Page 45 of Carry Me Home
Bring her! I’d love to meet your girl.
Jack
I don’t know how you do things in Wyoming, but here in Colorado, kidnapping 7 year olds is frowned upon.
Mateo
What the hell is going on at that ranch
Jack
Career change. I’m a manny now.
Mateo
Dude.
You’re still seeing that therapist, right?
RIGHT??
Two hoursinto this whole manny gig and I was crushing it. Breakfast? Eaten. Dishes? Done. Janie? At work on time. Maya? Happy. Hell, she hadn’t complained once when it was time for PT. This summer was going to be a piece of cake.
“Is there anything you want to do today?” I asked as I wiped down the wet spots on the kitchen counter. It was the first day of summer vacation and the possibilities were endless. Janie had warned me that Maya didn’t always do well with wide-open questions, so I tossed out a few options. “We could go for a hike before the afternoon thunderstorms roll in. Or we could go to the library and pick out some books for the week.”
Maya was walking circles around the kitchen table while I cleaned, like she had nervous energy to work off. It was probably nothing more than the excitement of being done with school, but I’d mention it to Janie this evening, just to make sure.
“Can we go to Denver?” she asked.
Okay, that caught me off guard. “Why?”
“I need to start my summer project. It’s the metamorphoses of an amphibian. I’m going to watch a tadpole turn into a frog, but the closest pet store that sells tadpoles is in Denver. Mom said it would have to wait until this weekend when she’s not working, but I want to go now.”
I hesitated. “That sounds like a cool project, but I think your mom might want to do it with you.”
Maya shook her head emphatically, her red braid swinging from side to side. “No, she doesn’t. She hates driving to Denver because of the traffic. She didn’t want me to ask you because it would make you feel bad if you didn’t want to go.” Her eyes were big and hopeful. “I have the money to buy the tadpoles and the aquarium tank. It was a birthday present from Aunt Claire.”
“Hm.” Denver was a two-hour drive each way, and there was always traffic. It would be a waste of Janie’s day off—I knew how important it was to her to spend quality time with Maya. Plus, we had switched vehicles so I could take Maya wherever she wanted to go, since Janie didn’t like Maya riding in the front seat and my truck didn’t have a back seat. It wouldn’t be a problem to drive out to Denver.
“Please?” Maya begged. “Mom will be so happy. She does everything. I think she’s tired.”
Shit, this kid was such a sweetheart. Who could say no to a kid who cared so much about her mom? And she was right. Janie was exhausted. Her time with Maya was too precious to waste spending it in traffic.
“All right. Let’s go.” I tossed the sponge onto its little tray by the sink and wiped my hands dry on my jeans.
Maya jumped in the air, pumping a fist. It was awkward and clumsy and the cutest fucking thing I’d ever seen. “Yes!”
I laughed. “We leave in fifteen minutes. Grab your headphones and a book. I’ll pack snacks.”
“We have dart frogs,”the sales associate said. He looked about sixteen. His nametag said Dave, but it was the third Dave I’d seen in the store and I suspected either no one was named Dave or the manager was. “We don’t have any dart frog tadpoles in stock, but we have leopard frog tadpoles.”
“I want a dart frog,” Maya said firmly. “A blue dart frog.”
I could forgive Dave for looking a little exasperated, since it was the third time she had said that.
“We have blue dart frogs. We do not have dart frog tadpoles. If you want a dart frog tadpole, I can order it for you. It should be here in about two weeks.”
Maya’s lower lip trembled. “It has to be today.”
