Page 35 of All Too Well
“Only with annoying little girls like Ainsley.”
Ainsley shakes her head. “Don’t let him fool you, Rose. He was always in trouble.”
“All the time?”
“All the time,” Ainsley echoes in agreement.
The sitter, Delaney, stands, grabs her bag, and walks over. “I’ll need a note for school.”
She is a sophomore in high school, and while I think her attitude could use an adjustment, Rose loves her. No matter what Delaney tells her, she does it. Her father took off a few years ago, and babysitting Rose has kept her out of a lot of trouble. The two of them are more friends than anything.
“Not a problem. I’ll email Miles now.”
She extends her hand. “That’ll be twenty bucks for today too.”
I hand her a twenty, and she stuffs it inher pocket. Her dour attitude shifts when she turns to Rose. “I’ll see you Monday, okay, kid?”
Rose nods. “Monday. Don’t get in trouble, Delaney!”
“Fine, just because you asked.”
Rose is her mother’s bargaining chip. If she skips school or does anything stupid, she’s not allowed to babysit. Instead, Rose has to go to Mrs. Kimball, who watches her after school when I’m on shift.
Delaney heads out, and I shoot an email over to Miles, letting him know Delaney was babysitting for a town fire emergency.
I clap my hands. “Who wants breakfast?”
Rose jumps up. “I do, I do! Can I have pancakes, Daddy?”
“We don’t have time. I need to get you fed and on the bus.”
She groans and looks to Ainsley. “I hate school.”
“You do?”
“There’s a mean boy, and yesterday I got in trouble because I told him I was going to punch him in the eye if he kept taking my crayons.”
Ainsley looks to me, clearly assuming that advice came from me. Which it did.
“I merely gave the girl some life skills,” I say, not feeling the slightest bit bad about this.
She sighs heavily and turns to Rose. “I’m sorry a boy is being mean to you, but school was my favorite place in the world. You get to read, and learn, and make friends. Don’t ever let anyone take that fun away. He’ll stop, I promise.”
Rose nods once. “I like my teacher.”
“That’s great! Do you like anything else?” Ainsley asks.
“Food. You need breakfast, and the bus will be here in fifteen minutes,” I remind Rose.
Rose takes her hand and pulls Ainsley into the kitchen, chattering on about all the things she loves about school, her friends, and anything else she can come up with, because Ainsley is instantly lovable.
I put the bowl of cereal in front of her, which doesn’t even getme an acknowledgment, and head back into my room to change. This day has absolutely not gone as planned. I was awoken to the tones, which usually aren’t anything serious, but as soon as I heard “possible house fire” and Ainsley’s location, I almost fucking lost it.
My neighbor came running over when I called. From the panic in my voice, it must’ve been clear that I wasn’t dicking around, and then I was out the door.
I flew faster than I’ve ever driven to get to her. The entire time my mind played the worst scenarios I could come up with. When I arrived, the relief of seeing her standing there was so intense I wanted to fall to my knees.
Her being here, though, brings a whole new set of challenges.
