3. Hunter
Hunter
“ D o you think you’ll have the money in time for my first game?” Andrew asked for the thousandth time. “Coach Terry won’t let me play if I don’t have a jersey.”
Andrew had a Nerf football under one arm and his opposite hand on Josh’s forehead, holding him comically at arm’s length while Josh tried to get the ball.
Hunter pulled a couple of frozen dinners out of the fridge – no time to cook tonight – and swatted Andrew’s arm, saying, “No more rough-housing – you’re going to hurt him. ”
Andrew let go and Josh snatched the ball.
“Just because my body doesn’t naturally produce insulin doesn’t make me fragile,” he said.
“You’re right,” Hunter agreed with a laugh, “but that doesn’t change the fact that your neck shouldn’t be on the receiving end of a hundred and twenty pounds of pressure.”
“A hundred and thirty, thank you very much,” Andrew said. “Coach had us all weigh in before practice the other day. I’m putting on muscle.”
“Congratulations, beefcake,” Hunter said as she unwrapped a Salisbury steak for him and a tray of chicken nuggets for Josh. “Now either set the table or get out of the kitchen.”
She didn’t have to tell them twice. Andrew told Josh to go long - which meant jog to the far side of the living room - then he threw a pretty good spiral through the door frame and trotted after his brother.
They passed the ball back and forth over the couch while Hunter stuck the two dinners in the microwave and started preparing Josh’s insulin shot.
The truth was that she had no idea if she and Piper would be able to come up with the rest of the money in time.
Andrew’s first game was next weekend and Brenda had told her last night that there were no shifts for her to pick up this week.
Whether that was true or if she just didn’t trust Hunter to show up to them on time was unclear, but either way the result was the same – no extra money coming in.
Hunter was just getting ready to call Josh into the kitchen for his shot when Piper came through the back door, a broad grin on her face.
“Hey,” Hunter said. “You look happy.”
Piper was rarely in a good mood when she came home from her shifts at the café.
She was on her feet the whole time, the college kids could be pretty demanding, and the pay was not good even with the infrequent tips that she got.
Hunter wondered optimistically if she’d been able to change the bank’s mind about extending their mortgage payment this month.
“I am happy,” Piper said. She took off her jacket and apron, throwing them over the back of a chair, then came over to the counter and picked up Josh’s insulin shot, saying, “I’ll take care of this.”
“Okay,” Hunter said with a shrug, going over to the microwave and checking on the dinners. They were still half-frozen and she added more time, then asked, “So what’s putting this spring in your step?”
“Josh! Shot time,” Piper called into the living room, then turned to Hunter. “I met some interesting people today – potential clients for you.”
“Since when do I have clients?” Hunter asked with a snort.
“You could have clients,” Piper said. “Rich ones.”
Piper winked and it made Hunter a little bit uneasy.
It was something that Jed would have done, and she wondered if Piper had contacted him after all, even though Hunter begged her not to.
Trouble followed them around whenever he was in the picture and this talk of rich clients sounded too good to be true.
Josh came into the kitchen with the Nerf ball in his hands.
He squeezed it when Piper gave him the injection in his thigh, then he and Andrew set the table while Piper grabbed a frozen meal for herself out of the fridge.
Hunter looked at the clock above the door.
She had a little more time to spare tonight and she didn’t need to leave for work for another ten minutes.
“They’re looking for an in-home nurse,” Piper said to Hunter. “They have a family member with Alzheimer’s and I told them about the dementia patients you take care of at the nursing home.”
“I don’t take care of them,” Hunter objected. “I change their catheter bags and make sure they don’t go wandering when they can’t sleep at three in the morning. I don’t have a nursing degree in case you forgot, Pipes.”
“You do care for them, though” Piper argued. “Just last week you talked my ear off about that old man with glaucoma that you read to. These people I met today don’t need a nurse - they just need someone to keep an old lady company and make sure she doesn’t wander off. You could do that.”
“When?” Hunter asked. “I work from six to six every night and I sleep while the boys are at school. Find a way to eliminate the need for sleep and I’d be happy to get another job.”
“That’s the beauty of it,” Piper said, turning around.
Her eyes were lit up as she said, “The granddaughter already lives with her and takes care of her. They’d only need you a few hours a day while she’s at college.
Hunter, they gave me a ten-dollar tip on a seven-dollar coffee order.
These people are loaded and they could be the answer to our problems.”
She went over to her apron and retrieved a business card, sliding it across the counter to Hunter before carrying the boys’ microwaved dinners over to the table. She sat down with them and asked, “How was your day? Did you get your homework done?”
“Yes,” Josh lied, and Hunter shook her head behind him so that Piper knew they’d need to do that after she left for work. Then she picked up the business card. It was thick and expensively embossed in shimmering metallic ink. Rhiannon Murphy, Interior Design Consultant.
Piper was probably right – anyone who would spend this much money on stationery was bound to pay better than Brenda.
If she could moonlight in addition to her hours at the nursing home, Hunter could bring in enough money to cover the mortgage and make Andrew’s football dreams come true.
She had nothing to lose by calling this woman.
She tucked the business card into her pocket, then went over to the table to say goodnight before heading out for another long night at work.
She’d stopped by the library this morning on her way home and picked up a couple of Louis L’Amour paperbacks for Charlie – or that old man with glaucoma, as Piper referred to him – and she grabbed them from the coffee table on her way out the door.