Shit. Time to swallow your pride man.
"Fine, when can she start?"
"Friday," Liv confirmed. "We'll arrive Thursday morning, get sorted then start filming Friday."
That gave me just two days to clean before they arrived.
"Oh, and you're staying at the parent's until Friday."
"I'm what?"
"A rat, Erik. Where there's one, there may be more. The boys could get the plague. Or have their faces eaten off in their sleep. Is that what you want, Erik? A faceless child?"
I shuddered at the image, fear and shame settling in my stomach. I needed to call Rune, get my kids outta there. "I gotta go."
"Rune's at Ma's. And don't worry, I already let everyone know I'm on it."
"Thanks," I muttered, knowing Ma would still be losing her shit.
Better add a call to ma to my to-do list.
"See you Friday, brother of mine."
"Love you."
"Love you and the boys." She hung up, leaving me to dwell in my self-pitying anger.
My boys deserve better. Fuck.
My phone rang and I looked down at the caller id.
"You're the reason I'm in this mess," I told my brother in greeting.
"A rat?" Gunnar asked. "Seriously?"
"I don't know how it got there," I groaned.
"Well, it looked pretty wet, nice and freshly dead, if that's any consolation."
"It's not."
Gunnar cleared his throat, "You know, if it's too much with the kids, and me moving here… well, Ella and I discussed it and we—"
"Stop, no." I interrupted. "Don't even go there." I ran a hand through my hair. "It's just been a rough few days. The twins had a little stomach upset, they're out of sync with their sleep cycle, the nanny is AWOL, and I was more focused on landing the Del Laurentis account than cleaning."
"Promise?"
"Swear."
There was a pause. I could feel Gunnar weighing up whether to push it. Finally, he let it go and I breathed a silent sigh of relief.
"So," he asked. "Did we get it?"
"Dude, you doubt my ability to close a deal? Of course I got it."
He chuckled, "I should have known better."
"You wound me," I said, mockingly. "For that, baby sitting duties next time you're in town. A whole weekend."
