Wrong Place, Right Time(46)

His banging stops and he nods in earnest. “And I get to go to work with you becauth I’m thick.”

“Well, normally I don’t like taking sick children to work. That’s not nice for the other people, because you can make them sick. So you should make sure to stay away from all the people in there.”

Sammy’s expression changes. Now I see a tiny glimmer of fear in it, and I feel guilty for making it appear.

“Are they mean?” he asks.

I shake my head vigorously. “No, they’re not mean at all. They’re really nice, actually. It’s just that if you have a virus that’s giving you that tummy ache, we don’t want these nice people to catch your virus, right?”

He thinks about it for a couple seconds, blinks a few times, and then nods. “We don’t want anybody to get my viruth.”

I smile at him encouragingly. “Exactly. Let’s keep our cooties to ourselves.”

He giggles. “And we’ll keep our booteeth to ourthelves too.”

“Yes. Keep your booty to yourself too.” I roll my eyes and turn around. It’s probably not a good idea to encourage the potty talk right now, but I need for him to stay cool and comfortable. All I need is for Sammy to unleash the beast within, and it’ll all be over. He’s most likely to do that when he’s trying to impress people he’s just met. He could get me laid off before I even start working.

I get out of the car, remove Sammy from his seat-harness, and take his hand so he can walk next to me. My laptop is in its case, slung over my shoulder with my purse. “Do you remember how to introduce yourself?”

“Yeth, Mama. I know. I lithen to you all the time when you’re telling me.”

“All the time?”

We’re at the door when he answers. “Well, motht of the time. Thometimeth, I don’t wanna lithen.”

“Well, at least you’re honest,” I mumble.

I lift my hand to press the buzzer on the keypad, to let them know we’re here, but before I get there, the door starts to open.

Sammy jumps back in surprise, and looks up at it with eyes full of wonder. “Whoa. Thatth a big door.”

I smile down at him. “Yep. This is a warehouse. It’s kind of a weird place for Mama to work, but I’m trying to look at it as interesting and different. Not everything that’s different is bad. Sometimes different things are good.” I hope my advice is sinking in and that maybe it’ll apply to his daycare situation. I have a feeling there’s a new kid on the block who’s inserted himself into the pecking order in a spot that Sammy doesn’t agree with. I make a mental note to call the daycare and talk to the director.

May is at the crack of the door as soon as it’s big enough to reveal a person. She grins at me first and then she looks down at Sammy. “Sammers! You made it!”

“Whereth Felix?”

May laughs. “I guess I know where I stand.” She gestures for us to come in. “Felix is just over there by that exercise equipment, Sammy. You can go over there and play with him, but don’t touch any of the equipment, okay?”

I give my sister a hard look that says, How long do you think he’s going to listen to that rule when none of us are watching?

She looks at me as she continues. “I’ll be right over. And when I get there, I can show you some of the equipment if you don’t touch it first.”

Sammy goes running over to the makeshift gym, yelling as his little shoes slap the concrete floor. “I won’t touch anything! I promith!”

There’s nobody around but May and me. I’m a little sad that Dev isn’t here to say hello.

“Where is everybody?” I ask, trying to be cool.

“They’re upstairs. I figured you probably wouldn’t want to be overwhelmed on your first day, especially after everything that happened . . .”

I wave my hand at her to stop her from going down that path. “I’m doing better. Better, but kind of walking a thin line between sanity and insanity, so if you could just not talk about it while we’re here, that would be awesome.”

“Okay, no problem. But after you’re done working, we’re going to talk about this. About your job, about the panic room, about Dev.” She wiggles her eyebrows at me.

I ignore the innuendo I’m sure she’s just delivered. I’m not ready to analyze his possible motives toward me yet. For the first time in my life, I’m ready to keep a secret from my sister. I don’t know if this is a good sign or a bad one.

“Okay, whatever you say.”

May squeezes me around my shoulders as we walk side by side. “So, are you excited to be here?”