Child on His Doorstep

by Lee Tobin McClain

  “Yes, I worked for two years at a day care in Cleveland. They liked my work fine until...” She trailed off when she realized it wasn’t just Gabby but everyone else who was waiting for her to go on.

  “Did something happen, dear?” Mrs. Marks asked.

  “Nothing exactly happened, but...” She sucked in a breath. She might as well be up-front about things. “My boss found out I went to AA meetings. Apparently, that wasn’t the kind of person to make the parents feel confident about dropping off their little ones.”

  She didn’t dare look at Corbin. Now she’d done it. She waited, miserably, for him to revoke his offer of letting her care for Mikey.

  “Well, that’s inappropriate,” Sheniqua said.

  Ouch. Samantha felt her shoulders slump at the judgment, even though she’d expected it.

  “Inappropriate of them, not of you,” Sheniqua said. “You were doing something positive for your life and that’s admirable. Besides which, attendance at a twelve-step program should be fully confidential.”

  “I admire you for taking care of your issues like that,” Gabby said with a firm nod. “Everyone has problems and mistakes in their pasts.”

  “That’s for sure,” Reese added. “If we couldn’t overcome the past, where would we be?”

  “Thank you,” Samantha said doubtfully. These people were nice, but a little too welcoming to be believed, at least in her experience. She definitely needed to stay on her guard.

  “The offer stands,” Gabby added. “In fact...” She looked at Reese. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  He nodded slowly. “Adding that program for younger kids,” he said. “Samantha might just be the person to get it started. Trouble is, my aunt and uncle are the ones who offered to fund it, and my aunt will want to be involved as we get it going.”

  “Brock Markowski’s mom,” Corbin clarified to Samantha.

  The others were glancing at each other, but Samantha’s mind was reeling. Were they offering her work, a responsible job, here in town? “I’d love to hear more about that,” she blurted out, forgetting to stay on her guard after all.

  * * *

  The next day, Corbin clung to the fact that he and Mikey were to meet Samantha at the farmers’ market at 2:00 p.m. It was the only thing that got him through the morning.

  Neither he nor Mikey had slept well. Mikey had awakened, crying, at least three times; Corbin had lost track after that. Mikey wanted his mommy.

  Corbin wanted her, too. Wanted her to get back here and take responsibility for the son she’d dumped on Corbin’s doorstep. Tied to it, actually, a fact that had brought back dim memories of being tied to the picnic table in the back of their apartment complex when he’d been small.

  Who did that to a kid?

  And that thought made him ashamed of wishing Cheryl would come take Mikey off his hands. Corbin was no prize as a caregiver, but he’d never, ever tie Mikey in place. There had to be better ways to keep a kid safe and under control.

  TV, chocolate and video games didn’t work on Mikey, though, not today, anyway. Corbin hoped a car ride would do better—that often worked on dogs he cared for—but Mikey fussed the whole way.

  He was definitely a loser in the parenting game, trying dog-handling techniques on a human child.

  When he pulled Mikey out of the car at the farmers’ market, the kid struggled and nearly slipped through his hands. It was like handling a greased pig. He let Mikey slide to the ground, then turned back to the car for the diaper bag, taking a moment to wipe his forehead with his sleeve. It was hot for April.

  Around them, other families were parking in the field or heading toward the trucks and colorful table umbrellas that must be the farmer’s market, calling friendly greetings to one another. He could smell good farm smells, earth and hay and green plants.

  You can do this. He drew in a deep breath, shot up a quick prayer for help, and turned back to the boy. “Come on, Mi—”

  Mikey was gone.

  “Mikey!” He looked frantically from side to side, stretching up to his full height and then standing on the door frame of his car, scanning the area.

  Finally he spotted Mikey’s bright green shirt, and took off jogging toward the spot where the inquisitive toddler knelt in front of a pen containing lambs and baby goats. Putting a leash on the kid was looking better and better.

  “Corbin! What’s wrong?”

