Page 20 of Dangerous

At the sound of a vaguely familiar, high-pitched voice, I glanced toward the front counter where I’d need to sign Liam in. A young woman, who again seemed familiar, stood behind it. Something about how she spoke to me made me a littleuncomfortable, but I shrugged it off. After all, it wasn’t like this whole morning hadn’t seemed a little off. Something I expected since it would be my first time leaving Liam with virtual strangers. Every other time he hadn’t been in my direct care since his arrival, he’d been with his other fathers or Katy. I curled my biceps, raising the height of the car seat. “Um, yes. This is Liam.”

“Oh, he’s a cutie.” The woman did the gimme fingers which helped to temper my unease. I placed his seat on the counter so I could peel the bags off my other arm as she began to undo his buckles. “I’m not sure if you remember me, but I was in your English class when you first started as a student-teacher. I’m Missy.”

The name didn’t ring a bell but still sent a shiver down my spine at its similarity to Krissy’s name. I stared at Missy and suddenly I saw it, the resemblance. Fuck me. “Are you Krissy’s older sister?”

She smiled and batted her eyelashes as she cuddled Liam to her chest. “You remembered.” Not knowing what else to say, I kept quiet, but she didn’t appear to notice as she continued, “I’m going to put him in the swing so we can go over all the paperwork.”

I nodded as I separated the diaper bag from my other bag, pulling out the handwritten schedule and notes I’d made for the staff while keeping an eye on her as she lowered Liam into the swing. It wasn’t his favourite thing, but since he appeared to be the only child here yet and she, the only staff member, it would keep him from trouble.

“All the paperwork is down here.” She motioned to the far end of the counter away from the counter height, swing door that led into the main play area which was where we’d been. When I glanced back to where Liam was in the swing, she noticed, running her fingertips over my forearm. “Don’t worry.He’ll be fine. You know, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard you’d become a father.”

I pulled my arm away and shoved my hands into the front pockets of my pants while ignoring her comment. It wasn’t over the line as many people have said the same thing, but coupled with how she touched me—again, on its own probably didn’t cross any lines—I wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable.

But, aside from how close she was to me as she went over the daycare’s schedule and the medical information, it was all professional until Liam began to cry. When I took a step away, she grasped my arm, holding me in place since I didn’t want to yank my arm away and possibly hurt her. “Relax, Peter. He’s fine. Babies his age need to learn to self-soothe.”

I wasn’t sure that I completely believed her, but I did remember that the baby book I was reading did mention something about self-soothing, so I let it go. After all, she was the one with the education in this area while I was still playing catch-up.

“Now about emergency contacts. We have you and then two other men. You’ve said they’re his fathers as well.” There’s a rise in her voice as if she’s asking a question, but I refused to answer. Jason and Jarrod are his other fathers. We’d already met with Brent Hiebert, a family lawyer to have them legally added as his parents while officially revoking all Debbie’srights. “That’s fine, but you’ve also listed a student and stated that she’s to be called first during class time. That we can’t do. She’s not a relative and we keep access to the children very restricted.”

Liam’s cries increased, but when I went to move, again she stopped me. “He’s perfectly fine. As for the student, Katy, is it? My sister’sfriend. Well, you won’t need her because I’ll look after him as if he’s my own until you or one of the other contacts are able to come and get him.”

Before I could argue the point, Liam’s cry increased into something I’d never heard before. The sound made my heart race, knowing something was wrong.

“You’re not looking after him. Not, when you leave him to cry like that. He’s scared and he’s getting hungry.”

At the sound of Katy’s voice, I spun around in time to watch her reach over the swing door, unlock it, and walk through it.

“You can’t come back here. It’s restricted to parents and staff only.”

Katy glared at Missy as she strode across to the swing, pausing only long enough to snag a prepared bottle and drop it into the portable bottle warmer.

Missy released my arm as she stormed across the room. I followed, prepared to step in, but a side door opened, admitting the daycare director, Mrs. Knight.

“What’s going on in here? Why is that baby crying, Missy?” Mrs. Knight glanced around until her gaze landed on me. “Ahh, Peter. Thank you for stopping in early to go over things and let this little guy”—she motioned to Liam whom Katy held up to her chest as she rocked him, trying to calm him down—“get used to the room and some of the staff. Although I don’t know who this woman is.”

“This is Katy, the student I told you about, who’d be Liam’s primary contact if I’m teaching or in a meeting.”

“Ahh, yes, Katy.” Mrs. Knight turned her back to me in time to see Missy try to grab Liam from Katy’s arms. “Missy, leave Liam to Katy’s care. Obviously, Liam’s in very capable hands since he’s already starting to calm.”

“But Mrs. Knight, Katy’s not cleared to be back here. She’s a student and not a parent. What will the other parent’s say?”

“Missy, I think that the toys need to be double checked in the toddler room. Please go and take care of that before the otherparents start arriving. I’ll continue to help Peter, Liam, and Katy get acquainted with our rules. You and I will talk later.”

I wanted to laugh at the sucked-on-a-lemon face Missy wore as she stomped out of the room. Instead, I crossed over to Katy, snagging the bottle and a burb cloth on the way. “How is he?”

Katy turned her soft glare onto me, and I couldn’t even complain. I did deserve it for leaving Liam to cry like that when I knew he needed me. “He’s calming down now. I think he just wanted out of the swing since he’s not a real fan. Plus, I think he’s hungry. Jason mentioned on Saturday that’s he’s been off his schedule a bit so it’s possible.”

I cupped the back of Liam’s head before sliding down to rub his back above Katy’s hand. “You’re right. He has been off his schedule. Probably from all the changes and stress with the new school year starting.” I leaned in closer and lowered my voice. “Thank you for getting to him when I couldn’t.”

She nodded. “Yeah, I could see how she kept holding you back and you’re too nice of a guy to possibly physically hurt a woman.”

The sound of a throat clearing had me backing away from Katy. “Well, Miss Katy, you seem to be a natural with babies. Have you thought about a career in Early Childhood Education? We have a co-op program that you could join, spend half your day here with the kids.”

Pink coloured Katy’s cheeks. “Um, thank you. I’m not fully sure of what my career path will be, but I don’t think this is it. Besides, my academic schedule is already full for both semesters.”

“Katy’s taking every AP course that the school offers.”

“Well, if you’ve got Liam, then I’m going to finish going over the paperwork with Peter. There’s a glider chair over in the corner and the infant nap room is just through the door on theleft. There’s another rocker in there if it gets too loud out here when the other children start arriving.”

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