He chuckled. “All the fish, friend. We’re going to catch every one. The littles are excited. I’ll send you a picture.”
A notification flashed, and I checked it out. “Oh my gosh.” They were all wearing ordinary fishing vests with the addition of high rubber boots and hats with all sorts of lures on them. “Try not to scare the fish.”
He laughed and told me he’d see me later then disconnected. I turned to face Sammy. “Okay, what are we going to do here? Have you had anything to eat?”
He shook his head. “Some bread and peanut butter. I was awake most of the night because of the thunder and lightning and the house kept shaking. I’m not…I’m not scared, not really.”
“Nobody at our cabin enjoyed it either. And they had each other for company.” I was still amazed I’d slept through it. Talk about burnout. “But first, you need to get something more in your belly. What did you plan to eat?”
“I have some oatmeal cups.”
“You can’t do good work without a nutritious breakfast. I’ll boil some water and make you a cup. Did you want coffee?”
“Desperately, but I don’t have any.”
“Ouch. Well, we’ll make do, then. And while you eat, we’ll go over what you want to accomplish today.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
I froze. Sure, he’d hired me—not that I’d take a penny from him—to be his daddy for the day, so I shouldn’t let it get to me, but the name sure sounded good coming from his lips.Shake it off, Daddy. After you help him, he’ll go back to his world and you’ll go back to yours.“Sit right down and…do you have a paper and pen?”
“I have my sketchbook.”
“Would you mind using it to make our plan for the day?” The second I made the suggestion, I knew it was wrong. His eyes widened, and lips moved, but no words came out. Shit. “Or, we could use NotePad on one of our phones?”
Instantly, he relaxed. No need to repeat what I was learning. The sketchbook had its purpose. Sketching. And not for notes. Sammy found himself in quite a stressful situation here. His grandpa had died, he’d inherited this cabin—likely facing some grief from others who thought they should benefit no matter what the decedent wanted—and he had a lot to deal with just to fix the place up. Although the kitchen looked pretty good, the living room appeared dusty and neglected.
Sammy pulled out his phone and brought up a note-taking app. “It feels overwhelming.”
“That’s why we’re going to break it down to just one day’s worth of tasks that we can accomplish together. At the end of the day, we can evaluate what you need to do from there and do a tentative schedule. Sound good?”
He bobbed his head. “Sounds doable.”
“It is doable. You have a lovely little cabin here, and I think we can make a big dent in what you need to do by the end of the day. All done with your oatmeal?”
He moved to stand up, but I scooped up the empty cup and spoon.
“I’ve got this.” I dropped the cup in the trash and the spoon in the sink. “Let’s take a little tour and make sure we have everything we want on the list. Where would you say you are in the process?”
Sammy picked up his phone. “I got most things picked up in general, but now I have all the deep cleaning to do. I brought a lot of cleaning products.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
We moved together through the cabin, and he showed me the room he used when he visited and living room and bathroom. They were, as he described, “picked up.” But time when nobody lived here as well as when his grandfather had been slowing down showed. And I could tell how much it bothered Sammy.
“You doing okay?”
He shrugged. “I just don’t like things to be dirty,” he said. “Or out of place.”
“I see. Well, it’s fine to like order or to feel discombobulated when there’s a mess. You are doing such a great job being in a situation that makes you uncomfortable. Let’s get on it together.”
Sammy liked things to be organized. Got it. I would do whatever I could to be encouraging and help him to get through the day. It was important to listen carefully and provide support where he needed it without making him feel like I was pushing him or trying to do things my way. I knew how to be a daddy, but I didn’t know this little well enough yet to know what his needs were.
Although I was starting to get a pretty good idea.
When we took a water break, he told me a little about his relationship with Rowan, who had helped support him almost like a daddy when he needed that. He’d also done the same for his friend before he met Summit. It was something littles often did, but as Sammy said, “It helps, but it’s not the same. And I try not to feel jealous, but sometimes it’s hard.”
“I think that’s human. Are you happy for him?” I asked.
