Chapter 7

Sherry pulled her hair back into a ponytail then put on a black business casual shirt Chrissy helped her pick out at Goodwill. She forced a smile, seeing she’d lost so much weight since giving birth then going into chemo treatments. Today she had a job interview to be a nanny for a single father. Aside from the black dress-shirt, she had on the pants of a white pantsuit and a bit of jewelry. She then did her makeup, thinking about her life and how if she didn’t get this job, she didn’t know what she would do. My motivation is literally running out.

Since giving her baby up for adoption, Sherry felt the struggle of living with her own reflection. In the weeks following the snowy day she walked out of the Hope Adoption Agency office and was taken back home, guilt consumed her in ways she would’ve never imagined. There were some days she couldn’t get out of bed because her emotions paralyzed her so much. Other times, she would see a young mother walking her child down the street and think about how that could’ve been her – times she wondered what kind of woman she would become in the future knowing her desperate situation caused her to make desperate decisions.

Pushing her guilty feelings to the side so she could get herself together mentally, Sherry finished getting ready. With time to kill, she sat down on Chrissy’s couch and thought about her upcoming interview. This was an opportunity she really needed at the moment. In light of this, she spent a bit of time last night researching possible questions that might come up during the job interview. Funny enough, there was more information online about that sort of thing than Sherry would’ve ever imagined. The baby pictures attached to the articles were enough in themselves to recall the moment she handed Gabriel over to Mrs. Harris.

Sherry finished up brainstorming potential questions, put her coat on, and took one last look in the mirror. Holding her head high, shoulders back, then taking a deep breath, she went outside and waited at the curb. Her arranged Uber ride would be showing up any minute. When the red Toyota pulled up, Sherry hopped into the backseat. For much of the ride, she grappled with how she was going to present herself as a nanny kind of person. Was it the job she wanted? No, not necessarily, but it was the job she needed. Eventually, as the driver crossed over St. Mary’s River and rolled into downtown, Sherry cracked the window. The chilly air was just what she needed to let it go and just see what would happen. A chuckled slipped out of her mouth. “Bartender turns nanny. Who would’a guess that?”

***

The red Toyota pulled into the well-preserved, historic neighborhood not too far from downtown. Sherry had driven down the area’s main street numerous times, but she had yet to turn down any side street. To say the least, she was impressed with the house. She wondered if she would ever be able to have one to call her own. Turrets, wrap-around porches, stain glass windows. Some homes looked like mini-castles with well-manicured yards and cast iron fences.

“Here you go!” the Middle Eastern man said.

Sherry paid the driver, hopped out onto the sidewalk, and thanked him. As he sped off, she walked down the sidewalk until the car passed a tall row of bushes. She had arrived as the bushes matched the description given with the address when she’d been emailing this McWaters. The house was easily the second largest on the block. It’s glossed wooden wrap-around porch was stunning in its own right. A turret, which looked large enough to have a bedroom within it, climbed the front corner of the house. As Sherry headed toward the walkway, she could get a glimpse of the back of the house around the side. She saw at least three sets of french doors lined the back wall from where she stood. Sherry again held her head high then trudged up the brick walkway and onto the porch. She pressed the doorbell.

The curtain behind the door window moved then the doorknob twisted. A tall, handsome man dressed in laid-back beige pants and a blue button-up shirt opened the door. He smiled. “Hi, are you...” His words trailed off; his welcoming facial expression transformed into that of shock. A mild case of deja-vous set it. “Oh, Hey?” His lips curled into a smile as he stepped out of the way.

That guy who was visiting from Chicago that night who I met at the bar and we went back…

“Oh...Hi,” Sherry said, the words spilling out of her mouth before she could finish her thought. This was unreal; a crazy coincidence made in hell. Instantly, Sherry felt her palms sweat. Her anxiety only intensified when Darren extended his arm for a handshake.

Sherry stepped into the house, almost feeling as if she were barging through a strange tension between she and Mr. McWaters. Eye contact was a struggle for the both of them. Quickly, Darren showed the applicant down the hall to his dining room. There, they set down at the table – he on one side and she on the other. Sherry’s eyes gazed at the paperwork already on the table. Her confidence shattered; worry overran with worry. As she revisited the one night stand, as well as how she met this guy at The Blue Ivy then they went to dance at the bar down the street from her apartment, she wondered if he would even be able to take her seriously. Letting a woman with whom you had a one-night stand be the nanny to your practically-newborn baby? Sherry waited for the guy to open his mouth as it was very obvious they both were thinking about this awkward situation.

