Taysom
I’mmetwithacluster of parents and kids as I approach the Early Childhood Center the next evening. The expression on Charlotte’s face when I walk in is a mixture of joy and professionalism, bordering on fatigue. I’ve caught her right in her element, and I can’t stop staring.
She’s wrapping up the free gait analysis night in style, wearing a giraffe hat on her head and a multi-colored scarf threaded through the belt loops of her jeans.
I nearly kissed her during our heist last night and just thinking about that moment between us has my heart rate ticking up.
I really like Charlotte and when I’m not around her, I wish I could be. I admire her drive and her passion for the kids she works with. I love her red hair and her big, brown eyes. And I’m blaming the strong emotions of last night on the lights going off and having to be in such close proximity to her. Strange things can happen in conditions like those.
Except nothing happened.
I should be relieved because I’m pretty sure Kyle would freak out if it had. Despite myself, I smile at the memory of last night, my body pressed against hers in the dark hallway outside the janitor’s closet.
I knew I liked her, but whoa. That was hot.
Charlotte tosses me a glance and then continues on with her client. The kid can’t be more than two years old and he’s not cooperating. He doesn’t want to put his feet on the giant ink pad. I know this is a big part of the analysis, so it’s important that he does it.
But Charlotte gives a casual wave of her hand. “If he doesn’t want to, it’s fine,” she tells the kid’s mom.
“I think he’s just a little concerned about his feet,” the mom says. “His senses get overloaded at times.”
“Oh, then we really won’t push it. Let’s just skip this part. We can still check for a few things.” She rushes over to the counter nearest her and picks up the stolen inclinometer.
When Charlotte motions for the kid to come and join her at the counter, he screams. “I wanna walk!” He rushes back over to the footprint paper stretched across the room.
“Now you want to do it?” His mom gives a stressed out laugh and turns to Charlotte. “Sorry, can we try again?”
“Of course! I’d prefer it if we can get even just a few steps.”
He almost steps on the ink pad but hesitates. He seems scared to step onto it.
“Ah, how about I go first, okay?”
Charlotte slips her shoes off, wipes her feet with wet wipes and then plants her feet down on the giant ink pad. “We color our feet and then we walk, just like this.” She demonstrates, holding her arms out to her sides. Her footprints bloom onto the paper under her.
“And look at the pretty feet we made?” Charlotte points to the green splotches of footprints, which gradually grow dimmer as she reaches the end of the paper walkway. She then sits on a chair and wipes the underneath of her feet off. “See? Good as new!” She shows the kid her feet and they’re pink and free of all green dye.
Her demonstration has the kid convinced and she scrambles up to help him as he does a little dance on the giant ink pad. Then, she holds his hand as he takes steps on the paper.
“Look at your footprints! Cool, huh?”
The kid beams and so does his mom. And I find myself smiling, too, because Charlotte is pure magic. Leave it to her to motivate the kid.
Once the event is over, I help Charlotte and her coworkers clean everything up. Then, they start to leave, one by one. She hugs each of them fiercely.
Willa tucks her hair behind her ears. “So, do you need a ride home, or…” She looks at me and then back at Charlotte.
“Oh yeah. Willa brought me to work this morning. We carpool sometimes and we figured we better do it again while we still can.”
“I got you.” I turn to Willa. “Thanks for bringing her but I can get her home.”
Charlotte packs her backpack full to the brim with stuff, including the inclinometers we “borrowed” from the Institute last night.
“I don’t exactly know how we’re getting these back to podiatry, but…”
“I’ll just drop them off at the front desk tomorrow. I let the facilities guy know that we grabbed them and he was totally fine with it.”
“So are you saying our heist wasn’t actually a heist, but more of an approved outing?”
