to kidnap me and drag me back home.”
“Jesus. Are you serious?”
“I don’t know.” I shrug.
We’ve already gone over this, over everything that happened. Honestly, I don’t have a lot of information for Sam. It was just so out of character for my parents to suddenly ask me to marry someone. I didn’t really give them a chance to explain, but I kept telling myself they didn’t deserve it. They’re not the type of parents who would just throw me into a deal like someone would tempt a dog with a juicy piece of meat. It’s not them. They might have been slightly absent from my life for the most part, but I know they love me. How could they possibly think that not even asking me is best for me? It doesn’t make any sense.
“I don’t want to think about it anymore. I just want to do something.”
“Well, Luke is looking for a nanny. It’s a live-in position like I told you. You’d be looking after his son, for the most part. You’d probably have to do some basic cooking and cleaning, but I know Luke has an actual housekeeper who comes and cleans a few times a week, so it would likely be pretty minimal.”
“Cooking?” I can’t keep the despair out of my voice or off my face.
“You’ll learn fast,” Sam assures me like it’s the easiest thing in the world.
I’ve never really made a meal in my life. My parents have a chef, and the fridge is always full. My mom is always on a special diet, and it’s complicated—all the time—so of course, they’d pay someone to make sure she gets the right meals. And while they’re at it, they put something in the fridge for my dad and me too. But that’s not all. My parents also have two full-time cleaners, a gardener, another guy for the pool, personal trainers, blah, blah, blah. My mom is a bit of a tyrant to work for, and the staff members are constantly changing. I feel bad now when I have to admit to myself that I stopped trying to learn their names or get to know them.
“I can’t just freaking learn by watching videos on the internet. You have to have someone teach you how to cook.”
“That’s bull. You can definitely learn by watching videos. Anyway, should I call Luke or not?”
“I have zero references and experience.”
“That’s alright. He’d do it as a favor to me.”
I groan and sink down further in the passenger seat. “This sounds like it’s going to be a disaster.”
“Yeah,” Sam grins. “Probably. But at least you won’t have to marry some guy who probably has a shriveled up old weenus because he’s probably eighty.”
“Stop! My parents wouldn’t do that. Would they?” This whole thing kind of just proves to me that maybe I don’t know them as well as I thought. Or, like, at all because I never thought they’d pull something like this.
Sam digs out her brand-new phone in a very bright, sparkly pink case. She’s just had her nails done, and they basically match. They’re disgustingly long, a bit like talons, and they make a terrible clicking noise on the screen. Then Sam holds up the phone while I hold my breath. Maybe there’s still hope. Maybe Luke won’t answer. Maybe he won’t say yes. And maybe there’s some other way I can get on with my life without having to first undergo the ultimate humiliation.
But no, of course not. What little luck I might have had seems to have run out a long time ago.
Sam does some fast talking to this Luke guy. She mentions something about how his nanny quit on him over two weeks ago, and he’s been struggling. After a lot of convincing—in which I die even more inside, my heart shrinking into a hard kernel of nothingness—and Sam finally pulling the ‘it’s Christmas’ card, Luke agrees.
I know it because Sam hangs up with a big grin on her face. “You’re in.”
“Great.” I try to sound excited.
I am grateful. Truly. But I don’t know what my next move would be. Now, at least I have a safe place to go, and I don’t have to borrow money from Sam. Hopefully, it will take my parents a while to figure out where I am. And hopefully, they give up on their crazy ideas by that time. I can write my resume, search for other jobs, and apply. Fingers crossed I get one, so I can figure out what