“So, how have you been, Miss Calhoun?” Darren asked. Familiarity made it difficult to conduct the interview how he’d planned. He looked at Sherry, quickly reminiscing as any man would about how he met this perky bartender one night then wound up going dancing then having wild sex in her bed. Something about her changed, though. She was still a very attractive woman – this couldn’t be denied. However, the paleness in her skin. Darren didn’t think she wore that much make-up at the bar. He had seen her in the morning with no make-up and she could easily give a lot of woman a run for their money. On top of this, her smile wasn’t the same; there was something cold about her gorgeous eyes.

Sherry smiled, trying her best to relax and take the situation for what it was. She shrugged. “I’ve been doing the best I can I can say. How have you been? I thought you lived in Chicago now that I think about it.”

“Um, yeah,” Darren said, nodding. “I did. I’m from there. Since then, I guess in the last year and a half, I wound up moving here for business and, well, here I am.”

“Oh, wow,” Sherry said, nodding her head and smirking. She tried to keep her composure. If she was unlucky enough to wind up with this kind of an interview, she was going to give it a good try. “Well, that’s interesting. Moved from Chicago to here for opportunity. That’s not really something you hear everyday.”

Darren chuckled. The sarcasm he remembered liking in Sherry at The Blue Ivy had come out. He set his pen down; his shoulders relaxed. “Yeah, I guess not. So, you don’t work at The Blue Ivy anymore?”

“No, I quit there back before...” Sherry said, catching herself. “It’s been a while at this point. I’m just looking to build my laugh back.” Her bout with cancer came to mind. “So...”

Darren nodded, opening the folder. “Yeah, I can understand that.” He looked at Sherry and saw the woman had obviously had some kind of mind-changing experience. Tempted to ask, he smiled and decided to go on with the interview then maybe afterward, if the awkward tension simmered, he would try to bring it up in casual conversation as he walked her out to the sidewalk.

Sherry put on her game face and answered each and every question Darren threw her way best she could. What experience did she have with children? Back before cutting ties with her family and forever going down in the family picture book as the black sheep, she was the auntie who watched her older sister’s kids after school when they were first starting elementary school. Sherry made sure to mask the regret she felt from going so long since seeing the three of them with a smile and a high head.

Darren asked Sherry about her availability then transportation. He liked Sherry’s stance on having company, when to answer the door, and how to handle emergencies if he weren’t around. There were moments during the interview where they even laughed a bit as the answer to a couple of questions easily transitioned into sarcastic jokes for Sherry. The longer the interview went on, the longer Darren looked at her and smiled effortlessly.

Within twenty minutes or so, Darren finished up with the planned interview questions then closed the folder. He looked up at Sherry – he’d long given up calling her Ms. Calhoun – and rose up out of his seat. “Well, I guess before you head home, I should show you around the house. We talked about you living here and you said you would want to see the layout of the house as well as where you would be living. Are you still interested in seeing?”

Sherry stood up as well, smiling and nodded. “Sure, thank you.”

Darren led Sherry around his home’s first floor. She commented on the architecture – pocket doors, french doors, stained glass windows in the kitchen as well as in the hallway. She loved the small den at the back of the house – a room with bay windows on all three sides. “Yep, this looks like the kind of room where I would sit with a baby.”

Darren chuckled, looking Sherry up and down the first time he’d seen her walking around behind the bar at The Blue Ivy. “Yeah...that does sound nice.”

All the while Darren showed Sherry around the second floor, there was one thing she could never seem to weave into the conversation: How did you wind up being a single father? Where is the mother? This guy didn’t mention a wife, ex or current, when we talked that nigh. Then again, he could’ve just been telling me whatever I wanted to hear. Wouldn’t be surprised if the guy had a wife and family in Chicago and was just having a little fun while he was out of town. Damn, what happened with the wife? How did his guy wind up the single father of a newborn baby?

“So, this is the room where you would be living,” Darren announced, opening a large wood door – obviously original to the home.

Sherry stepped into the large room, which was adjacent to the nursery. She walked around the queen-sized bed. The armoire looked like it cost a pretty penny. Sherry loved the heavy, designer drapes covering a window that looked taller than herself. She looked out and admired the view of a tree-lined street in a historic neighborhood.

After looking over the clearly-added-on bathroom, Sherry stepped out into the light, next to the bed. “Okay, this would be fine for me. I don’t need much space.”

