Jacqui yawned. Eliza's confession meant nothing to her. Let the girl tell everyone she was the Queen of England, what did it matter to her? Mara found it harder to understand. There was no shame in living in Buffalo. Hey, she was from Sturbridge. Eliza obviously had some issues, but Mara knew it wasn't her place to tell her that.
"So you guys won't tell anyone?" Eliza asked.
They nodded. Her secret was safe with them.
113
you call this progress?
It was finally time for the first weekly progress report, even if the girls had been working at the Perrys for almost three weeks. Laurie assured them this time Anna and Kevin would expect them in the screening room at ten o'clock Sunday morning. The girls were nervous as they left their attic room and walked over to the main house.
They had good reason to worry. The kids were getting on their nerves, constantly comparing them to their predecessors. "Astrid made us spicy tuna rolls." "Camille always let us stay up till ten." "Tara was so much prettier than you." The little girls had been late for ballet twice because Mara was the only one who got up early enough to take them and she was always getting lost in the side streets.
Plus they were all a little on edge ever since one of the housemaids confirmed that the original group of au pairs had worked at the Perry house since June but had been let go abruptly without any notice. They still had no clue what had gone down.
"Quick, what was the last book we read to Cody?" Eliza asked.
114
"Hop on Pop?"Mara ventured.
"What's that? Sounds like a porno."
"You have a dirty mind! It's Dr. Seuss!"
"Riiiight."
"No, I think it was Pokey Little Puppy" Jacqui said.
"Hop on Pokey. Got it." Eliza nodded.
"What did Madison have for breakfast?" Mara asked frantically.
"What else? An ice cream cone and a tub of Oreos," Eliza said, rolling her eyes. "Like she does every day."
"Noooo--she's on that macrobiotic raw food diet! Eliza, I left the recipes on your bed. You were supposed to take care of that while Jacqui and I brought the boys to krav maga!" Mara groaned. Anna had enrolled her sons in the Israeli martial art, even though the youngest was still awfully prone to falling when he walked. Apparently karate classes just didn't cut it.
"What are their names again?" Jacqui asked.
"Are you kidding me?" Mara demanded.
Jacqui shook her head. There were so many of them, it was hard to keep track. Plus it wasn't like she was around all that much--every minute she could find, she stole off to be with Luca. "Uh--Villiam. And Manhattan?"
"MADISON."
"Sim. Zooey... . and ... Cory?"
"Cody."
"Zoe. Tell me about Zoe," Eliza said. "Is there something I should know about her?"
115
"What's to say? She's still sucking her thumb and acts like a three-year-old rather than a six-year-old. Her yoga teacher complained that she kicked someone in class the other day."
"Coitada," Jacqui muttered.
"What else do you think they're going to ask?" Eliza said, wringing her hands. She didn't want to mess up the good thing she had going. Mara basically took care of the kids while she and Jacqui spent every night partying and every day nursing their hangovers.