This week a Spanish nanny working for a British family living in Los Angeles has a few dreamy days to herself to explore the city and consume books for hours. What happens when a member of the family returns early? You won't want to miss this ending...
BOOK SLUT STATS
FROM: Seville, Spain
AGE: 25
CURRENTLY IN: Los Angeles, USA
OCCUPATION: Nanny
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Straight
IDENTIFIES AS: Female
CURRENTLY READING: Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, We Were Liars by E. Lockhart, Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I am Spanish but I learnt English living there with the family I work for. We all moved from UK together a few months ago, and I have been with them since I was 21.
Wednesday
6.00AM It is my day off and I want to catch the sunrise on top of Griffith. My family has gone skiing for a week and so I finally have time to spend by myself. I usually go with them but I would like to explore this city a bit more by myself.
6.30AM I feel unsafe walking this path by myself, maybe this was not a good idea, it is meant to be THE Los Angeles thing to do. I have been here for three months, but have not been able to explore it yet and want to spend the next five days being a tourist!
7.00AM I reach the top and the view IS worth it! But there are lots of people here too and they are all taking selfies. I sit by myself and listen to some Nick Drake. It makes me sad, but in a good way.
8.00AM I have drunk all my (lemon) water and now need to pee and am really dusty from sitting on the floor. Look around, more people have arrived and they have selfie sticks. I think this is a good time to leave.
8.10AM Try and find a bush.
8.15AM Run down into a dry ravine, make my own river.
9.00AM Still very dusty but need some coffee, I walk across a river and come across a brightly coloured carpark which has shops and cafes surrounding it, I think they call it something here, but I forget the name.
10.00AM Wandering around looking at shops and saying hi to dogs. But their owners keep looking at my legs that are covered in dirt and pulling their dogs away…
I kind of like this area and want to stay here for the day. I think it would be a good idea to get some new clothes. I walk around and then cross back over the river and see a big blue shop. It looks like a charity shop and I go in.
Paradise.
I pick out some $2 items, a few dresses, weird soap, a hat, sunglasses, A PAIR OF FERRAGAMO shoes, jewellery, and a backpack! It is all vintage and it all costs less than a lunch I took the kids for on the beach a couple of days ago! This place is amazing!!
MIDDAY I can’t believe I spent so much time in that store. I ask if I can use their bathroom and try to wipe down my legs, I look in the mirror. I have dirt on my face too. That is why the dogs owners didn’t like me.
I speak to the store clerk and she kindly gives me some face wipes, I think she thinks I am weird, but I am too happy to care!
Change into my new dress and shoes!
Put on hat and sunglasses and jewellery. I feel like a million euros!!
I put my dusty clothes into a grocery bag and put them into my new backpack!
Now I need to find food!
1.00PM I find a small Cuban restaurant and sit outside. I like the sunshine and I like my new sunglasses!
I get a giant sandwich; it is so good and I am feeling full and happy. I sit and watch people.
2.00PM I want to find a book and then go and sit somewhere else and drink wine and watch people and read.
3.00PM I don’t know where I am going but I am liking walking around with nowhere to go. It is comforting that I just have to call an Uber and I can go somewhere else.
4.00PM Find a book shop, but I walked past it lots of times because I thought it was a library.
4.30PM Still in bookstore.
5.00PM I wish my bag was bigger. I get Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart. I had more advanced books in my hands, but I want to drink wine and so I think a child’s book is better.
5.10PM The sun is setting, I call an uber. I like this area, I will come back soon.
5.30PM LA traffic is so bad. I am heading back to West Hollywood. I see Mel’s Drive-In which was on my list of places to visit, so instead of sitting in a car I get out! Not the plan but I have no plan!
5.45PM I get given a booth in the corner, great for people watching! I don’t think here is a good place for wine so I get a milkshake, beer, and fries.
5.50PM THE MILKSHAKE IS HUGE, IT IS THE SIZE OF A NEWBORN BABY!
6.00 – 10.30PM Read Genuine Fraud. it is a book about two girls, one is a runaway heiress and her friend. It is very good, it feels like a thriller and I only stop to order more milkshakes, beers, and fries so the diner ladies don’t get mad at me.
I FIND OUT THIS PLACE STAYS OPEN 24 HOURS A DAY!
