The Bad Boy's Nanny

Ch. 23 - Zebra Shirt and Leopard Pants

"Does anyone know why there is a middle-aged woman eating my Cheerios in my kitchen right now?"

I look up from my French braiding of Crystal's hair to see Jonas standing at the doorway of the twins' room in just his boxers. "That would be my mom."

He raises his eyebrows. "You have a mom?"

"Yes."

"And she's only visiting you just now?" he asks in disbelief.

I sigh. "She just came back from a trip. And she's staying in the guest house for now thanks to your older brother." I give Elliott a death stare as he sits on Rose's bed attempting to braid her hair.

"Don't pull so hard!" Crystal gasps, wincing as I accidentally tug the strands too tightly.

"Sorry," I mumble.

"Ivy, she's your mom," Elliott argues. "I wasn't going to just let her sleep in her car."

"We have a perfectly fine house that's just a neighborhood over!" I say.

Elliott shakes his head. "She's emotional right now. That'd be too much."

"Oh, are you a mother whisperer now?" I ask, a bit too sassily.

"Stop fighting!" Ethan screams, crawling out from under Crystal's bed.

Elliott nods his head approvingly. "Yeah, Ivy, stop fighting."

I roll my eyes at his childish comeback. "Hey, I'm sorry, Ethan." He comes to sit in my lap. "I didn't get very much sleep last night."

"It's okay. I get it. One time I didn't sleep and I put my shirt and my pants on backwards the next morning."

"You did that yesterday, bud," I say and pat his back gently.

"Oh my gosh, Liott. I thought you said you knew how to braid!" Rose gasps, looking at her knotted hair in the mirror. "Addison!" She leaves the room to go to her older sister.

"Come on, Rosie!" Elliott calls after her. "It's not even that bad!"

"It looks like I could have baby birds nesting in my hair!" she snaps from the other end of the hallway.

The doorbell rings, and I stand up from the floor to go downstairs and answer it. I glance over at my mom who is still in the kitchen, just sitting with a cup of coffee. For a split second, I do feel sorry for her. She really did think Steve would be the one.

"Hey," I greet to Nora and Jett who stand at the front door. "What's up?"

"The sky," Jett responds, stepping past me into the house.

"Is everyone almost ready?" Nora asks as I close the door behind her.

We have a fun day at the zoo planned. I thought it'd be nice since yesterday was a generally boring day for the kids. Plus, I personally love the zoo. I'd often go with the West family when I was younger.

"Yeah. We're just waiting on Mikey to show up," I answer.

"Why is there a middle-aged woman in your kitchen?" Jett asks, walking out of the kitchen with a water.