Love Floats

Chapter 1

And so it begins. :)

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I am not an early riser. I sat up quickly, trying to startle myself into wakefulness. It was 6:00 am, and the theme song for Pirates of the Caribbean was blaring out of my cell phone. I had 1 hour to shower, blow dry and straighten or curl my hair, apply my makeup, choose an outfit, and drive to work. I turned on the water in the shower to let it heat up. I checked my phone. It was 6:12 am. I was going to be late. Being late wasn't a huge deal, because I worked as a nanny and the parents schedule was fairly flexible, but it mattered to me. Liam Brent, the two year old little boy, and his 6 year old sister, Lillian, were usually asleep when I got there anyway. I decided to straighten my hair that morning, because it was much quicker, and I flew out the door with 16 minutes to drive across town. My job was boring. I took Lillian to school at 9:15 am each morning, and then it was just me and Liam until we went to pick Lillian up from school at 1 pm. Mrs. Brent arrived home promptly at 4 o'clock each day.

My phone beeped twice as I drove Lillian to her school, alerting me to the fact that I had just received two text messages. I resisted the urge to read them. It was, after all, illegal to text and drive, and I had children with me. Lillian was babbling about the things she had been learning in her class about the bones in the human hand, and Liam was quietly entertaining himself in his car seat. It was not far from Lillian and Liam's house to the school, but it meant traversing a section of downtown that was undergoing major construction. Every day they had different lanes blocked off, which made it difficult to get used to the route.

Go if you're going to go! I shouted mentally at a red sedan as the car slowed in the middle of an intersection. They were from Oregon. Of course. Out of state drivers always seemed to have trouble figuring out the one way streets in down town San Diego. I turned on my blinker and waited for a break in a long line of cars so I could pull Mrs. Brent's Toyota Sienna into the school parking lot. I had to park pretty far away. I didn't mind walking, but today it was uncharacteristically cold for Southern California. I lifted Liam out of his car seat and fastened him into the stroller. I looked forward to the day when Lillian was old enough for me to feel comfortable dropping her off at the front of the school like the majority of the kids.

After escorting Liam's sister to her class, we got back on the road and headed home. I kicked myself mentally for forgetting to check my text messages while I wasn't driving. I had a pretty good idea who at least one of them would be from. Benjamin Holt always sent me random texts throughout the day. This one would probably only say "Hi". We had the happy ability to carry on a conversation about anything, and if the conversation ever felt like it was dying one of us would send another text that just said "Hi", and we would pick another random topic and start all over. My phone beeped again. I was able to keep myself from reading it until Liam was happily situated on the living room floor, surrounded by toys and chewing on a carrot.

I plopped myself down on the couch. I silently thanked Mr. and Mrs. Brent for allowing me to text "on the job", and flipped open my phone. The first message was a Facebook update. Apparently, my friend Mandy was excited about the possibility of rain this weekend. I like rain. I smiled to myself as I read the next text.

"From: Ben Holt, Hi. Sent: 8:59 am"

I quickly replied back with my own "Hi", and read my third text. It was also from Ben.

"From: Ben Holt, i forgot you were watching L & L. i am coming over tonight to take you to coffee. 7 pm? Starbucks? i think yes! i have important things to tell you. have fun with the kiddies! i have to go into work now too. see you tonight. Sent: 9:54 am"