A Family to Call Mine

Chapter 5

Mrs. Stevens sat down at the kitchen table and gestured for Brooke to do the same. She anxiously sat down and waited for the other woman to speak.

Clearing her throat, Mrs. Stephens began, "I have recently started a new job, one that requires more hours. Being away from home more, I need someone who could pick up the slack around here. If at any point you feel like the responsibilities will be too much, please speak up." She paused, looking at Brooke for a response. Brooke smiled and nodded for her to continue. "Your main responsibility will be to look after my daughter, Maxine. She is 5 years old and will be starting Kindergarten next week. I will take her to school each morning and prepare breakfast. I will need you to pick her up after school each day. There will be a schedule on the fridge for drop off and pick up times. If for any reason I need to be at work early, you will be required to get her to school on time."

"Sounds easy enough," Brooke said when Mrs. Stevens paused.

Mrs. Stevens continued, "I will also need you to make sure the house stays clean, laundry done, and I will also expect you to do the grocery shopping and cook supper each night. I usually get home around 6pm so that will be a good time for meals to be ready. If Maxine has any homework, I will help her with that and take care of her baths and bedtime. So as soon as you are done cleaning up after supper, you can have the rest of the evening for yourself. Some "free time." She  smiled and searched Brooke's eyes, "Does any of this sound too overwhelming yet?"

Brooke quickly shook her head, "No ma'am." As much work as it sounded to be, it wasn't anything Brooke hadn't spent the last 10 years of her life doing. And she most certainly hadn't had the luxury of "free time" during any of those years.

Mrs. Stevens searched Brooke's face for another moment and then continued, apparently satisfied with what she saw in Brooke's eyes, "Maxine goes to her Dad's every other weekend. On those weeks, Mr. Stevens will pick her up from school on Friday and he will take her to school that following Monday. That schedule will be on the fridge too. She also spends every other holiday with him plus an entire month during the summer." She sighed, "Not the way I planned things when I married and had kids, but what can you do?"

Brooke laid her hand on top of Mrs. Stevens, hating to see the sadness in the older woman's eyes. She didn't say anything, didn't know what to say, just wanted to comfort her in some way.

Mrs. Stevens swallowed hard and squeezed Brooke's hand with her free one. She blinked back the tear that had tried to form and forced a small smile. "Thank you sweetie. I have no intention of unloading any of our baggage on you so please, forget I said that and let's move on."

"Yes ma'am." Brooke gently extracted her hand from the woman's and placed both hands in her lap. "I just want to say how much I appreciate you offering me this job. I will do my best, I promise."

The woman smiled, "I know you will dear. I have a good feeling about you!"

Brooke returned her smile, trying not to blush. She wasn't used to receiving positive feedback, let alone compliments. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "And your son...?"

"Oh, yes! Of course," Mrs. Stevens exclaimed. "Well, Caleb is 17 and will be starting his Senior year so I doubt he will be around much to bother you." She chuckled, "Just don't let him or his friends walk all over you. They can be a bit of a handful at times but I suppose all boys are at this age. Also, he doesn't go to his father's very often so don't expect complete peace and quiet on Maxine's visiting weekends. Things have been a bit tense between the two since the divorce." The sad look creeped back into her eyes but she quickly forced it away. "Anyway, I will pay you every other Friday, if that works for you?"

Brooke hadn't even thought about the fact that she would be getting paid to do all this. "Of course, that works fine!" She stammered. Money of her own? Now there was a new concept to her! She smiled inwardly.

"Good, now that we've got that settled," Mrs. Stevens raised an eyebrow. "There are a few things I would like to know about you."

Brooke bit her lip nervously, unsure of what to say. "Of course, what would you like to know?" She knew she had to be careful because if Mrs. Stevens found out how young she actually was she would probably fire her on the spot!

"Well," the older woman began, "I know you are 19 and you were working for Mrs. Havens at her orphanage. That's about all I know, except for her telling me how good you are with kids and how responsible you are. But I would like to know a bit more, if you don't mind?"

Brooke nodded, trying not to squirm in her seat too much.

"How long did you work for Mrs. Havens?"

"Um...since I was 16"

"16? Did it start as an after school job then?"

"Sort of," Brooke murmured, "Actually I was homeschooled so I was able to be more flexible in how often I worked."

Eyebrows raised, Mrs. Stevens responded, "Oh! Well I did not realize that. Did you enjoy homeschooling?"

"It was ok. But I missed out on the social aspects of public school and, you know," Brooke struggled to find the words, "The whole high school experience."

"Tsk, tsk," Mrs. Stevens shook her head sympathetically, "Well, high school isn't always all it's cracked up to be so I wouldn't be too disappointed in that. Just be happy that you received your education. That's the important thing!" She smiled.

Brooke nodded, "Yes ma'am." She swallowed the lump in her throat. If only Mrs. Stevens knew how lacking she was in her education and how she wasn't even going to be able to get her high school diploma.

"Have you taken any college courses yet or do you plan to soon?"

Brooke's eyes widened. "Um...I hadn't really thought about it too much yet. Just been concentrating on working, I guess."

"Well, if you do decide to, just let me know and we can work something out as far as schedules go. Evening classes would work great for you. In my opinion of course," she smiled. "Just ask Caleb, I'm a stickler for a good, well rounded education. Much to his dismay sometimes." She winked at Brooke.

Brooke half-heartedly laughed, feeling her heart racing. What would she do if Mrs. Stevens pursued this college classes idea? There was no way she could take classes without a diploma and then she would have to explain why she didn't have one. What the heck would she do then??

Thankfully, at that moment the other woman stood up. "Well, I think that's enough interrogating for one evening, don't you?" She laughed at her own joke. "Make yourself at home and get familiar with everything. I will order us some food and then you can turn in for the night. Maxine will be at her dad's until Sunday and Caleb should be home sometime on Saturday. He went on an end of summer camping trip with his friends. I will introduce you to both of them when they return home. Until then, we will get you settled and ready to fully start to work Monday morning." With that she left to go order take out, leaving Brooke sitting there trying to sort out all the thoughts running thru her mind.

'Well, ,this is it Brooke. For better or for worse, you are here. If we can just avoid any more personal questions, I think we will be just fine. I could even grow to like it here.' Brooke sighed and went upstairs to her little room to start unpacking the few belongings she had brought with her. First thing she was going to do with her first paycheck was buy some new clothes and essentials. She could hardly wait!