9. Hunter
Hunter
J osh perked up considerably when Abby suggested making cookies, so Hunter made him finish his tea for hydration’s sake, then the three of them spent some time baking.
After the cookies came out of the oven warm and perfect, Hunter let him have two, then sent him into the den to lay on the couch and rest.
She and Abby took the rest of the cookies on a plate to the dining room and went back to their recipe typing project.
It was slow going, but they made it through a few more recipe cards by the time Kiera returned a little after three.
Hunter stood up to greet her when she heard the door open.
Even though Abby had been gracious enough to invite Josh over – and enjoyed the opportunity to dust off an old recipe – Hunter felt guilty for imposing on her new employers’ hospitality. She wondered if Kiera would be upset.
“Hi,” Kiera said as she popped her head into the dining room. “I’m home.”
“Hi, dear,” Abby said. “Want a chocolate chip cookie?”
She pushed the plate across the table toward Kiera, who took one happily, then said, “Looks like you two were productive today.”
“We had a helper,” Abby said. “Hunter’s nephew, Josh, is an excellent baking assistant.”
“Oh?” Kiera asked.
“I’m sorry,” Hunter said. “He spiked a fever at school and Piper couldn’t miss her shift at the café. Abby said it would be okay if he came here for the afternoon.”
“Where is he?” Kiera asked.
“Napping in the den,” Hunter said, feeling nervous. Kiera didn’t seem upset, but if the tables were turned, Hunter would probably be wondering what kind of unreliable employee she’d invited into her home. “Could I talk to you in the hall for a minute?”
“Sure,” Kiera said. She stepped into the hallway and Hunter excused herself from Abby’s side, then found her standing at the far end of the hall, looking into the den.
Josh was sleeping peacefully on the couch, and Hunter said to Kiera, “I’m really sorry about the imposition.”
“It’s Nana’s house,” Kiera said. “If she doesn’t mind, then neither do I.”
She was being nice.
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Hunter persisted.
“I feel awful about bringing my family drama here while I’m supposed to be looking after your grandmother, and the worst part is that I can’t promise it won’t happen again.
Our lives are very hectic and as much as we try to organize our schedules, things always come up-”
“I understand,” Kiera said, holding up her hand to stop Hunter. “Really, it’s okay. Besides, it sounds like Nana had a good day. She hasn’t had a kid in the house for a long time.”
“Josh is a good boy,” Hunter said. “I just don’t want you or Abby to feel like we’re taking advantage of your hospitality. I’m beyond mortified that my sister put me in this position on my second day on the job.”
“He got sick. It couldn’t be helped,” Kiera said, then when Hunter didn’t look comforted, she went on. “Have you ever heard of the studies that have been done on cohabitation of college students and the elderly population?”
“No,” Hunter said with a curious smile.
“I heard about it in my sociology class last semester,” Kiera said.
“I think the Dutch started it, but there are communities popping up all over the world after the benefits were reported. In most cases, the students live rent-free in exchange for helping and being companions for their elderly neighbors. They help with small things around their apartments, keep them company, and make sure they don’t become isolated, which tends to happen in traditional nursing homes – although I’m sure you know more about that than me. ”
“Is that part of why you moved in?” Hunter asked.
“It crossed my mind,” Kiera said. “My point is that I don’t mind if you bring your nephews here every once in a while. It’ll probably be good for Nana.”
Hunter smiled, and before she knew what was coming, she blurted, “You’re incredible.”
Then her cheeks colored and Kiera smiled at her.
Hunter added before the moment got too awkward, “Well, we won’t overstay our welcome. I should get Josh home to recuperate.”
“Okay,” Kiera said. Her deep brown eyes were almost the same color as the rich wood on the banister behind her and Hunter averted her eyes before she had the chance to say anything else on impulse.
Josh made a pretty quick recovery and Piper thanked Hunter profusely for taking care of him while she was at work, going so far as to bring Hunter a coffee on her way home from the café that evening.
Then over the weekend, Hunter took the boys to the library so that Josh could catch up on some work that he missed.
