched job ads in the paper and online, to places as far as Iowa. It would either be too expensive to move without much pay or get another job as a secretary at a rival law firm to Raymond's family in the city. As much as Amberly finds the idea of revenge tempting, she swore to herself that she would never work at another law firm. Ever.

“She looked like a tall, leggy Snooki,” Amberly whined, after the two of them gave up their useless search. Jacquelyn giggled, chewing on a teething ring on her lap. She kissed her forehead lovingly, while Daniella fumed beside her.

“That asshole thinks he can just...dump you? He's such a bastard! I knew that deep down, he was never, ever any good.”

“Well, nobody ever told me,” Amberly muttered, bouncing a bubbly Jacquelyn on her knee. Daniella slumped her shoulders as she looked at the clock. She gently took Jacquelyn from Amberly's grasp, cradling her daughter in her left arm.

“Thomas and I have to meet with the wedding planner, as much as we both don't want to. Be glad your mother isn't forcing you to get an ice sculpture of yourself and a dress that looks like a fairytale princess threw up on. I wanted to just elope, but no!” she exclaimed, waving her free hand dramatically. She picked up Jacquelyn's diaper bag and continued, “We gotta make things extravagant and romantic. You know what my idea of romance is? Stuffing my face with homemade ziti while watching football games with Thomas. Then have sex. See? I'm just not one for this 'fairytale ending' thing.”

“Well, bye, Dani,” Amberly chuckled, walking her best friend to the door. Daniella continued to explain her mother's dream wedding that was being thrust upon her own marriage. As they finally reached the door after five minutes, that was only two feet away from the couch, Daniella opened the door, jumping when she saw Amberly's father.

“Oh, hello, Mr. Gardner,” she said, as he moved out of her way. She stepped out in the hall, while Jacquelyn waved innocently. Nelson Gardner's face crinkled around his mouth and eyes, his face still aging gracefully.

“You ready, Amber?” he asked, taking one of the bags by the door. Amberly let her shoulders hunch.

“Ready as I'll ever be.”

--- ---

The quaint house on the outskirts on the city still looked the same. The inside still smelled like vanilla cookies and Hillary Gardner's perfume. A new big screen in front of her father's favorite recliner and a renovated kitchen still made the house feel like the home Amberly grew up in.

Up the four stairs that led up to the bedroom hallway, Amberly's room still looked the same. Posters of Chad Michael Murray and Orlando Bloom still graced the walls with their manly looks and beautiful smiles. Her polka doted comforter still looked the same as when the left four years ago, all her favorite childhood stuffed animals lined the headboard in front of her over stuffed, decorative pillows. The white desk still held ACT/SAT prep books and notes she and her friends passed in middle school. The white vanity was topped with her old nail polishes and her collection of horribly overly pigmented eyeshadows.

It smelled like the old perfume she used to wear too much of and that same vanilla cookie scent that had made its way into every room.

“Look who's home again.”

Turning around, a tall, blonde man stood against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest with a smirk on his lips. Amberly smiled. “You don't seem too surprised, A.J.”

He laughed as he opened his arms wide to his old friend, who gladly snuggled her slender body against his strong one. A.J was a long time friend of Amberly's, their friendship tracing back to the first time her mother took her to the playground and he kicked sand on her dress. As odd as it may sound, they had been inseparable up until A.J went to graduated a year before Amberly and went to a school specializing in mechanics. A year after that, Amberly went to NYU and her visits became less and less frequent until she stopped coming at all. A.J went to work at Nelson Gardner's auto shop while Amberly slaved herself over useless paperwork and time consuming phone calls at the law firm.

“So I take it things went sour with Mr. Perfect?” he asked, grinning and shoving his hands in the front pockets of his jeans. Amberly folded her arms over her chest and frowned at him.

“When did I tell you he was perfect?” she asked, watching him pick up one of her old stuffed animals and chuckle to himself. Amberly blushed and rolled her eyes.

“You never told me about him. Your mom did, though. Said you were in denial that he was a slimy bastard,” he said, flopping his large body onto her neatly made bed.

Amberly shook her head and brushed her brown curls out of her face. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I'm taking you out. As a friend, of course,” he said, resting his hands behind his head. “I thought you could use a little cheering up.”

“And where were you planning on taking me?”

A.J smiled deviously. “DiGiovanni's! Where else would I take you?”

DiGiovanni's, previously owned by part of the DiGiovanni mob family that was murdered just weeks ago, was the place A.J and Amberly had spent their underaged drinking days sneaking in. It was a friendly, smoky sports bar where A.J taught Amberly how to spot a douchebag, how to chug a mug of beer in less than two minutes, and the basics of football.

“A.J, I don't know, I mean I-”

“Amberly, do you want to wallow around here or do you want to see the Red Wolves versus the Packers game?”

Though she would prefer to wallow in her own pity in her old room and cuddle with her stuffed animals, she replied, “Fine. I'll go.”

--- ---

“I can't remember why we even liked this place!” Amberly shouted over the loud music, swirling the warm beer in her bottle around. A.J looked at her, tossing an arm lazily around her shoulder.

“Kid, you gotta loosen up. You don't have some prick to hover over you anymore or have to worry about waking up sober to go to work!” he laughed, clapping her shoulder roughly. She lurched forward, hitting her ribs against the wood bar with an 'oomph'.

“Well, lookie, here,” the bartender, Butch, said with a smile, wiping off the beer that had splashed out of Amberly's bottle onto the bar's surface. “You're old enough to drink legally now, Miss Gardner.”

Amberly smiled. “Hey, Butch. It's good to see you.”

“It's good to see you, too. I wondered what happened when A.J showed up without you. Turned into my favorite regular even without you.”

“I went to school in the city, got a job.”

“So what brings you back here?” he asked with a hearty laugh. Amberly frowned.

“Long story short, I'm single, unemployed, and without a permanent home as of right now.”

“That's some shitty luck!” he exclaimed sympathetically. “You could work here until you get back on your feet again.”

“Thanks, but my dad already wants me to work at the auto shop,” she answered loudly over the screaming guitars and yelling football fans. She tried to focus on the game, yet still to worried about what was going to happen with her life now.

“Amberly Gardner! What are you doing here?”

Amberly turned around to face Dakoda Jaxson, a classmate from college. She squeal childishly in excitement and hopped of her bar stool to smother her friend in a hug. A.J looked on in amusement as the two embraced happily.

“Kody! How are you?”

Kody smiled happily. “I'm great!”

“Are you still working at McGregors?” Amberly asked, confused.

“I never went!” Kody exclaimed, shaking Amberly's shoulders. “My old job was too amazing!”

“What were you doing before that?” Amberly asked noisily over the music.

“I'm a nanny!”

A.J and Amberly looked at each other silently. “A nanny?”

“For the Mullens!”

Amberly looked at her with the same confused expression.

“The billionaire family!”

Amberly's eyes widened as much as possible. Dakoda laughed, shaking Amberly's thin shoulders again. “They're looking for a live in maid and I heard you got fired!”

“Who told you that?!” Amberly shouted, angry and embarrassed.

“Your mom told Mrs. Bates, who told my best friend Kyle Holland who told me! It's perfect! You get a place to live and amazing pay! Whaddya say?”

“What else can I say but yes?” Amberly exclaimed. A.J looked on amused, yet worried.

Amberly and A.J both thought her new job offer were too good to be true. The fact that an old friend worked for them and they needed a maid at that very moment made A.J very hesitant. But, that could also be the feeling of having his best friend taken away from him again. Amberly, on the other hand, thought that the worst day of her life had just turned into the best.

And just like that, the Mullens had found themselves a new maid.