The Babysitter

Chapter 24: Bye Bye Brady

The door slammed behind them as they walked into the house. It was quiet downstairs but noises that sounded like they were coming from a video game were heard upstairs.

Rowan followed a few steps behind as Georgia stomped around the corner. She stopped and so did Rowan as they surveyed the scene in front of them. Adam was there in a deep sleep on one of the couches, wearing a stained white shirt and grey sweat shorts. He only had one sock on and one of his hands were still in a chip bag that rested on his chest. She looked over at the kitchen to see ingredients laid out on top of the island, untouched.

"He didn't even start dinner," Georgia grumbled. "It's literally spaghetti. That's such an easy meal to make and he couldn't even do that."

Rowan could feel the waves of anger radiating off of Georgia and chose to stay silent. She watched as the woman clenched her jaw as she honed in on Adam and stomped towards him.

"Adam," she said, looking down at the sleeping man who only gave out a snore in response. Rowan watched as Georgia's shoulders rose and fell slowly as if she was trying to calm herself down.

"Adam wake the hell up!" Georgia screamed.

Adam rose, the chips flying off of his chest, landing on the floor. He looked up, seeing that it was just Georgia, and rolled his eyes.

"Oh it's you," he said, laying back down. "Get started on dinner, will you? I'm getting hungry."

"That was your job," she told him before pointing at the clock. "The boys need to be in bed in less than an hour and they still haven't eaten dinner! I intentionally left the ingredients out for you because I knew that you'd make it home before me."

Adam shrugged. "Seemed like too much work and I was tired after working all day," he told her. "Besides, isn't that your job?"

Rowan watched as Georgia clenched the hand that wasn't holding the papers into a fist before she threw the packet down onto Adam's stomach.

"I want a divorce," Georgia spat.

Adam jumped at being hit with the papers, lifting them up to his face for a closer look.

"Mommy? Are you home?"

Rowan turned her head to see Ollie and Christian walking downstairs. Ollie's eyes brightened when they made eye contact and a wide smile broke out on his face.

"Ms. Rowan!" He exclaimed, scrambling over and jumping into Rowan's arms. Rowan spun the kid around a bit before setting him back down on the ground. Christian made his way over and hugged her waist, which surprised her.

"Hey kiddos," Rowan greeted, ruffling the boys' hair.

"We haven't seen you in like, a bajillion years!" Ollie exclaimed, waving his arms.

"What the hell is this?" Adam asked, cutting through the conversation, seemingly noticing that Rowan was there for the first time.

Georgia turned to her kids, crouching down to their level. "Boys, I need you to go upstairs. The grownups need to have a serious conversation. I'll have dinner ready for you in a bit, I know you're hungry."

The boys looked at their mother, their father, and then Rowan.

"...Okay," Christian said, grabbing his brother's hand. "Come on Ollie."

They watched as Christian led his little brother upstairs. Once the two of them disappeared, they turned back to the current situation. Adam flipped through the packet before he looked up between the two of them. "What is this? Some kind of sick joke?"