“Did you make this? You did NOT do this. You’re too little,” she said with mock indignation. “This looks just like the City Hall daffodils for the like two seconds they bloomed this year. Is this the one the teacher made, and you just sneaked off with it?”
Sadie giggled. “No, that’s mine! I did that. See, I used scissors on it and cut on the line except I missed a line a little bit there and it doesn’t look right.”
“False. It looks perfect. I’m still not sure that you could—oh, there’s your name on the back. Huh. I guess it is yours.”
Sadie beamed under the teasing and praise. “You can take it home,” Sadie said.
“Hey,” I put in. “You gave that to me! Make her another one. No one gets to steal my Original Sadie Artwork,” I said.
“So, Max, you been holding out on me? Where’s the gallery where this kid does her art shows?”
“We’ve tried to keep it quiet so the other kids don’t feel useless. They can’t even color in the lines,” I joked right back. She giggled.
“I don’t have a show. I don’t get to have a YouTube or anything. Daddy says. No Snapchat, no TikTok—”
“Sadie Cakes,” Rachel said, “it’s Daddy’s job to keep you safe. It’s his most important job. So you gotta trust him. He knows that even though it looks fun, it’s not safe for a little girl,” she said. “I didn’t even get a phone till I could buy one myself. But when I did, I took real good care of it, because I had to earn it. You will, too.”
I glanced at her. She had no idea what kind of money I had. My daughter wasn’t going to have to work a part-time job to pay for her phone or her car or her college. But I didn’t say that. Let her be nice, talk about work ethic a little. It wasn’t like I spoiled Sadie—I’d been careful not to. But the idea that my little girl would have to struggle just galled me. Rachel was talking to her like a person, which she always did, and Sadie ate it up.
“You’re my new sitter, right?” she said.
“Your daddy and I are talking about that tonight. We want to make sure everything will work out.”
“I can’t stay by myself. I can’t even drive,” Sadie said.
“Dang, Max. You’re so strict. You won’t let her have Snapchat or a YouTube channel, and now she can’t even drive? How is she ever gonna fit in with the other kids at this rate?” she teased.
I felt a smile on my face, felt my pulse kick up. Rachel teasing me, backing me up, felt good. I was as excited to have her here as Sadie was in a way, and I told myself to be careful. She was easy to talk to. She had a rapport with Sadie. It would be too natural to fall into a trap of letting her fit right in with us. She praised the salad Sadie had helped with and coaxed her into eating a little bit of carrot and one tiny lettuce bite dipped in ranch.
When I was leaned over cutting up Sadie’s roast beef, I glanced over at Rachel, who quickly looked away. I was a hundred percent sure she had been checking out my ass. Which, if this were a date, would’ve been good news for later. Since it was a job interview, it was awkward. I ignored it and kept all my attention on Sadie, talking to her about how much meat she was going to need to eat in order to get dessert.
She promptly turned to Rachel and said, in a low voice, “When it’s you and me, you don’t have to do that thing with the counting my bites. We can just eat whatever.”
I cleared my throat. I saw Rachel’s eyes dancing with suppressed laughter at my sneaky kid.
“Two things. One, I can hear you,” I told Sadie, “and, two, rules are rules. It’s about keeping you healthy and helping you grow. Not finding ways to sneak out of eating nutritious food and seeing if you can con the new sitter into giving you ice cream.”
“Pie,” Sadie corrected. Rachel covered her mouth with her napkin and snorted with laughter. I kept my mouth from quirking up at the corner. I couldn’t laugh when she talked back. It would encourage her.
“Sadie, you know that’s not okay. Can you apologize and be nice, or do you need a few minutes to cool down in your room?”
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” she sighed.
I could tell it was because she felt embarrassed in front of Rachel because her cheeks went pink, and she turned shy all at once. I felt like I needed to be serious, stricter in front of Rachel. I didn’t want her thinking my daughter was disrespectful or that I wanted her to have a smart mouth. I didn’t, in short, want Rachel to think badly of me. It was uncomfortable to realize that was what motivated me in the moment.