The Employer

Chapter 18

Marc Nassar

Everything has been going great—exactly how Celeste said it would. Actually, not just great. It's been amazing being here with the girls.

We spent the first hour and a half walking past exhibits and seeing a range of animals like flamingos, monkeys, penguins, and lemurs. With every animal, the girls would point out exactly what it was doing and then would ask me questions about why it was doing that. And with the way the girls were eating up what I was saying, zoology might as well be listed as one of my skill sets. Why did I wait so long to do something like this with them? This is truly the most fun I've had in a long time.

"Dad, can we go straight to the lions? I can't wait any longer!" Nina says before taking a big swig of water. We're sitting on a green picnic bench in the outdoor cafeteria area, finishing up our lunch. The food stands didn't have anything remotely healthy and I may have had a small panic moment earlier because of it. But after some internal debate, I ended up ordering us all chicken tenders and fries with three jumbo cups of water to wash it all down. The girls devoured their meals faster than the spotted hyenas we saw. And now I keep reminding myself it's a one time thing and today is a special day.

"Let's go see some lions!" I say.

"Okay, I finished my food!" Nina says just as her sister says, "All done! Let's go!"

We clean up and head straight for the lion exhibit, following the colorful signs along the pathway. "Lions are like big, cute cats. Rawr!" Nina says.

"Rawr! Lions!" Laila adds.

"I didn't realize you girls liked lions so much."

"We don't like them. We love them!"

I chuckle and glance up to find the lion pen in the distance. "Look, there it is!" I point ahead. They shriek and take off running toward the exhibit. "Woah, slow down!" I jog after them. There's a light crowd that's circled around the open air pen, which has black railing around the perimeter. My girls are making their way through the gaps between people and I follow closely behind them until we reach the railing.

From our view, there are two lions curled up together, sleeping peacefully in the sandy terrain and partly hidden by rocks and shaded by trees. With the way Nina and Laila are jumping and giggling excitedly, those lions might as well be doing a song and dance number for them.

"What do you girls think?" I bend down to their eye level to try to see the lions from their perspective.

"They're so cute!" Laila says, just as Nina instantly goes quiet.

"Nina?" I glance over to find her staring at her shorts. "Nina, you okay?" Then, I see it. The rapidly expanding wet spot in the middle of Nina's shorts and the streams down her legs ending in a puddle on the floor between her feet. "Oh my God, Nina. Do you need to use the bathroom?"

She looks at me, her eyes now glassy. "I peed!" she yells out and immediately starts bawling.

I stand up and lean over, fully aware of the eyes now spotlighting on us. "Habibti, don't cry. It's okay!" Shit, I have no clue what to do. My mind starts rapid firing and I glance around for anything that could soak up her pee. But I can't find anything, only more people staring at us. My heartbeat drums loudly in my ears as Nina continues to sob. Laila and I try to calm her down but she cannot be consoled.

"Just use the extra clothes you brought with you," someone yells over Nina's sobs next to me.

I turn around to find a woman with three kids, looking like the most professional mom there ever was—a triple seat stroller, two backpacks, and her kids currently chomping on carrot snacks from their seats, watching the Worst Parent Show. "I don't have any extra clothes," I say to her.