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“I won’t. You’d better get in there.”
She got her bag and he stood and watched her enter the terminal until a police car came behind him and flashed his lights on and off.
“Yeah, whatever,” Adam mumbled and got back in the car.
The trip home was terrible; he felt like she’d been ripped away. But when he got home, there was a text to call her; the flight had been delayed.
“I feel like I just got a reprieve,” he said joyfully. “I was just bemoaning that you’re gone.”
“Ha! Me, too. Anyway, they are just announcing that my zone can board so I’ll text you when I get in my seat.”
“Okay, love you.”
“Love you, too.”
They said their goodbyes and hung up.
He spent the next fifteen minutes getting the baby inside and settled when his phone beeped again. It was the school.
“Sister Gertrude,” Adam said.
“Hey, Adam, can you come by today? I have paperwork from the archdiocese to fill out for your family leave. I wish it was online forms. They really need to get up to speed here.”
He looked at the clock on the microwave. “I’ll see if Calista can watch the baby and I’ll be in at noon. Will that work?”
“You can bring the baby in,” she said.
“I’d rather let her get a little older before I bring her in. All those germy kids.”
“Ha! Yes, that’s true. They’ll see you and swarm. Okay, see you at noon.”
He called Calista next. She said it was fine to bring Adelaide in for an hour or two.
“She’s had her vaccinations, correct? Bring her records along.”
“Calista, I’ll see you soon,” Adam replied.
He fed baby Adelaide and changed her, then packed up her diaper bag again. “You’re having another adventure today, baby.”
At the day care, Calista’s helpers that day were former students of Adam’s who had graduated the previous year and were going to community college nearby.
“Missy Clarkston and Sheryl Fontenot, look at you,” he said, grinning. “Meet Adelaide.”
They fussed over the baby while explaining that Calista was on a Zoom call with the state.
Missy got out paperwork for Adam to sign. “And here’s a copy of her vaccination record.”
“It looks like we have everything, your cell phone number, the grocery store in case of emergency…”
“Okay, well, I’ll be back in about an hour,” he said. “It’s the first time I’m leaving her.”
Hesitating, he knew it was normal to resist leaving his little girl. After he left, they locked the door behind him, giving him extra confidence about leaving her.
He parked the car in the lot behind the church. Walking into school felt so foreign to him. He’d have to get used to it all over again when the time came to return to work. He wondered if he could do it, if he could leave his baby. How did anyone do it?
Sheryl had Adelaide up on the counter, filling in the intake sheet for her with the information Adam had written, while Missy had taken her diaper bag to the back room to unpack when there was a knock on the glass door. She looked at the door, and seeing who was on the other side shocked Sheryl.
“Miss Thebideux.”
