“You know, Icanhelp you out in the future. All you have to do is ask. I could even pick Trent up from school for you if you add me to his list.”
“Wasp,” her voice dipped. “You’ve already helped out a lot, and I really appreciate it, but I’ve known you like all of five minutes. I like hanging out with you, but you could still turn out to be a psycho.”
The worst part about her little spiel was that she sounded like she was speaking from experience. Making a mental note to find out more about the psycho who’d fucked up her life and taken away her laughter, I tabled that conversation for now. I’d get it out of her eventually. “I get it. You want me bad, but it takes time to win you over. That’s okay, I’m patient.”
“You mean relentless.”
“Practically the same thing. Since you’re not gonna let me help you, I should get back to the shop and get some work done. I’ll swing by the bar tonight to see you.”
We said our goodbyes and I climbed onto my sled and started it up, chuckling to myself about Trent’s antics. He really was the coolest little boy on the planet.
Carly
THE NICE THING about Trent being in trouble was that I got an extra forty-five minutes to prepare dinner and get ready for work. Unfortunately, I averaged about five dollars an hour in tips at the coffee shop, plus my eleven dollar an hour salary, which meant I’d lost about twelve dollars from his shenanigans. I’m sure twelve dollars didn’t matter to most people, but it was a big deal in our world. Especially since I’d counted on that money to help pay Trent’s tuition.
“If you want to keep eating the good chicken nuggets, I can’t afford to keep leaving work early to pick you up,” I told Trent as we left his school. “You have got to keep your junk in your pants.”
“Mom, I was going to the bathroom. I had to take my junk out of my pants or I’d pee on them.”
It was a solid argument, but the kid clearly needed guidelines. “From now on, you take it out of your pants to pee, then put it away again. No more of this dancing around with your pants down in front of the mirror business. Who does that, anyway?”
“Dancing naked is fun. And I can’t just put it away. I have to shake it first.”
“What?”
“Lijah’s dad says you gotta shake it. Twice. That way you don’t get pee on your underwear. You can’t shake it more times, or you’re playing with it, and you’re not supposed to do that.”
I was in no way qualified to have this conversation, but I was determined to set boundaries so this didn’t happen again. “Okay, so pee, shake your junk twice, and then put it away.”
Two business men had just rounded the corner. They must have overheard our conversation because they snickered and shook their heads as they passed us.
Seriously, shoot me now.
“Can we stop for ice cream?” Trent asked.
“Have you lost your mind?” I asked.
He blinked at me.
“No, we can’t stop for ice cream. You’re in trouble and I missed work, which means we don’t have as much money as we need. We must be careful with the money we do have and only spend it on stuff we need. We don’tneedice cream.” I was probably telling him way more than his little five-year-old brain could process, but I was frustrated, and wanted him to see the consequences of his actions.
“I didn’t lose my mind.” He pointed to his head. “My mind is in here.”
Once again, I was losing an argument to a five-year-old. The kid was going to kill me, and ‘died of brain explosion’ would be listed as my cause of death. “You’re right, it is. But you’re still not getting ice cream.”
Trent pouted the entire way back to our apartment while I tried to figure out where I could come up with twelve more dollars. Truthfully, I needed a lot more than that. We still hadn’t recovered from our YMCA, lunch, and ice cream splurge on Father’s Day. I needed to pay Trent’s tuition first thing in the morning or I’d be looking at a fifty-dollar late fee, which I also couldn’t afford. If I didn’t make good tips at the bar tonight, I’d be screwed.
I sucked at adulting, but since I was already juggling my parental duties with two jobs there wasn’t much more I could do. I just wanted one day to go by where I didn’t feel like a complete and total failure. My chest squeezed as I allowed myself a quick minute to miss Robbie and Becca. Robbie hadn’t been much help with Trent, but at least he’d paid bills and could have answered Trent’s questions about how many times he should shake his junk. Becca, on the other hand, had been amazing. She used to watch Trent sometimes, so I could sleep. She’d even feed and bathe him. Now it was all me, all the time.
How the hell do I do this without them?
When Trent and I got home, Jessica was already there, straightening up the living room.
“Hey, what are you doing home so early?” I asked.
“I had a dentist appointment, so I took the rest of the day off. I was about to head to the grocery store. Do you two want to come?”
I had no money to spare, but needed a few things, and a ride was a rare opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I grabbed Trent’s seat and we piled into Jessica’s little Subaru. The grocery store lot was crowded, but Jessica squeezed into a tight parking spot. I reached for my handle right as Trent opened his door, slamming it into the Chrysler three-hundred parked next to us.
