Lymber craft's Arc

Chapter 68 of 70

Monday morning Lymber sat at the kitchen table with a legal pad and a cold cup of coffee. Her five-day schedule at the tower started in one week. Paul had already left. The twins were fighting over a spoon. Jett was crying about a sock. Violetta was upstairs and would not come down until she smelled toast. Lymber had called four sitters over the weekend. Two never called back. One wanted twenty-two an hour. One said she couldn't take four kids. Lymber wrote the number four on the pad and circled it. Then she wrote the word help and underlined it twice. Maggie texted her a name at ten. Saddie Blackwell. Maggie said Saddie had watched her sister's boys for three years and was looking for a new family. Lymber called the number. Saddie picked up on the second ring. She said she could come by that afternoon. She said her rate was twelve an hour and she brought her own snacks. Lymber almost asked her to say it again. She didn't. She gave the address and hung up. Saddie showed up at two in jean shorts and a blue tank top, long black hair pulled behind one shoulder. She looked younger than Lymber expected. She walked into the front room of the house and set her bag down without waiting to be told where. Missy climbed her leg within a minute. Max brought her a truck. Jett watched from the stairs and then came down. Saddie sat on the floor and asked each of them their name. She got all four right on the second round. Violetta came into the kitchen for water and stopped when she saw Saddie on the rug with the twins in her lap. Violetta said, she's cool. Then she went back upstairs. Lymber walked Saddie to the door at four. She asked if Saddie could start Monday, seven-thirty to five-thirty, five days. Saddie said yes. Lymber asked about the rate again to be sure. Saddie said twelve, and said her last family paid the same, and she liked houses with more than one kid because the day went faster. Lymber wrote the schedule on the pad while Saddie stood in the entryway. They shook hands. Saddie left. Lymber closed the door and leaned against it. The twins were quiet in the front room. Jett was drawing at the table. Upstairs Violetta was playing music low through the wall. Lymber picked up her phone and emailed her manager that she was set for Monday. She sent it before she could think about it. Then she sat down at the table and finished the cold coffee. The house held. She had one week to keep it holding until the woman with the black hair came back through the door.