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“Yoo-hoo! Will!” She calls out. “Come sit with us. We have plenty of room.”
“This woman must have a tracking device connected to me,” I mutter under my breath.
Caroline looks up at me. “Did you say something, Daddy?”
“No, sweetheart,” I say and steer my children through the maze of tables.
Ellie motions my girls to Zoe’s side of the booth and moves over to make room for me on the bench next to her. The waitress arrives right away, and I order blueberry pancakes for all three of us.
Ellie waits until the three girls are engrossed in their own conversation before whispering to me, “Tracy would not approve of them wearing their pajamas in public.”
The smell of her coffee breath makes me want to gag. “In case you haven’t noticed, Ellie, Tracy’s not here.”
“These are impressionable years for your children. You must teach them to always present their best selves in public.” She rests a hand on my forearm. “For your children’s sake, you should find yourself a wife.”
I inch away from her on the bench. “The only wife I need is Tracy.”
Ellie walks her fingers up my arm. “I know, dear man. You’re not ready yet. But when you are, I’m available.”
Her audacious flirtation repulses me, and I move even farther away from her on the bench.
“We’re going to the pool later,” Zoe brags.
Caroline sticks her tongue out at Zoe. “Yeah? So are we.”
My head begins to throb. This is going to be a long weekend. When the waitress arrives with our food, I focus my attention on eating my pancakes. I’d rather spend the day dressing up like princesses and fairies and ballerinas than be around this insufferable mother and her boastful daughter. But I promised the girls, and so when we arrive at the pool two hours later, I attach myself to my next-door neighbor to avoid getting stuck with Ellie. Bob’s daughters are several years older than my girls, and I trust them to help keep an eye on the younger ones.
“So, Bob, I’ve been meaning to ask who takes care of your lawn?”
Bob lets out a roar of laughter. “I noticed you have a jungle in progress next door.” He sips his Bloody Mary through a straw. “We’ve tried every lawn service in town. None of them are great. You have to stay on top of them. In their defense, they can’t keep up in the summer when everything grows at such a rapid rate. Our current crew is the best we’ve had. I’ll get Sherry to forward you the contact info.”
“That’d be great.” Watching him slurp his Bloody Mary makes me yearn for a beer, but I would never dare drink alcohol and drive with my daughters in the car.
“What happened to your nanny? I enjoyed seeing her around, if you know what I mean,” he says, his eyebrows dancing across his forehead.
I laugh. “She was a looker, for sure. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out.”
Sophie appears at my side. “Daddy, I have to go potty.”
“Already? You just went before we left home. I’ll take you in a few minutes. Go back to the pool,” I say, giving her a gentle shove.
Bob shakes the ice in his drink. “I don’t know why they don’t just pee in the pool like we did.”
I laugh, even though I don’t think he’s funny. I never peed in the pool when I was growing up. Then again, we seldom went to the pool. We lived on Catawba Sound. We had a natural saltwater pool in our backyard. “Sophie was barely potty trained when Tracy died,” I tell Bob. “She regressed after the accident. Most of the time, she thinks she needs to go when she doesn’t. I don’t like taking her into the men’s room with me. And she’s too young to go to the ladies’ room alone.”
Bob’s face goes serious. “I see your point. If you want, Alicia can take her for you.”
His eleven-year-old has started babysitting on a small scale. Tracy hired Alicia a few times to entertain Caroline and Sophie while she was working around the house.
“I may let her if Sophie asks to go potty again.”
The lifeguard blows his whistle and hollers, “Code Brown! Clear the pool.”
Bob hangs his head. “Aw, man. There goes my day at the pool. Now, Sherry’s gonna make me tackle her honey-do list.”
“I don’t understand. What’s Code Brown?”
“Someone pooped in the pool. They’ll close it for the rest of the day for cleaning.”
