mini fridge to leftover Chinese and no beer, wondering how the hell I got into this mess. Had that dumb cunt asked me to do this even a year before I never would have considered it. The fact that I couldn’t not consider it now stayed with me every single second of the day. Guilt came with age and I hated it. Adulting sucked.
The scent of greasy Chinese filled my nose when I took a deep breath, audibly blowing it from my lungs. I could feel the dread hovering above me, all around me, saturating my mind with ridiculousness that I didn’t get. As much as I wanted to blame it all on Kit, I knew I couldn’t. She was right in so many ways, and it was time to face the facts.
Maybe it was time to move on, dream about something else for a change. An eighteen-month-old and a job; a real job where I could actually use my degree. Even though my gigs paid well, five years was a long time to dream big without ever seeing the pot of gold. Maybe I could be happy with another dream; besides, it was only one year. How bad could it be?
I glanced around the small space that I paid too much money for, wondering how much more I could get for nine-hundred a month elsewhere. Surely more than this. The smell of egg rolls was one thing I wouldn’t miss, and a bigger bathroom would be nice. She would need her own room and a yard to play in.
Without another thought I opened my laptop to the opened resume and hit submit, sending my credentials to fifty states. It didn’t much matter where home was for a teacher. There was no Teacher Hall of Fame of the world. Any place would do. One year. That’s it. One year.
Once I had gotten some food, a few more cold ones, and a possible date for drinks later on, I swallowed my pride and called Kit back. Using the stupid video Skype thing I hated, I dialed her back.
An instant smile formed across my face when I watched her push buttons and say hi. That’s it. That’s all she said, over and over.
“Hi, hi, hi.”
“Hi, how are you? I hear we’re going to be roommates for a minute. You up for that?”
Bright green eyes moved closer to the camera and then she was gone. I could still hear buttons being pushed and her one and only word, hi, but her cute little face was replaced with a black screen.
Moments later I heard Kit enter the room and then the little girl began screaming out in laughter. Tickling, I presumed. “Hey, what are you doing?” Kit said, unaware of my presence. “Do you want some raisins?”
“Hello, I’m still here,” I called while I waited.
“Oh, hey. Did she call you?” Kit asked, as her and a naked baby came into view. A white diaper. That was it.
Shit. Diapers?
“Um, no. She’s a baby. I called you.”
Kit lifted the little girl, my daughter, to her lap. I was never going to get used to that. I wasn’t supposed to have daughters. I was supposed to be on a stage with hot chicks worshiping at my feet while I sang pretty love songs in their ears.
“I wouldn’t underestimate her eighteen months. She’s extremely smart.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she is. How long?”
“Hang on. Let me get her a box of raisins and put in Up.”
“Put in Up?”
“Yeah, you know. The movie. She loves it, but that could change tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I don’t know,” I mumbled under my breath as I watched her scoop up the child and carry her off, saying something about me being her daddy.
Daddy, Daddy, Daddy. Nope, didn’t work for me. Brantley Jandt wasn’t that type of name. Brantley Jandt was a superstar’s name.
I watched Kit carry a pajama covered baby to the bed and plop her onto the middle with a little red box. She covered her legs with a baby blanket, tossed some ratty looking animal to her lap, and started the movie.
“Sorry, that’s the only thing that will keep her busy long enough to talk,” Kit explained as she sat in a chair in front of me, hair flipping to the back of her shoulder and a knee pulled to her chest. The same way it had the night we made a kid together. Only this time I didn’t find it sexy. I found it to be a trap. She did that same thing