I am feeling sleepy, but I really like this place. I am going to go home and then come back here tomorrow to finish this book.
11.00PM Go to bed, today was a very happy day.
THURSDAY
11.30AM I wake up! So late, I still feel tired and so open my curtains, make a herbal tea, and get back into bed. I want to plan my day a bit more than yesterday.
MIDDAY Looking for bookstores online, I think today I will stay in West Hollywood and I want to go back to Mel’s and finish the book.
I empty my new bag and put in it a pen, my camera, portable power and my book and go to Mel’s.
I get another booth and order French toast and bacon! I am going to gain so much weight here, but I am looking forward to it!
1.20PM Slowly reading between bites of very very sweet and salty egg bread. It tastes so good and I forgot how to read.
2.30PM I finish my book! It is SO GOOD! I want to read her other ones. I write a note in the book and leave it on the seat.
3.00PM Trying to find bookshop.
3.02PM Found bookshop.
4.20PM Lost more time in bookshop.
4.30PM Never want to leave bookshop.
I can’t decide what I want to read. I think I want to stay with YA books as I really liked Genuine Fraud, looking for her other books but cant see them. I have wanted to read Normal People and My Year of Rest and Relaxation for a long time as I keep seeing them everywhere. I read some pages, I don’t think they are for me today. I also read some more pages of other books, they are not for me either.
4.15PM I find The Hate U Give, I like the first pages and decide to get it. I want to go back to Mel’s but I think I should maybe find another diner. Like the silver trailer ones in the movies.
4.15PM Walk around, I go back to Mel’s.
4.30 – 10.30PM I am very glad I brought my portable power with me as my phone would have died hours ago and I like listening to music when I read. I have been reading The Hate U Give solidly, this is the first book that has made me cry in a very long time. I think the servers think I am weird but pity me, but I keep ordering stuff. I really like their milkshakes and fries.
10.30PM I am nearly finished with the book. I order some mozzarella sticks, beer, and a burger.
11.30PM I am so uncomfortably full and so uncomfortable with emotion. I don’t want to leave this book here, I want to hold it close to me.
MIDNIGHT Walk home. Don’t know what time I go to sleep.
FRIDAY
10.00AM I feel hungover, but not from the beer. From the book. I need some – as you say in the UK – hair of the dog. I remember when I first moved there I thought they drank a drink made out of dog hair for hangovers.
10.30AM Today is going to be a slow day. I make some herbal tea.
10.45AM – MIDDAY I browse the news and read book reviews.
1.30PM I make a smoothie. I have been eating very badly recently and I can feel my skin starting to go weird.
2.30 – 3.30PM Do a yoga self-practise outside.
4.00PM Go for a swim.
5.00PM I remember that I don’t have a book for tonight, but I don’t want to go outside.
6.00PM Make another smoothie. This one has lots of spinach, avocado and pineapple in it. Put on a facemask and drink smoothie out of a big bamboo straw.
7.00PM I have been scrolling through Netflix for 40 minutes and I still don’t know what to watch. I want something warm and cosy. I pick To All the Boys I've Loved Before, because it is based on a book.
7.10PM I realise I need to eat something else. I might order some food, but it took me so long to pick a film I think that would take hours to decide. Find some soup in the fridge and heat it up, also make popcorn.
7.30PM – 9.30PM Watch film and eat.
9.30PM Make tea and pick another film.
9.40PM - ? I put on After, also based on a book. I did really like it but I was also disappointed because I thought for some reason he was a vampire and was looking forward to one of those films. I think I must have got the book mixed up.
Fall asleep at some point.
SATURDAY
MIDDAY I wake up feeling refreshed, I feel like going to the beach today.
12.30PM Make some juice and put in a bottle, also bring water and fruit roll snacks I made for the kids last week.
2.00PM Arrive in Venice! Walk up and down listening to music and people watching. I brought a towel with me and I have my swimwear on, but I don’t think I will swim as my stuff might get stolen. I need to find a book! But first I might lie in the sun for a while. I downloaded the audiobook for My Year of Rest and Relaxation earlier, I find a place on the beach and put my towel down and take my top off. I keep my trousers on as it's cold and also… perverts.
