Page 11 of Hiding Rose
Kate smiled encouragingly. “Makes sense, keep going.”
“If we use the big room for the older kids during the day, and the evening and weekends for the guests, we can use the smaller room for infants under age two. It keeps the kids separate and allows for better naps and floor time.”
Gideon held up his finger. “You’re thinking we would only offer care to the guests at night and on the weekends?”
I lowered myself into a chair. “We would have to. The problem isn’t only space, but the number of students to staff ratio. Factoring in our current kids and the ones on the waiting list, we’d be at capacity during the day. Besides, I don’t have kids, but if I did, I wouldn’t want my child in a room with older kids running in and out all day. Do you know what I mean?”
Kate sat and rested her chin on her hand. “I do. I wouldn’t want Hope being exposed to older kids, sick kids, kids with behavior problems, or kids with dirty mouths.”
I pointed at her. “Exactly. We want our employees to feel like their kids are the most important to us. Not being used as fillers to make money.”
Gideon held up his hand. “Absolutely. The babies of Kupid’s Cove are the reason we have the daycare. The guest benefit was only an add-on, if we could make it work around our employee schedules, not to replace them.”
I nodded. “Good, I’m glad we’re on the same page. I figure, if we do it this way, we can hire our regular daytime staff, and then part-time staff for the evening and weekends. Also, by using these rooms we could have six infants instead of two,” I explained and Gideon held up his finger.
“Wouldn’t the staff ratio change then?” he asked.
“Yes, but for six babies we would need two teachers. I would prefer two teachers and one assistant, though. However, we have a nice range of newborn to twenty-four months right now. All six spots would be full if we took those on the waiting list, so we would still come out ahead even paying for the extra help. The bigger room will allow us space for eighteen older kids.”
“How many workers would we need for eighteen kids?” he asked, taking notes.
“There would be no way to work that out until I have a list of kids and their ages. The older the better, since you need fewer teachers for older kids. However, I would want to offer a preschool program for ages three and up.”
“Totally within reason,” Gideon said. “I would love for Hope to be in preschool a few days a week. Would you consider part-time kids?”
I shrugged. “I don’t see why not. As long as we have an even number we could use two families to fill one slot.”
Kate nodded. “You’ve put a lot of work into this, Rosie. I had no idea you were working on it.”
“I promised Gideon I would,” I reminded her. “I also think the kids are getting squirrely in the basement. If there were windows, at least they could look outside even if we can’t take them out all the time. Oh, which reminds me,” I said excitedly, pointing at the door near the rooms on the diagram. “Parents would have a private entrance for pick up and drop off, at least for those who don’t live here. Since this door backs up to a parking lot, there’s space to remove part of the concrete, lay down a safety surface and add some basic outdoor toys for the kids. I’ve done some legwork on the feasibility already, but obviously we have a long way to go to get there. We could purchase a large stroller, however, and get kids out on the beach during the day for fresh air until we figure out a play area.” Gideon was smiling and I couldn’t help but follow suit. “What are you smiling about?”
He lifted up the tube he brought and popped off the top, rolling out drawings on the table. “Great minds think alike apparently. I had plans drawn up, too. One using the two rooms at the back of the building, and one plan adding an addition to the building in the back. Let me show you what I have, but I’m leaning toward the two rooms like you are for multiple reasons.”
“Ouchy,” Hope exclaimed loudly and we all swung our heads toward her.
“What’s the matter, honey?” Kate asked, going to where her little girl sat on the floor.
“I don’t’s know, mommy,” she said, standing up. “I thinks a bee stinged me.”
Kate inspected her leg and the floor, but found nothing. “You must have sat on one of your toys,” she said, picking her up.
Kate handed her off to Gideon and she frowned at him. “I’m hungry, Daddy,” she whined.
He kissed her cheek. “You’re hungry? We can’t have a hungry Hope bear. Should we call Chef Sawyer and have him make us some dinner?”
Hope squeezed Gideon’s cheeks. “Yes, but no fishy tacos. Blech,” she gagged.
I laughed and gave her a high five because that’s exactly how I feel about fish tacos.
The warm water of the tub relaxed the spasm in my hip, and washed away the stress of the day. I enjoyed a nice dinner with Kate and Gideon while he showed me the plans for the addition. While it would be a state of the art facility, we weren’t convinced we had the space to give up, nor would it make a lot of sense when we already have untapped space in the building. We wanted to get it moving relatively quickly, and building a whole new addition would take months. At least the two rooms currently empty would only involve a solid wall and door between the two rooms, a few chest level partitions to separate older age groups and areas, and maybe a door to the bathroom. Gideon and Kate were going to think about it and talk tonight, then get back to me in the morning. In the meantime, they promised to have all the players of the team like Ellie and Flynn get with me about hiring providers, promoting the center, and electrical and technology needs. Gideon wanted to replace me in the room as soon as possible. I won’t have time to be in there full-time and be the director. There’s too much to do to get ready, and he’s right, it’s not the safest for me or the kids right now, as much as I hate to admit it.
After dinner, I took Kate aside and asked her about Sawyer. She assured me he wasn’t one of the small group of people they told about my situation. She was worried he would find out the truth and thought we should tell him. Her worry was, even though I’m using a fake last name, he might be able to search her name and my first name online, and come up with newspaper articles from Snowberry. There were several articles done with the Chamber of Commerce where pictures of Kate and I were included. She was worried he would be hurt, or feel deceived, he didn’t know the truth. In the end, we decided there was nothing we could do but tell him the truth. I assured her I would do it soon, since he would be an integral part of the daycare planning and I would be spending time with him. We would need his expertise in menu planning, nutrition, and sanitation. I insisted on being the one to tell him, because then I could control what to leave out. If I let Kate tell him, she would answer every question he had, and he would have a lot.
My phone rang and I picked it up off the nightstand as I laid my book down. “Hello,” I answered, surprised by the late call. It was already after eight.
“Hi, Rosie, it’s Ellie,” she said, and I could hear the fatigue in her voice. “Sorry for calling so late, but I just got the babies to bed.”
I laughed softly. “No problem, you should get an award for busiest mom in my opinion.”
