Hatchetfield.

before you, during you, after you.

"Well, it's just us, I guess."

Paul Matthews smiled awkwardly at the baby on his lap. The little boy had a hand shoved into his mouth, little giggles coming out from behind it.

"What are we supposed to do for three days, Richie?"

Paul might've only been sixteen, but he was pretty sure that watching this baby was going to be the hardest thing he was ever going to do.

He wasn't even sure why his sister, Dana, decided to have a kid, if he was being honest. She and her husband, Mark, worked long days, and they went out of town at least twice a month. More often than not, those trips coincided with one another, so they needed someone to watch Richie what seemed like all the time.

Typically, his parents were eager to do it. They loved doting on their grandchild, spoiling him and sending him home with bags full of toys and clothes. Paul wouldn't lie and say he didn't like it when Richie was over; he actually liked hanging out with his nephew, who everyone said looked exactly like him. But this time, his parents were also going to be out of town, on a trip for their anniversary, so they and his sister decided that they were going to leave Richie with Paul as some test of maturity.

He wasn't asked if it was something he wanted to do. He was told he was going to do it.

So he agreed, and now here he was, on his sofa, a drooling six-month-old on his lap.

He didn't know how to entertain a six-month-old!

"Do you like movies, little guy?" Paul prodded as if the baby would reply. "Maybe, um, Toy Story? I know we have that."

Richie just stared up at him, a small harrumph leaving him as he let his hand fall from his mouth. A line of drool followed it.

"No? Well, okay. Uhhhh-oh! I just got a VHS. It's of a movie called Spirited Away. Maybe we could watch that?"

At that, the baby smiled widely. A belly laugh left him, and Paul couldn't help but smile in turn. "Yeah? You like that idea? We can do that."

Within a few minutes, Paul had slid the tape into the player, gotten both he and Richie a snack, and both of them were enraptured by the film.

Richie sat still throughout the entire thing, his eyes glued to the screen. By the time the credits ran, however, the baby was asleep, his tiny eyelids fluttering as he dreamt.

Paul would stay there for three hours, his nephew sleeping in the crook of his arm. He chest was filled with warmth for every single second.

He was happy he didn't complain about having to babysit.

——

"Em, I got Chinese, is that okay? You didn't return my text," 33-year-old Paul called into the house, hanging his coat on the rack next to the door.

Silence met him.

"Em? You good?"

He could hear the TV playing quietly in the living room. He figured Eloise was sleeping and that was why Emma wasn't responding. A small smile formed on his face; he was happy to be back with his family after a long day at work.

Still, uneasiness was dancing in the back of his mind; Richie hadn't texted him back about how the big game went the night before. He had been worried about his nephew since that football star had gone missing. He shrugged it off, though. He was probably having fun with all of his new friends that he had told Paul and Emma about during their last Sunday dinner.