Willow Brook Road

by Sherryl Woods

Henry studied him with that solemn, knowing expression that suggested he was wise beyond his years. “Got it,” he said readily. “No one will hear about it from me.” He scowled fiercely at Davey. “Got that?”

  “My lips are zipped,” Davey confirmed.

  Henry gave a nod of satisfaction. “We’re good, then.”

  “Okay. Let’s get that ice cream,” Sam said eagerly.

  As soon as the kids were settled on a bench facing the bay with their cones, he stepped aside, pulled out his cell and called Carrie. Since she was working, he’d anticipated voice mail, but she picked up at once.

  “I hope I’m not disturbing you at work,” he said.

  “Actually I’m at home. I have Jackson today. I won’t be going to the day care again until tomorrow. What’s up?”

  “Just something I thought you needed to know.”

  “Is it about Bobby? Is he okay?”

  “He had a little meltdown earlier,” he said, explaining what had happened. “He wanted me to call you. I reminded him you were working today—or at least I thought you were—and he kind of blurted out something about the day-care center.”

  “And Henry and Davey caught it?”

  “Oh, yeah, though they have promised to keep what they heard to themselves. I just thought you should know that your secret’s not so secret anymore.”

  She sighed heavily. “I should have known it wouldn’t last. I guess I’ll have to come clean about this sooner, rather than later. It’s not as if I don’t know already that this is something I want to pursue. I think I’m ready to do battle with anyone in the family who tells me I’m crazy or not thinking rationally or whatever.”

  “I can’t say if this is the right career path for you or not, but I do know how great you are with kids,” Sam said. “If this is something that you believe will fulfill you, then I say go for it.”

  “Could you put that in writing? Maybe if I have a few testimonials, my grandfather and my parents won’t go berserk.”

  “Happy to do that,” Sam said. “Want to have a strategy session later?”

  “Sam,” she protested.

  “After Bobby’s in bed,” he persisted. “The suite’s big. We didn’t wake him up the other night. I’m very good at making pro-con lists.”

  She laughed. “You haven’t met my twin. She is the grand master of the pro-con list.”

  “I’ll bet I could give her a run for her money.” He thought of how frequently Laurel had forced him to sit down and evaluate decisions rationally, when he’d wanted to jump into something impulsively. He’d hated her for it at the time, but the skill had stayed with him.

  She hesitated for so long, he thought he’d lost, but eventually she said, “Okay. Honestly, I could use the help to weed out the emotional arguments from the sound, rational ones.”

  “Then I’ll make sure Bobby’s in bed by nine and asleep. I’ll ask Jess to send up some brain food for snacks.”

  She laughed. “What on earth would that be?”

  “You know...healthy stuff. Almonds. Carrot sticks. Whatever.”

  “Maybe I should bring the snacks,” Carrie replied. “And the less Jess knows about this little get-together the better. The whole blasted family apparently knew about me being over there last night.”

  “You could swear her to secrecy,” Sam suggested.

  “It’s divulging secrets to the wrong people that got me into this,” she retorted. “I’m not telling my aunt a thing.”

  He laughed. “I see your point.”

  “Sam, thanks.”

  “For what? Letting my nephew blab your secret?”

  “For scrambling to make it right,” she corrected. “And for offering to help me sort this out.”

  “Not a problem. See you tonight.”

  He hung up and glanced over at Bobby, who was now covered with chocolate ice cream and giggling happily again. He was starting to see that the difficult moments in parenting were somehow balanced out quite nicely with moments just like this. He hadn’t felt this optimistic in weeks.

  * * *

  Even though a part of Carrie very much regretted being pushed to reveal her plans much sooner than she’d hoped to, she couldn’t help feeling a faint sense of relief that soon everyone would know and she could start moving on with her life.

  She arrived at Sam’s with a grocery bag filled with her idea of appropriate snack food—chips, guacamole and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. The combination was pretty sickening when she really thought about it, but it’s what had appealed to her when she shopped.

  “Bobby asleep?” she asked, her voice low when Sam answered the door to his suite.

  “In bed by eight-thirty and asleep a few sentences into his second book,” Sam assured her, then peeked into the bag. One brow shot up when he got a good look at the contents. “Seriously? Spicy guacamole and Chunky Monkey?”

  “It seemed like a good idea at the time,” she told him blithely.

  “Well, one thing’s for sure, it ought to keep us wide-awake all night.”

  “Maybe we should divide it up,” she suggested, rethinking the whole thing. “Dibs on the ice cream.”

  “The chips work for me,” Sam said agreeably.

  Carrie pulled her tablet out of her purse and curled into the same corner of the sofa where she’d sat on her previous visit. She’d have to compliment Jess on her furniture choices one of these days. This was much more comfortable than her sofa at home.

  “Okay, Mr. Organization, where do we start?”

  “Pros,” he said at once. “Let’s be positive.”

  “Okay, then,” she said and typed that she loved spending time with kids at the top of the list. “And I’m good with them, too,” she added.

  “Put that down, too. What else?”

  “I’ve been getting practical experience,” she said. “Maybe it’s only a few days so far, but it’s been the best thing I’ve done in a long time. I’m truly happy at the end of the day. Julie already agrees I have a knack for working with kids, and she’s been at it for years.”

