"Mommy, you're the mommy. Aunt Mandy, you're... the other mommy! And me and Frannie are the babies."
Five-year-old Noah laid out the ground rules as the adults tried to hide their amusement. A recent Family Day at his preschool had led to many vigorous discussions about why some kids had a mommy and a daddy, some had two mommies or two daddies, and some very lucky children—like Noah himself—had a mommy and many, many close aunties and uncles. Playing house had suddenly become endlessly fascinating, so when Amanda and her dog met Olivia and Noah at the park on a sunny spring afternoon, he immediately roped them into the game.
"Now," Noah continued, "The mommies are at work, and me and Frannie are home alone doing whatever we want..."
"I don't think that's how it works, kiddo," Amanda gently interrupted.
She was met with a frown from her honorary nephew. "It's my game, Aunt Mandy," he explained. "I say how it's s'posed to work."
"That's not nice, Noah," Olivia corrected. "If you want other people to play with you, then it has to be everybody's game."
Amanda grinned. "It's fine, Liv. His imagination's probably better than mine anyway."
Olivia shook her head, biting back a smile. "This is the kind of thing I worry about, raising him as an only child," she admitted as her son's attention drifted to the dog. "I want him to get along with other kids, and not grow up a loner like I was."
"You thinking of adopting again?" Amanda asked.
Like mother, like son—now it was Olivia's turn to frown at her. "What, and be outnumbered? No, thanks. I was thinking more along the lines of finding time for more playdates. You know, with kids that go home at the end of the day, who I don't have to put through college on a civil servant's salary."
Amanda laughed. "Yeah, I get it. Anyway, it's not like having siblings puts anyone on a fast track to becoming a good person—just look at your brother or my sister." Before the conversation got too depressing, she hastened to add, "Noah's a good kid, Liv. He'll be fine."
Olivia smiled, watching Noah interact with a very patient Frannie. "What about you?" she asked her colleague. "Do you ever think about kids, or settling down?"
Amanda shrugged, shaking her head sadly. "I've been such a mess for so long, I can't really think about taking care of anyone besides myself and Frannie."
"Hmm." Olivia regarded her for a minute, then after a beat said, "Some unsolicited advice? I wasted a lot of years thinking I was more messed up than I was, and that I didn't deserve to be happy. And I had a lot of people telling me that was bullshit, but I didn't listen until it was almost too late. Amanda, you've been doing really well these past few years. You've worked your ass off to come back from everything that's happened to you; don't waste all that effort because you're too busy beating yourself up to see it. There is life outside of the job, and whatever that means for you, I want you to find it, okay?"
Amanda nodded, avoiding eye contact. If only her boss knew what she'd wanted that to mean for her, once upon a time. Fortunately, Noah chose that moment to involve the grown-ups in his game again.
"Mommy, you have to come home from work now 'cause Frannie's sick! And Aunt Mandy, you have to come home too so you can stay with me while Mommy takes Frannie to the doctor."
The two women stopped their conversation and immediately threw themselves into the pretend world of a little boy who knew all too much about doctors and being sick. Olivia led the good-natured pup to the "hospital"—a tree several feet from where they'd stopped to play—while Amanda assured Noah that his "sister" was going to be okay. After dramatically narrating a long, heroic effort to save Frannie's life, Noah triumphantly announced that all was well.
