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“It’s an absolute tragedy, if you ask me.” She put down her magazine and stuck out her hand. “My name is Kate.”

“Janie. Nice to meet you, Kate.” They women both cheered as Andy blocked a shot attempted by the rival team. “So number four is your son? He’s adorable. What’s his name?”

Kate hesitated for just a moment. Sure, it would have been easy to explain that she was just doing his mother a favor by bringing him to the game. People got babysitters all the time; Janie would definitely understand that. But when she said the word babysitter, she always thought of a 14-year-old girl who makes seven dollars an hour playing Candy Land and making friendship bracelets. Kate was a grown woman, for crying out loud! But somehow it was hard to explain her relationship with Rick and Amy’s kids with other people. She wasn’t just some random person; she truly was part of the family. She didn’t need another person being sympathetic after finding out she was a glorified babysitter in her late twenties with no real family of her own, and no prospects for one either. Even still, she was surprised to hear the words come out of her mouth.

“My son’s name is Parker. And I so hear you about the whole control thing. Parker can be a bit bossy with his younger brother Todd. Todd hasn’t really gotten to the point yet where he pushes back, but once he does…well, that will be an interesting day.”

“It’s just so hard to be a mom sometimes. I’ve got five of my own, you know.”

“Five??”

“I know. I don’t look a day over twenty-one. That’s what you’re thinking, right?” Janie replied in a joking tone.

“I was thinking more like seventeen. But five, really? Wow. That’s impressive.”

“I know. We started young, and we have one set of twins, and before I knew it I had a small army of children living in my house. Some mornings I wake up and have to remind myself that this is really my life. Apparently I grew up and learned how to be responsible for five little lives, although I don’t remember when that happened.”

“Well, I’m impressed. Really. Sounds like you were just designed to be a mom.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. But you just roll with what life gives you, you know? You step up to the plate and do what you have to do. And you know what the best part is? It’s totally worth it. Every time one of my kids tells me they love me, I know that my life has meaning and that I’m a part of something important.”

Kate’s heart plummeted upon hearing Janie’s words. She had struggled for so long with the idea that her life had no meaning until she had someone to share it with and someone to take care of. Surrounded by parents and children on the soccer field that day, she had never felt more alone in her life.

“Look, Kate, we’re not going to take no for an answer. I already spoke to Grandma Meredith, and she said you can have the whole weekend off. Now start packing! Oh, and also, do you think you can make your chicken salad that I love so much tonight? The one with the grapes and pecans? I thought we could eat outside on the patio and…”

Kate cut Amy off before she could jabber on any further. “Say no to what? What am I packing for? Whose patio are we eating chicken salad on?”

“We’re going to Rick’s parents’ vacation house in Virginia Beach for the weekend! My parents are watching the kids, Darren and Brooke are coming, and it’s going to be so fun!” said Amy. Kate could tell from the sound of dresser drawers opening and closing that Amy was in her bedroom, undoubtedly with clean clothes strewn all over the bed, trying to decide what to pack.

“You said you spoke to Meredith? Wow, you’ve really thought this through.” Kate heard grunts and laughed at the thought of Amy half under her bed trying to reach the mate of her favorite pair of flip flops.

“So it’s all settled then. We’ll swing by and pick you up at 11.”

“Yeah, why not? I could use a weekend away,” said Kate, suddenly excited about the idea of lying on the beach and listening to the surf crash against the shore.

“Great! Don’t forget sunscreen. I’d rather you be pasty than die of skin cancer,” said Amy.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“Oh, I almost forgot – Darren’s brother Ben is coming with us too,” said Amy, who was now apparently pulling her rolling suitcase down the hardwood stairs in her house.

“What? I thought he lived up north somewhere,” said Kate, trying to remember the conversation she had once with Darren about his younger brother. He was a…what had Darren said? Dentist? Environmentalist?

“He does. Up in DC. Apparently he’s been in Raleigh for a couple of days at some sort of journalism…” (Journalist! Not even close, Kate thought.) “conference and he was planning on spending the weekend here with Darren. Darren wouldn’t agree to come with us unless I invited his brother along, so I did. The more the merrier, right?” said Amy.

“Sure, why not?” she responded. “If he’s anything like Darren, then we’re in for twice the bad puns, aren’t we?”

“Ha! I didn’t even think of that,” said Amy. “I love Darren, but I don’t think the world can handle more than one of him.”

“Forget the world! I don’t think I can handle more than one Darren on a three hour car ride,” said Kate with a chuckle. “Okay, I better get packed. See you soon, yeah?”

“Yep! Adios.”

