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Back Nanny Dearest Save as PDF
Chapters (47)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Dedication
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. Part One
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. Part Two
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. 24
  31. 25
  32. 26
  33. 27
  34. 28
  35. 29
  36. Part Three
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

And then it just becomes natural. The Kellers can afford to pay Annie for the extra hours. Mrs. Keller likes to sleep in anyway and likes to stay out, as long and as late as she can. She doesn’t have to go into her office in town until about eleven, and she never adapted to waking up for the baby anyway. So she’s grateful to come down to the kitchen at 10:00 a.m. and see the coffee already made, her little girl outside with Annie, painting or playing tag. She has her first cigarette of the morning on the back porch that summer, watching them play.

On weekends, when the Kellers expect her to go home, to see friends, Annie drives. She drives to towns miles away. She drives to the Canadian border one Saturday. Sometimes she drives to the mall or the supermarket and just sits in the parking lot, sits with herself in her 1987 Buick LeSabre she saved up for while working at an ice cream parlor, waitressing in the summers and evenings after school, and counts the minutes until it’s suitable for her to go back to the house, to see Suzy again. She’ll read books, dog-eared novels with a good sense of place, or watch people leave with their groceries, guessing what they buy, tallying the number of items she gets right when she catches glimpses inside their bags as they unload their shopping carts into their cars.

Annie has no one she’d like to see.

When she first told her dad that she was moving in with the family, he got red in the face and threw his beer bottle against the wall. “What the hell am I supposed to do with all these damn kids? I already let you get that fucking degree and now you’re walking out on your crippled old man. Fucking bitch of a daughter.” He tried to get up, to come after her, but fell backward. No one had replaced the couch cushion.

Annie’s fifteen-year-old sister, Alice, is the one who really seemed to care. “Slut. You’re shacking up with the husband, aren’t you?” She pulled Annie’s hair, hard, throwing her off balance, pulling her to her knees. “Suck me like you suck him, little bitch.” Annie was quiet. She knew that once she was out of Alice’s grasp, she was home free.

“I have a life, you know. I don’t have time to deal with these fucking kids. You can’t just up and leave all high and mighty. You think you’re so much better than us now just ’cause you’re working for those uppity types.” Alice jerked Annie’s head backward. “You’re scum like me. Don’t you forget it.” And she spat in Annie’s face before sauntering out of the room.

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