Monday morning, Lucas drove Catie down the street to Hope Valley Elementary. "So after school you are…" he prompted.
"Gonna go see Miss Fiona," she said, kicking her feet, repeating what they had been practicing all weekend.
"And then…"
"You are gonna pick me up and we are gonna eat supper."
"Right, baby. Good job."
"I like this place, Dad," she told him, watching out the window as they drove.
"I'm glad, Cates. Now, let's go see Mrs. Flynn."
He walked her into her classroom and watched as Catie hung her jacket and her backpack on the hook where her name was and then turned and waved at him.
"Bye," he waved back and walked out, grateful for his outgoing daughter.
He drove past town to the Hope Valley Landscaping office where he had an interview that morning. He was a bit nervous, not because he wasn't qualified, but because he needed the job to pay rent, to get food and to prove to everyone, including his mother, that he wouldn't fail this time.
"Bill Avery, please," he said, as he stood at the front desk a few moments later.
"You are…" the secretary asked.
"I'm sorry. Lucas Bouchard."
"Alright. Have a seat for a moment, Mr. Bouchard and I will let Mr. Avery know you are here."
'Thank you."
All in all, the interview went well. When Mr. Avery let him know that the hours they kept varied but usually started around 8am and ended in the evening, his heart jolted. This was when it really was challenging to be a single parent and new in town.
"Lucas?"
"I…I need to be honest with you, sir. I am a single father, and my daughter is five. She is in school and then goes to after-school care but they can only keep her until 5pm. I drop her off at school early, but the evening is when this might be a challenge."
Bill just nodded and leaned back in his chair, obviously pondering whether it was wise to take a chance on Lucas.
"So from 8am to 4:30pm, you'd be available to work?"
"Yes, sir. Are we required to work weekends?"
"Saturdays, yes." He'd have to figure out childcare for Saturdays. "Would that be a problem?"
"If it's a requirement, I'll figure it out."
"We do a lot of business on Saturdays." Lucas nodded.
Bill took a packet of papers out of his desk drawer and gave them to Lucas. "Do you have time to fill these out right now?"
"Yes, sir."
"Among other things, there is information in there regarding health benefits and retirement packages."
Lucas' eyes filled with tears, which he quickly blinked away. He was finally succeeding in something. This was a good job with benefits.
"So I got the job?"
"Yes. You are qualified, Lucas, and I definitely need more help."
"Happy to help, sir."
"I'm going to step out for a second. When you are finished, drop these off with my wife, Molly, at the front desk and she will give you a swipe card for entry to the employee door and the equipment shed."
Lucas shook his hand and nodded, determined to make this whole move work.
Elizabeth walked into Abigail's Café for dinner that evening, ready to dig into her food and her novel when she stopped short.
Mr. Cutie Pie and his angel were there again. Faith, Julie, and Carson's begging for her to introduce herself to him was playing through her mind. She was interested to know more about him.
"Hey, Elizabeth," Frank said from the kitchen.
"Hi, Frank," she said with a smile and a wave, removing her jacket and taking the table about two feet from Cutie and Angel.
She nodded at Lucas as she sat down, and he nodded back.
It wasn't exactly introducing herself, but it was a start.
"Dad?" the angel said in her adorable voice.
"Yes, baby."
"Did you get the job?"
Elizabeth's ears tuned in more to the conversation.
"I did!" he told her with a smile.
"Yay! Good job, Dad."
"Thank you. How did you like Mrs. Flynn?"
"She's nice! She's gonna have a baby!"
"Is she?"
"Yeah."
"Well, that's nice. Did you like Miss Fiona?"
"Yep! She read us stories and gave us snacks. Those were good, even though they were just carrots." She wrinkled her nose. She didn't like carrots much.
"Carrots are yummy."
"I don't like them." She wrinkled her nose and he tweaked it with his fingers. "Don't worry, Dad. I ate them anyway."
"Good girl."
"Hey, Beth," Julie said, walking over. "I put in your usual."
"Thanks, Julie."
"Did you say hi?" she whispered.
"I nodded."
"Say hello."
"What's that? I think Frank needs you in the kitchen."
"Whatever."
Elizabeth giggled and opened her book, sipping the diet soda Julie had dropped off.
"Excuse me, I think you dropped this, ma'am," the angel said, handing her a photo.
"Oh, thank you! You are so polite."
"Who's in the picture?" she asked, curiously.
"It's me and my husband, Jack." She kept that in her book as a bookmark. It was their one and only Christmas as a married couple and he insisted that she take a picture of them by the tree. Now she was glad he insisted.
"Where is he? Didn't he want to eat supper with you?" the angel asked.
"Cates, leave the nice lady alone. Don't be nosy."
"It's okay," she told Mr. Cutie Pie. "My husband died a few years ago," she told her.
"Oh. That's sad."
"It was very sad, yes."
"I'm sorry I was nosy," she told her.
"It's okay, sweetie. Thank you for picking up my picture."
