Rent-A-Family

Logan Emery sits on his couch, glancing at the clock hanging above his fireplace, comforted by it's rigid, regular tick-tocking. He wrings his hands as he sips his iced tea. He wipes the condensation off the coffee table with the paper napkin sitting under his glass. He was nervous, waiting for 3:00 to arrive, for with the hour, the birthday present he bought for himself would also arrive.

Four actors from the online service FamilyRent were coming - a daughter, Susan, son-in-law, Jack and two granddaughters, ages 10 and 5, Allie and Ella. It took Logan months the save the thousand dollars for this three-hour visit and he was fretful, having no idea what to expect. The online registration asked him about his history, and was easy enough to complete as he'd never married, had no children, lost his parents while in his forties and had no siblings. He had friends from his cribbage club, but seldom saw them outside of their weekly games as they were busy with their own families and seemingly full lives.

At exactly 3:02 the doorbell rang and Logan felt a rush of regret at what he had undertaken. Walking toward the door, he considered not answering when it rang again. He could see four people through the frosted glass that framed his front door and knew they saw him, too, when a woman called out, "Dad, its us, open up!" So he did.

"Happy birthday, daddy!" Susan said as she put grocery bags down and hugged him. "It's so good to see you! It's been too long!" He stood in shocked stiffness, not returning her hug. He could not remember the last time he had been hugged.

Taking the bags Susan said, "I'll just take these to the kitchen and get started on dinner. I just need to get it heated up and we'll be eating your favorite roast in no time." She disappeared down the hall as if she had been there a thousand times.

Grinning and holding a pink box, Jack stuck his hand out and said, "Looking good, old man. Looking good!" Logan allowed his hand to be shaken. Indicating the pink box in his hands, Jack said, "Susan got you a cake from Graham's Bakery, your favorite. German chocolate. I'll go put it in the kitchen." Logan remembered the question from his registration puzzling him, it's level of detail too much. Now he understood; now he smiled a bit.

"Hi, grandpa!" The older of the two girls grabbed him around his waist and hugged him. "Happy birthday!" Allie held onto him and he felt he had no choice but to hug her back. "I've missed you so much!" She was the spitting image of her mother, who, he had to admit, looked eerily like him. He felt some of the anxiousness melt away as he held her.

"Grandpa!" The little one pushed the older aside and practically knocked him down in her hurry to hug him. "We have presents, but please! Open mine first!"

Warming now and returning her hug, as Logan closed the door he said, "Okay, okay. I'll open yours first."

For the next three hours, Logan had the impossible love a family he did not earn. They laughed, played games, ate a wonderful meal and had delicious cake. He relished the one thousand dollars worth of perfect, false affection. It was worth every penny.