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I look at my youngest in the rearview mirror. He sees my eyes and giggles.
“I do,” I say. “He’s my date for the day until I get the rest of the hellions.”
“You can bring him here,” Rachel says, her voice getting higher pitched with the offer.
I raise a brow, tempted, but lower it when the guilt hits. “I would, but I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Uhhh,” I stammer.
“Stop feeling guilty for wanting a sitter,” she says, as if she can read my mind. “Just bring him here and go to the store. It’s thirty minutes that you won’t have him. You can stop and get a coffee on your way, treat yourself to a teeny tiny chunk of your day without a tiny human in your custody. It’ll be fine.”
The thought does sound heavenly. A small break. That’s all I really wanted. A taste of freedom. Ten minutes to myself so I can take a silent piss and be alone with my thoughts.
Do I even have thoughts?
“Alright,” I say.
“Really?”
“Unless you don’t want to.” The surprise in her voice has me second-guessing my answer.
“No! It’s just that I’ve offered so many times and you never accept. I’m super excited to spend time with my adopted nephew! Even if it is for a short period of time.”
I smile at the forced branch of our family tree. Rachel has been my best friend for so long that our kids call her Auntie Rach. It suits her.
“Deal,” I say. “I’ll be there in about two minutes. We just turned onto your street.”
“Perfect! Door is unlocked.”
I hang up with Rachel and look at Spencer in the mirror. “You’re going to be good for Auntie Rach,” I tell him. He smiles at the sound of her name and kicks his feet.
“Rach,” he echoes, showing off his tiny teeth. “Rach, Rach, Rach.”
He recites her name until we pull into her driveway. Her house has always been so perfect. Then again, if I was able to hire a nanny to help around the house, I’m sure mine would be this nice too.
We walk through the front door and into her mud room. It’s also perfect. White walls and a laundry area that always greets her guests with the scent of fresh linen. Photos on the walls of their last portrait day, all four of them with matching flannels and matching smiles.
They’re a happy family.
“Hey!” Rachel says as she comes around the corner.
She looks great. Dark blue jeans that fit her perfectly with an oversized white sweater and a teal colored scarf. Her red hair is falling over her shoulders and her makeup is done. Subtle, but done.
She always looks so put together. Even with the “Mama Bear” slippers she has on.
“Thank you for doing this,” I say to her, letting the diaper bag fall off my shoulder. I know Spencer is two, but he still has accidents from time to time and needs a diaper change. “I won’t be gone long, but thought I’d bring this in just in case. I know your two have been out of diapers for a while.”
“I still have those few that you left here during the campfire over the summer. When we had the cookout.”
“Oh yeah,” I say. “When Lucy brought her flavor of the month.”
“Flavor of theweek,” Rachel corrects with a roll of her eyes.
I grin. “I feel like we gossip too much.”
“Or maybe just enough,” she says. “Don’t give the town shit to gossip about and we would go back to talking about the weather.”
