“You’re lucky to have found someone so close by. I’ve only just realized I should start looking around for a babysitter, but I don’t even know where to start.”
I chuckled. “Jamie posted flyers on our building noticeboard about a week after Shannon left. As it happened, I desperately needed help that night and thought I’d give her a try. My mother popped in for the first hour to keep an eye on things just in case, but they also had a function she had to get to.”
“You got your mother to babysit your babysitter?” She smiled up at me, shaking her head just as we reached the kitchen.
Jamie had obviously heard us, but it was nothing she hadn’t heard before. She laughed when she turned to greet us, dusting her hands off on the apron she had tied around her neck.
“He did get a babysitter to babysit me. Luckily, I passed the test.” She held out her hand. “I’m Jamie. It’s nice to meet you. You’re welcome to contact me anytime to find out how your little girl is doing. I’ll send you pictures throughout the night and let you know once they’ve eaten and gone to bed.”
“I think I’m in love with you,” Laurie said, giving Jamie’s hand a quick shake before dropping hers back to her side. “I haven’t left Katie with anyone except my parents and this guy right here, so I might drive you nuts with all my messages.”
Jamie’s smile widened. “You won’t. I totally understand. Go on. Enjoy your evening. We’ll be having tons of fun here.”
Laurie took a breath, nodded, and fell in step beside me after we said goodbye. When I unlocked the Corvette once we got to the garage, she chuckled.
“Are you showing off, Mr. Parker? This is a damn fancy car.”
I shrugged, winking at her over the door after opening it for her. “Sometimes, a flashy car is necessary to impress a pretty girl.”
She tried to hide her blush by ducking into the car, but I saw it, and I fucking loved it. Laurie’s reactions were just so real. She was one of the few genuine people I’d met in the last few years. She didn’t pretend to be someone she wasn’t and she didn’t hide from her emotions.
She just was who she was, and I really liked that about her. Her authenticity was unique. A sad but very true state of affairs these days.
“I made reservations at an Italian restaurant on the water downtown,” I said once we got on the road. “We get to choose whether we want one big meal or a selection of appetizers and smaller portions throughout the evening.”
“I love the idea of eating as the night goes on,” she said without any hesitation. “Especially if it’s on the water. Those views are beautiful.”
“That, they are.” Especially if I got to spend the evening looking at her, but I didn’t feel the need to say it out loud. Way too cliched.
The restaurant wasn’t far away from my place, and we were seated on an outdoor patio in no time. I ordered our drinks and appetizers once we were seated, remembering to tell the waitress about the choice we’d made concerning our meals.
She smiled and nodded, leaving us alone when she went to collect our order. Turning all my attention on Laurie, I couldn’t help the grin that spread on my face when I noticed the look of wonder on hers as she took in the view.
“Why have I been looking for inspiration to write from exotic places online when I have this in my own backyard?” she asked. “Maybe I should bring my laptop here next week. Words have got to come to me in a setting like this.”
“I think it’s human nature to ignore the places closest to us in favor of foreign beauty,” I said. “I always used to dream of traveling abroad. Then I realized I hadn’t even seen most of the states around us.”
“Same.” She shook her head. “It was only once Katie came to live with me that I started looking at local vacations. We haven’t had time to take any yet, and I didn’t want her to be away from my parents for too long, but it’s definitely something I want to get around to doing.”
“You used to want to travel?” I asked.
She nodded. “It’s another one of the things I thought I wouldn’t be able to do any longer. I’m realizing now it was silly. Funny how once the blinders start falling off, it’s suddenly so much easier to see everything from a different perspective.”
“I know what you mean,” I said. “I went through a similar period after Shannon left. People think it’s easy to move on from life-altering events. They expect it to happen within a month or two when the truth is that it often takes years.”
“I’m ashamed to say I used to be one of those people,” she admitted. “I really didn’t understand grief, or shock for that matter, or the way it’s all so entwined and the effect that can have on the way you think.”
“Everyone is one of those people until it happens to them.” I shrugged. “I just don’t think you can really get it until you’ve gone through it yourself.”
“True. Unfortunate but true. The whole ‘you live, you learn’ saying makes a lot more sense now than it used to. I thought of it as learning how to drive or finding parking spots on a busy day before.”
“I can’t even remember how I used to think about it. I’m pretty sure it was also learning how to do stuff, not learning how to live with stuff.”
Our appetizers came and the waitress filled our glasses with water and wine. We tasted some of the cheeses and cold meats while we continued talking.
“I guess I just never thought it would happen to me,” I said. “People always say that, but it’s because it’s true. I sure as hell never expected Shannon to leave us without a word, out of the blue, while we had a toddler to take care of. I couldn’t even braid hair when she left, and of course, that was all Allie wanted. Braided freaking hair.”
“I wish I’d have known you then. I might seem pretty out of my depth at the moment, but back then, I kind of had things under control. I also happen to be masterful at braiding. I used to have to do it for myself and for Katherine before we went to sleep every night.”
“Firstly, you will gain control again. At least, as much of it as any of us have. It’s already happening. Secondly, so do I. It would’ve been very useful to have had someone to call who could teach me how to do it. I had to look it up online and those videos are not as simple as they’re advertised to be.”
“I once tried to learn how to snowboard online.” She laughed, covering her face with her hands at the memory. “Some friends decided we should take a ski trip. It was a lot of fun, but it ended as more of a ‘reading in front of the fire’ trip for me. I am not a natural athlete.”
“Reading in front of the fire doesn’t seem like a bad use of your time,” I said. “Is that why you wanted to become a writer? Because you love reading?”
“It was definitely a big part of it, but it was more than that. Before everything happened, I used to just always have so many ideas for stories floating around in my head. The only way I could get the characters and the worlds to leave me alone was by getting them out.”
“I’m assuming no characters or worlds are bothering you at the moment?” I asked.