  It was Samantha, hurrying up beside him, but he didn’t dare take his eyes off Mikey. “He ran away. He’s at the petting zoo.” He slowed down as he realized the child wasn’t going anywhere. “How do parents manage more than one kid? I turned around to pick up his diaper bag, and when I looked again, he was gone.”

  “At least he didn’t get far,” she said, patting his arm. “You’ll get better at it.”

  “I hope.” They were walking side by side now, headed toward Mikey. His worry about Mikey contained as they got close enough to keep the child safe, he glanced over at Samantha, and his mouth went dry.

  She wore a short summer dress that showed she was still as slender as she’d been in high school. Her flip-flops revealed pink-painted toenails, and her long hair hung in a messy braid down her back.

  Thankfully, she focused on Mikey instead of Corbin’s gawking. “Hey, buddy,” she said, kneeling behind him. “You can’t run off like that. You need to stick with your grown-ups, okay?”

  “’Kay.” Mikey smiled up at them and then pointed at the animals. “Lammies and goats, see?”

  “They’re cute.” She stood and winced.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She slid her foot out of her flip-flop. “Blister. Not the right footwear for walking.”

  He was ashamed he hadn’t offered to pick her up. “Do you have a car?”

  “I do have a car, but I’m kind of nursing it along,” she said. “It didn’t want to start this morning.”

  “Where are you staying?” He knelt to examine her foot, determinedly focusing on her injury rather than her soft skin. “We should get some antibiotic on this, and a bandage.”

  She hopped backward, pulling her foot out of his hands. It must be the hopping that made her sound breathless. “It’ll be fine. And I’m staying with my cousin, over on the east side of town. Remember Hannah?”

  “Antonicelli? I remember.” Corbin frowned. “That was quite a hike.”

  “A little bit,” she admitted, watching as Mikey toddled closer to the fence, staring in at the animals.

  “You should have called me for a ride.”

  “Oh, well...” She shrugged.

  “Well, what?” Since Mikey seemed happy, Corbin wasn’t in a hurry to go vegetable shopping. He was rapidly learning that you took advantage of every moment your toddler was occupied and not fussing.

  She shrugged again. “It’s bad enough that I have to mooch off my cousin. I don’t need to be mooching off you, too.”

  “Does Hannah act like you’re mooching?” That would have surprised him. He remembered Hannah as a nice girl.

  “No! No, not at all. I just don’t like to be dependent.” She sighed. “But I needed a fresh start, and this was the only way I could afford to get one.”

  “Because of the AA thing?” He felt bad as soon as he’d asked it. “Sorry. That’s not my business.” Except that he’d vowed to avoid involvement with alcoholics, due to his parents. And he had to protect Mikey from going through the kind of thing he’d gone through as a kid.

  “Yeah,” she said. “That was part of why I needed a fresh start. When you lose your job...” She lifted a shoulder. “But that’s a boring thing to talk about. It’s a nice day. Let’s walk around.”

  “Okay, sure.” Even Corbin could recognize that she wanted to change the subject. “Come on, Mikey.”

  “Unless...” She looked at him, biting her lip. “I can tell y
ou more about being in AA if you’re worried about my helping with Mikey. That would be totally understandable. I mean, I’ve been sober for a couple of years, but I can understand why it’s worrisome to a parent.”

  “I trust you.” It was true, he realized. Despite his lack of people skills, he was usually pretty good at spotting a liar or a fake. Samantha was neither. She hadn’t been in high school, and she wasn’t now.

  Still, the fact that she had a drinking problem meant he needed to be watchful.

  “Thanks.” She gave him a little smile and their eyes met, and then she looked away, a flush crossing her lightly freckled cheeks.

  Quickly, he cast around for some nonpersonal topic of conversation. “Is that kettle corn I smell? Mikey, do you like kettle corn?”

  “Whoa, whoa,” Samantha said. “We’re here for healthy food, right?”

  “Like kel-corn,” Mikey argued.

  “Let’s shop for real ingredients,” she said. “I’m a pretty good basic cook. If you want, I can pick out stuff for a couple of meals that you could serve several times.” She squinted up at him. “Because I get the feeling you don’t actually cook meals for yourself.”

