Page 42 of The Doctor's Surprise Family

“I’d love to,” I said. “I childproofed my place.”

Claire made a strangled sound. “Childproofed it how?”

“I got some of those plug things that go in your sockets, so kids can’t stick stuff in there and get a shock. And those corners for tables, so they’re less sharp. You know, those rubber things?”

“Yeah, I know those.” Claire exhaled hard. “Look, you’d have to feed him dinner. He’s had his lunch, but he gets a snack after nap time, and I might not get off work until late. If I’m not there by seven, he needs to go down. It’s really important he sticks to his schedule. Do you think you can do all that?”

I grinned. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Because he’s a haggler when it comes to bedtime. He’ll beg for five minutes, then five minutes more, and then he’ll mess around brushing his teeth. You have to stay on him, or he’ll stretch it for hours.”

“I’ll make a game of it,” I said, confident. “Last one to bed is a rotten egg.”

“Don’t think he’s not wise to that.” Claire clucked her tongue. “Okay, we’ll be there in half an hour. You’resureyou can handle this?”

“I promise I’ve got it.” How hard could it be? Ihaddone my childproofing in case Oli came by, not just the socket guards, but a whole danger sweep. I’d moved all the cleaning stuff to a high shelf and fixed up a loose board I’d found in the hall. The backdoor was glass, so I’d smudged it up some, so Oli wouldn’t hurt himself trying to run through it. I cast about for any hazards I might’ve missed, and pushed my toaster back from the edge of the counter.

Claire made it over in twenty-five minutes flat, Oli dawdling behind her to check out my yard. She handed over a diaper bag and a folded paper.

“That’s his schedule right there, and you need to stick to it, especially when it comes to his meals and his nap. Oh, and his bedtime, but we went over that. She patted the diaper bag. “His snack’s in the side pouch. Give himthat, and not sugar. Especially if— what are you doing for dessert?”

I made anummsound. I hadn’t thought about that.

“Nothing too sugary. It’ll mess with his bedtime. He’ll either go nuts and crash out by six, or it’ll be nine and he’ll be glued to your ceiling. Ishouldbe back by then, but my shifts can run long.”

“No sugar,” I said. “So, fruit’s okay?”

“Fruit, but no apple juice. It makes him pee. I packed extra training pants in case?—”

“Mom!” I’d never heard a kid sound so outraged. Claire smiled down at Oli.

“Go in, okay? I need to talk to your dad.”

Oli shot Claire an affronted look, but he headed inside. Claire watched till he’d jumped on my overstuffed couch.

“There’s nothing in there he can get into?”

“Just my laptop, but there’s nothing weird there.”

“I meant more like aspirin, or, y’know, gelcaps. Anything a kid could mistake for candy.”

It was my turn to be offended. “I locked all that up.”

“Okay… okay. What else? Oh, right. Training pants, change of pants, extra shirt, too. He’s toilet trained, but he has accidents. You have to remind him every two hours.”

I made a mental note of that. “When’d he last go?”

“On our way out the door, so you’re good for a while. Now, he has some mild allergies, and this place looks dusty. His itch cream's in there, in the first aid kit, and you need to stay on that. If you see him scratching, put it on right away. If you don’t, he’ll keep scratching, and that just makes it worse. His llama’s in there, and he needs that for nap time, and his yellow blanket, and a couple of books.”

My head spun — itch cream? And what was his llama? I’d never seen any llama, or any yellow blanket.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” Claire glanced at her phone. “Crap, I’m so late.”

“Go, go. We’re good.”

“Just stick to the schedule, and bedtime’s at seven!” She patted the diaper bag, and then she was off. Oli came up behind me.

“I don’t pee my pants.”

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