The Nanny [Jimmy Fallon]

10

I felt strange as I walked through the door to mine and James' apartment. Everything was the way it was supposed to be, albeit a little messier since James had been here alone for 3 days. My coats were all hung on the rack like they were supposed to be, my shoes lined in a neat manner in the hallway, the strong smell of sea salt coming from the reed diffuser we had in the bathroom. Nothing had changed, it was all normal – but yet things felt different somehow.

It had only been 3 days, but in that time I'd had so many different emotions and feelings run through me. Anger, sadness, guilt, happiness. The list could go on and on, and because of all that, this felt weird. Being in that apartment, with all the shit going on almost felt like normal now. A day there, looking after Winnie and Franny, went on forever, so really 3 days felt like 3 weeks.

James had already gone out to the bar, but he'd sweetly ran a bath for me, and there was a glass of white wine sitting on the side. I slid into the warm bath, trying to lie back and relax, but I was finding it difficult to dissolve all the thoughts in my mind.

I'd luckily had little contact with Jimmy over the past few days, since the whole Alyssa thing had happened. Last night, he'd got back from work and dismissed me and Hayley for the evening, so we went out to dinner which was nice, as I got to find out a little more about her life. When we got back, the girls were in bed and so was he. This morning, Hayley and I had the girls until 2, when Nancy got back and let us go home.

I was pleased I had until Tuesday off, as I was sure they would ask me as it was supposed to be Alyssa's weekend. But both Jimmy and Nancy were work free, so they decided to spend some well needed family time together. Jimmy had been acting funny with her, I could tell, so I hoped they would work things out. They had been together for 10 years – they had to make it work.

I had decided to tell no-one about what had happened (aside from Kara, who already knew), and try and forget about it all. It was none of my business; I was simply a member of staff, and I had to remain professional around Jimmy and Nancy. And although I often thought about the implications of what had happened with Alyssa and whether or not Jimmy was genuine, I was going to keep my mouth shut.

After a well needed soak and glass of Pinot Grigio, I quickly got ready and headed downstairs to the bar. James, Kara and Rob were sat in our usual booth, and all grinned when I slid in beside them.

"Hey, babe," James leaned across to give me a kiss on the cheek, his arm sliding around my shoulders. I almost pulled away as his lips touched my skin, before I realised what I was doing and kept still.

It had only been a few weeks, but this job had undeniably already put a strain on mine and James' relationship. It was normal, I knew that, as we had spent literally every day together prior to this job for the longest time. He would come home from work and I would be waiting, cooking him dinner or accompanying him out to a restaurant. We would have sex a least 4 times a week, but since I started working for Jimmy and Nancy it hadn't happened once.

But it had only been a couple of weeks – this was just a period of readjustment. And that always took a bit of time.

"So how was today?" Kara asked, raising her eyebrows at me. Since we spoke two nights ago, I hadn't given her an update on the situation and I could tell she was curious.

"It was okay," I muttered, taking a long drink of my wine. I hadn't eaten since lunch, so this plus the glass I'd had upstairs was making me feel tipsy already. "I met Sasha for lunch. You remember Sasha, James? From college."

"Oh yeah, your hot redheaded friend with the huge... personality," he smirked as I glared at him, knowing for a fact he was thinking of something else entirely. "How is she?"