  “You’re right.” Corbin just couldn’t get interested in cooking for himself, and he never had anyone else to cook for. Now that he did, he supposed he should learn, but the notion daunted him.

  They wandered through the stands, Samantha picking out the makings of vegetable soup and one healthy-looking oatmeal cookie for Mikey.

  “Hello, Corbin,” came a voice from behind him, and he turned to see Reese’s aunt, Mrs. Markowski, standing behind him. “I’m surprised to see you at the market. How are you?”

  “Hi, Mrs. Markowski.” He stepped back to bring Samantha into the conversation. “Did you know Samantha Alcorn?”

  “Your name sounds familiar.” The older woman studied Samantha. “Did you grow up here? You might have known my son, Brock.”

  Corbin waited for a frown to cross Samantha’s face. After all, Brock had tormented her from the moment she’d started ninth grade until the day he graduated, senior year. He’d been pretty awful to most people, right up until he’d died in a single-car accident after leaving a party drunk.

  Samantha reached for Mrs. Markowski’s hand, clasping it in both of hers. “I did know Brock. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you, dear.” Mrs. Markowski choked up a little on the last word, her eyes going shiny with unshed tears.

  Samantha patted her arm. “It must be so hard to lose a child,” she said. For a minute, she looked like she was going to cry herself.

  Mrs. Markowski nodded, cleared her throat and clenched her jaw, quickly regaining control of her emotions.

  Mikey finished his cookie, and Corbin wiped his face. “This is my little brother, Mikey,” he said to Mrs. Markowski.

  “Hi!” Mikey smiled up at her.

  “He’s come to stay with me for a while,” Corbin said. Really, he just thought he ought to contribute something to the conversation, but as soon as he said it, he regretted it. The news would shortly be all over town.

  But then again, it wasn’t something he was ashamed of, and it wasn’t something he could hide. They lived in a small community. Everyone would find out that Mikey was staying with him.

  Mrs. Markowski smiled at Mikey. “Oh my, aren’t you adorable.”

  “He’s a smart boy, too,” Samantha said, ruffling Mikey’s hair fondly.

  After saying goodbye to Mrs. Markowski, they strolled back toward Corbin’s car. Mikey got tired, so Corbin picked him up on the back of his shoulders as he’d seen other men do, carefully holding Mikey’s legs so he didn’t fall. “I’m surprised you could be so nice to Mrs. Markowski after how mean Brock was to you,” he said. “I admire it.”

  “Brock must have been struggling with something, to be that mean,” she said. “Hurt people hurt people, like they say in AA. Oh, look at the flowers!” She stopped at a display of orange and yellow daisy-like flowers. At the same moment, they both leaned closer to sniff them. Samantha had closed her eyes to do it, and Corbin could see her lashes, so long, resting against her pink cheeks. He forgot to breathe.

  And then she opened her eyes and stared at him, her own eyes wide.

  Corbin’s heart hammered in his chest. He had to put a stop to this. He couldn’t go down that path, not even a little ways.

  Samantha seemed great, but she was an alcoholic. Maybe she had a sobriety coin, but so did both of his parents; in fact, they had a drawerful of them.

  He’d promised himself to avoid involvement with addicts, and that promise felt much, much more important now, with Mikey at his side. While he had responsibility for his brother, there was no way he could give in to the attraction he felt for Samantha.

  Even before he could withdraw from her, Samantha straightened and turned resolutely toward the car. “I’ll help you load the things and Mikey, and then I’ll be on my way.”

  “I can give you a ride home.”

  “No, that’s okay. I’ll text my cousin. She works close by.”

  And as she hurriedly helped him and then left, he realized that she was just as eager to get away from him as he was to get away from her.

  Chapter Three

  Samantha walked into Hannah’s kitchen Monday morning and found her petite, jeans-clad cousin pouring a cup of coffee from the old-fashioned coffee maker on the counter.

  “Sit down and have a cup,” Hannah invited.

