Page 4

Mrs. Angleton firmed her jaw. “That won't be necessary.”

There wasn't much more to be said, though the actual words hadn't been uttered yet. Florence maintained eye contact, kept herself still, permitting herself neither to smile nor sulk.

“My husband has provided the appropriate severance fee,” Mrs. Angleton went on. She seemed calmer now that she was moving on to the logistics of things. “A payment of three months salary, plus the current month of course.”

Florence nodded. “Thank you.”

“And we'd appreciate it if you could keep your goodbyes to Adeline short and sweet, I assume you can have your things prepared to leave by this afternoon?”

Florence nodded again.

Mrs. Angleton stood up and held out her hand. “We very much appreciate your contribution to this family, Ms. Underwood. You will be provided with the appropriate severance paperwork as well as references should you require them.”

Florence stood, shook hands, thanked her now former employer, and left the room.

Her footsteps echoed on the expensive tiling of the long corridor. She didn't cry. What was the point? Besides, Florence never let others see her emotions, the very idea of it made her feel slightly sick. Emotions were private.

Still though, if losing her job didn't deserve a quiet weep in a corner, what did?

SHE PUSHED OPEN the wooden door and looked into the gloomy room within. Small, neat, a little dusty. With a sigh, she let herself completely inside and put her suitcase on the bed.

It would do, she supposed.

Being a nanny had the advantage of generally coming with accommodation attached to her job. Which had the disadvantage of meaning that whenever she got fired, she ended up living out of the cheapest motel she could find until she could get herself rehired somewhere.

She sucked air in through her teeth and then set herself the task of unpacking her suitcase. It took all of five minutes.

Then she sat on the bed and tried not to think about when the bedspread had last been washed.

Things were supposed to be better than this. Twenty eight and living in a seedy motel room. Her future had promised to be better than this.

To be fair, no one had forced her to go to the most prestigious childcare program in the country. But she'd seen it as an investment. A certificate from the institute was supposed to open doors, expensive doors, doors which housed the kind of people that could afford six-figure salaries for traditionally trained nannies for their offspring.

Of course, it was the traditionally trained part that was starting to become the problem

With a sigh, uncontained this time since there was no one to hear it, Florence pulled her cheap cell phone from her purse. There was no point in putting off the inevitable.

“Maisie Warren speaking.”

Florence cleared her throat. “Florence Underwood here.”

“Ah.”

That 'ah' said it all really. Maisie had been expecting her call. She supposed that was fair. After all, the Angletons had hired her from the agency, so why shouldn't they hire her replacement there too? They hadn't been unhappy with her work. They'd just... wanted something different.

“I'm afraid my contract with the Angletons has ended.”

“Yes,” Maisie said. “Yes, I had heard.”

“So I'm back on your books again.”

“Mmm.”

There was a long pause and Florence could hear dripping from the bathroom tap. Something she could easily fix. She could fix most things.

“Perhaps there are other open contracts at the moment?” she hazarded. “It is almost the beginning of summer vacations, after all.”

A shorter silence this time. “The thing is,” Maisie finally said. “The thing is, that so few families these days are looking for, um, what you have to offer.”