Page 57 of 5+Us Makes Seven

“I miss her too, sweetheart.”

“Why won’t she come back?” Nathaniel asked.

“Because she’s following her dreams, buddy,” I said.

“Can’t she follow them here?” Joshua asked.

“She can’t. She had to be in Africa to do what she wants to do.”

“That’s stupid,” Nathaniel said.

“You watch your language,” I said.

I stirred the macaroni and cheese as the kids sat silently at the table. The new nanny wasn’t terrible. She was in by seven in the morning to get the kids fed and off to school. Then she picked them all up, brought them home, and helped them with their homework. I kept an eye on a few of the things Natasha had taught me to look out for. The boys’ moods when they got home from school and Clara’s exhaustion levels by the end of the day. Clara seemed to be handling full days at school better, but the boys were exhibiting signs of being too tired from their school days.

I made a mental note to tell the nanny to let them nap after school.

“What’s for dinner?” Joshua asked.

“Macaroni and cheese, apple slices with peanut butter, and milk,” I said.

“What kind of macaroni and cheese?” Nathaniel asked.

“The kind from the blue box,” I said.

“Oh,” Joshua said.

“You guys don’t want mac and cheese?” I asked.

“That’s fine,” Nathaniel said.

“What is it, guys? You can have whatever you want,” I said.

“When you said ‘macaroni’, we thought you meant Miss Nattie’s,” Joshua said.

“Does she make it differently?” I asked.

“Miss Nattie boiled noodles and made it herself,” Clara said.

Of course, she did.

“Well guys, I don’t know how to make mac and cheese from scratch,” I said.

“Could we call Miss Nattie and get the recipe?” Nathaniel asked.

“Oh! We could say hi! See how she’s doing!” Joshua said.

“We call Miss Nattie?” Clara asked.

I sighed at the stove as I continued to stir the noodles.

“You guys, Natasha’s not coming back,” I said. “And we have to be okay with that. She has a dream she’s following and we need to respect that.”

“But don’t you miss her?” Joshua asked.

“I do, buddy.”

“Then why don’t you tell her that?” Nathaniel asked.

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