Tim & Chuck

Ch. 6 Makeshift Babysitting 101 with Tim

"Yikes, they are entrusting you with their kid? Bold move from them." 

After the dinner with Hanah's parents, an unspoken approval had been given by them when it came to him watching over their daughter. It was not an uncommon occurrence for Hanah to be in his house doing homework after school on the weekdays if her parents had yet to return from their respective jobs.

Hanah didn't seem to mind this much, as it gave her an excuse to do her homework in Tim's living room while he played Disney songs on the TV, and he may or may not periodically sneak her popsicles or cookies from his pantry whenever she came over. He could neither confirm nor deny that.

However, the following Thursday afternoon after Tim's dinner with Hanah's family, Tim was at the office when his phone buzzed in his suit coat pocket. He always kept his phone on vibrate strictly out of habit these days; it prevented him from being embarrassed whenever it would go off in a business meeting because he always forgot to turn it off every time beforehand.

Looking at the caller ID, Tim saw Kyle St. Claire displayed across the screen, and for a moment he blanked on why that name was significant. Oh right, it was Hanah's father. Confused, Tim answered it.

"Hey Mr. Gallagher, how are you doing today?" Kyle's voice rang clearly through the speaker. It was still strange to Tim at hearing his surname since generally everyone called him by his first name. It was even more strange to hear it coming from a man who was older than he.

"I am doing pretty good Kyle, how about yourself?"

"Not too bad, not too bad. Hey look, I am aware that this is extremely late notice but I was wondering if you would be willing to babysit Hanah for the weekend. Marisa and I are going to be out of town and our go-to babysitter had a family emergency that she had to address."

Tim blinked. While he was more than happy to allow Hanah to stay for a few hours in his home, something about having her spend the night made him nervous. Not even in his teenage days, had he been a babysitter for anyone. That had been more in Nettie's department. Before he could formulate a negative response, Kyle continued quickly.

"I know it's probably the last thing you were expecting but quite frankly, I would feel much more comfortable having her with you over a hired babysitter whom we don't know. Plus she really has taken a liking to you. I am confident that she will not be a problem, and we will make sure she has all that she needs including food so that she will be as little a burden to you as possible."

"Yeah no problem, Kyle I can do that. Um, what time will she be over at my home? I will just need to prepare a few things." Tim almost couldn't believe the words coming out his mouth. What did he know about hosting a guest, let alone a child? While his mother had ensured that he and Nettie were well-versed in the area of hosting and socializing, Tim had never actually done it in his own home before. He was going to be fully responsible for her for three days...oh he had to make a call.

After getting the arrangements and details from Kyle, Tim hung up the phone. He still had three hours left in his workday but that was completely irrelevant to him now.

Tim slumped in his chair, thoughts spinning around his head as he stared into mental nothingness. Why had he agreed to this? While he loved Hanah to death, he didn't know what he could do with her. To make things even better, she would be at his house in less than five hours which left him precious little time to prepare, let alone hyperventilate.

Tim pressed the button of his intercom, "Mandy?"

"Yes sir?" His secretary's response came immediately. "Mandy, don't call me sir. And I will have to leave the office a bit earlier than expected today. Are there any pressing meetings or deadlines that I need to be aware of at this time?"