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“I nap during the day and she gets in an afternoon nap. Plus, I don’t work every night.”
How is she not sleep-deprived? No, she probably is. How is she functioning?
“And you make enough money to pay for it all?”
Her cheeks redden. “Well, Carey and Logan already had the apartment before I moved here.”
“What do you mean?” I interrupt.
“Oh. Right. I stayed home my first two years and went to the community college, so I didn’t move here until the summer we got in touch again. Anyway, they won’t let me pay rent or utilities and sometimes, not even groceries. I make enough to buy gas, food, clothes, and pay for her daycare. I’m not rolling in money, but we get by.”
“Color!” Savannah taps my hand and I color the bear on the page again.
“Can I help?” I ask.
“I’m not going to turn you down.”
“Well, how much would you need?”
Sydney shakes her head. “You can help however much you want.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing here; a number would be helpful.”
Why is she struggling over this? “I think the average is five hundred dollars a month,” she eventually says.
“That’s it? How fast could you spend that?”
“That wouldn’t cover her daycare for a month, but anything helps. Whatever you’re comfortable with is fine with me because we’ve been doing okay so far.”
Not really, she hasn’t. She doesn’t pay rent or utilities. Could she afford it if she had to when she said she makes just enough to pay for the essentials?
“Wait!” Savannah grabs my hand and pulls my brown crayon out of it. “This one next.” She gives me a pink crayon, so I color in his nose.
The food is set down on the table, but Sydney tells her to color for a little bit longer. I watch as she goes ahead and cuts up Savannah’s food into bite-size pieces and lightly drizzles syrup over the pancakes. She waves the waitress back over for a lid and straw for Savannah’s cup.
“She’ll knock something over in a heartbeat, so you’ve been warned. You’ll probably be sticky by the time we leave.” Sydney pauses. “Do you want her to sit with me?”
“No, that’s okay.”
With my answer, she takes the crayons and coloring books, slips them back into her bag, and I pull Savannah’s plate over and then my own. Savannah immediately reaches for a slice of bacon on my plate.
“Hey, that’s mine.”
She gives me a cheeky grin and bites a piece off. Sydney laughs. I reach over and steal a piece of her pancake, which Savannah finds hilarious. She holds up the slice of bacon.
“We share, okay?”
“Deal.”
“Deal,” she repeats.
The only thing she wants off my plate is my bacon, but after every bite she takes, she holds it up for me to take a bite. The girl is adorable.
“So, what is your everyday life like?” Sydney asks me.
“Practice, working out, might watch some film, and do anything the team wants us to do. If it’s game day, I get a nap in and then I’m at the arena for the better part of the evening. There’s a game tomorrow. It’s a little early if you guys want to come.” I keep talking to avoid her saying no. “I have a game Tuesday and then I’m on the road from Wednesday to Monday. You can look up the schedule online to get an idea of when I’m busy based on games and when there are away games. We have one day a week off.”
“You’re busy.”
