Through The Dark

4.

Tanner

It had taken a few days. Just a few days to get a nanny for Renée.  With Mackenzie by my side, we'd gotten a site for job vacancies and we saw a few ladies who entered to be nannies. We looked up all their information but they were either too young or too old and we were just about to give up when we saw the profile of this lady.

She looked decent and she was twenty-one. She wanted to work with kids between the ages of four and nine, and that was good enough considering Renée was eight. She needed a house with no pets, and that was perfect. She was fluent in English, Spanish and Maori, she was a good cook and the money she requested for as her pay was something I could afford, so Mackenzie and I thought she was the best for the job.

Tori Daniels was her name and she'll be arriving the next day.

Now, all I had to do was calm Renée down, and then explain to her why leaving her with a nanny was best for her. It was going to be hard and I'd wanted Mackenzie to be here so she could do all she could to make Renée understand, but she was working tonight, so it was just me, myself and I that had to do the job.

"Here you are, cutie pants," I said in a cheery voice as I popped my head into Renée's room even as I tried hard as hell to ignore the nervous feeling inside me.

She giggled and sat up in her bed as I asked, "What's up?" I walked to her bed, sitting.

"I'm hungry," she said, a tired smile on her face as she pushed herself to my lap, throwing her arms around my neck.

"Actually, dinner's ready. I just came to talk to you."

"Can it wait till after dinner?" She asked, groaning a little.

No, it couldn't. I was ready now so it was better to just get it over with.

"No, Renée... It can't."

She sighed, "Okay. What do you want to talk to me about?"

I swallowed hard, knowing she wouldn't be happy with the news I was about to break to her, but then I cleared my throat, "Renée?"

"Yes, Tanner?" She answered in a low, quiet voice.

"Y- You know that I love you, right?"

"Yes, I do," she giggled. "And I love you too."

I nodded, a small smile on my face, "And you know that I'll do anything to make sure you're okay. You know I'll do what's best for you, right?"

"I know," she lazily planted a kiss on my cheek.

"Renée, you can't come with me to school," I told her, my hold against her tightening.

"What?" She asked in a low voice as she forced herself out of my grip.

"Renée, please, just do this for me, okay? It what's best, just stay here—"

"I can't!" She screamed as a tear rolled down her left cheek.

My heart broke at the sight and all I wanted to do was hold her tight again, but when I reached out to her to do that, she got off my lap and bounced on her bed, moving far from me.

"Renée—"

"You're gonna go and leave me with mom and dad when they wouldn't even be home and—"

"No, Renée. You're gonna get a nanny—"

"I don't want a nanny!" She cried. "She can't ever be my best friend."

I didn't expect my eyes to blur so quickly but it did and I blinked hard, "Nothing's gonna change, trust me."

"Yes it will! You're gonna be far, far away from here and there will be no one to talk to. There will be no one to tuck me in. There will be no one to... to..." her voice trailed off even as her body shook. "Just don't go, Tanner.... Please."

This was all too much for me to handle, and I got the feeling that if Mackenzie were here, she'll be trying to talk to Renée by now.

"I'll come to see you on Saturdays and any other time I can," I told her slowly before adding, "With Mackenzie and sometimes, you could actually come spend some days with me."

Nothing I said made her stop crying.

"I'll make sure I speak to you everyday," I tried again. "That's not exactly a promise, but I'll try."

She didn't say anything still. She just clutched her pillow to her chest as more tears fell from her eyes.

"It's hard for me too, Renée," I told her quietly. "I'm not happy about leaving you here.. but, the good thing is, I can always come to see you.. it might take a lot of gasoline or even money, if I want to fly but.. I promise you, Renée, nothing will change. We'll Skype a lot and if you need me, I'll be here. We're still gonna be best buddies. Nothing's changing that."

She was quiet now, and I had a little hope that she was taking in slowly, everything I just said.

"What do you say we go have dinner and after, we see a movie. I don't mind staying the night here with you."

"I'm not hungry," she answered simply in a muffled voice.

"But you said you were—"

"I said I'm not hungry."

Damn it.

I should have broken the news to her after we had dinner.

*****

Mackenzie

"I can't believe it! It's literally our last day here!" Kora squealed.

I'd known Kora for almost a year now. We had been working partners for so darn long, working together to serve the people who came into the diner. We went just like peanut butter and jelly.

She was my first friend here at the diner and we'd been close ever since. As at last year when we first met, she was working at the diner to get money to get into college and I couldn't help but admire her strength as she had to wait almost two years before getting into college and now, she was set to go with money and a good head on those fine, black shoulders of hers.

"Well, it is your last day. I still have a week left here," I told her, chuckling.

"Doesn't matter! What matters is we're not gonna be here by the end of the month," she jumped a little, excited.

"I know, right!" I squealed.

"I'm going to freaking miss you, Mackenzie," she pulled me into a tight hug.

"Me too, Kora. Me too. You've taught me so much," I said behind her.

"No, you have taught me so much. Your strength was and is my muse," she pulled away, looking at me.

I chuckled, my eyes welling with tears while tears already rolled down Kora's.

"I'm so glad to have met someone like you," she said.

"Me too," I smiled. It was hard to tell she was about two years older than me, well except for the times when she acted like my mom.

"But we can always call and text, so, bless technology," she wiped under her eyes.

"Yeah, we can," I laughed.

"So, how do you feel? Going to New York?"

I let out a breath, smiling, "I always thought studying in the New York would be wonderful!"

"So what's happening to Tanner?" She asked, an eyebrow raised.

Kora had always been Tanner's fan since day one.

"We got accepted into the same university, Kora," I grinned.

She let out a squeal, "That's amazing! Yes, yes! I knew it! Both of you just have to be together. I'm so excited for you two," her natural hair bounced along with her as she jumped a little.

I laughed at her act and I finally asked after she'd calmed down, "So how is it gonna be with Tristan? I mean, can you handle a long distance relationship?"

She and Tristan had been together for so long now.

"Yeah, I can. We've been together for so darn long. I promise you, we can handle it."

"Right," I nodded, truly happy for her and just then, her phone rang. I didn't need anyone to tell me it was he boyfriend calling because she smiled so wide her braces glistened under the lights of the dressing room.

I watched as she literally skipped to a corner of the dressing room, already chattering excitedly to her boyfriend even as she playfully winked at me from where she was.

I chuckled before I got out my phone to text Tanner, remembering he had to tell Renée about her nanny.

~Hey big guy, how did it go with Renée?~

It was five minutes when he replied,

~Not good. She's been crying and has refused to eat.~