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“I’ll get it,” Louis yelled from the front of the house. Great. He couldn’t hear me shouting for him but had no issues hearing that.
“No, you don’t,” I hollered back. “You don’t open the door unless you know who it is.”
The kettle clicked off, and I decided whoever our visitor was, they’d have to wait. I rushed too fast to fill the bottle, the boiling water splattering onto my hand. “Shit!”
“Kai said a bad word,” Mia said gleefully. “I’m telling Mum.”
“No, you don’t.” I lifted her as she ran past, putting her on my hip. “You gotta stay with me today, Mia. Mum’s poorly.”
She wriggled in my grip, trying to get down. “Put me down. I want my mummy!”
I want my mummy too, I thought desperately. God, how was I supposed to hold this together. It wasn’t even nine a.m., and everything was falling apart.
Just then, a hand reached around and lifted the kettle. “How much water?”
My head snapped round. Silas was here. But how? Why?
“Louis let me in,” he said in response to my unasked question. “He looked like he was about to cause trouble, so I plopped him in front ofBob the Builderin the living room.”
“I…” I was at a loss for words. What must Silas think?
“So, how much water?” He repeated his question, raising an eyebrow.
“Nine ounces,” I whispered. “Then under cold water.”
Silas waggled his eyebrows at Ruby in an exaggerated motion, making her giggle. “Under cold water, he tells me, like I’m going to give you boiling. What’s he like?”
I stared at Silas in utter bewilderment. He looked up from the bottle and nodded at Mia. “Why don’t you go get Mia cleaned up? I’ll watch Ruby and Louis.”
I had no idea what Silas thought about the whole situation. It wasn’t like I could turn down the help though.
With him cooing away at Ruby, keeping her entertained while her bottle cooled, I carried Mia into the bathroom. The flour had caused enough damage to require a shower.
I was so grateful that the “poo” had meant shampoo that I didn’t care.
It took me a solid thirty minutes to get the flour out of her hair. Even then, I wasn’t sure I’d got it all, but it would do. By the time I got back downstairs, it was suspiciously quiet. I poked my head into the living room to see the TV off and Louis nowhere to be seen.
Oh god, what was he up to now?
I strode into the kitchen and came to a sudden halt.
Ruby was happily drinking her bottle in her highchair, her chubby feet swinging in delight. Louis was at the table, crayons and bits of paper strewed all over it. His tongue poked out in concentration as he tried to fill in the lines.
And Silas, my lanky friend, was at the kitchen sink with bubbles up to his elbows.
“Colouring,” Mia squealed, wriggling out of my hold to join Louis at the table.
“Hope you don’t mind me giving them that,” Silas said cheerfully over his shoulder. “Found them in the cupboard and figured it’d keep them quiet.”
I nodded. “It’s fine. Thanks.”
“No problem.” He put another plate in the rack to drip dry. “I’ve made you a cup of tea too. Thought you might need one.”
I glanced around to see that he’d also cleaned up the flour. The floor was now sparkling clean. “Silas, you don’t need to do all this.”
He rolled his eyes, not looking up from the pan he was scrubbing. “I know that. But it’s what friends do.”
I filled a glass of water and dashed it up the stairs to Mum. After coaxing her to take a few sips, I returned to find Silas still at the sink.
