Crappily Ever After by Louise Burness

but a rich music biz Daddy does work wonders.’ He smiles knowingly and walks away.
    Sean’s face is a picture. ‘Who… who is that?’ he stutters.
    ‘Like the man said, he doesn’t like to name drop,’ I shrug. ‘Sorry, I can’t help.’
    With that, Jess and I wave sweetly to Callum and gather up our bags. We’ll have lunch somewhere else.
    ‘Sean, it really was a pleasure. Best of luck with the gigs and Chantelle, good luck, sweetie.’ I glance pointedly at Sean when I say this. She’s going to need it.
    ‘It’s Charmaine!’ she screeches after us in disbelief.
    Laughing loudly, we walk out into the sunshine, leaving an open-mouthed Sean and a silently fuming Charmaine staring after us.
     
     
                                                                 Chapter Six
               
    I head in to work on Monday morning, after a hectic Saturday night and a very relaxed Sunday. I never got out of bed, other than to answer the door once and for a couple of calls of nature. Just read, watched TV and ordered a pizza. I arrive at work to discover we have lost another client in the Home – Bessie. For a lot of people the mortality rate in this job is not easy to accept – three of our people in as many months – but I admit, I have a philosophical approach to it all. There have been a couple of issues since Harry went, but nothing serious. Muddled up shifts and a couple of sick days. Nothing that the other staff don’t do. I walk into a supervision meeting with Ellie, precariously balancing two coffee cups with a plate of biscuits on top of one. Ellie looks troubled. Getting straight to the point, she kindly informs me that, with the best of intentions, she is referring me to go on a bereavement management course. I roll my eyes and tell her I’m fine. I’m coping! She looks at me intently and says that the course will do me no harm anyway, and it may help me. I agree to do it – I have to. The company is very into preventative measures. Of what, I’m not sure. Nipping things in the bud is how it’s referred to. They don’t want people off on stress leave, I guess. Understandable really and great in theory, but not when you’re coping as well as I am. I’m just wasting their money and my time. But I sit and listen, making the right noises until I can head back to the clients. I decide to go out at lunchtime and call around a few agencies for nanny work. Hopefully, the prognosis will be better when the people you care for are younger…     
     
    I speak to Elaine at Edinburgh Nannies. We had a flyer handed out to us from her agency
     
     
     
    when we all graduated. She came in to do a talk and seemed friendly enough.
     
     
    ‘We’re really slow at the moment, Lucy,’ she says. ‘But why don’t you pop in and register in case something comes up?’ I head down after work and fill in an application form that makes War and Peace look like a pamphlet. Exhausted, and with a cramp in my wrist, we discuss the options.
    ‘Just in: family with five children, newborn to nine years in Corstorphine. Laundry, cooking and some light housekeeping.’
    ‘No way.’
    ‘OK. Shared care with mum, twin boy and girl, two-months-old in Haymarket. 7am to 7pm.’
    ‘Good God, no!’
    ‘Buckstone. Weekend nanny…’
    ‘No!’
    Elaine looks defeated.
     ‘OK,’ she says. ‘Sole charge, four-year-old boy, in nursery mornings, hours 9am ‘til 5pm…’
    ‘I’ll take it,’ I say firmly. ‘Whereabouts?’
    ‘Islington,’ says Elaine hopefully.
    ‘Don’t know it,’ I shrug. I thought I knew Edinburgh inside out.
    ‘Islington… London,’ ventures Elaine.
    ‘Oh no you don’t,’ I eye her suspiciously. ‘I know your game, trying to palm me off with London jobs because you get more money for them. Bet you have loads for Edinburgh really. My life is here, my home, all my friends, I’m not too far from my family.’
    ‘Lucy, let me