jobs she’d acquired for us.
But if this guy paid like he should (well and in cash, unlike the trades Mom made with other clients), she was right. Our bills would be covered and then some.
“This is Mr. Rush’s office,” Robert said, pointing at a room with glass French doors. Inside, a tall, thin man with a thick head of graying hair worked in front of five computer monitors, lines of code pouring down each screen. “However, if you have questions, they should be directed at me. He likes not to be disturbed.”
I barely caught what Robert said though, because my mind was fumbling over one word: Rush.
This was the Rush mansion?
As in the popular gaming app, Rush+?
As in our school’s resident billionaire, Kai Rush, lived here?
A glance into the expansive living room confirmed the truth. Over the fireplace with floor-to-thirty-foot-celling built-ins was a photo of Kai and the man I’d seen in the office.
The blood drained from my face. This was the client Mom had landed?
How?
And more importantly, why?
This had to be a joke. A prank. Something that would land us on a reality TV show looking like fools.
Suddenly, the creak of our cleaning cart’s wheels seemed so loud on the marble floors, like they were a giant glaring buzzer letting me know I did not belong here.
Robert led us into a kitchen even larger than the one at school, with more ovens than two people could ever use and the kind of cabinetry so fancy it masked the refrigerator. There were no magnets holding up photos and old receipts here. No room for a mess. Honestly, this room already looked spotless.
“The chef, Mr. Wallace, will arrive at six to begin breakfast,” Robert said, folding his hands in front of him. “If you need anything, I will be in my office, which is down the hallway to the right.”
There was another office for the butler?
But then again, what else would there be? They could have had an entire football stadium inside and a helicopter pad on the roof for all I knew.
Mom was acting like none of this bothered her. Like she wasn’t repulsed by all of the waste happening in this “house” where only two people lived, wait staff not included. In my opinion, billionaires might as well have been villains. They were holding on to exorbitant wealth that could have made such a difference in the world—kept children from starving, built houses for widowed mothers, supported any number of meaningful causes, but they sank it into mansions like this instead. Just thinking about it made my blood boil. I’d rather work fifty jobs like Seaton Bakery, trading for food, than spend another second making life even easier for billionaires like the Rushes.
Mom was already going through the cart, gathering buckets and the cleaning solution for the countertops. How was she not completely appalled?
Glancing over my shoulder to be sure Robert had already left, I whispered, “We’re not seriously doing this, are we?”
“Did you not hear a word I said this morning?” She walked to the sink and flipped on the hot water. Lowering her voice, she added, “We should be thankful to have this job. I am.”
“Which means I’m the only one not being grateful to shine marble floors.”
She frowned at me over the top of the cart. “I didn’t raise you to be like that.”
I sighed. “You’re right.” I should be grateful. Having Juana’s bills paid off might mean we could get into a different apartment, that my mom could take a weekend off just to relax here and there. Still, I resented the fact that the Rushes would be the ones to help us do it. Mere pennies to them were lifelines to us.
I took the dust mop from the cart and began on the opposite side of the kitchen so I’d stay out of Mom’s way. She was the hardest worker I’d seen and could move so quickly it was almost like magic.
We worked in silence for the next couple of hours until the chef came in and introduced himself. A drool-worthy personal trainer eventually passed through the kitchen as well.
After he walked out, Mom leaned against her mop handle and whispered conspiratorially, “Kai might be off limits, but him? Hubba hubba.”
I winked at her. “He can train me any time.”
She laughed and continued working, but my heart twitched painfully as I realized that was the first time I’d been attracted to anyone since Martín. My fingers itched to reach into my pocket and dial