Page 32 of Coast to Coast

“Kiwi sing?” Crew asked.

I looked at Tom to gauge his reaction. “How about this, bud? You and I will go so you can take your bath and get ready for bed. After storytime, I’ll come to sing you a song?”

“Otay,” Crew answered as Kelsey lifted him from his highchair and handed him his plate. He brought it to the counter and shoved it into the sink with a clatter.

“Good job clearing your plate. You know what that means?” I asked, Crew’s eyes widening with excitement.

“What, Kiwi?” oh fuck, did I love how he said my name.

“Tonight, I have my guitar. So go! And get ready for bed, and I’ll be in when Mommy and Daddy say you’re ready.”

TOM

Kelsey offered to do the dishes while I bathed Crew. Not even the excitement of Callie singing him a song was enough for him to skimp on the bubbles. I cringed when he demanded that I fill the tub up all the well, wondering if the hot water heater could handle both baths without going cold. And while Crew managed to be the most stubborn creature I had ever encountered, we were home together.

A feeling of contentment washed over me at the same time as Crew sent a wave of bathwater over the edge of the tub at me. I pulled my shirt up and over my head, wondering why I bothered wearing it while I bathed him.

A video call chirped on my phone, and I swiped it off the counter, answering the call from my mother.

“Hey, mom. Hold on, Crew is in the tub. Let me set up the phone so he can talk, too.”

I set my phone up on a ledge so Crew could peek over the edge of the tub and see my mom on the screen. Her smile widened when she saw him.

“Nana!” He shouted excitedly and sloshed more water onto me and the bathroom floor.

My mom took over, asking Crew to tell her about his day. I washed his hair while he described the airplane and the trip here and mentioned Kiwi.

“Who’s Kiwi?” Mom asked.

“Callie, she is the nanny Kelsey and I hired. She flew in with them this morning and will be here for the next couple of weeks.”

“She’ll be living with you?” What mom left unspoken was glaringly obvious. “Is that a good idea?”

Um, yeah, mom. How the hell else am I going to manage a hockey career and a toddler? My internal thoughts were far less patient than my response to her. But fuck, did no one trust me to keep my hands off the nanny?

“My schedule is insane in season, and we have her traveling cross-country almost weekly. What do you think can happen?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Mom rolled her eyes. “Is she pretty?”

“Does it matter?” I answered quickly, hoping to keep my mother off Callie’s scent. She had been on me to settle down with someone since I had found out about Crew, and having a live-in nanny did not seem to align with her plans.

“Uh huh, that tells me everything. Be careful,” she said. Leaving another point unsaid. I got lucky that Kelsey was Crew’s mother. Having a one-night stand opened me up to risks that could have severely impacted me financially. Another woman may have tried to take me for everything I had, while Kelsey only wanted our son to know his father.

“Did you get my schedule? Monica was supposed to send it out.”

“Yes, and I booked my flights for Christmas. Are you sure Boston is the only option?”

“Yes, Kelsey won’t be able to travel. But next year, I get to pick where we celebrate.”

Crew shouted, “Nana! Nana!” trying to wrestle her attention away from the adult chatter. I silently thanked my littlewingman. Yes, my mother had my best interests at heart, but she often forgot that successful co-parenting involved a lot of give and take, and sometimes it meant giving more than you took. We succeeded if Crew was happy, healthy, and comfortable that we all loved him.

I loved and appreciated everything she had done for me as a single mother. She understood and appreciated how hard it was to raise a child, but she’d never had to balance co-parenting. She’d often described my father’s lack of involvement as a blessing and a curse. The blessing was that she never had to balance his schedule, but the curse, or curses, was that everything was always on her.

We finished our call, and I dried Crew off, ending his bath time with only slight resistance. I handed Crew off to Kelsey in the hallway so she could dress him for bed, returning to my bedroom to change my shirt before I met them in Crew’s room for the bedtime ritual. There still was no sign of Callie. She hadn’t yet returned from her bath.

Kelsey started reading Crew’s story, the two of them snuggling in the twin bed while I sat on the end. A soft knock on the door signaled that Callie was ready to join us.

“Kiwi,” Crew said in excitement, patting the other side of his bed. Callie obliged, wedging herself on the edge of the bed. Twin beds were not meant to hold three adults and a toddler, as the mattress sagged with the weight, and I thanked God that the frame was sturdy enough for all of us.

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