Now that it was summer I should theoretically have no worries. Theoretically.
Dad still had work and my grandma was usually out on a walk, grocery shopping, or at the hospital with James. Autumn pretty much lived there which was understandable being that she was carrying his baby.
I woke around 9 in the morning to an empty house and a notification on my phone. Liam was coming over and so was Riley - the little girl that lived across the street from me. I usually babysat her over the summer.
"You'll only need to watch her for about an hour or so. Her aunt is going to be picking her up for the rest of the week." Mrs. Dawson told me when she dropped off Riley.
"Ok, that's fine." I tell her as I smile at Riley. "C'mon Riley, I bought coloring bookings." I entice. She smiles her toothless smile and takes me hand as her mom waves goodbye.
Riley was 5 and the easiest money I've ever made. She never caused me trouble throughout the two summers I've been babysitting her.
"My mommy taught me how to write my name. Watch." She said in her little voice as she tucked a blonde curl behind her ear.
I leaned over and watched her write her name with the "R" backwards and the "y" and "e" switched. I smile at her effort and show her the mistakes she made.
"No. I'm right." She insists as if she was teaching me. "That's how I spell my name."
"I don't think it works like that, Riley," I laugh. The doorbell rings, causing Riley to jump.
"Mommy!" She screams as she runs to the door.
"Not yet. We still have a couple of hours." I say opening the door, revealing the disappointment to her. "Riley, this is Liam. He's my friend." I tell her.
"Your husband?" She inquires.
"No," Liam laughs, chiming in. "Friends." He then added in a hesitant manner.
He walks in and gives me an awkward look before sitting down at the table with Riley.
"Do you like coloring?" Riley asked him.
"Of course I do. My favorite color to color with is blue." He says with a smile.
"Me too! Andi said she likes to color with yellow, but I don't like yellow because that's the color of pee." Riley states in a matter of fact tone.
"Ok, let's not talk about that at the table." I say to her as I make her peanut butter and jelly sandwich. "You want a sandwich?" I ask Liam.
"Sure. I'll take one." He pauses before grabbing my attention. "You doing ok?" He then mouths.
I nod my head slightly before putting my focus back on the sandwich making.
"Andi, where's James?" Riley asks as she colors with the blue crayon.
"He's sick. But he'll get better." I tell her keeping my back to the table.
"Hey, Riley, what's your favorite animal?" Liam pipes in to quickly change the subject. I smile to myself as I push the pieces of bread together.
Liam got along well with Riley. He was a natural with kids because when he was around kids, he was a kid himself.
"You can't catch me." Riley teased after we finished watching a movie and eating lunch. Both Liam and I get up and "chase" after her. I run around to the other side to catch her by surprise.
I see her big brown eyes light up as I sneak around the corner to catch her when her foot slipped from underneath her. She hit her forehead on the corner before I could grab her and instantly starts crying.
"It's ok," I say in a soothing voice, as I pick her up, only to realize that it wasn't. There was what seemed to be a gash in her forehead that was bleeding.
I look up at Liam with worried eyes, not wanting to scare Riley.
"Come here, Riley," Liam said calmly. I bring her over to him as I grab a wash cloth and get it wet. "It's only a scratch. And besides it'll only make you look cooler." He soothes.
"Yeah, no one will want to mess with Riley." I say bending down and dabbing the wet cloth on her forehead. She was sitting on Liam's lap and started to calm down. "And you're just so fast that none of us could catch you."
"Really?" She asks skeptical. "You almost caught me."
"Almost." I repeat. After wiping the blood away, it was apparent that it was only a scratch. Just a scratch that bled a lot.
Shortly after the incident Riley's aunt came to pick her up. It wasn't ideal to explain to her that she hit her head on the corner and bled a significant amount, yet apparently it wasn't the first time it's happened.
Liam closes the door after we say our goodbyes and they leave. He turned to face me and sighs.
"She's a cute kid." He then says walking to the couch. "You always babysit her?"
"Yeah. I mean she's a pretty easy kid to babysit." I felt my stomach turn as I sat next to him. Friends. That's what we were and that's all I wanted to be right now.
There's to much at risk when your in a relationship with someone. Your give them your heart with the expectation that they'll give you theirs in return. However life isn't a pretty picture that is perfect.
There's also fear. The fear that I'll lose him as a friend, and I wouldn't want that to happen. I couldn't, Liam was a part of my life now. And there were only a handful of people that were like that.
