Page 2 of Falling Together

After a short drive, they arrived at daycare, and Nolan ran in as if he hadn’t just been saying how much he didn’t want to go. Erin was almost out of the building when the director of the daycare called her name.

She turned around and tried her best to hide the annoyance from her face, something she had never been very good at. “What’s up?”

“The deadline for summer registration is coming up, so I just wanted to see if Nolan will be joining us this summer.”

Erin cringed. She really didn’t want to talk about this right now, especially since she had no idea what to say.Sorry, I’m a single mom who refuses to ask my ex for child support since I can’t stand the thought of depending on her for anything, so I’m not sure how I’m supposed to afford the extra cost.No, definitelynotthat. Erin had to think fast. “I actually had a question about that. My company allows me to work from home on Fridays, so I thought it would be nice to have that extra day with Nolan.”Nice or my only option?“How much would it cost to do four days instead of five?”

The director gave her a smile that Erin knew all too well. It was that pitying smile she had been getting from people ever since Bianca left. She knewexactlywhat Erin wasn’t saying. “Unfortunately, we don’t offer four days. We can either do two, three, or five.” The director’s face lit up. “But if you want to go down to three days, the price will stay the same as what you’re currently paying.”

Erin gritted her teeth. She didn’t need people making assumptions about her financial situation, even if those assumptions were true. It’s not like she didn’t have a well-paying job. The problem was that daycares were impossible to afford on just a single salary. “You know what? I think I’m going to hire a babysitter for the summer. He’ll like that. It will give him a chance to get out and enjoy himself more.” Erin knew that was an unfair jab. This really was a great daycare. She was just sick of feeling like she wasn’t doing enough for her son. “I would like to register him for the fall though.” Erin smiled widely so the director didn’t think she was a complete bitch.

The director smiled back at her. “We will certainly look forward to having him back. He’s a great kid.” She looked at her computer, but quickly looked back at Erin. “Oh, don’t forget that this session ends in three weeks. That’s when our summer program officially begins.”

“Three weeks. Of course.”Shit.

***

Shit,Erin thought to herself for what had to be the millionth time that day. She stared at the local babysitting Facebook group she had pulled up on her computer while she ate lunch at her desk. Normally, she would go for a walk during her lunch break, but this was more important. She needed to find an affordable babysitter who could start in three weeks.No pressure.

She thought for a moment before she started to type.Looking for a babysitter to watch my 3.5 year-old son Monday-Thursday for the duration of the summer. We are a five minute walk from the community pool and have a membership you can use with him if interested.Erin paused because she wasn’t sure what else to say.Any age or experience is welcome.She read it over once more. The last part might sound a bit desperate, but she was, so what did she care? She went ahead and posted it to keep herself from overthinking it more.

Much to her surprise, it only took a few minutes for a message to come through from a potential babysitter.Hi! My name is Jan. I’m a retired teacher, mother of four, and grandmother of eleven. I would love to watch your little guy. I could watch him at your house or mine and am happy to take him to the pool anytime he wants. What hours are you looking for?

Erin smiled in spite of her gut reaction that this was too good to be true.I normally leave the house around 8:30 and am home by 6:00. Would that work for you?

Less than a minute later, a reply came through.That sounds perfect. What other questions do you have for me?

Erin knew sheshouldhave questions. This was the person who would be spending four days a week with her son, after all, but she had no idea what to ask. Well, except for the one not-so-minor detail.What is your rate?

When the reply came through, Erin blinked her eyes at the screen, because she was sure she was reading it wrong.$25/hour.

Erin quickly did the math, and it came out exactly as she expected. That was almost double what she would pay to keep him in daycare.That’s outside of my budget, but thank you for reaching out.

Erin waited for a reply, like possibly a counter offer that was at least ten dollars less. Instead, a message came through from someone else. She opened this one, hoping for better news.Hi! I just finished my first year of college and I’m looking for a summer job. I am an elementary education major and babysat my neighbor throughout high school. I am looking for $18/hour.

That was definitely better than $25, but it was still more than she would pay for daycare. She opened up the calculator on her computer to figure out just how much she could pay someone to make sure she wasn’t paying more than she currently paid for daycare.Ten dollars. When she thought back on the babysitting she did in middle school and the crisp twenty dollar bill her neighbors would give her after spending a whole day watching their daughter, ten dollars per hour didn’t sound so crazy, but as she looked through the messages that continued to come through asking for anything from fifteen to thirty-plus dollars, she was pretty sure she was screwed.

I’ll just email the daycare,she thought to herself.I’m sure it’s not too late.

She typed out the email and was just about to hit send when another message popped up on her screen. She thought about ignoring it, but decided to read it just so she could have a good laugh at her own expense.

Hey! My name is Blair Breckenridge! I’d love to watch your little dude for the summer. I am a recent college grad with no clue what I want to do next, but I need to get my parents off of my back. I’m not going to lie, I have no experience with kids (unless you count my little brother, which you probably don’t since he’s eighteen), but I’m a quick learner. I really don’t know how much people normally get paid for this kind of thing, but does fifty dollars a day sound okay? If that’s too much, I can negotiate. Honestly, I’ll take anything to get my parents to lay the hell off of me. Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you. I’ll put my number below. Feel free to text me. I’m barely ever on Facebook because, let’s be honest, it sucks.

Everything inside of Erin was telling her it would be a terrible idea to hire Blair as a babysitter. She clearly had no idea what she was doing and didn’t even know how to construct a somewhat professional pitch, but fifty dollars a day was hard to turn down. She could have Blair work five days instead of four and it would cost her less than what she was paying for daycare right now. That would be almost two hundred dollars less than what they wanted her to pay per week over the summer. And really… What's the worst that could happen? A knot formed in Erin’s stomach as all the worst-case scenarios played through her mind. Okay, so this could end very badly.

“This is a terrible idea,” Erin whispered under her breath as she typed out a reply.

Chapter 2

Blair

Blair Breckenridge stared up at the sky as she floated on a raft in her parents’ pool. The sound of a text notification going off on her phone caught her attention, but instead of checking it, she continued to float.Floating through life.That’s what her parents had accused her of doing when they sat her down just a week after her college graduation to ask what her plan was now that she was a legit adult.

But how was she supposed to know? She was only twenty-two after all. She couldn’t possibly know what the hell she wanted to do with the rest of her life. And how could they expect her to? Blair hadn’t worked a day in her life—a fact her dad pointed out when they were going through the list of mistakes they had made while raising her, along with spoiling her, giving her whatever she asked for, and last but not least, the very large trust fund that had served as her income these past four years.

Now they were threatening to withhold said trust fund if she didn’t get a job. They told her it didn’t have to be her forever career, just something to pass the time and teach her responsibility while she decided what she actually wanted to do with her life. They weren’t necessarilywrongto expect that of her. Shewasa college graduate after all. All of her friends seemed to know exactly what they wanted to do with their lives and were ready to get started. It was kind of the point of getting a degree. At least for most people. She knew she was set for life even if she didn’t work. For her, college was all about fun, and she had plenty of it. The problem was that she now had a psychology degree and no idea what the hell she was going to do with it.

Theotherproblem was that now instead of spending the summer figuring it out while soaking up the sun, she needed to figure it out while working her first job. When one of her friends suggested babysitting, it sounded like a great idea. How hard could it be to hang out with a kid every day, right? She was practically a kid herself, so it should be easy.So far, it seemed the hard part was convincing the parents she was responsible enough to watch their precious angel.

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