“I think you’d be sick if you ate a whole pie. And it’s going to be a good long time before you’re big enough to cut down a tree.”
“Do I have to go to high school to learn how?” she asked.
“Yes,” I told her.
“Do I have to drive a car?”
“When you get bigger, you’ll want to drive a car,” I told her.
“But I’m scared I can’t see out the big window!” she said.
“You’ll be taller then and you can see out, baby, don’t worry about stuff like that.”
I took down one of her old favorites that we hadn’t read in a while, one about a cow, and she snuggled up beside me. She fell asleep before we finished the story, and I kissed her head. When I switched off the light, I couldn’t help thinking that she was so smart for her age, so mature and intuitive, and I wouldn’t always be able to allay her fears like that. But it felt good to know I could keep her safe now, that a story and a snuggle was still enough to fix anything that troubled her.
“Good night, sweet girl,” I whispered. “Daddy loves you so much.”
I sat down on the couch, but I didn’t turn on the TV. I stared at the dark screen and wondered what in the world I was going to do now that Denise was moving away. My sweet girl trusted and depended on her—and so did I. Sadie needed stability and routine in her life, and everything was about to be turned upside down because her babysitter was leaving.
I had already looked at daycares in the area, and I was sure they were fine, but Sadie and I were both used to her having one-on-one care in her own home. She got plenty of socialization at school. What she needed was the nurturing and supervision of a nanny, a full-time babysitter. Especially with summer vacation starting in a few weeks. It had been a colder than usual spring and April had looked like March, but it was already the month of May.
I was going to have to contact the employment agency in Overton to see if anyone there had experience with childcare and a CPR certification. I felt bad for Denise and valued her greatly as a family friend, but I wished this wasn’t a problem. I didn’t want to deal with it. I’d been lucky to find one caregiver who would love Sadie like her own and watch over her. When Denise had taken the job, she’d been happy to have a baby to fuss over since her youngest had just joined the Army. She had spoiled Sadie and played with her and rocked her to sleep. Now I was on my own again, and I was going to have to interview strangers about caring for my child.
I didn’t want to advertise in Rockford Falls. The reason being, most of the kids were at home with mom during the summer, and I didn’t want some woman taking pity on us and saying Sadie could come to their house like she was a poor motherless waif. And I definitely didn’t want the single moms to scent blood in the water and come after me offering to take care of everything and warm my bed besides. The employment agency was the only option I had at this point, and I wasn’t happy about it.
7
Rachel
The kitchen table was covered with wadded-up paper. List after list of possible ways to earn money quickly. I couldn’t sell enough blood plasma in that length of time to do any good. I didn’t have any antique collections I could have appraised and auction off—no rare Roman coins or Vermeer paintings. My skill set ran to pie making and restaurant management, so a second job would require me to work a cash register for minimum wage when I wasn’t working at the diner. I combed through the help wanted ads in Overton and considered moonlighting as a telemarketer, but I had too much attitude to be any good at that. Dog walkers only made seven bucks an hour and I would have to drive to Overton to get the dogs. I shook my head, feeling defeat creep up my spine.
One thought kept popping up. What about Max and Sadie?
I could be a bit of a meddler. I liked to solve people’s problems for them, and Max needed someone to take care of Sadie. Sadie was a fun kid, and I could spend days with her and move my shifts to evenings and weekends at the diner. College kids and teenagers working the summer could do the day shifts and have their evenings free. It could be a win-win. If I could get him to pay me like fifteen bucks an hour. I looked into it and that was not even a lot to ask for in-home babysitting services for one child. It sounded crazy, but it could solve both our problems.