Page 94 of Coach Me
Miles picks up the phone and brings it really close to his face. “I had the craziest dream last night, Daddy. It was wild! So, I dreamed that Pip and Pop grew huge! Like monster truck big, and…”
I nod along as Miles begins to tell me the longest dream I’ve ever heard. At some point, it definitely felt like he was more wanting to hear himself talk than actually telling me about the dream he had.
“And then Lucie showed up, and she was dressed up like a princess.” Miles tilts his head to the side. “Where is Lucie, Daddy?”
I open my mouth to tell him she’s in her room, but before I can, Lucie walks into the living room. I can’t stop the smile that comes to my face.
Her long blonde hair falls over her shoulders in soft waves—all signs of it being mussed from hands running through it last night are gone. Unfortunately, no longer wearing my clothes, but instead some black leggings and one of her Blues crewnecks.
“She just walked into the living room. Do you want to say hi?”
“Yes, please!” Miles beams.
Lucie chuckles and walks around to lean over into the frame from behind the couch. “Hey, Miles.”
“Hi Lucie, do you want to hear about my dream?”
Oh great, we’ll be on this phone for hours.
“You know, I would love to Miles, but what about you save it for our plane ride tomorrow? I always get so bored, and I bet your dream is very entertaining.”
“Oh, good idea. Maybe Callie will want to listen too. It’ll be like story time!”
Lucie laughs. “That sounds perfect. I’m going to make breakfast, so you can finish talking to your dad, okay?”
“Okie, can you give Pip and Pop some strawberries? Tell them it’s from me!”
“You know I will. Enjoy your time with your mom.”
Miles yells bye to Lucie, Kate pulls the phone back from Miles, and sets it back to where she’s in the frame. “She stayed the night?”
Her catty tone thankfully isn’t one I think Miles completely understands yet.
“She lives here,” I respond, keeping my tone free of any emotion.
“She does, Mommy. Lucie has her own room and everything. Her room is close to mine because she helps take care of me when Daddy’s working. What is it that Lucie is again?”
“A nanny,” I mutter.
Fuck.
Miles continues on with each word, making my guilt weigh about ten tons.
“Right! Lucie’s my nanny. She’s also supposed to be my teacher when school starts. She said we’ll have lessons and fun experiments. We already have a lot of fun together, but—” Miles’s head whips to his mom. “Do you think Lucie can come here with me since you work too? Or you could come to Daddy, and then Lucie can help while you and Daddy work.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
Kate’s mouth opens, but she doesn’t say anything. She simply looks to me like a deer caught in headlights.
Fuck! I don’t know how to respond either, but I know I can’t explain again why his mom and dad don’t live together anymore over the phone.
“Miles, we’ll talk about that more tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay.” Miles shrugs.
If we can move on from this topic for now, I can think of ways to explain it better and have a more productive conversation when I’m with him.
But then Kate finally speaks. “Lucie also only works for your dad, Miles. She’s hisemployee.”
