"What's Gordi doing here?" I ask Al. I contemplated coffee for the first time ever this morning. Monday's aren't really my thing and the lack of sleep doesn't help.
"I didn't want to leave him at day care... not with... everything. But don't worry, Bill okayed it."
I smile slightly and greet Gordi with a hug. He seems completely normal.
"Leah!" Bill steps out of his office.
"Yeah?"
"Special circumstances. I need Al today for heavy lifting, can you watch Gordi?"
It's more of an order than a request but I nod. With a sigh of relief I tie on an apron. Staying at the greenhouse means I won't have to see Hunter. Plus Gordi is like his dad, he could spend all day just getting covered in dirt, as long as I watch him closely I can leave him in peace.
"What are you doing?" Bill stands over me as I get to work.
"Um... hoeing."
"Come on, you've gotta get moving."
"Oh, I thought I was staying." My heart sinks.
"No, you and Tori can switch off on child watch. Go on now."
"Okay." I stand and grab Gordi's hand and together we run to the truck. Today just got so much worse. Hanging around Tori is a nightmare. And she HATES kids.
"Okay, first off," Tori greets me as Al drops us off at the house. "YOU are in charge of him; second, stay out of the way." She storms away. "This is so unprofessional." I hear her mutter under her breath.
In this case I have to agree, having unauthorized people on the job site breaks so many rules... having a child on the job site... I don't even want to think about what rules we are breaking.
Thankfully, I don't see the clients having much of a problem with it. Especially once Lynette sees Gordi.
"Oh! Who is this sweet, sweet little boy?" She comes out of the house and zeros in on him immediately.
"This is Gordi; Gordi, this is Mrs. Hayes." I tell him as he ducks behind my legs.
"Oh please honey, call me Lynette."
"He's a bit under the weather... so he came out with us today."
"Well in that case, would you like to help me make cookies?"
He nods and she leads us inside.
"Iz Hun'er!" He squeals with glee at seeing his picture.
"Oh, you know my son?"
"Yeah, he owes me an' Le-ah ice cream."
"Oh really?" She asks, laughter clearly hiding in her voice.
They continue to make small talk. I watch and help out a bit. Suddenly Gordi stops and jerks. I hold my breath but in the blink of an eye he's back to normal again. I'm tensed up and I don't know what to do. Do I pull him aside and check on him, do I leave him alone and hope nothing else happens? I shoot Al a text to tell him what happened and then I try to pretend that nothing is wrong, still staying hyper aware.
The phone rings and Lynette runs to answer it.
"How's it going Gordi? Having fun?"
"Yeah!" He hits the dough with a wooden spoon, pretending it's a drum.
"Of course, come on over! Yep... see you soon... love you too... bye." I catch the end of Lynette's conversation and she hangs up and walks back into the kitchen. I want to ask her who she was talking to but I can't, it would be rude and I lack the courage.
The answer is revealed soon enough, I see Hunter's car coming down the driveway.
Gordi already sits at the table in the dining room, eating fresh baked cookies by the handful. He seems to have less energy than usual even though it's not yet noon I'm thinking about letting him take a nap.
"Hey mom." I hear Hunter's voice as he bounds through the front door.
I hug the wall in the dining room keeping out of sight, I stay absolutely silent.
"Hi Hun'er!" Gordi jumps up and runs out of the room, straight to Hunter.
"Hi? Hey, Gordi. What are you doing here?"
"I'm sick in the head, and Le-ah an' I and yr mom baked cookies!"
"Ah, fun... Leah's here?"
"Uh-huh."
I step into view. "Hey." I raise my hand in the smallest of waves.
"Hi." He smiles widely and I glance out a nearby window.
"Come on Gordi, let's go see what your dad is up to."
"Can Hun'er come?"
I look up at him as I help Gordi put on his shoes. He's still smiling. "Um... I don't know, you'll have to ask."
"Hun'er, can you come?"
"Sure!"
Gordi jumps up and takes my hand and Hunter's. Together we head outside.
"Hey, um... Tori?" I lead us over to where she stands, giving directions to team 2.
"What?!" She turns, her face hard. Upon seeing Hunter her expression changes. "Hey, sorry... stress, you know. I didn't mean to snap at you, what's up?" She puts her hand on my arm in a friendly manner.
I hate it when this happens. I want to jump out of my skin at Tori's touch, to call her out as a fake. "Yeah, no problem... uh... do you happen to know where Al is?"
"Um..." she looks at her clipboard. "He's out in the south quadrant. I expect them to be checking in around 12:30 or so...
"Okay, are there any available trucks?"
"Nope, afraid not."
"We could take my car." Hunter offers.
"No, it's fine. We can wait, right Gordi?"
"Hi, I'm Tori." She elbows her way in, expertly cutting my conversation off and completely ignoring both myself and Gordi.
"Oh, sorry... um Hunter, this is Tori; Tori, Hunter."
He shakes her hand. "Nice to meet you."
"So this is your parent's house right?" She flips her raven locks back and grins, her face as bright as the sun, blue eyes flashing.
"Yeah."
Tori slips into an easy conversation with him. Gordi drops my hand and Hunter's, bored with the grown up talk. He runs off to a nearby flowerbed that's already been torn up.
I watch him as he starts to dig, pretending to be listening to Tori and Hunter. Then I see Gordi freeze up and I can tell something's not right.
"Excuse me." I say so quietly that Tori doesn't notice. Hunter seems to acknowledge me with his eyes. I rush to Gordi's side. "Gordi? Hey man, you okay?"
He looks up at me and smiles. I could kill Al for leaving me with all of this stress. Might as well add Bill to the list. I glance over at Hunter and Tori. They seem to be getting along splendidly.
She laughs and touches his arm. Wow, she's moving quickly. I feel a small pang in my chest, a memory resurfaces and I push it back. Love only destroys. I swallow the lump in my throat, I'm not going there.
He asks her a question and they start walking away. Her musical laugh rings through the air. I feel like a weight has been lifted, I am free from Tori's presence, from Hunter's unsettling eyes. And yet I almost wish he wasn't talking to her.
I start to help Gordi plant imaginary trees and we talk about all of the fruit we will get to pick when they've grown big and strong.
Finally I stop him and point to the truck that drives up.
"Daddy!" He leaves me in the dust, literally, and runs to greet him.
I say a quiet prayer of thanks, hopefully Al can take care of Gordi now and I can get to work. For some unknown reason I suddenly have a lot of pent up anger.