Thirty-Three
It was Ryan’s weekend to have the kids. Normally he’d pick them up Friday afternoon, from daycare. But he’d had a show that
night, so he was picking them up this morning, on Saturday, instead. Which would have been fine...
Except Cary was still fast asleep on Shiloh’s couch.
She kept the kids upstairs when they woke up. She got them dressed and started putting on their shoes. The plan was to take
them outside fifteen minutes early and wait with them out there for their dad.
But Ryan decided to come twenty minutes early.
He knocked on the front door— shave and a haircut, two bits . (Ryan had made her hate “Shave and a Haircut.” He ruined everything.)
“Okay,” she said, “Daddy’s here, and you guys are all ready. So we’re going to go straight out the door without waking up Grandma.”
“Very quiet,” Junie whispered.
“Very quiet!” Gus shouted.
“Yep,” Shiloh said, picking him up.
Gus immediately went stiff as a board. “No, I walk! Gus-Gus walks!”
“All right,” she agreed, “Gus-Gus walks.” Gus was still deep in his angsty period. Referring to himself in the third person
was new. She let him slide to the floor. “Come on.”
Junie beat Shiloh to the door and opened it—and Ryan, predictably, walked right in. “Hey!” he shouted, with his arms open.
“Here come the beautiful people!”
“Daddy, we haven’t eaten breakfast,” Junie said. The little narc.
“Well, let’s get you some breakfast,” he said. “We’re going right to the zoo.”
There was no way for Shiloh to stand between them and Cary. She was stuck on the stairs behind Gus. So she very deliberately didn’t look toward the living room. “They’re all ready to go, Ryan. Why don’t you get them packed up, and I’ll grab some bananas?”
It was too little, too late.
“Cary?!” Junie shouted, pressing both hands on her cheeks Home Alone –style. “Are you sleeping at my house!?”
Cary had sat up, but his legs were under the blanket. He was wearing an undershirt. He still looked exhausted.
Ryan was staring at him, one eyebrow stuck in a raised position.
“Oh my lord,” Junie said. “You’re like Goldilocks, and I’m like Baby Bear.”
“Cary...” Ryan said. “You’re Cary .”
“Hi,” Cary said, not smiling.
Ryan grinned and took a step forward, holding out his hand. “Cary of the full-page yearbook letter.”
“Hi,” Cary said again. He held his hand out at the last possible second for Ryan to shake it.
“Let’s get some breakfast,” Shiloh said. “Come on, guys, into the kitchen. Ryan, can you help?”
“I’m Ryan,” Ryan was saying. “Nice to finally meet you.”
“I want peanut-butter toast,” Junie said.
“You can have bananas,” Shiloh said. “Or an oatmeal cup.”
“Gus-Gus can have nananas,” Gus said.
“Yes, you can,” Shiloh agreed. “Ryan? Please?”
Ryan followed her into the kitchen. His eyebrow was still wedged into his forehead. “Cary, huh?”
“Will you get Gus a banana?”
“This seems like a good time for us to talk about the overnight rule,” Ryan whispered.
Shiloh’s head jerked up.
The overnight rule was simple: No overnight guests when the kids were in the house. Even Shiloh’s mom had to follow it. “No,”
Shiloh said. “That’s not what this is.”
Ryan pointed over his shoulder with his thumb. “Goldilocks begs to differ.”
She took a step closer to Ryan, dropping her voice. “He just needed a place to stay. His mom is in the hospital.”
“You don’t owe me an explanation, Shiloh. I’m happy to change the agreement. We said we would re-evaluate—”
“That’s not what this is, ” she said again. “He was sleeping on the couch.”
“Oh, is that an exception to the rule?”
“Maybe we should have McDonald’s for breakfast,” Junie said. “Cary loves McDonald’s!”
“ Does he...” Ryan said. He was going to have aggressive wrinkles around that eyebrow.
Cary appeared in the kitchen doorway, looking directly at Shiloh. “I’m going to take off. Visiting hours have started. Thanks
again for the last-minute save.”
“I hope you get to see your mom,” Shiloh said.
“Tell Grandma Lois I said hi!” Junie said.
Cary glanced down at Junie. “I will, Juniper. Thanks.”
And then he was gone. Shiloh heard the front door close behind him.
Ryan was staring at her. “Either you broke the rule,” he said, “or we change the rule.”
“We can talk about this later,” Shiloh said.