  “How are you when things don’t go so smoothly?”

  “I don’t get flustered or impatient, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m calm in a crisis.”

  “Another plus,” he said.

  “And I’m great with all ages. I love being with Jackson, but I think I’m pretty good with the older kids, too.”

  Sam nodded. “All valid reasons why this would be a good fit for you. Any business reasons it’s a good choice?”

  “That’s easy. The town needs a good day care. There’s some help available at one of the churches, but it’s run by volunteers and they can’t handle all the children who need a place to go. Jackson’s there a couple of days a week, but that’s all they could accommodate. That’s one reason I’ve been pitching in. Noah’s actually lucky they would take him at all. A lot of places don’t take babies.”

  Sam was smiling. “You are so into this. How could your family doubt for a second that it’s exactly right for you?”

  “Experience?” she suggested with a shrug. “The whole fashion thing was something I was passionate about for about a minute. Before that I worked with a sports team, also for about a minute.” She made a face. “And the big draw with both of those jobs? I was attracted to a man.”

  He laughed. “Well, that’s obviously not the case with this. And it will be your business, not someone else’s.”

  “They might have bought that a couple of weeks ago,” she said.

  “Why wouldn’t they buy it now?”

  “You,” she said candidly. “You need help with Bobby and they know what a sucker I can be for a man who needs me.”

  Sudden understanding dawned on Sam’s face. “That’s why you were comparing our situation to your relationship with the fashion jerk, isn’t it?”

  “Afraid so.”

  “But didn’t you tell me that Luke had proposed this idea to you even before me met?”

  “About fifteen
minutes before, to be exact. So you see why people might be skeptical. The timing is suspicious.”

  “Do you think this has anything to do with me?” he asked.

  She hesitated, then shook her head. “Running into you that night might have stirred up all my maternal feelings, but the day care? After working with Julie this week, I know it’s about doing something that will make me happy, something I’ll be good at. The classes I started online are only reinforcing that. Best of all, it’s something I can do right here in Chesapeake Shores. I don’t have to go chasing all over the world to find fulfillment.”

  “There you go,” he said with satisfaction. “You can clearly defend yourself against any arguments they might try.”

  She ate the last bite of ice cream in the container, then put it aside. “We’re close, but we’re not there quite yet.”

  “No?”

  “We need that con list. That’s where things could get tricky. Let’s start with the fact that two days of volunteer work don’t exactly make me experienced. Add in that I’ve never run any kind of business before. There are rules and regulations to contend with, finding a location, advertising, hiring help.” She covered her face. “I don’t even know what I don’t know.”

  “So, there’s a learning curve,” Sam said, dismissing her concern. “It won’t take forever to get up to speed. And didn’t you tell me that Julie had promised to be your mentor? You have a cousin who can help you find a location, an uncle who can help with legal work. Sounds to me as if you’re covered.”

  He studied her intently, then added, “Unless you’re looking for excuses not to take a chance and possibly fail.”

  Her chin shot up. “Failing’s not an option.”

  And just like that, her confidence that she was making the right decision was restored. She moved quickly to give Sam a fierce hug. “Thank you!”

  “I didn’t do much.”

  “Yes, you did. You helped me sort through this until I could see it clearly. You made me believe I might not be making a mistake.”

  “So what if you are?” he asked. “Mistakes often provide the cornerstone for getting the next phase of your life exactly right.”

  “O’Briens aren’t supposed to make a lot of mistakes,” she told him.

  He grinned. “Then you can be the first.”

  “Not a road I particularly want to go down, but thanks for making it sound less than awful.”

  “I have faith in you,” he said simply.

  Surprisingly, that was just the boost her confidence needed as she made plans to face her family and the likely ruckus that was going to ensue.

  12

  Thursday morning at the day-care center was an eye-opener. After all the positive notes she’d made the night before, Carrie found herself questioning whether she was truly cut out for this. Every child at the center seemed to be having a very bad day. Even the unflappable Julie and Lucy seemed to be at their wit’s end. And even at their worst, the children who passed through Carrie’s house on a regular basis had never been this out of control. Or maybe it was just that here, there were so many more of them, all needing attention and discipline at once.

  As Lucy tried to calm two sobbing children and Alicia took charge of three more who’d been throwing food at each other just seconds before, Julie and Carrie took the instigators of the trouble to Julie’s office for a supervised time-out.

  “I am so disappointed in you,” Julie said, looking into each little face as they sat across from her at her tiny desk with its overflowing piles of folders. Jaws wobbled and eyes filled with tears.

  Carrie knew they deserved Julie’s harsh words, but she felt so bad for the three of them. It was hard to believe that just minutes ago they’d been hurling fruit and taunts at children even younger than they were.

  Though she knew she ought to let Julie handle it, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from asking, “Reed, you started it. Can you tell us why?”

  Big blue eyes met hers. “Bailey was being mean to Javier. He said bad things about his mom. Bailey said Javier’s mom didn’t even know who his dad is. And that they weren’t real Americans.”

