A Temporary Arrangement

Upstairs, the kids seemed surprised by the efficiency’s small living area, dominated by a threadbare couch and single chair. The tiny kitchenette in one corner. The queen-size bed she’d angled into another corner, and had covered with her jewel-toned quilt and shams in an effort to make the place more homey.

“This is real pretty,” Lily murmured. “But there’s no place for us to sleep.”

“That’s why Connor dropped off your sleeping bags and duffels this morning. I figure you can each camp in a different corner. You’re welcome to make tents out of chairs and my extra blankets.”

Tyler grinned. “Cool.”

“I’m over by the TV, and I get it first,” Drew announced. He pawed through one of the duffels and pulled out a black plastic box with cords and controllers dangling from it like an electronic octopus. In seconds he was behind the small TV, figuring out the connections.

“That’s not fair,” Tyler complained. “We didn’t even draw for it.”

Draw for it? Abby realized she should have managed the first TV rights equitably. “How about giving Drew an hour, then you and Lily can draw straws for who goes next?”

Lily, who’d settled on the couch with a Harry Potter hardcover book that weighed almost as much as she did, shot Abby a look of gratitude, then dropped her gaze to the open book in her lap.

Tyler stuck out his lower lip. “Drew’s always first, just ’cause he’s bigger. And if Lily wins, that’s not fair, ’cause her dumb movie lasts forever.”

Reminded of her one—and only—disastrous babysitting job as a teen, Abby smiled. “Then how about helping me bake some cookies while you wait? You could be the one to decorate them before they go in the oven.”

The television blared to life—a cacophony of gunshots and screams that nearly shook the rafters before Drew found the volume button on the remote.

Startled, Lily jerked and her heavy book slid to the floor.

“Jeez, Drew. Wake up the dead, will you?” Tyler snapped.

And from downstairs they heard muffled curses…then the thud! thud! thud! of Hubert’s broom handle beneath them.

Abby managed a reassuring smile as she motioned with her hands for quiet. They were good, normal kids. They couldn’t help making noise. But this whole idea had obviously been a mistake.

She already knew she’d be hearing from Hubert in the morning…and the news wouldn’t be good.

CHAPTER TWO

DELAYING HER INEVITABLE confrontation with Hubert, Abby bustled around her little kitchen, cleaning up after feeding the kids her favorite malted-milk waffles, scrambled eggs with cheese and fresh-squeezed orange juice.

They’d all been restless last night and had finally dozed off at the end of Lily’s movie, but for some inexplicable reason they were all awake by six…their occasional arguments or bursts of laughter bringing energy and excitement to the apartment and making her laugh.

But Hubert would be waiting for the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. And then he’d be on his front porch when she came around the house, ready to complain about her latest Noise Infraction. Hubert, she thought grimly as she dried the final piece of silverware, needed a life.

“Now, we’ve got two choices,” she said as she wiped the last of the crumbs off the counter. “It’s beautiful outside, seventy degrees and sunny. We could stay here and watch old movies…or go out to the lake and feed the ducks the rest of these waffles.”

“Ducks?” Drew rolled his eyes. “We’re not little kids.”

“So then, how about feeding the ducks and then going on a hike?” Belatedly, Abby remembered Lily’s weak left leg, from a club foot that hadn’t been properly treated when she was in foster care. She thought up a fast excuse to avoid a long walk. “I’m too tired to walk very far, but we could follow Sapphire Lake and watch the Jet Skis and sailboats for a while.”

Tyler and Drew exchanged bored looks that revealed just how exciting that sounded. Then Drew gave Tyler’s shoulder a playful shove. Tyler bent to tackle him at the waist and they hit the floor, wrestling like a pile of puppies until Abby managed to call a halt.

“Monopoly? Scrabble?” Abby searched her memory for anything she’d liked at their ages, but without siblings or close friends, she’d spent most of her childhood between the pages of good books. “Cards?”

Drew dove in for a sneak attack on Tyler and they crashed against the sofa. It screeched against the hardwood floor.

“Stop!” she ordered. “Now.”

Chastened, they fell apart, breathing hard—and then Tyler punched Drew in the ribs and they were at it again.

“Grab your shoes. We’re leaving.” She thought fast. “I could use your advice, really. Do you guys know anything about pets?”

That got their attention.

“Why?” Tyler asked, dodging another feint by Drew.

Hubert’s broom handle began pounding an all too familiar rebuke.

“I, um, think I’ll be moving very soon.” Maybe sooner than I planned. “And I was thinking about checking out the animals at the shelter. Would you like to go there and help me look? We’ll need to hurry, though. I think they close at eleven on Saturdays.”

“Awesome!” Drew spun away and pulled his Nikes from the pile of shoes the kids had left at the door. “A big dog would be really cool. Like, a guard dog, or something.”

“Something cuddly,” Lily ventured, her eyes downcast. “With big brown eyes and lots of white fur.”

“Maybe a hedgehog.” Tyler grabbed his own shoes and jammed his feet into them. “You could even keep it in your pocket when you were at work.”

The image made Abby laugh out loud. “Interesting idea, sport. Now tell me how you’d get it out of your pocket!”

Given an interesting activity, the boys seemed to have forgotten their wrestling techniques. Abby breathed a sigh of relief. After an hour at the shelter and an hour or so at the lake, they could stop at that little malt shop in town for lunch.

With luck, she could find something else to entertain them until three, and then she could give them all back.

If she lasted that long.

How on earth did mothers survive day after day after day?

THE KIDS BOUNDED out of Abby’s car when she pulled to a stop at the animal shelter. She rested her palms at the top of the steering wheel and dropped her head against them for a moment, still reeling after Hubert’s announcement from his porch.

That’s it. Your phone jangles day and night. You come and go twenty-four hours a day and create a ruckus. Be out of here when your month’s rent is up July eighth. If you find another place sooner, I’ll gladly refund the difference.

He’d stalked back into his house but, Hubert-like, didn’t slam the door. He closed it quietly…with the finality of a judge passing sentence on a habitual felon.

She’d tried explaining the late-night calls from the hospital staff. The times she’d had to go back to the hospital for emergencies or to cover for a nurse who’d called in sick. The fact that the kids were just a one-time deal.

But to Hubert the explanations hadn’t mattered.

If she hadn’t been so aware of the stares of several neighbors watching from their porch swings and the curiosity of the three kids, she might have found it almost funny.

At a sharp rap on her car window she looked up to find three eager young faces plastered to the glass.

“Come on!” Drew urged. “They won’t let kids in there without an adult!”

Hurry, Tyler mouthed, as if she couldn’t hear through the door.