A Summer Goes Quiet
Jake woke up before everyone else. The house was still. Sunlight streamed softly through the wide vacation house windows, golden and calm. For a moment, he lay there, listening to nothing but birds outside and the faint hum of the air conditioner. Then he heard plates clinking downstairs. He got up. When he reached the living room, he saw the nanny already cleaning up the mess from last night, empty cups, snack wrappers, balloons drifting lazily across the floor. “You’re up early,” she said, surprised. Jake stretched. “You don’t have to clean all that.” She laughed lightly. “That’s my job.” “I’ll do it.” She stopped and looked at him. “You?” she teased. “I’m twenty now,” he said seriously. “You carried me on your back when I was five. I’m not that kid anymore.” She smiled warm
- Writer
