Page 63 of Vince
“No problem. I’ll see you in class.”
“Night, Syd.” His rich timbre makes my body melt into the couch. God, I really like this guy.
“Night, Vince,” I force out then end the call.
After hanging up, I find myself clutching my phone to my chest, savoring this feeling as long as I can. Though, eventually, I force myself to get off the couch and get on with my night.
Just as we’re all sitting down to dinner the next night, Vanessa’s phone rings.
“Wonder what the daycare is calling me for at this time of day?” she voices aloud.
Vince looks warily to his sister, and our conversation from before abruptly ends while we wait to see what happens.
“Oh my….” Her expression morphs from shock to contemplation as she mutters, “Okay… we’ll make that work… Let me know when it’s back on… thanks for calling…. I will.”
As she turns to Vince, her face fills with worry. “That was the center. Apparently, a water main broke and parts of the daycare flooded. They don’t expect water to be running at the daycare until tomorrow afternoon, so Julia doesn’t have a place to be tomorrow.”
Before either of us can respond, Vanessa practically shouts in frustration. “Shoot. I have two exams tomorrow and can’t miss class.”
“I’ve got one, too,” Vince sighs. “We’ll figure something out,” he says as if he’s trying to calm her.
“I’ve got an idea…” I toss out to the room.
With all eyes on me, Vince asks me to explain when I freeze. “And what’s that…”
“Well, I’m not sure how you’d feel about this… but as I don’t have classes tomorrow, I could watch her.”
“But you work until nearly three in the morning. I have to leave a little after seven to make it to my first class across campus. Would you want to be up at that time?”
“I’ve survived on less.” I shrug in an attempt to not make it a big deal. “As long as I get to bed at a decent time tomorrow night, I’ll be fine.”
“Are you sure?” Vanessa asks apprehensively.
“If you’d rather find someone else, I’m okay with that, too,” I offer, trying to let her off the hook if she’d prefer I not watch Julia.
Julia interrupts the conversation, “Will I really get to spend the day with Sydney?”
Her eagerness makes every minute of lost sleep entirely worth it.
Vanessa emphatically shakes her head. “No… I’d love it if you watched her. I have the early shift at the diner and like Vince said, he has to be at class early. Would you mind coming over before he leaves? It’s likely easier to hang out here for the day—with all of Julia’s things here.”
“No problem at all.” I smile, and it’s set. I’m officially Julia’s babysitter tomorrow.
