“Coop just puked in my bed.”
“Oh, yikes.”
She takes a long, fortifying sip of coffee. “Yeah. Looks like gastroenteritis puke, so he’s out of commission for at least forty-eight hours.”
“Poor guy. Guess no pancakes and bacon for him.”
“No. And I have a test at two this afternoon. Is there any way you can be here?”
“Sure, no problem. I can work from home all day if you need me to.”
“No, don’t do that. I don’t want you getting what he has. I’ll make sure he has what he needs before I leave for the test and I want you to stay out of his room unless he really needs something.”
I give her a pointed look. “I’ll be fine. I’ll order the groceries for chicken noodle soup.”
“He shouldn’t eat anything today.”
“Tomorrow, then.”
She furrows her brow, looking distracted. “Eli, don’t use the bathroom by your bedroom until I get it disinfected.”
“I already used it.”
“Well, don’t use it again.”
I set down the spatula in my hand and approach my sister, placing my hands on her shoulders. “Relax. It’s going to be fine.”
She shakes her head. “I’m buried in homework. The conversions I have to learn are so damn hard, and I can’t miss any when we take that test.”
“Take it one thing at a time.”
Tears well in her eyes. “But some of the things are coming at me all at once. Coop is sick, Eli has a dentist appointment tomorrow, you’re leaving early tomorrow for a road trip, I have to study the fucking conversions, and I’m tired because I was up with Coop because he wasn’t feeling well, and I have to clean puke out of my bed because he’s still lying there with it.”
Eli comes up to her and wraps his arms around her waist. “Don’t cry, Mom.”
She hugs him back and wipes her fingertips over her cheeks to clear away the tears. “I’m fine, baby. Just a little stressed. This hug was exactly what I needed.”
“I can help with anything you need today, and I’ll text Carmen about helping when I’m gone.”
Carmen is a college senior I hire from time to time to help us with things we just can’t get to. She’s willing to do anything and she appreciates how well I pay her.
“I want to take care of my baby when he’s sick,” Blair says.
I smooth a hand over Eli’s wheat-colored hair. “Finish breakfast and brush your teeth. I’m driving you to school today.”
He goes back to the kitchen table and I put my arm around Blair. “You can’t do everything all at once. You know this. Remember what you said when we talked about this recently?You don’t want to teach the boys that women should balance more than they really can, or they’re failures.”
Her shoulder sink with a sigh. “I know.”
“You’re not just a mom and you’re not just a nursing student. You’re a whole-ass person who is raising two kids, working her ass off to get a good job, and rarely taking good care of herself. Let the village step in.”
She bursts into tears and I’m glad Eli has left the room. “It’s not fair that you have to be my sister and my mom, but you don’t get a mom.”
That hits me square in the chest. Sometimes I forget how much baggage Blair and I carry around without always being conscious of it.
“You and I take care of each other,” I remind her. “I don’t need anyone else.”
“What’s wrong with me?” She laughs lightly, wiping away her tears again. “It’s a good thing I haven’t had sex in more than five years, or I’d think I might be pregnant.”
