Seven
Saturday night,Aelin sat at the kitchen table, staring at the empty fields of the childcare application for the place Ryan had recommended on her computer screen. She ran a finger along the rim of her coffee mug.
Just do it.
She'd received two interview requests after submitting a slough of applications, but neither of them was for a night shift. It was like bait fishing in the middle of the afternoon. She was getting no bites.
Her gaze flicked to the photo on the fridge. Bailey, beaming in her bright red swimsuit at the lake last summer. She was so small, her hair soaking wet, her eyes filled with the kind of unabashed joy that only kids seemed to know how to access. She clicked back through the four open tabs with job listings, scrolling for any new options that had posted during the night.
The idea of telling Bailey that they were not going to be having an adventure summer like last year made her want to jab a hot poker into her eye. But she didn't see another option. Getting a night job would suck balls, but at least she could sleep for a few hours, go out and do something fun, and then nap in the afternoon. Movie time or play dates. She could make it work.
It was moments like these she desperately missed being in California. Her parents and sister were there . She could easily ask Mariah to adopt Bailey during work hours and it would be the best of both worlds. She could have normal hours, and Bailey would be surrounded by cousins and plenty of sand and sun. She'd brought up the idea of spending time there, but Clark had shut it down with zero consideration. He didn't even give a shit about his time with her, but he sure as hell wouldn't give up a daddy-daughter night on paper so his daughter could have a good summer break.
I hope you can find a good work situation. That might not look great in court.
Aelin wanted to light his house on fire. Which also wouldn't look great in court.
Laughter echoed from upstairs, and Aelin straightened. It wasn’t often that Bailey was in a good mood after coming home from Clark’s. He always talked a big game, but when it came down to it, he often chose to sit at his computer and work while Bailey played with some new game or device he’d purchased to make up for it.
Aelin pushed her chair back and walked upstairs, pausing in the doorway of Bailey's room. She was on her bed, her head propped up on her hands as she stared at her tablet. Amaya's face filled the screen, the camera so close, Aelin could only see two eyes and two nostrils.
"You guys exchanged numbers?" Aelin picked up the dirty socks on the floor and threw them in Bailey's laundry bin. Her heart did a little happy dance that Bailey was giggling with a friend in her bedroom. She'd spent hours on the phone with her friends growing up, and it felt like a lost art.
Aelin walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, and Bailey looked up, barely able to speak through her giddy laughter.
"Mom, look at this meme Amaya just sent me." She turned the screen, and Aelin squinted to make out the words.
How do you find a cat? Look behind the couch.
She raised an eyebrow. "That's it?"
Bailey giggled. "No, Mom, you have to see the picture." She clicked the meme, and it expanded, showing a picture of a cat and the caption.Look, it's the same cat!
Aelin had never felt more like a thirty-eight-year-old than in that moment. She smiled, even though she zero percent understood what the hell it was saying or why the girls thought it was funny. A perfect metaphor for her parenting at the moment.
"It's almost time for bed." Aelin stood and walked back to the door. "Are you staying on while we do your nighttime routine?"
Bailey nodded. "Is that okay?"
"Yes, but you have to say goodnight once your teeth are brushed."
"Got it."
Bailey and Amaya talked about a YouTube video they'd both watched about a family who did a twenty-four-hour challenge in their trampoline room—what the actual?—and Aelin pretended she wasn't eavesdropping on every single word.
"I think Dariel likes you. He was staring at you in choir yesterday." Bailey washed her face with a microfiber cloth she'd purchased with her allowance money.
"Girl! He just doesn't know the words!" Amaya laughed.
The whole interaction suddenly made Aelin feel like she was breathing through a drinking straw.Skincare routine? Boys?How were these girls not talking about friendship bracelets and Polly Pockets or something? "Alright, tablet away. Time to brush teeth."
Bailey nodded and ran the tablet into Aelin's room, then padded back to the washroom to brush. She changed into pajamas, and that only made Aelin think of standing on the front porch giving Ryan her WiFi password. A zing flashed through her at the image of him sitting on her porch swing, his eyebrow raised as he clarified whether BJ was capitalized.
She should change it. But Clark had hated that password. Since she'd come up with it before they'd gotten together, he wasimmediately jealous of whoever had inspired the phrase. Now that she was finally free of him, she kind of wanted to keep it even if it was awkward. A spite password sounded delightful. She would change the network name to ClarkIsADouchebag if she thought he'd ever see it instead of his phone automatically connecting.
Bailey picked upIsland of the Blue Dolphins, and they continued where they'd left off. After a few chapters, Bailey's eyes drooped. Aelin pulled the comforter up over her shoulders, then stood and flipped off the light.
Aelin slipped out of Bailey's room and left a small crack in the door, just how she liked it. She went downstairs and finished loading the dishwasher, then locked up and climbed the stairs to her bedroom. When she walked in, she saw Bailey's tablet propped up on her nightstand, the screen still bright.
