Eleanor & Grey(46)

“Okay.” Lorelai shrugged and went straight into eating her food.

“After you finish your meal, you have to take a quick shower, okay, Lorelai? Because you can’t be late to school again,” Claire remarked, sitting in the chair beside her granddaughter. “Plus, unlike last week, you aren’t going to put up a fight about your clothing choices.”

“I just want to dress like a rainbow, Grandma. Let me live,” Lorelai groaned, shoveling the spoon into her mouth.

She had truly said the words Let me live. I almost died laughing.

“Where did you hear that from?” Claire questioned. “Let me live?”

“Karla said it to Dad the other day.”

“Sounds about right,” Claire remarked. “But as far as your dress code, we’re going to pick out some tamer clothes for you to wear today.”

“I don’t know what tamer means, Grandma, so whatever I pick out will be fine,” Lorelai stated matter-of-factly.

Claire moved in closer to me. “Lorelai is the brightest personality you’ll find in this place. She’s sassy, funny, and so easy to love, but boy will she push your buttons some days.” She turned to her granddaughter. “Lorelai, what do you think about Eleanor being your new nanny for a while?”

She cocked an eyebrow, holding her spoon in the air. “Is she gonna let me wear whatever I want?”

“No, probably not,” Claire said.

“Will she let me eat chocolate chips for breakfast?”

“No, probably not,” Claire echoed.

“Will she color with me?”

“Yes,” I cut in. “I can do that.”

Lorelai shrugged and went back to eating. “Okay, that’s fine.”

Coloring—that was easy enough.

Then, from around the corner, I heard a grumbling sound.

Claire sighed. “Here comes Little Miss Sunshine.” She turned to me quickly and patted the chair beside her. “Here, Ellie, come sit by me, and remember, don’t take anything personally with Karla. She doesn’t mean it, even if she says it.” She paused. “Especially if she says it.”

“Grandma, I really wish you wouldn’t come stomping into my room like that. It’s so annoying. Plus, I know how to wake myself up for school. I’m not a child.” Karla grumbled as she turned the corner into the dining room. Her limp was very noticeable, but I tried my best to not display any kind of reaction to it. She was dressed head to toe in black and her hair was still dripping wet from her shower, stringy and hanging in front of her face. She mostly kept her head down, and when she moved to the table, she didn’t look up at anyone. She didn’t make one sound.

“Good morning, Karla,” Claire said, walking over to her granddaughter with Karla’s meal and kissing her forehead.

“Whatever,” Karla muttered. She inhaled her food quickly as we all sat there in silence for a moment.

“Karla, this is Ellie, the new nanny.”

She looked up at me slowly, and I felt like a complete idiot because I quietly gasped as she moved the hair partially hiding her face.

The scars…

Allison had prepared me for them, but still, I wasn’t prepared enough.

They were more intense than I could’ve imagined. They ran from all directions across her skin, but the one that was most noticeable seemed to start at her forehead and slice across her left eyelid, which appeared to be swollen. Her left eye had a red spot near her pupil that seeped into her potent blue stare.

I’d never seen anything like it.

God, her eyes were as cold as her father’s.

“Grrr.” Karla growled, clenching her jaw as she leaned toward me. My stomach knotted up and I wasn’t quite sure how to react, so I just kept staring. Oh, gosh. Staring was probably the worst thing I could do, because Karla kept growling. “Grrr! Grrrr!”

“Karla Marie, knock it off this instant,” Claire snapped at her granddaughter, yet Karla didn’t pull back.

“Grrr! Hisssss! Grrrr!” she hollered, keeping her eyes locked on me.

“Karla, that’s enough,” a stern voice snapped, making my stare move from Karla to her father. Greyson stood in the doorframe wearing his suit and tie with, coffee cup in his hand and his eyes on his daughter. “Quit it.”

“I’ll quit when she stops staring at me like I’m a fucking freak of nature,” she snapped.

“No, I wasn’t…you aren’t…” I started, my voice shaky as ever, but Greyson cut me off.

“Watch your language,” he scolded, and she gave him the most dramatic eye roll I’d seen in quite a while. Truly I hadn’t known eyes could roll so deeply.

“Sorry, Father,” she mocked, standing up from the table. She grabbed her bowl of cereal. “Since I used bad language, I should be banished to my room until it is time to be driven to prison by my servant.” And with that, she left.

Greyson didn’t look my way once, and I didn’t know why I expected him to do such a thing. He walked through the dining room toward the kitchen. From my seat, I watched him pour more coffee into his tumbler before he turned around and walked across the space. He didn’t speak as he walked back through the dining room.

“Bye, Daddy! I love you!” Lorelai said, to which Greyson replied, “You too.”