Page 1 of Single-Minded
Chapter One
West
My three chattery reasons for living, my daughters—Scarlet, Sienna, and Nova—were even more animated than usual this morning as they ate their breakfast.
Maybe it was because today was the first day of summer break, and their favorite babysitter, seventeen-year-old Allison, would be their full-time companion for the next two and a half months.
Maybe they were feeding off my emotional state. I tried to hide it, but this was a big day for me too. I couldn’t deny I was shaky inside with exhilaration and determination.
“Can we go swimming every day, Allie?” four-year-old Nova asked.
“We’ll go swimming a lot if you want to,” the babysitter said, taking the fourth chair at the table.
Allison had shown up right on time at seven thirty, her eyes bright and eager for her first day of her summer job. I trusted Allison. She was the most responsible seventeen-year-old I’d ever met and loved my girls. But this was new. Full-time was a lot. My girls were a lot.
“One day at a time, Nova,” I told my youngest as I filled my travel mug with coffee.
“I want to do all…the…things!” she said in a burst of exuberance that almost always made me grin.
“Right now the thing you need to do is eat your breakfast,” I told her, dumping ice cubes into my five-gallon water cooler I took to the jobsite every day, wherever we were working.
“I’m done, but Sienna’s not,” Nova said.
I glanced over my shoulder. Nova’s and Scarlet’s plates were indeed empty. Sienna’s had a half-eaten piece of toast and both her sausage links, which were pushed to the farthest side of her plate.
“What’s wrong with your food, Sienna?” I asked.
“Sausage is just…ew, Daddy,” Sienna said, wrinkling her nose.
“You ate it yesterday,” I said.
She stared at her plate, nostrils flaring, head shaking, as her sisters looked on.
“It’s just sausage, Si-Si,” Nova preached.
Sienna picked up her toast instead and took a dainty bite.
“I’ll take your sausage,” Scarlet, Sienna’s fraternal twin, offered enthusiastically.
Sienna shoved her plate to her sister and continued to eat her toast.
I shrugged and considered it settled, then glanced at the time. Twenty till eight. Time for me to boogie. I turned to Allison.
“There’s plenty in the fridge for lunch for all of you. If you go to the beach, don’t forget the arm floats for Nova.”
“A Novel Place is having story time at eleven, so I thought I’d take them,” Allison said, and I swear if I could double her wages, I would.
“They’ll love it,” I said. I took my wallet out and gave her a couple of bills when the girls weren’t looking. “Get them each one book,” I told her quietly.
Money was tight, as usual, but books were one thing I stretched to make work.
Money would be less tight if I landed Davis Morten’s position at work.
My phone buzzed with a text message. I pulled it out of my pocket to see my boss’s name.
Levi: Running late. Plumbing emergency at my mom’s. Start without me.
West: I got it covered. Take care of your mom.