"You're welcome." She climbed up into the booth. "I was polite, Dad."
"Yes, you were. Good job."
Elizabeth smiled at him, and she could feel her cheeks turning pink. "I'm Elizabeth," she said quietly.
"I'm Catie Ann Bouchard." Oh gosh, Elizabeth could feel her ovaries crying out.
"Well, Catie Ann, it's nice to meet you."
"Dad's name is Lucas Edward Bouchard." Catie was obviously very proud that she knew their first, middle and last names.
Lucas' cheeks matched Elizabeth's now. "I'm sorry. Yes, I'm Lucas."
"Nice to meet both of you."
"You too," Lucas said. "Cates, eat your food so we can get home."
"Okay." She picked at her grilled cheese and fries. "I'm full."
Lucas grabbed a few fries and Catie started coloring. Elizabeth forced herself to focus on her book while she ate her own food. There. Now no one could keep telling her she needed to introduce herself.
Things went smoothly in Lucas' life for about a week and then it became challenging. Apparently since kids were germy creatures, Catie came down with a flu bug. She threw up for a day, wouldn't eat and barely drank and had a fever. Thankfully, but sadly, she had gotten sick on a Saturday evening so he hadn't had to find someone to watch her or call off work. Now, it was Sunday evening and even though she was feeling slightly better, he didn't think she felt well enough to go to school the next day.
He carried her through the 24 hour pharmacy to find some kind of juice she might drink but there wasn't much of a choice.
"Lucas?" a familiar voice from behind him said.
"Elizabeth."
"You look like you might need help."
"Yeah…Catie is sick. I hate it when she's sick and she won't hardly drink anything. She doesn't like apple juice and that's all they have."
Elizabeth reached up and felt her forehead. "She feels cool. They have Pedialyte over here," she told him, leading him down the correct aisle.
"Elizabeth?" Catie mumbled.
"Hi, angel. Your Dad says you don't feel good."
"My throat hurts."
"She's been sick since Friday night. Throwing up, fever…I don't know why I'm telling you this," he admitted. "Thank you for the suggestion,'' he said, grabbing the bottle of Pedialyte.
"I'm a nurse, Lucas. I don't mind you telling me how she's feeling."
"A nurse?"
"Yeah. Why don't you bring her to Shepherd's Pediatrics tomorrow morning? We can check her out."
"I have to work. My job is new."
"Where do you work?"
"Avery's Landscaping."
"Bill Avery is a good friend. I bet if you let him know Catie is sick, he will give you the morning off."
"I can't take the morning off, Elizabeth. I've worked there for a week."
"So, you're sending her to school like this?"
"No, but…" He was so frustrated. This couldn't be happening. He couldn't fail again. "I hate this."
He started to walk away but she stopped him. "Lucas, maybe I can help…"
"No one can help. I can figure it out."
He paced around the living room at home, which didn't take many steps. It was small. Thankfully Catie had been willing to drink some of the Pedialyte and now was sleeping on the couch.
He needed to figure it out but the only thing that kept coming to him was to call Bill. Then he knew he'd have to be prepared to find another job.
"Hello?" Molly said a few moments later.
"Mrs. Avery, this is Lucas Bouchard."
"Yes, we were expecting your call."
"I'm sorry? What do you mean?"
"We heard your precious daughter has been sick. How is she?"
"Um, getting better I think, thank you."
"That's good. After you take her to see the good doc tomorrow, bring her over here and I'll take care of her for you."
"You'll…Mrs. Avery, I can't ask you to do that."
"You didn't ask. I'm offering. I love children and my own are grown and out of the house."
"I can pay you…"
"Nonsense and Bill says to take the morning off, no problem."
"Was it that nurse Elizabeth? Did she tell you Catie is sick?"
"Catie…what a lovely name. I can't wait to meet her tomorrow."
"Mrs. Avery…"
"Call me Molly. Now, get some rest. You don't want to catch what your daughter has."
"Yes, ma'am."
His heart told him not to be mad at Elizabeth. He should be grateful but…she shouldn't have called his boss. She was being just as nosy as Catie had been with her picture.
The next morning, he was still fighting with his feelings as he wandered into the doctor's office with a lethargic but better Catie.
Elizabeth met him in the lobby. "Good morning, Bouchard family. How is Miss Catie Ann feeling this morning?"
"You shouldn't have called my boss, Elizabeth." Her cheeks turned red as she nodded and led them down the hall.
"I just wanted to help and…"
"I asked you not to. I told you I would figure it out."
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, closing the door to the exam room. "It worked out though, didn't it?"
He shook his head and carefully laid Catie down on the table. "You didn't have the right to be nosy. We don't even know each other."
"Maybe we should get lunch sometime. Then we could get to know each other."
He turned and looked at her. "Seriously? You are asking me out when my daughter is sick and I'm angry? You are a piece of work."
"I'll take that as a compliment."
"It wasn't. No, lunch will not be happening and I'd really like you to just stay out of my business."
She nodded and opened the door. "The doctor will be in shortly."