was able to relax. A little, at least.
Something else had happened today, a connection to the children and Sean that troubled Lily. She knew she had to keep her distance from this family, because they didn’t belong to her. He might decide to move to Phoenix next week, and just like that, they’d be gone. Lily didn’t know if she could survive a loss like that.
The dishwasher light indicated that the cycle was over, so she decided to unload it. Sean and Charlie had insisted on doing the dishes, and they were haphazardly piled in the racks. Lily pursed her lips, vowed not to let the disorganization ruffle her. Despite the way the dishes were loaded, they all came out clean. She was finishing up when Sean came downstairs alone.
“That was quick,” she said.
“They’re still in the tub. I just came down to get some towels out of the dryer.”
Her blood froze momentarily, then rushed boiling hot through her. A plastic cereal dish tumbled from her fingers. “My God, you can’t leave them alone.” She raced upstairs and burst through the open door of the bathroom. She felt Sean’s presence behind her but ignored him.
The girls were facing each other, up to their armpits in bubbles.
“Lily,” said Ashley, squishing a sponge in her hands.
She didn’t answer but turned and grabbed a towel from Sean, who stood in the doorway. The towel was still warm from the dryer. She got Ashley out of the tub, dried her off and got her ready for bed. “You, too, Charlene Louise,” she said to Charlie. “Unplug the drain.”
“Are you mad at us?” Charlie asked, clutching a towel around her. Bubbles still clung to her skinny legs.
Lily tried to will her heart to stop its panicked leaping. “Of course not.”
“Are you mad at Uncle Sean?”
Lily said, “It’s bedtime. Let’s see how quick you can get your jammies on.”
“That’s what grown-ups always say when they want a kid to shut up and go to bed.”
“That’s because it’s more polite than saying ‘shut up and go to bed.’”
Apparently satisfied with that answer, Charlie put on an oversize satin peignoir that dragged along the floor behind her. Noticing Lily’s look, she spread her arms like pale wings. “It was Mom’s,” she explained. “I sleep better when I wear it. Come and say good-night, Uncle Sean,” she called as Lily tucked her in bed.
He came into the room the girls shared. “Good-night, Uncle Sean,” he called back, clearly a running joke with them. He kissed the baby and handed her a toy to hide in the crib. Then he kissed Charlie on the head. “Good night, Zippy,” he said.
“’Night, Duke.”
As they went downstairs together, Lily felt disoriented by his sweetness with the girls. She wondered if he understood the power of that moment, and if he realized, as she did, that this arrangement was actually working. Then she remembered that, sweet or not, he had just done something extremely frightening. “What were you thinking, leaving them in the bath unattended?”
“They like taking their bath together. I ducked out for maybe thirty seconds to get some towels.”
“They can’t be left alone in the bath ever again, do you hear me? Ashley is too little to take a bath unsupervised. And Charlie is too young to watch her even for thirty seconds. You need to promise it won’t happen again.”
He waved off her concern. “They were fine.”
“If you think that, you’re fooling yourself.”
“Hey, I’m doing the best I can. It’s awkward as hell with Charlie. I’m not her father and I don’t want to cross the line, if you know what I mean.”
She pushed down the panic climbing up in her throat. “All right. I get it. Charlie will have to take a bath on her own, but keep the door open and make sure you can hear her. You’re going to have to monitor the baby every single second, do you understand? You cannot even blink when she’s in the bath.”
He looked surprised by her vehemence. “Got it. No blinking.”
“I’m not fussing about this, Sean. You can’t dismiss this like you do my ideas about nutrition and TV and the right way to load the dishwasher.” She felt a fury of tears stinging her eyes and turned away to hide it. “This is life and death. Things can happen—everything can change—in the blink of an eye.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“Think of what it would do to Charlie if something happened, just think.” Her words came out in a passionate