“It’s not a problem. I could take Chloe to my house and you could pick
her up from there. If you’re super late, she could spend the night.”
“Whoa.” Taylor put up a hand in a hard stop motion. “You don’t even
like kids. I can tell.”
“I don’t not like kids. I— just— okay, so I don’t have much experience
with them, but I think I’m capable of looking after her for a few hours.”
“But—”
“If you don’t leave now, your friend’s son is going to get left at school. I
think you should leave her with me. It’ll be alright. I promise. I might not
have babysitting experience, but I am a responsible adult, and I think Chloe
would be okay with it. She likes me. I think. Or at least, she doesn’t seem to
hate me.”
“If she’s willing to fall asleep on you, she obviously likes you.”
Christina felt that strange warmness ignite in her chest again. “I can
feed her dinner and we’ll watch movies or do some drawing again. Is there
anything she can’t eat? Allergies? What’s her bedtime?”
“I can’t leave her overnight.” Taylor looked frantic. “I’ll pick her up, no
matter how late it is.”
“Alright. I’ll text you my address.”
Taylor looked so torn that Christina felt a moment of pure sympathy.
“Don’t worry. You’ve left her with sitters before? She’s been fine?”
Taylor nodded. She bit down on her lip again.
“Everything will be fine. I promise. I’ll have her call you when she
wakes up if you want.”
Taylor capitulated because it was obvious that she didn’t really have a
choice. “Yes! Please. She has no allergies. If you want to feed her
something healthy, I’d appreciate it. She likes fruit. She’s not a fussy eater.
There’s movies in the bag over there if you want to take them with you.”
“I have a few streaming services.”
“Uh— okay. Yes. Right. Um…”