A Year And A Half Later
It was time to register Toni for kindergarten. Erica fastened both girls into the car and drove the couple of blocks to the elementary school. When she got there, she put two-year-old Sonya in her stroller and headed for the office with Toni, who was not quite five, trotting along beside her.
The receptionist frowned when Erica told her Toni's last name. "So you folks are Russian, huh?"
"Toni's father is."
"Are you still married to him?"
"Yes."
"These papers need to be signed by him as well."
"He's in prison."
The receptionist gave her a strange look and didn't say anything. Silently she made copies of Toni's birth certificate and vaccination records and then handed them back to Erica without even a smile.
"That's all," she said flatly when Erica hesitated.
Toni's fifth birthday was a few weeks later. Erica had several errands to run after work, and it was already nighttime by the time she finally left the supermarket with the decorations, cake, and ice cream, only to find that her car wouldn't start. Frustrated beyond her limit, she began to cry softly.
"Don't cry, Mommy," Toni said from the back seat. "It's gonna be all right."
"Hey, lady, are you OK?" Erica turned to see a young man with red hair and freckles and a friendly smile looking at her. He wore jeans, a t-shirt, and a baseball cap.
"No," Erica said miserably.
The young man frowned. "Is there anything I can do?"
"If you know how to jump off a car."
"Easy as pie." The man grinned. Erica got her jumper cables out of the trunk, and the young man had her car cranked in almost no time.
"Thank you so much, Mr..."
"Call me Chuck," the man told her. "What's your name?"
"Erica Shikov."
"I sure hope Mr. Shikov realizes what a lucky man he is."
"He...isn't here anymore." Erica's eyes filled with tears.
"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry." Chuck's voice was warm and very sympathetic. "That's gotta be rough, doing the single parent thing."
"It is."
"Say, Erica, would it be all right if I called you sometime? Maybe we could go out to a movie or something."
Erica shrugged. "Sure." She wrote her telephone number down on a piece of paper and handed it to Chuck.
She had a small birthday party for Toni that Saturday and invited several little girls from Toni's childcare along with Jed, Carrie, Elijah, Matt, and Cheryl. Elijah was a year and a half old now, and Cheryl was pregnant.
"Your kids are so adorable," Cheryl told Erica.
"Thank you," Erica replied.
"You're certainly doing a good job with them," Matt added.
"They're so cute together, aren't they?" Carrie nodded toward Sonya and Elijah. Toni was trying to direct their play and becoming frustrated when they wouldn't do what she wanted them to.
"I sure wish her father could be here to see her," Erica said sadly.
The following Wednesday night, Erica received a telephone call.
"Hey, it's Chuck," said the voice on the other end of the line.
"Chuck?" Erica wracked her brain for someone she knew named Chuck.
"I jumped your car off in the supermarket parking lot about a week ago."
"Oh yeah, that Chuck!" Erica felt terribly embarrassed. "I'm so sorry! I guess I must have forgotten about it..."
'That's all right." Chuck laughed. "Anyway, how would you like to go out to dinner Saturday night?"
"That sounds great!" Erica exclaimed. "I'm sure I'd be able to get a sitter."
"Great! Pick you up at six, then."
As she hung up the telephone, Erica felt hopeful that her long spell of loneliness would soon end.