What Happens on the Cruise

82. The Way

"Shit!" Adam swore.

Tim looked over at him and raised his eyebrows.

"I fell asleep before I called Ericha last night and I haven't called or visited this morning either, obviously."

"You should give her a call, let her know you're alive."

"Yeah. Excuse me."

***

"Hey, bro," Chris answered his phone.

There was a sigh. "How crazy is it at my house?"

"Oh, you've had two college kids show up to interview for the au pair position, there's a volunteer crew working on the wheelchair ramp, and you've got three packages from Amazon."

"I'm so sorry. I'd completely forgotten about the au pair interviews till Ericha asked about them."

"They were both really understanding. Matter of fact, the first one's still here."

"Wait. What?"

"He-- I guess he's a he-- volunteered to stay and help with Cerise."

"Okay, so Leigh whatever the last name was is a guy?" Adam asked.

"The beard and mustache would say yes, though the skirt and fingernail polish disagree," Chris answered. "How is it you seem to attract gender non-conforming people, even when you aren't present?"

"I don't know. Oh, though we did specify they had to be LGBT-tolerant. Maybe that drew folks who wouldn't have applied otherwise?"

"I swear it's like a superpower. Anyhow, yes, Leigh is guy-ish and still here."

"You know what? I'll be home shortly. Ask him or them to wait."

***

"Hey, sorry to cut and run, but Ericha reminded me I was supposed to be interviewing a couple college kids for an au pair job and one of them is still at the house helping Chris out."

Tim nodded. "They've just got Austin into a room, so I'll be heading down there anyway. Good luck."

"You, too."

***

"You just can't stay away from here, can you?" Lazarus girl teased as she walked in.

"Apparently not," Austin answered.

"It's the cooking," Tim joked.

"Oh, yeah. You can't get Jello like that just anywhere."

She giggled. "So we've got your fever down, as you know. Initial exam found a lot of heat, redness, and swelling in your ankle, though the incision itself seems to be okay, so they're going to be running a needle down to see what's going on in and around the bone. That can get a bit painful, so we're going to give you a sedative. Okay?"

"I think that sounds preferable to doing it without."

***

"Hi, Adam, how's your friend?" one of the volunteers asked as he headed inside.

"No real news yet," he answered. "Sorry, I've gotta..." He motioned toward the house.

"No problem!"

"Thanks for the help. It looks awesome," Adam called as he headed inside. "Hi, Chris, where's--?"

"Nursery."

Adam headed down the hall and into the nursery where the au pair candidate was sitting in the rocking chair with Cerise and a picture book. Cerise looked up as he came in. "Daddy!" She came running to him.