2 – 4.30PM I fell asleep! I only woke up because it was starting to get cold. The sun is already setting! Talk about rest and relaxation!
Get dressed and head to the boardwalk. There is a bookshop I want to go and find called Small World Books.
5.00PM Small World isn’t small it is HUGE!
5.00 – 6.00PM Browse.
6.20PM I find We Were Liars! And I also get Normal People. I don’t normally buy two books at once but I feel like I need a back up.
6.30PM There is a café/bar next door but it is so crowded and there is sports on the tvs, but there is a sign saying it is the best place to people watch. Maybe I will come back here tomorrow.
7.00PM Walk up and down the boardwalk and then start getting hungry. I don’t feel like sitting in a restaurant by myself here.
7.30PM Order Uber.
8.10PM Order pizza.
8.20PM Look for some not-so-expensive red wine. Find some and open.
8.30PM Shower and change.
8.35PM Pizza arrives.
8.40PM Sit outside with wine, pizza, and We Were Liars. I don’t put headphones in and just listen to the pool make noises in the background.
10.00PM I am liking this, but not as much as the other one. I think I would have liked it more if I had read it first.
10.10PM The wine is gone, I go find another.
10.30PM I am liking this book more. But I think I know what is going on…
11.40PM The wine and pizza is gone.
11.45PM Go to bed.
Sunday
1.00PM I wanted to go to a flea market today but I think it is too late. I am also feeling very lazy.
1.10PM Make tea, go for a long swim.
2.00PM I have a shower and order food in. I order enough salads for lunch and dinner.
3.00PM Read some articles, there is one about millennial loneliness. And how some people don’t speak to other humans for days and weeks on end. I get that, but sometimes I don’t want to speak to people and sometimes I do, is that so bad? I think about my last few days, I haven’t spoken to many people and have avoided them, but that was my decision and I don’t think that is such a bad thing. Right now I just prefer pages.
3.00 – 6.30PM Finish the book, I did really like it, and I did really like the map in the front pages, and I really liked the characters, but I just wish the ending was different.
7.00PM Run a bath. And fill it very high with a lot of bubbles and coconut oil. My skin feels dry from the chlorine.
7.00 – 9.00PM Listen to audiobook, and fall asleep again. Wake up in cold water.
9.10PM Go to sleep, listening to book as it seems to work better than meditating.
MONDAY
7.00AM I wake up to a message from F saying that he is going to be coming back into LA early and if we want to meet.
8.00AM I have a coffee instead of tea. F has a lunch meeting in Downtown. I think this is a good time to visit The Last Book Store I have read so much about!
11.00AM Arrive downtown. I am wearing a summer dress and a lingerie set he bought me last year. I feel like Marilyn Monroe.
11.10AM I think THIS is now my favourite book store!
11.40AM I left Normal People at the house, but the store person brings up Sally Rooney after we started speaking about my accent.
I am Spanish but I learnt English living there with the family I work for. We all came over together a few months ago, and I have been with them since I was 21.
I thought Sally Rooney was Irish. She tells me she loves Conversations With Friends more, I ask what it is about and she tells me it is about an affair with a married man. I like the sound of this book more than the other one. I buy it.
MIDDAY F messages me and says he will be done by 2 or 3PM. I walk around downtown and go and sit in a coffee shop. I have my FIRST EVER ICED COFFEE I understand now why everyone likes it so much, I stay for longer than I meant to because a man came and sat next to me and he had two dogs.
12.30PM Order pastries so that I can hang out with dogs for longer.
1.00PM The man next to me asks for my number and when I say no, he walks off and takes his dogs ☹
1.10PM Hungry, walk to The Standard.
1.30PM Go up to the rooftop and find a spot in the shade. I forgot my new hat.
1.35PM Order some chicken bits, a poke bowl, and a bottle of white wine. The server asks me how many glasses, I say two when I mean just one.
1.40PM Start book.
2.00PM This is quite a slow book, but I do like it. I think the white wine and heat is helping too. There are some phrases that I do not understand, but that might be alcohol.
2.30PM F texts that he is late and asks me where I am. I tell him.
3.00PM The wine and food is gone and this book just makes me want F.
3.10PM He arrives! I put my book on the table, he says hello and picks it up and asks me about it. He slips a keycard between the pages and then says goodbye.
