The Nanny Diaries

A couple of weeks had passed since I had my talk with Lou and things were going very smoothly. I was heading over to hers early Tuesday morning as normal and she greeted me at the door. We were going to start the European tour in a couple of days so she had to run out and get a few last minute things and some of the boys had interviews they needed prepping for.

She kissed me on the cheek, told me she had something for me on the kitchen counter, and was off. I made my way into the kitchen, noticing that Lux was still snoozing via the baby monitor that was sitting next to a stack of papers.

I looked over the counter and saw something that sparked my interest. I walked around the island until I was standing in front of it and noticed that it was an iPhone 5 box. There was a note sitting on top of it and I picked it up to see what it said.

Surprisingly, it was for me. I was a little dumfounded at first, but once I snapped out of it, I couldn’t get the box opened fast enough. I held the lightweight phone in my hand and I was so speechless that Lou actually had gotten me one. I turned it on and saw that it already had some contacts in it. I assumed that Lou had put them in and checked the note to see that she actually did. She also mentioned that I had a whole new number and that I should manually enter the numbers from my old phone and tell that I have a changed number.

I shrugged my shoulders and started plugging the numbers away. I had only seven contacts in my phone: my mom, dad, two sisters, two brothers, and a friend that I had in A-levels, but I hadn’t talked to her in years. I decided to not put her number in my new phone.

I sent out a mass text to my family, telling them of my new number. Within seconds, my siblings were replying to me, not believing that I actually had a decent phone. I argued with them for a few before they actually believed me and then the conversation was over.

I checked the baby monitor and saw that Lux was standing up in her crib and her face was all up on the camera. I laughed and went to go into her room to fetch her. Lux was still a little wary of me but it had been almost a month since I had become her nanny so she was getting much more comfortable.

I carried her to the kitchen and set her in her highchair while I prepared something for her to eat. I figured a banana was a safe bet and sliced it up into small enough pieces so that she wouldn’t choke. Lux seemed happy with the banana and I felt proud that something was finally going right with this child.

I checked to see what Lou wanted me to do for the day. I had to do some loads of laundry and also practice with Lux on her French. So Lux and I spent the next two hours cleaning clothes and trying to speak French, but it was mostly I doing the talking. She just looked up at me with those big blue eyes every time I said a word she didn’t understand.

Everything was going smoothly until right around lunchtime. I had finished all of the laundry and was taking Lux back in the kitchen for some snacks. She started getting fussy and I put her down to make a bottle and that’s when all hell broke loose.

Lux just started screaming her head off. She just wouldn’t stop crying, her face was going red from how hard she was crying and I couldn’t get her to calm down. I grabbed her favorite stuffed animal and she just threw it across the room. I gave her a bottle and she wouldn’t take it. Nothing was working and I was about to cry myself.

What do I do? What do I do?

I frantically wracked my brain of idea to calm Lux down. I thought about calling Lou, but I knew that she was busy all day and I didn’t want her to mess up her job, to do my job. An idea floated into my brain and as much as I was against it, it was my only option.

I picked up my new phone and scrolled through the contacts until I came across a familiar name. I prayed that he wasn’t one of the boys that was in the interview today cause I needed help fast.

I pressed Harry’s number and held the phone up to my ear to wait for him to answer. Lux was still screaming her head off in the background when he finally picked up the phone.

“Hello? Who’s this?” His voice sounded heavy and raspy like he had just woken up. I checked the time to see that it was only half past twelve so I didn’t really feel that bad.

“Hi, Harry? It’s Tatum. I don’t know if you remember me but-”

“What’s that bloody noise?” He barked out.

“That’s actually what I was calling about. See, Lux is being really fussy, I mean really fussy and I have no idea what to do and-” My sentence was cut off with the dial tone, indicating that Harry had hung up on me. I stared at my phone in defeat and embarrassment. Did that mean he wasn’t going to help me?

I went back over to Lux and hoisted her in my arms, bouncing her up and down, trying to calm her down. I don’t understand how a child could go from 0-60 so fast. It’s like her mood completely changed and I have no idea why.

As I was bouncing Lux, I heard something come from the front of the house. I scrunched my eyebrows together and went to go investigate. All of a sudden I was face to face with Harry and let out a little squeak.

