The Pet Nanny

By Leisa Braband

Twelve-year-old Libby Lancaster is uprooted from her suburban roots and moved to downtown Chicago when her parents decide to divorce. It's summer, and without the comforts of her school chums and the only neighborhood she's ever known, she's bored and lonely...until she becomes a pet nanny.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Apr 2, 2024
• ISBN: 9798891302259

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The Pet Nanny

Leisa Braband

ISBN 979-8-89130-224-2 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89130-225-9 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by Leisa Braband

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

For Sale

Chapter 2

The Last Day of School

Chapter 3

Relocating

Chapter 4

The Move

Chapter 5

Home Messy Home

Chapter 6

Libby's in Business

Chapter 7

Puppy Steps

Chapter 8

Keeping Secrets

Chapter 9

Time Flies

Chapter 10

Week 2 Begins

Chapter 11

In the Kitty

Chapter 12

Busted

Chapter 13

Life Goes On

Chapter 14

Every Dog Has His Day

Chapter 15

The New Pet Nanny Business

Chapter 16

Raining Cats and Dogs

Chapter 17

Too Much of a Good Thing

Chapter 18

Rocky Arrives

Chapter 19

Life with Rocky

Chapter 20

Tale of Two Cats

Chapter 21

Dad Back on the Scene

Chapter 22

Fourth of July

Chapter 23

Back at the House

Chapter 24

Dad Meets Rocky

Chapter 25

Dog Days of Summer

Chapter 26

Mrs. Bandit

Chapter 27

The Bark Is Worse Than the Bite

Chapter 28

Working Like a Dog

Chapter 29

Goodbye, Mrs. Bandit; Hello, Daddy

Chapter 30

What's New, Pussycat?

Chapter 31

Cat out of the Bag

Chapter 32

Aunt Lori's on the Hunt

Chapter 33

In the Doghouse

About the Author

The Pet Nanny

Leisa Braband

Chapter 1

For Sale

Icame home from school that day to see the For Sale sign perched on our front lawn. My aunt's picture was on the front of the sign. Aunt Lori was voted Palos Height's top realtor, and evidently our house was going to be my aunt's next successful sale. If my Aunt Lori did sell it, I vowed to hate her forever. I let myself believe for a moment that the sign was put up by mistake, but I knew better. My mother had warned me that this was going to happen, but I didn't want to face it. I ran inside the house to confront my mother.

I don't want to move, I said as I looked at my mother, pleading for her to understand, pleading for her to explain to me how a move was even possible, pleading for her to change her mind. This was the house I grew up in, the only neighborhood I had ever known for twelve years. All my friends lived here. My school was here. And my dad was here, living in an apartment at the edge of town.

"Well, not moving is not an option, my mother declared. My mom had the no budge" look. I'd been seeing that look way more often than I liked ever since my parents sat me down to announce their divorce a month ago.

Besides, I promise, even if the house sells tomorrow, we won't move until the end of the school year.

"Aha! You used a double negative. You said not moving is not an option. That means we stay! I had her there. Double negatives meant you used two no words, which actually cancelled each other out. Not moving is not an option meant we were not moving. At least I hoped she meant that. Besides, we can't leave this house. This is where I was born and where all my goldfish are buried. It's not like we can take them with us. And what about Dad?"

Stop practicing your debate techniques on me, Libby. And quit being such a drama princess. You say it like you were living here for fifty years. You're only twelve for goodness sake. And not for the first time in the last month, she ignored any reference to my dad.

The conversation took place right before my piano teacher was due to arrive for my lesson. My mother always chose to bring up difficult subjects at times when a prolonged conversation would be cut short so she wouldn't have to face any attitude from me, as she put it. I saw it as simply having an opinion, which I felt I should be able to have, even at twelve. Maybe if she explained it to me better, I'd understand the divorce better. But that wasn't going to happen right now, I realized as the doorbell rang, announcing my piano teacher's arrival.

Chapter 2

The Last Day of School

The next six weeks were a blur. Mostly I concentrated on school and ignored the move that would take place when school ended. My last days of seventh grade were filled with final exams, which as usual, I aced after much studying. My teachers had been clued in by my mother, and they were overly affectionate on the final day of school, telling me how much they would miss me. Their hugs and kind words only made me feel worse. Their friendship was just another of a growing list of things I would miss when we moved.

True to her word, my Aunt Lori successfully sold our house only after a few days of her posting the sign with her picture on it. The new owners agreed to let us live there until after my school term ended. But now that school was over, they were anxious to move into their new house. They were at the house when I came home after the final day of school. As usual, they were measuring everything and consulting handmade maps of the rooms and their furniture and belongings that they planned to move into our house. It was intrusive, and I did my best to ignore them.

Little girl… the woman who bought the house said in my general direction.

Little girl…are you kidding me? I was twelve, not five.

Is this your room? she asked.

Gee, lady, what was your first clue? The pink color on all four walls of the large room with pink patterned curtains? The stuffed animals filling the open spaces on the shelves filled with my favorite books? Yes, I answered with as much disinterest as I could muster, hoping that I wouldn't be caught being disrespectful to an adult. The truth was, I viewed the new owners as the enemy. If they hadn't bought the house, we would not be packing to move this weekend.

Can you tell me about your school? Our daughter is going into fifth grade next year. Do you know what teachers teach fifth grade? What subjects are taught in fifth grade? How many children are in each class? She droned on for at least five more minutes with more questions. But I had stopped listening. I had no desire to fill her in on the details of the school I had just left, the only school I had ever known. And now a ten-year-old stranger would get to enjoy that school and my room in my house. It was too much. I walked away from the new owner and went outside to climb into my tree house for perhaps the last time.

Little girl! Little girl! the woman yelled after me. I blocked her out and climbed up the ladder into the wooden fort of my tree house. I sat down on the floor of wooden slats, facing away from the house, and hugged my knees while crying my heart out. I would miss