“Weren’t you watching her?” As soon as he spoke, Sean regretted his words. “I’m sorry, honey,” he said, jiggling the baby in his arms. “I shouldn’t have left her with you.”
“She made a ladder out of the drawers, see?” Charlie pointed out, indicating the counter drawers. “Mom always said Ashley’s too smart for her own good.”
Dogged by guilt, he trudged upstairs again. After what Lily had told him about her own experience, Sean should have known better. “Can’t even take a piss when I need to anymore,” he muttered under his breath.
Ashley was still whimpering when he set her on the bed next to Maura. She stirred and offered a sleepy smile. “What’s up, buttercup?” she asked the baby.
“She fell,” Sean said. “I don’t think she’s hurt, but could you check her out?”
Maura pushed herself up on her hands. “Sure. Wait here a minute. I need to pee and brush my teeth.”
When she was gone, Sean looked at Ashley, who had stopped crying. “Where does it hurt? Head? Elbow? Bottom?”
She shook her head but waited patiently for Maura. Sean glanced at the clock. Seven twenty-five. T minus thirty-five minutes and counting. Maura seemed to be taking her time in the bathroom; it was all he could do to keep from yelling at her to hurry up. When she finally came out, he said, “I need to go make sure the other kids are ready for school.” Pulling on a T-shirt over his head, he walked down the hall, hammering at Cameron’s door. “You up?”
“I am now” came a grumpy voice.
Sean went downstairs and made sure Charlie ate something. She was looking down in dismay at her Brownie jumper. “This needs to be ironed.”
At that, he laughed aloud. “You’re barking up the wrong tree, kid.”
She looked wounded. “Will Maura do it?”
“Doubt it. You look fine, Charlie, I swear. Come over here and I’ll fix your hair.” It was their morning ritual, and Sean was getting pretty damned good at braids. This morning, however, with her yellow braids and weird uniform, she looked like a member of the Hitler youth. He said nothing, though. Charlie was as fragile and volatile as a vial of nitro.
Cameron came thumping down the stairs, as surly as he dared to be without Sean calling him on it. Since the golf course incident, he’d been reasonably well behaved. Nothing like a sentence of hard physical labor to keep a kid out of trouble.
“Where’s my backpack?” he asked.
“Wherever you left it,” Charlie said before Sean could.
“Yeah, that’s real cute.” He found it on his own under the kitchen table, exactly where he’d left it.
Sean didn’t nag him about breakfast. The kid was old enough to know he was supposed to eat. There was a chaotic flurry of last-minute paperwork—a permission slip for Charlie, a surprisingly adequate grade report for Cameron—and then they both rushed out to catch the bus. For a moment, the kitchen was utterly silent. Sean looked at the digital clock on the stove. The glorious silence lasted approximately one minute. Then Maura came in with Ashley who looked happier but still wasn’t dressed. He had the urge to ask, Do you think you could have dressed her? But he resisted. Maura hadn’t signed up for this, any of this. She tried to be a good sport about it.
“Is there coffee?” she asked, her usual morning greeting.
He dumped some into a filter, filled the reservoir of the coffeemaker and flipped it on. “In about five minutes.”
Maura took out her Blackberry to check messages before heading to the hospital. Sean put Ashley in her high chair and opened a can of diced peaches for her. The phone rang, and he reached for it with one hand while the other dumped the peaches into a bowl. It was Mrs. Foster, saying she wouldn’t be able to babysit today. “I understand,” Sean said, because there was nothing else to say. “Call me when you’re better.”
He hung up and checked the coffeepot. Maura had already taken the first cup. “Mrs. Foster can’t come today. She’s sick.”
“That’s too bad.” She finished her coffee. “Listen, I need to run.” She gave Ashley a quick kiss on the head and Sean a longer one on the mouth. “See you.”
“So it’s just you and me, kid,” Sean said to Ashley, who was placidly eating her peaches. “I was going to get in a round before work today.” Nerves and frustration made him hyper, and he cleaned