“Give ‘er ‘ere,” he mumbled and gently took Lux from my hands. I watched him with curiosity as he handled Lux. He acted like it was his own child and I had never seen anything more attractive in my entire life.

What? Where did that come from? I did not fancy Harry.

Harry tried everything that I tried and I took pride in myself that I actually knew how to handle Lux; it just seemed like she was having a really bad day. Harry was still holding her when he walked out of the room. Curiosity filled me and I followed the pair to wherever they were going.

It turns out he was carrying her to her room and sat down with her in the rocking chair that was in the corner of her room. He started rocking with her and the sight was amusing and cute at the same time. Lux was a little too big for being held like a baby, so she was kind of tucked into the side of his body while he caressed her hair.

“Truly, madly, deeply, I am foolishly, completely falling and somehow you kicked all my walls in. So baby, say you’ll always keep me, truly, madly, crazy, deeply in love with you in love with you.” Harry sang to Lux, trying to lull her to sleep. It seemed to be working since she stopped screaming and her eyes were starting to droop.

Harry continued singing to Lux and I just stared unabashedly at him. His voice was so clear and beautiful. Before I knew it, Lux was asleep and I had zoned off staring at Harry.

“Will ya stop staring and put her in her crib?” he whispered at me. I blushed and moved forward to carefully lift Lux from his arms. I got her in her crib and she curled up with all of her blankets and pillows. I turned back and saw that I was now alone in the room.

I jogged back into the kitchen and saw that Harry was getting himself a glass of water. He hadn’t noticed me at first but when he did he narrowed his eyes at me.

“What?” he asked.

“I-uh-um you have a really great voice.” He snorted and fully turned towards me.

“It’s a good thing that I do it for a living, yeah?” He rolled his eyes and me leaned against the fridge. I leaned against the island and we had a stare off.

“Why don’t you like me?” I was honestly confused as to why he was always unbearable around me. I didn’t get it, I was a pleasant person and it wasn’t like I was mean to him first.

“I don’t trust ya. I think you’re using Lou for her money.” He simply said. I glared at him, god he was being so thick.

“Well, that is the point of a job. So yeah, I guess you could say I’m using Lou.”

“I mean, you don’t care about Lux. You’re just doing it for the money, you don’t care about her like I do.” Honestly, he was being so dramatic. Of course I cared about Lux, but it’s not like she was my child.

“I don’t think anyone can care about Lux as much as you, so just get over it. You’re bein’ a bit melodramatic, yeah?”

“Fuck you.” He finished his water and set it in the sink, probably for me to wash later. He stalked towards the door and I realized that I didn’t want him to get his way all the time. So what if he didn’t like me? He’d have to get over that since I was staying for good.

“I bet we’re just gonna have the greatest time I tour!” I shouted after him. His response was slamming the door as hard as he could and I flinched at the noise it made. I checked the baby monitor to see if we had disrupted Lux, but she was still curled up in bed.

I decided to surprise Lou and Lux and made some cookies from scratch. One of the things I loved about Lou’s kitchen is that it was always fully stocked and she had the best equipment for just about everything.

I watched some reruns of Keeping up with the Kardashian’s while baking and I slowly forgot the encounter with Harry and my mood was brightening up.

Lou arrived just as I was setting the cookies on the cooling rack. She looked a little surprised that I had made them, but then she smiled sweetly at me.

“Tatum! What a great surprise! Where’s Lux?” I pointed to the direction of her bedroom and she walked down to get her. She came back with a sleepy Lux in her arms and I was cleaning up the kitchen.

“Harry told me about her temper tantrum. Thanks for calling him, he was always the best at calming her down.”

“Really? He seemed annoyed that I called him,” I said. I didn’t mean to always complain about Harry to Lux, it just came naturally.

“Love, he gets irritated when I call, but he’s Lux’s favorite. What can you do? Now I have nothing to do for the rest of the day, so would you like to hang out with Lux and I?” She smiled at me. I laughed and nodded my head.

“Well, let’s go watch some Doctor Who, yeah? And how do you like your new phone?” Lou chattered away with me and I tried keeping up with her conversations. My mind was distracted with the thought of Harry. God I hope he’s civil or my life is going to be hell.