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“Then I’ll see you later.”
“Sure.” I smile at him. “Thanks for taking Amy. I do appreciate it.”
“I said I’d help you out with anything, didn’t I?” Ben grins and winks at me. “You can ask anything, you know, Elle.”
I try to ignore the implications there. I know that Ben is hinting something else, but I cannot bring myself to say stop. That would involve an awkward conversation, and I don’t want to go through that.
“Just make sure she has everything when she gets there,” I tell him as I pick up the cloth again. “I don’t want the teachers calling because she’s forgotten something and she’s upset about it.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t forget anything.” Ben gives me a way. “I’ll see you later. Have fun with the bulldogs.”
He disappears, and the door opens and closes a moment later, Amy’s chatter fading away. I get on with tidying up the kitchen. Once this is done, I can head off to work, and I can be confident in the fact there will be less for me to do when I return.
Living with Carly and Ben is not a problem; we got used to living together back in our college days, and we got ourselves into a good routine. But with a child involved, things do get tougher. The stress in Amy’s younger years was something I don’t want to go through again.
But Amy is five now. She is a little more independent and can help with minor chores. She loves to clean, which I find surprising. Ben and Carly don’t complain, though, so I’m not going to put up a fight with it. Amy just adores the two of them.
If someone had told me six years ago that I was going to end up being a mother and living with my two best friends as a makeshift family, I would have thought they were mad. I wasn’t going to be a mom, not so young. But it happened, and now I have a child who seems to be growing up too fast.
I know I am grateful to Ben and Carly for their help. If they hadn’t stepped up to help me while I left college and started working as soon as Amy was born, I would have been struggling. Grandma did offer to let me come home with her so she could look after me, but I can’t do that to her. She deserves to be a great-grandmother, not childcare. And I definitely couldn’t go to Dad. I have had nothing to do with him since he married Megan. They will try to contact me and get me to come back, but I just ignore them now. I’m not interested.
Dad made his bed with his actions. This was what he wanted to do. If he doesn’t like the current medium of being cut off from his family, that’s on him. I’m not going to help him.
I have a child of my own, and I have more important things to worry about.
“Are you doing something, or are you just staring into space?”
“Hmm?”
I look up. Carly is standing next to me. I didn’t hear her join me.
“Carly.” I lower the cloth and put it on the table. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”
“I noticed. You looked like you were off in your own world.” Carly peers at me. “Are you okay?”
“Of course I’m okay.” I shrug. “I’m just tired. I’ve got a long day today, and I didn’t get much sleep last night.”
“At least you don’t have have to worry about Amy waking up in the night.” Carly smiles. “I’m glad she’s grown out of that.”
“So am I. I thought the three of us were going to end up hallucinating with madness.”
“That’s to be expected when you have a baby. You go to their schedule.”
“I’m glad we can train them to what is acceptable,” Carly grunts. She leans on the table and folds her arms. “Ben doing okay with the school run?”
“He’s been fine with it. I go in the other direction at the same time, and it’s on his way. He’s like a godsend.”
“I see.” Carly regards me thoughtfully. “He does a lot for you, doesn’t he?”
I understand what she’s talking about. I sigh.
“Don’t start this again, Carly.”
“He’s clearly in love with you. Why won’t you give him a chance?”
“Because I can’t see him like that.” I shake my head. “Sure, I love him, but he’s like a brother that I never had. I can’t see him as anything but that.”
“You should tell him, Elle. Ben’s going to get fed up with loving you from afar unless you say something.”