“Bye Ames.”

~~~~~

At 11:20, Kate finally heard the rumble of the Bailey’s SUV. “Late as usual,” she mumbled as she slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and headed towards the car. She waved at Amy in the front passenger seat (who had her feet up on the dash and was painting her toenails bright pink) as she headed to the back to deposit her bag. Before she made it back to the rear of the car, the back door opened and a man jumped out. His muscular arms reached out and took the bag from her.

“Hi. I’m Ben. You must be Kate,” said the man as he stowed her bag in the back among the other luggage. He flashed her a big smile - the kind of smile you just knew he’d been giving since he was young which allowed him to get away with murder - and stuck out his hand.

“Y-yes, I’m Kate. Very nice to meet you, Ben,” she said, shaking his outstretched hand. It was big and warm, and his handshake felt confident and immediately made her comfortable around him. He was tall and handsome, with short light brown hair and brown eyes, and Kate suddenly felt butterflies in her stomach.

They piled back in the car – Rick in the driver’s seat with his wife by his side, Darren and Ben in the very back, and Brooke in the middle seat with room for Kate beside her.

“Hi, Kate!” they all said in unison.

Kate took her seat and they set off for their weekend away. All of the friends were joking and laughing, and Ben seemed to fit in so naturally. It wasn’t more than 20 miles into the drive that Ben started to tease Kate as if they were old friends. Before long she had turned around completely in her seat to be able to face Ben so she could talk to him without straining her neck. And besides, he was so nice to look at…

“Okay lady, hand over your iPod. Immediately. We’re either about to become best friends or bitter enemies,” said Ben.

“You can’t possibly have a problem with my taste in music. It’s impeccable. Trust me.” She handed him the iPod and watched while he scrolled through her music collection.

“Okay…hmm, interesting…Bon Jovi…Sinatra…ooh, you like country music too…Travis Cottrell, he’s one of my favorite worship leaders…movie soundtracks, excellent…Kate Henry, I’ve gotta admit. You were right. You have impeccable taste in music.” He lifted his hand to give her a high five.

“Told you so.”

“Wait a minute, what is this? The soundtrack to the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie? Seriously!?”

Grabbing her iPod back, Kate said, “I’m sorry, but the singing chipmunk voices just crack me up!”

“Okay, I guess I’ll let that one slide. We can still be friends. But there’s got to be something wrong with you. Drama or comedy?”

“Um, comedy, of course!”

“Hot or cold?”

“Cold.”

“Early riser or late sleeper?”

“Early riser.”

“Baseball or football?”

“Baseball.”

“Ooh, so close. I’m sorry, but that was the wrong answer. Thank you so much for playing. Please enjoy these lovely parting gifts.”

“Knock it off!” she said, giving him a playful whack in the arm. They talked about their jobs and their families, their favorite movies and actors, their favorite places to travel, and then landed on confessing their most embarrassing moments.

“Okay, this is so bad. It was my first day of high school and I got all dressed up in this cute little short jean skirt, and white top, and white sandals. I walked to the bus stop, which was this big dirt hill on the side of the road. The boy who lived next door was a junior and was one of the stars of the football team, and he was standing at the bus stop when I got there. I smiled at him and he smiled back, and I stood there feeling adorable and imagined how great my life was going to be once he fell in love with me - which would happen by the end of the week, of course - and we would walk off of the bus holding hands. Except…”

“Oh no. What happened?” asked Ben, bracing himself for what was about to come.

“When the bus came I was closest to the door, so I took a step down the hill. I completely lost my footing and ate it.
Hard
. It was bad. I slid on my behind all the way down the hill and had to spend the entire first day of high school covered in dirt.”

“No!” cried Ben. “You didn’t! That’s horrible!”

“Don’t I know it.”

“Too bad you never got to date that football star.”

“Who said I didn’t? He took me to prom that spring.”

Ben laughed heartily. “You are something. Has anyone ever told you that?”

“Regularly,” she replied. “Okay, your turn.”

“Fine. Mine’s pretty bad too, unfortunately. Back when I was in college, I was a part of this traveling singing group.”

“Wait, you sing?” Kate interrupted. “Let’s hear something. Come on.”

“Do you want to hear the story or not?”

“Fine,” she grumbled. “But I expect you to serenade all of us before the weekend is over.”

Ignoring her request, Ben continued. “We traveled all over the country in the summer, singing at schools and churches. Mostly churches. Whenever we sang at a church, we would stay with families from the church in their homes. It was actually really great – I got to meet so many different people. I loved it.”

“Get to the good part,” said Kate.

“I’m getting there! My goodness, you’re difficult. So one night, I was staying with my friend Greg in a particularly nice home in Phoenix. You should have seen this house – full of marble and expensive artwork and furniture that you wouldn’t dare to sit on. They showed us to one of the guest rooms and made sure we had towels for the morning, and then…then, they showed us the bathroom.”

“This can’t be good if it involves a bathroom. Although it can’t be as bad as Darren’s bathroom story.”

“Which we will not be sharing, thank you very much,” said Darren, clasping his hand over Kate’s mouth. She struggled and laughed, but ultimately respected his wishes.

“Well, I don’t know Darren’s story, but this is pretty bad,” said Ben. “So they proceeded to tell us that the housing community where they lived was committed to conserving water and that all the homeowners had installed low-flow toilets in their bathrooms. ‘So don’t worry if the toilet clogs, it happens all the time,’ they said. They even handed me a plunger that had a bow tied around the handle. ‘Here’s the guest plunger. Don’t be afraid to use it.’”