Apparently, there was a research assignment that he’d been putting off and he conveniently forgot to tell Hunter and Piper that he’d missed a class trip to the school library the day he went home sick.
So she brought Andrew along, too, and they went to the small branch library a couple of blocks away from their house.
“Why do I have to come?” Andrew asked as they walked.
“Because playing football on a game console isn’t a career,” Hunter said.
Andrew didn’t miss a beat. He shot back, “It is for some people on YouTube.”
“Well, in that case, it’s because I said so,” Hunter answered. “Besides, I figured your lungs had forgotten what fresh air feels like and a walk might do you good.”
When they got to the library, Andrew went off on his own, heading straight for the graphic novels to keep him occupied.
Hunter and Josh went over to the reference desk and asked a librarian for some American history books to help him with his project – he was making a timeline of all the events they’d covered in his history class so far this year.
After they’d grabbed a handful of books, Hunter and Josh found a pair of computers to sit down at and work.
They were nothing fancy – old machines with loud, clacking keyboards – but there was an Internet connection and that was one thing Hunter and Piper couldn’t provide at home.
If Hunter managed to hold onto her job with Abby long enough, they would work on that.
She spent a few minutes helping Josh pick out a selection of about a dozen important moments in American history, then Josh logged onto the computer to create a digital timeline, doing incredibly complex things in programs that Hunter had never heard of before.
She watched him for a while, in awe of (and frustrated by) how much he knew.
Hunter never felt more aware of her own sub-par educational experience than when she watched her nephews work so proficiently on the computer.
It had taken her hours to type up a handful of recipe cards for Abby last week.
But then, touring the foster system and sleeping on the streets didn’t exactly provide a conducive learning environment for her and Piper when they were kids. No matter how much they struggled with bills and their schedules, Hunter felt grateful that Josh and Andrew didn’t know what that was like.
When she got tired of watching Josh work, Hunter stared at the black screen of the computer in front of her.
She yawned, allowing her eyes to glaze over with exhaustion.
She’d gotten about sixteen hours of sleep in the last four days, but she finally had a night off from the nursing home tonight and she could use that time to catch up.
Hunter let her mind wander.
Piper had been over the top about thanking her for watching Josh this week, and it struck Hunter as strange. They covered for each other all the time when it came to the boys, so what made this time special?
It was probably the same reason Hunter had been anxious about it – the possibility that it might jeopardize her new job.
That made perfect sense, and Hunter felt guilty as soon as she caught herself questioning her sister’s motives.
That was all Jed’s influence. He taught Piper how to con her way through life, telling her that it was the only way to get ahead.
He repeated it so many times that she actually believed it.
And he taught Hunter to question his motives, and by extension, Piper’s motives. Hunter hated the fact that Jed put those thoughts into her head, always fearing that her own sister was trying to con her.
Jed had not been a free man for over two years, but the simple act of Piper mentioning his name last week was enough for Hunter to start worrying all over again.
She logged into the computer in front of her just to chase away those unwelcome thoughts and keep from falling asleep.
Hunter couldn’t wait to crawl into bed and pass out for as long as possible.
In the meantime, though, she had to do something to keep herself awake.
She clicked through a few news websites, then logged into her Facebook account.
There wasn’t much to look at. Hunter’s only friends were Piper and a couple of nurse’s aides from the night shift, and none of them had time to bother with things like status updates.
She scrolled through old posts for a while, then when she got bored, she clicked on the search bar. A name had popped into her head.
Jason Dawes.
Just thinking of it gave Hunter a stomach ache.
Jason Dawes was the man Piper conned about six months ago with Jed’s help.
She and Hunter had been having trouble regulating Josh’s insulin levels and the hospital bills were unmanageable.
Plus, they were struggling with the mortgage, as they almost always were.
Hunter had promised Piper that they would figure out how to pay the bills, but then Piper had gone behind her back to visit Jed in prison and they worked out the details of a con.
Hunter only found out about it after it was over, when all the medical bills suddenly disappeared and Piper had no good excuse for how that happened. She might never have admitted the truth if Hunter hadn’t found a credit card in Piper’s laundry with the name Jason Dawes on it.