“I wasn’t going to suggest that. Actually, I was gonna ask if you’d show it to me when we get back. It’s been a while since I’ve had to send my own resume anywhere, but I’ve been in charge of hiring new people in my department for years now, so I know what employers care about when it comes to resumes. Not that Kate’s going to care. Based on what Callie said, it seems like the job is yours if you want it—with or without a resume.”
“It’s true,” Callie added, speeding up her pace a little so they could hear her. “Kate’s not going to need to see your resume. Or if she does, it’d be just so she has something on file for you, that’s all.”
“I still want to get in the habit of updating it,” Sasha said and then smiled up at David. “I’d actually really appreciate your help, thank you.”
He smiled back, beaming like a proud father. “No problem.”
This wasn’t the first time Callie noticed David’s paternal care for Sasha. He’d always been such a caring dad and in the same way that Callie’s own maternal instincts kicked in when Sasha and Dot had arrived, she could tell David was feeling something similar. She found it a bit ironic that David had beenso wary about hosting Sasha but was now deeply invested in her future—nonetheless, this was a good kind of irony.
If only Callie’s children could open their hearts to Sasha and Dot too, but that seemed impossible. Over the past few days, Mallory had made a few gallant efforts to converse with Sasha, but there was still a lot of tension between them. It made Callie wonder if she’d made a huge mistake by not giving Mallory more of a heads up.
It made her stomach twist when she considered how her other kids were going to take the news. Unless of course, Mallory had already told her siblings—she couldn’t exactly be trusted to keep her mouth shut. She paled at the thought but tried to brush it off quickly. At that same moment, Dot let out a shrill cry that startled everyone and sent Sasha rushing to check on her. Callie and David panicked too.
“Oh, I think there’s something in her eye,” Sasha said. “Like some dust.” She took the baby out of the stroller and gently wiped Dot’s eye with the sleeve of her flannel shirt.
“Hold on,” Callie said. “If it’s a grain of sand or something, you might scratch her eye.” She reached for Dot. “Let me take her to the bathrooms over there and use some water. This happened once to Ariel.”
“I remember that,” David said. “She screamed bloody murder but then was fine after we splashed water on her face.”
The three of them scurried off to the bathrooms. There was a long line, but when a woman in the back saw the Callie’s worried expression and the screaming baby in her arms, she stepped out of the way.
The bathrooms were like the dirty ones at the beach, but with individual rooms so anybody could use one that was open.
“You go ahead,” another man said. Soon enough, Callie, Dot, and Sasha were rushed to the front of the line. Sasha wastearing up with fear, but Callie kept her cool and smiled at everyone who let them pass.
At the door, David told them he’d stay outside with the stroller. Dot continued screaming into Callie’s ear, but she didn’t care. They rushed inside the next open stall the minute the person came out. At the sink, Sasha cupped her hands under the faucet and then dumped cold water over her baby’s head. Dot shrieked even louder at this, but Callie insisted that Sasha keep it up. After three more attempts, Dot was able to open both eyes fully. Callie looked into the right one, which was a little red but didn’t seem too irritated.
“I think she’s okay,” Callie reassured her. “Probably just a little scared. Let’s just give her a second to calm down and then see if she can blink normally.”
Dot’s eyes remained scrunched up in pain as she wailed a few more times, but the next time she opened them, the baby was no longer trying to keep the right one half-closed.
“I think she’s feeling better. Here.” Callie held out the baby.
Sasha took her child into her arms and pressed Dot tightly to her chest, calming her. Sasha took a few deep breaths too, and Callie chuckled to ease her own anxiety.
“Whew. I know that was alarming, but it’s all okay now.”
“How do we know she didn’t scratch her cornea or something?”
“I think she’d still be crying a lot if she did,” Callie said. “But then again, I’m not a doctor, so don’t take what I say as gospel.” But Sasha was looking at her in a way that said sheneededCallie to tell her what to do. She was too young, too scared, and too new to motherhood—she had no idea what to do. Callie took a deep breath and added, “I’d say we wait a little bit to see if she starts rubbing the eye more and go from there. If she seems fine after a few hours and the eye isn’t as red, then we’re probably in the clear.”
Sasha nodded. “Yeah, alright.” She tucked her chin in to get a look at Dot’s face. “She’s already starting to doze off, so I’ll let her sleep and then check the eye again when we get home.”
Callie smiled and put a hand on Sasha’s shoulder. “That’s a good plan.”
“Thanks for jumping into action back there,” Sasha said. “You’re like wonder woman. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“I’m no more wondrous than any other woman who’s raised three kids. These are the sorts of things you learn on the job, and I promise, you’ll get better at jumping into action as time goes on. It just takes practice.”
“I hope so,” Sasha said, exhaling heavily.
David knocked on the door to the bathroom and called from the other side, “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, we’re good!” Callie called back. “We’re coming out now.”
They left the bathroom. David, who’d become quite pale when Dot first started screaming, was also looking calmer. He touched the sleeping baby’s cheek and said, “Gave us a good scare there, little one.”
“We’re going to keep a close watch on her eye,” Callie explained. “And take her to urgent care if it seems to get worse, but for now, she’s fine.”
