Miss Baxter’s Girls: Hilary the Au Pair
By Davina Lee
I hear the muted creak of the floorboard just outside the door. I sit up straight in the desk chair, cross my legs and lay the cold leather riding crop over my thigh. Hasiba opens her bedroom door, slowly at first, letting in just a sliver of light from the hallway.
“I assume you know what time it is,” I say.
“Yes, ma’am,” Hasiba replies softly, still safely on the other side of the door.
She is only three years my junior, though she refers to me formally. It’s part of our new arrangement. As is her curfew. Most nights it serves to keep her out of trouble. I don’t know what happened tonight.
“And what time is it?”
“Eleven fifteen, ma’am.”
“We agreed you would be home when?”
“Ten o’clock, ma’am.”
“Stop hiding out in the hallway
