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Right?
I shake my head to clear it and walk back downstairs, where Derek has already left. The house seems so big and empty with just the sounds of the cartoon the kids are watching bouncing off the walls in a weird kind of echo.
I sigh and sit down on the couch between the kids and Maggie looks up at me.
“I puked today,” she says, apropos of nothing, and I stare at her for a moment before nodding.
“Your dad told me,” I say. “I’m sorry about that. Do you feel better now?”
“A little,” she says. “But I still need my doll.”
“Your doll?”
“Her name is Melinda. She’s upstairs, but I’m tired from all the puking,” Maggie says, shifting to lie on the couch.
“Does Melinda make you feel better when you’re sick?”
Eli giggles at something on the television, ignoring both of us.
Maggie just looks at me as if I should already know that’s the case and I smile at her.
“I’ll go get her from your room. What does she look like?”
“She’s the only doll that is a baby,” she says, sounding exhausted.
I trek upstairs after a moment, looking around at the pictures in the hallway. There are a few with my aunt in them, no wedding pictures, just some of her and the kids, but they make me wince nonetheless.
I thought for sure that I wouldn’t get the position after I figured out who Derek was and how I know him but I’m grateful that he gave me the chance.
The kids are really cute, and this is what I need for my resume.
Plus, it’ll get me out of my parents’ house and I won’t have to share a bathroom with my siblings anymore. A win-win situation, really.
Not to mention, this place isbeautiful. I wish I had asked Derek about taking the kids out to the pool, because it’s a huge, Olympic sized one and I’d love to have gotten a few laps in. Not that I brought my swimsuit, so it’s probably for the best.
I slip past the guest bedroom (my bedroom now, I suppose), and Eli’s room, and walk into Maggie’s. There’s purple paint all over the walls, purple curtains, purple unicorn posters on the wall. Kid really likes purple, I suppose.
I find Melinda lying on top of her head in a corner and hurry back downstairs, but not before I find a worn polaroid of Maggie as a baby with my aunt holding her. It’s lying on Maggie’s bedside table. I feel a sting of empathy for the little girl. Despite how my aunt had left them, of course she would still miss her mother.
I clear my throat, not moving the polaroid from where it is, and walk back downstairs with Melinda.
Maggie takes her and hugs her close.
“Do you have a doll or a stuffed animal that makes you feel better when you’re sick, Eli?” I ask, and he looks at me, tilting his head as if thinking.
“No,” he says. “Just my trains.”
“Trains can make you feel better, too,” I say, and Eli favors me with a toothy smile. “Do you kids want a snack?” I ask, and Eli nods eagerly.
“I don’t know,” Maggie hedges. “I don’t want to puke again. It’s gross.”
I wrinkle my nose. “It is gross. So how about some crackers and ginger ale?”
Maggie sits up, seeming a little less listless. “Okay,” she says simply, and I feel like I’ve made some small stride toward getting her to trust me.
Eli is easy, he’s young enough that he’ll accept new people into his life, but Maggie definitely has her reservations, and I understand why.
“Cheese crackers,” Eli pipes up, and I laugh.