3.20PM I pay the bill.
3.30PM I go to the room, and he immediately starts kissing me passionately and holds me up against a wall. He then stops and takes a step back and leads me to the bed, from there he takes my shoes off one by one and starts kissing my legs all the way up. He takes off my dress… and you know.
7.00PM We order room service.
7.30PM – 9.30PM We eat, fuck, drink, and make love.
9.30PM He tells me that I better go, and when I am just about to leave he takes out his wallet and gives me $100 and tells me “replace the wine I drunk on Monday before M gets back” I forgot about the nanny cams.
9.50PM I walk to the store and pick up 3 bottles instead of 2 and a pack of cigarettes. I don’t smoke but I know he does. Even if his wife doesn’t. She doesn’t know a lot of things. And he doesn’t know a lot of things too, like how she has been sleeping with her “new best friend” B routinely for the last two months.
10.50PM I get back home and open one of the bottles of wine. I want to be with him, I am also quite drunk as I type this. He is only 32. I don’t want you thinking he is some old man. Him and his wife have been together for 6 years. I love their kids so much, but I have stayed just for him, even though it is very hard.
11.45PM I am sitting outside and hear him arrive to the main house. I see him turn on different lights and go into his bedroom. I can see him watching me. I want to be in his bed.
MIDNIGHT I stub out my cigarette and go to bed. I don’t even like them anyway.
TUESDAY
M, the kids, and her parents arrive tonight. THEY ARE AWFUL. Very French and always drunk. And when they are drunk they are rude.
7.00AM I go and make some tea. F is in the kitchen. He asks if I can make him one. He asks how my week has been, I tell him all about the books. We both know that M is probably watching.
7.30AM All I can think of is last night. I ask him if he wants to go for a hike. I am surprised when he says ok. We make coffee and go to the car.
8.00 – 9.45AM We have the best drive ever, M calls just as we leave and asks what he is up to. It is scary how she does that, so controlling, I wouldn’t be like that.
10.00AM We arrive and it takes ages for us to park. F turns his phone off and leaves it in the car.
10.00AM – MIDDAY We walk up to the top and then sit and look out. We talk properly for the first time in ages, completely sober, and he asks what we are going to do. He tells me he loves me. It is the first time he has ever said it in 3 ½ years. He says he wants to be with me. My phone rings, it is M asking me to pick up groceries. She has emailed me a list. She also emails the recipe that she wants me to make tonight for her and her parents.
2.00PM We walk back down, all I want to do is touch him but we cant because these cities are smaller than they look.
I see the end of the path in the distance and I cant help it, there is no one on the path anymore and so I drag him down a side path which has more trees and press him down onto a trunk and tug down his shorts. I am wearing shorts too and am able to push them to one side and get him inside of me with one foot on the floor and one foot on the tree trunk. He lifts up my top and starts sucking on my nipples and then turns me over and so I am now underneath and he pushes into me. It is the best sex of my life, and I almost wish someone had seen us.
3.30PM Arrive back at the car, he turns his phone on to lots of missed calls, and pings her back. I feel strange listening in on this conversation rather than before when it would excite me.
4.00PM We stop at a taco stand to go and get some food before heading back, all that hiking has made me hungry.
4.30PM Go to Whole Foods, it takes over an hour to get all the ingredients. Even doing it together.
6.00PM Arrive back, we both get in the shower. I can’t wait until we can have them together in our own home.
6.30PM Start cooking.
8.30PM Kids arrive! I am so happy to see them! I missed them so much! We hug and catch up. M comes in and tells me off for the food not being ready. Her parents then come in and tell him that I should be more organised and that the kids need to eat and go to sleep. I have been cooking for two hours. WHO ASKS SOMEONE TO COOK A WOLFGANG PUCK RECIPE ON A TUESDAY.
8.45PM Kids are excited and are helping me cook. F comes in and kisses M. My heart breaks.
9.00PM Food is ready, I lay the table and am just about to set my place when the kids grandparents tell me that is it just going to be ‘family time’ tonight. The kids look sad. I feel sad.
9.30PM I clean up and go to bed. I take a Luna bar with me.
10.00PM F texts me. “I think we are getting a divorce.”