Top Dog

A fervent knock came at my door as I was looking at the numbers the contractor gave me. It was going to take so much more money than he had first estimated to fix just the big things. The entire porch and kitchen counter needed to be replaced, and the staircase would have to be completely reconstructed. The outlets by the sinks in the kitchen weren’t up to code, the roof had to be patched, and some of the furniture upstairs was unsalvageable because of the water leaking through the holes in the ceiling.

I was looking at a sixty-thousand-dollar overhaul, and that was only the big stuff.

The knocking pulled me from my thoughts, and I tried to clear my head. I swiped at my tears and fluffed my hair, knowing it could only be one person. I smoothed my hands over my shirt and cleared my throat, trying to cast the money out of my head as I walked to the door.

I whipped it open, however, and found a very distraught Brian standing in front of me.

“Brian?” I asked. “What’s wrong?”

His eyes were stern, but his hands were fidgeting. His cheeks were red, and he was shuffling on his feet. I peeked out and looked around, trying to see if I could find Lanie. But when I didn’t, the worst ran through my mind.

“Where’s Lanie?” I asked.

“With her nanny,” he said.

Relief flooded my system as I stepped off to the side

“It’s a mess in here, but you’re welcome to come in,” I said.

Brian stepped into my home, and his body stopped. His eyes were scanning the cabin, taking stock of its desolate nature. I shut the door behind him as he slowly walked over into the kitchen, his eyes on the piece of paper I’d left out to answer the door.

I ran up behind him and snatched it off the surface, hoping he hadn’t seen. I stuffed it into my pocket as he turned and looked at me, his worried stare turning quizzical.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Brian, is Lanie all right?”

“Yeah, I think so. I mean, she will be. I—”

He ran his hand through his hair and sighed, but the sigh wasn’t of relief. It was a tense sigh. A stressed sigh.

It was the sigh of a man who was running out of options.

“Are you thirsty?” I asked.

“I wanted to ask you a favor.”

“Oh. Sure. What’s up?” I asked.

“I have a meeting with someone in town on Monday. An urgent meeting. And my nanny isn’t available to watch Lanie. She’s has doctors’ appointments lined up with her own kids all day Monday.”

“I can help out. Is everything okay? You looked really freaked about something.”

His eyes looked over at me hesitantly before he drew in a deep breath.

“No, everything’s not ok,” he finally said.

I leaned against the counter as Brian looked down at his feet. I could tell he wanted to talk, but he was in awkward territory. A man who kept himself isolated probably didn’t know how to have a conversation like this. He was rigid, to the point, and precise. He came here to ask a favor, and he asked it.

He didn’t look prepared to have a conversation, but he also didn’t leave.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked.

“It’s Lanie’s biological father,” he said.

That got my attention.

“He’s alive?” I asked. “I figured with you watching her he was o