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This is something I need to sleep on.
I sleep on it, in fact, for six days, and on the seventh day, Eli’s screaming bloody murder because I didn’t have his Mickey Mouse pajamas clean and Maggie is throwing up in a wastebasket because she ate ten peanut butter cups when I was in the bathroom.
I simply can’t do this alone anymore. I need help, and McKenna Lodge may be the person to provide it. I decide to call her and at least give her an interview.
When she answers, Eli’s still screeching but Maggie is feeling better, at least.
“Mr. Ledderman?” she answers, sounding surprised.
“Ms. Lodge,” I say dryly. “I’m sorry that I didn’t recognize you.”
“No, no, that’s all right. I was young and I didn’t recognize you either. I can understand if given what happened with my aunt, you don’t want to consider me for the position...” she trails off.
I take in a deep breath. “I can’t judge you based on her decisions,” I say finally. “You’re not her, right?”
“Absolutely not,” Kenna says quickly. “In fact, I don’t even speak to her. I haven’t seen her in years.”
I let out the breath that I’d been holding. “Good,” I mutter dumbly. I don’t know how to handle this situation but I know that I need someone like Kenna to keep from tearing my hair out, so I don’t really have a choice. “Are you available to interview this afternoon?”
“Really?” she asks, and then pauses. “Would two work for you?”
“Perfect,” I say. I’ve already taken the day off work since Maggie got sick, so I have all day with them here by myself. I can use her on a day like today, so we’ll see how she handles the kids when they’re cranky and ill.
I fall asleep on the couch with Eli sucking his thumb in my lap and Maggie lying across my legs. I know I should try and break him of the habit but it’s hard to do by myself, and without his mother...
The doorbell rings and I startle awake. Eli starts to whine and holds on to me tightly. I’m able to wrangle out from underneath Maggie without waking her, but Eli’s wide awake when I go to the door.
“Hello,” Kenna says, smiling at Eli, and he blushes, smiling, and turns his face into my neck.
“He has a bit of a crush, I’m afraid,” I say dryly, and Kenna laughs.
“That’s very flattering. He’s a handsome boy.”
“I remember you,” he says, still hiding. “From the cake pop store.”
Kenna laughs again. “Yes, the cake pop store.”
I’m surprised that he remembers since that was a week ago, which is sometimes years in a kid’s brain.
Eli won’t let me put him down without whining so I hold him as I sit down on the couch.
Kenna sits across from me so as to not disturb Maggie.
“She’s sick today,” I explain. “Too many peanut butter cups.”
Kenna doesn’t judge me, just keeps a smile on her face. “Kids will be kids,” she says.
I shift Eli to one side so that I can see her better and he stares at her with wide green eyes, his thumb still in his mouth.
“Your resume really speaks for itself,” I say. “But I just wanted you to be here when the kids aren’t at their best, to see what it’s really like.”
“They were just a little rambunctious at the café,” she admits.
I nod. “They’re always at least a little rambunctious. I have trouble keeping childcare for them,” I confess.
“That’s not on the kids, it’s on the professional. We are the adults, we should be able to woo them into behaving and sometimes people just don’t want the hassle of connecting to the kids,” she commiserates, and I smile back at her, feeling a little bit surprised. I’d never thought of it that way, but I can see her point.
She keeps looking around at the house as if in awe. It’s a big house, more like a mansion, because I’d wanted to have a lot more kids than just two. Suzanna couldn’t even handle the two we had, though, so it ended up just being me and the kids bouncing around in this big house.