  “Thanks,” Samantha said, “but I’d better not. Don’t want to be late on my first day taking care of Mikey.” She’d been feeling nervous ever since that visit to the farmer’s market. She’d felt almost close to Corbin. When he’d met her eyes and held them, she’d felt a sharp jolt of awareness.

  That couldn’t happen. She couldn’t allow it to happen. Not when she was deceiving him about her connection with Cheryl and her participation in the plot to have Corbin take custody of Mikey.

  “You are not walking all the way over to Corbin’s house,” Hannah said. “That’s like three miles. I’ll drive you. Coffee,” she added, waving the fragrant cup beneath Samantha’s nose.

  The thought of sitting down for a cup of coffee before taking on another encounter with the disturbing Corbin, and then a day with Mikey, was tempting.

  But Samantha didn’t want to put Hannah out. “It’s a beautiful day for a walk,” she said, looking out the window. It was true. The sun already shone bright on the dewy grass. A gentle breeze rustled new green leaves and an array of spring flowers in Hannah’s little garden.

  “It’s a beautiful day for coffee. Sit down.” Hannah pulled a second cup from the cupboard, filled it and handed it to Samantha. “You’ll get plenty of time to enjoy the day and use your energy taking care of a two-year-old.”

  Samantha inhaled the rich scent of fresh coffee again and couldn’t stop herself from reaching out for it. “Okay, but just for a minute. I need to get going.”

  “I said, I’ll drive you.”

  “You’ve done so much for me already, giving me a place to stay. I can’t ask you to do more.”

  “I have some errands to do over that way anyway,” Hannah said. “Besides, I’m glad to have you here.”

  That was hard to believe.

  “I mean it! I’ve missed you. And it’s nice to finally catch up. I don’t think we’ve spent this much time together since elementary school.”

  “Those long summer days at the park pool.” Samantha smiled. Her single mom had struggled to keep food on the table, but she’d done her best. During elementary school, Hannah’s mother had taken care of Samantha, which had basically meant sending her and Hannah off to play all day. Pretty sweet.

  “Those were fun times. But, honestly, I never thought you’d come back to Bethlehem Springs. I thought you’d be living the high life in some big city, married
to a hot guy. They all were crazy about you. Not like me, permanently in the friend zone.” Hannah sighed.

  “You’ve got to be kidding. I can’t believe you’d be there unless you wanted to be.” Hannah was pretty and kindhearted, independent, fun.

  “I’ve always been fine with it, but lately...” Hannah shrugged.

  “The right guy will come along. I know it.” Samantha hesitated. “Honestly, I wish I’d hung out with you as I got older. Maybe I wouldn’t have made as many mistakes.” They’d gone their separate ways in high school, Samantha partying and running around with boys, and Hannah studying and volunteering at the Humane Society. As a result, Hannah was a successful dog trainer who owned her own home, while Samantha was struggling to keep her life together.

  “You’ve changed.” Hannah cocked her head to one side, studying her. “A lot.”

  “I hope so,” Samantha said.

  “What made it happen?”

  Samantha hesitated, but her cousin’s friendly, open face encouraged her to speak. “I did too much partying. Got pregnant, didn’t know it soon enough, and ended up miscarrying the baby.” Her throat tightened and she had to force out the last words.

  Hannah gasped and then came around the table and hugged her. “That must’ve been awful. You should have come home then.”

  She shook her head. “Mom came to stay with me when it first happened. And then...well, I had some growing up to do. Found a church, spent a lot of time talking to the assistant pastor, got a job in a child care program.” She hesitated and then added, “Plus, I got into AA.”

  Hanna’s eyebrows rose. “Wow, I didn’t know your drinking was that bad.”

  “It was. I did a lot of things I’m not proud of, hurt some people, too.” She drew in a breath, let it out slowly.

  “Have you found a meeting here? I think there’s one at our church.”

  “First thing I looked for. I know my limits.” She downed the rest of her coffee. “If you don’t mind taking me, we better go now. Corbin said he has to go into the office early today.”

  Hannah stood and carried their cups to the sink. “I’m ready when you are. Corbin’s hot now, huh?”