Page 20 of Stay Away from Him

Bringing her son to be babysat by a strange man’s daughters, while they went on adate? It was a terrible idea in about a dozen ways at once, starting with the fact that Melissa and Bradley had only just moved to town, and Bradley was still adjusting to a new place, a new home, a new set of routines. He wasn’t remotely ready to be left behind with a sitter. He’d already had one meltdown that day when Melissa tried to drop him off at daycare. What he needed now, in the evening, was some quality time with his mom,his trusted person—withMelissa. Not to be dumped with some strangers again.

Add to this the fact that the babysitters in question were the two daughters of a man Melissa was going on a date with, and this bomb of a bad idea became practically nuclear. Leaving aside the question of whether she was ready to be dating at all, her son certainly should not have been meeting Thomas’s kids so soon. It would only confuse them all, bring uncomfortable questions that Melissa wasn’t ready to answer. What if Bradley came home asking if Thomas was his new dad? If Thomas’s girls were his sisters? There was a right way to handle these things, Melissa realized—and this wasn’t it.

She spiraled where she sat in the driver’s seat, leaving Bradley’s question—Are you going to leave me here?—unanswered. Thomas’s house was located in a cul-de-sac near the same lake that Lawrence and Toby’s house sat on a half mile away, and the circle of houses felt like a crowd of faces surrounding Melissa and staring. One of the houses must have been Amelia’s, and Melissa wondered if the other woman was standing just inside, watching through the window, wondering if Melissa was going to get out of the car.

“Mama?” Bradley prodded, calming but still with a shaky whisper in his voice. “You’re not leaving me here, are you?”

“Just for a little bit,” Melissa said, not quite comfortable with the idea herself but too embarrassed to flee, now that she’d come this far. How would she explain it to Thomas later? She turned around in her seat and looked Bradley in the eye, summoned her most comforting smile. “Remember what I say when I have to leave you somewhere for a little while?”

“Mama always comes back,” Bradley said. He was pulling it together, his eyes still wide and trembling with tears, but not actively crying anymore. Trying to be brave.

“That’s right,” Melissa said. “Because I love you. My love’slike a rubber band, right? Whenever I go away, it yanks me right back.”

Bradley giggled, like he always did when Melissa used the metaphor. “If you went really far, would it boing you back hard enough that you’d fly through the air and land right on top of me?”

“It might. My love is just that strong. I might even come crashing into the house and make a mom-shaped hole in the wall.”

Bradley’s giggle rose to a cackle. “Okay,” he said. “Do you think they have toys?”

“Let’s see.”

***

Thomas met them at the door, with a teenage girl standing a few paces behind him in the foyer.

“Bradley!” Thomas said. “How about a high five, bud?”

Thomas reached out a hand, and Bradley smiled and slapped it. Thomas sunk to his knees to speak to him eye to eye. He was ignoring Melissa, but she didn’t mind. What she wanted most just then was for someone to help her son feel comfortable, and once again seeing Thomas’s ease with kids, his pediatrician’s bedside manner, her temporary objections to the evening began to melt away.

Thomas extended an arm behind him. “So, Bradley, this right here is Kendall. She’s my daughter. And I was telling her about this really cool kid I met last night, and the awesome race car bed he has in his room, and she told me she wanted to meet you and hang out. Isn’t that right, Kendall?”

The girl at Thomas’s back gave a little eye roll, but when she answered “Yeah, Dad,” her voice was sweet and earnest. Her shoulders were narrow, her limbs thin and lanky, and she had sandy-brown hair reaching past her shoulders.

“Kendall recently completed a babysitting course at the Y,”Thomas said, addressing his words to Melissa. “She knows the Heimlich, CPR, all sorts of safety stuff.”

“Dad,” Kendall said with another eye roll, though the smile didn’t leave her lips.

“What? I’m proud of you. Maybe you’ll follow your old man into the medical profession?”

“It’s just babysitting, Dad,” Kendall said.

Thomas turned back to Melissa. “Kendall’s started babysitting for parents around the neighborhood. Some of the kids are just babies. She’s doing great.”

“Wow,” Melissa said, and raised an eyebrow. “Making any money, Kendall?”

“A little bit,” the girl said, blushing.

Melissa nodded and left it at that. She remembered what it was like to be that age. The feeling of being not quite at home in her body, in her personality, that could set in around the start of puberty and stick around for a while. The nonspecific embarrassment of being seen, spoken to, questioned by adults at that age. Sometimes it was best to leave them alone.

“Do you want to show Bradley our board games?” Thomas asked. “Do five-year-olds still like Chutes and Ladders? Candy Land? Sorry, I’m out of touch now that my kids are basically grown-ups.” He nudged Kendall on the shoulder, which brought another wave of embarrassment.

“Dad, stop,” Kendall said. “Come on, Bradley. I’ll show you what we’ve got.”

She reached for Bradley’s hand, and he took it without hesitation, happily walking alongside her as she led him back into the house. Melissa felt a happy little pang as she watched the two of them walk off together. Bradley looked back once, and she nodded him on.

“Didn’t you say you have two girls?” Melissa asked after Kendall and Bradley had gone.

“Rhiannon,” Thomas said. “My older daughter. Seventeen. Sulking in her room. You know.Teenagers.”

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