  Carrie heard Julie’s sharp intake of breath and barely managed not to visibly react herself.

  “Javier, is that true? Is that what Bailey said?” Julie asked gently.

  Julie had filled Carrie in on the story. Javier’s mother had come here legally from El Salvador years earlier with Javier’s two older siblings to join his father. After Javier’s father had brought them here and before Javier was even born, the man abandoned them. His mother worked two jobs to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads. She pitched in at the center whenever she had the time to help pay Javier’s fees. And, though legally documented to remain, she was studying hard and working through the process to become a citizen.

  With Julie holding his gaze, Javier finally nodded, his expression sad.

  “It is not true, what he said. I know who my father is and I am American,” he said with a touch of proud defiance.

  Julie came around the desk and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I know, sweetie. I’ll deal with this.” She turned to Reed. “I appreciate your wanting to stand up for your friend, but next time, just tell me and let me handle it, okay? You saw how quickly things got out of control. Someone could have gotten hurt.”

  “I promise,” Reed said solemnly.

  “You’ve been coming here a long time,” Julie continued. “I count on you to look out for the littler kids, but not like this.”

  “Okay,” Reed said. “I just knew it was wrong and I didn’t like it. Bailey shouldn’t have said something like that.”

  “No, he shouldn’t have,” Julie agreed. “I’ll deal with Bailey. Carrie, you want to take these troublemakers out onto the playground and shoot some baskets with them while I have a word with Bailey.”

  “Absolutely,” Carrie said.

  “I can watch everybody,” Reed protested.

  “You probably can,” Julie agreed. “But rules are rules. Nobody’s on the playground without an adult present.”

  With the chaos now under control and its cause determined, Carrie felt better. Being outside in the fresh air and working off some of their aggression in a more positive way was just what they needed. She couldn’t help wondering, though, if she’d have been as quick as Julie to recognize that. Or if she would have been so incensed by the racial profiling by a child too young to even know what that meant, she would have been on the phone telling off the parents.

  “What if I’m no good at this, after all,” she murmured to herself as she followed the three boys outside.

  “Hey, Carrie, do you want to play, too?” Reed called out with a grin that reminded her of Davey.

  She recognized a challenge when she heard one. “You’re on,” she said at once, then stole the basketball from his grasp and made a quick shot.

  The three boys stared at her in amazement.

  “Still want me to play?” she asked.

  “You bet,” Javier said, his tone heartfelt. “You can be on my team.”

  “How come?” Reed demanded. “I’m the one who asked her.”

  “Yes, but I’m the shortest,” Javier replied reasonably. “I need the help.”

  Carrie laughed. “It’s so nice to be wanted,” she told them. “Javier, I’ll play with you first, then we’ll switch. How about that?”

  “Works for me,” Reed said.

  Carrie looked into their happy, expectant faces and concluded maybe she wasn’t quite as bad at handling controversy as she’d feared.

  * * *

  Sam discovered a whole new side to Bobby when he took him over to the school to get registered and take a look around. Since his dad had been pretty mellow and easygoing, the kid’s stubborn streak had to have come from the Winslow genes, but he couldn’t recall Laurel or him ever digging in their heels and throwing a royal tantrum.

  “I’m not going,” Bobby declared mutinously, arms crossed
tightly, his jaw set. His eyes welled with tears.

  “The school looks really nice,” Sam said. “And did you see the playground? It has lots more equipment than the one on the town green.”

  “I don’t care. I want to go to my old school.”

  Sam clung to his patience by a thread. He understood what was going on, but coping with it was something else entirely. He was way, way out of his depth. He was sure Carrie could have coaxed Bobby out of the car and into the school by now, but short of dragging him, he didn’t have a plan for accomplishing that. Reason didn’t appear to be working.

  “You already know lots of kids here from playing T-ball,” he reminded Bobby. “I’ll bet some of them will be in your class.”

  “I like my old friends.”

  Sam seized on a bribe. “And maybe we can take a trip some weekend to see them, but you live here now and this is going to be your school.”

  “NO!”

  The emphatic shout echoed in the car.

  Sam took a deep breath and tried to imagine what it must be like for his nephew. He’d lost his mom and dad. He’d moved to a new town with an uncle he barely knew. It probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise that sooner or later Bobby was going to dig in his heels. Sam tried another tack.

  “It wasn’t that long ago that I was new here, too,” he reminded Bobby. “I didn’t know anybody in town except my boss. Starting a new job is a lot like starting at a new school. It can be pretty scary.”

  “I’m not scared,” Bobby declared, though he couldn’t quite bring himself to meet Sam’s gaze.

  “Of course not. You’re the bravest kid I know,” Sam agreed readily. “You’ve been handling stuff that would be hard for anybody. This is just one more thing you have to face, but I know you can do it, Bobby. And a couple of weeks from now, I’ll probably have trouble getting you to come home, because you’ll be having so much fun with all your new friends. It’s just this first step that’s hard.”

  “What if my teacher’s mean?” he asked, his voice small and filled with the fear he’d been trying so valiantly to hide.

  “I can’t imagine any teacher in this town being mean,” Sam said. “We haven’t met one single mean person yet, have we?”