“Not really,” Kyle answered. “But I made a list of things to do today.” He paused and sipped his coffee. “I was thinking, youshould probably go in to work today. No sense in both of us staying home.”
“I don’t want to leave you to deal with it all, though.”
“I’ll be fine,” Kyle assured him. “I’ll call Aunt Ellen in a little while. Maybe she’ll want to come over to see this guy.” Kyle bounced Wyatt on his knee. “Sometime after nine, I’ll ring Fred to see about working from home. I’ll also ask about parental-leave benefits, just in case I need more time off. And maybe Aunt Ellen will have some ideas about childcare.”
“Okay, how about some breakfast?” Jon asked.
“I was thinking of oatmeal for this guy, and I’ll just have toast,” Kyle said.
“Ope-meel,” Wyatt repeated, turning to look at Kyle.
“Ope-meel it is,” Jon agreed.
After they ate, Jon tidied up the kitchen and kept an eye on Wyatt while Kyle quickly showered. When Kyle returned, Jon went to get ready for work.
“I’ll call you later,” Jon said, kissing Kyle on the lips and Wyatt on the forehead, then scooting out the door.
Kyle picked up his phone and placed a call. “Hi, Aunt Ellen. How are you doing?”
“The best I can, I guess, Kyle. How’s my grandson doing?”
“He seems to be coping pretty well right now. I’m hoping that continues. I was wondering if you wanted to come by and see him today? Or maybe we could visit you?”
“Oh, I’d love to see Wyatt!” Ellen effused. “It’s probably a good idea if I get out of this house. I could be there in an hour or so if that’s okay with you.”
“That’s perfect. We’ll see you then.”
When the doorbell rang,Kyle picked up Wyatt—who was clutching his stuffed elephant—and answered the door. When Wyatt saw Ellen, he shouted “Gama” and started to squirm. Ellen caught him and hugged him tightly.
“How’s my boy?” She kissed him on the cheek, and Wyatt giggled.
After they got settled in the living room, Kyle said, “I need to call my boss about my work schedule. Can you keep an eye on this guy for a few minutes?”
“Of course, dear. Take your time.”
Kyle sprinted up the stairs to have a bit of privacy and called his manager.
“Fred Jameson.”
“Hey, Fred, it’s Kyle.”
“Kyle! How are things going? Are you still in California?”
“Actually, Jon and I got home last night. My uncle Mike is still there, but I expect he’ll be coming home in a couple of days. There really wasn’t anything more I could do there, and we thought it best to bring Wyatt back and get him in a regular routine as quickly as possible.”
“That makes sense. So when do you think you’ll be coming back to work?”
“That’s part of why I’m calling. I was wondering if I might be able to work remotely one or two days a week.”
“I don’t see a problem with that. I imagine you’re learning all the new and exciting things that go on in your life when you have a child.” Fred was the father of two and spoke from experience.
“I am,” Kyle agreed. “Fortunately, Jon helped out with his sister’s kids, so he’s teaching me how to give baths and change diapers. There certainly is a lot to know.”
“You can’t even imagine.” Fred laughed quietly. Kyle felt like everyone but him was in on a huge secret thathedidn’t think was all that funny.
“Thanks for agreeing to my working from home. I need to line up some kind of day care, but I want to be around Wyatt as much as I can right now. His world is pretty topsy-turvy, and we want to make things as normal as we can,” Kyle explained. “By the way, do you know if I’m entitled to any kind of parental-leave benefits? I don’t expect anything crazy to happen, but I’d like to know what my options are.”
“I would think you would be, but I’ll reach out to Melissa in HR and ask her to get in touch with you.”