“Good, good,” Darren said. He still had a few applicants, but something in his gut was telling him to go ahead and hire Sherry. She seemed genuinely interested in the role; however, there were moments where Darren felt a little crazy for even considering her. He chuckled out of the blue, suddenly grabbing Sherry’s attention. His mother’s potential reaction to finding out her son hired a bartender he had a one-night-stand with while out of town to be his nanny was nearly SNL-worthy. “Whatever you would need to change about the room, like the wall color or maybe even some of the furniture, I’m willing to consider, but only at the point in which you’ve been a nanny for six months.”

Sherry conveyed that she understood then followed Darren back downstairs. He then walked her out onto the porch. He noticed how she looked around shortly after he pulled the door shut.

“This house is beautiful,” Sherry said. “You know, it makes me think of this house my aunt and uncle used to live in, but up in Goshen. Kids up and down the street would joke that it was the haunted house of the block. When my aunt and uncle retired and bought it, I was one of the first kids to actually see inside and it was spectacular.”

“Yeah, these old houses are really something,” Darren said, turning toward the front as they stepped off of the porch and headed down the sidewalk. “I will say, though, that they require a lot of maintenance. A lot of work went into this one, but I got it for a good price.”

Sherry nodded. “That’s good. You’ve really done the house justice.”

Darren nodded, not knowing what to say next. “Okay, well, I’ll walk you to your car.”
He searched the block for the Toyota he followed that night they hooked up. “Where did you park?”

Sherry pulled her phone out of her pocket and held it up, smiling. “Uber,” she said.

“Oh, okay,” Darren said, nodding.

“Excuse me while I get this together,” Sherry said.

Darren stood with his hands in his pockets while Sherry arranged her Uber. He looked at her disposition and took in all the ways she’d changed – anguish had left its imprint on her face; she had gained a noticeable amount of weight, but was certainly still hot. Her blonde hair still swayed with every breeze and glowed in the midday sun. He shivered, not having anticipated that she would be needing transportation.

Darren checked his own phone – the time. Soon enough, he himself would need to be getting on his way to the daycare. He was due to get Gabriel today at 3 o’clock. “You know what?” he said, getting Sherry’s attention. “I gotta go and get Gabriel in a little bit. Maybe you could meet him that way. We have a little bit before I would have to leave to go to the daycare then I pick him up and I drop you back off at your place. What do you think?”

Sherry looked up from her phone, shoving clumps of her hair behind her ear. She smiled, unsure of what to say. “Oh, okay. I don’t see why not.”

Darren commented about it being too cold for her to be standing out on a windy street and waiting for an Uber. Quickly, he ushered her back into the house then insisted she sit in the foyer. Sherry did just that and waited on Darren to come back from the dining room with his laptop. He explained he needed to answer emails. Sherry couldn’t deny how dedicated this guy seemed to his work...whatever it was, as she didn’t really remember. In fact, she wondered what ever even happened to the business card she’d gotten from him.

“So, how do you like Fort Wayne so far?” Sherry asked, still thinking about her unanswered question. The longer she sat in the guy’s presence, especially in a different capacity than the last time, the more interesting he seemed.

Darren nodded. “It’s nice,” he answered. “It’s a big culture shock, I’m sure. Not really all that far away from Chicago, but I imagine so much different in terms of living.”

“Absolutely,” Darren said then rambled off a list of differences.

“Oh, that reminds me,” Sherry said, smiling as she figured out a way to pull the answer she wanted out of Darren. “Since I would be the child’s nanny and primary caretaker, I would obviously be in the house with him more than you and maybe dealing with other things for the child. You talked about your second car out in the garage that I would be able to use, and I do appreciate that. But will the mother ever be coming to pick up the child? Will I have to interact with her and how often would she be coming and taking the baby for how long?”

Darren bit his bottom lip. Irony seeped into his high spirit. He had been thinking about this very question being brought up by some of the applicants. He never would’ve imagined the applicant would be the bartender from that night. The man sighed, glanced away, then looked back at Sherry. “Actually, you wouldn’t have to deal with that.”

“Oh,” Sherry said. Her face then turned somber as she assumed the mother died. She glanced down at Darren’s hand, thinking that the guy might be a widower. He certainly didn’t seem like the kind of person to have a child out of wedlock.

“No, it’s not what you’re probably thinking,” Darren said. The various, underlying societal stigmas he’d been facing in recent years came flooding back into his confidence. “He’s adopted. I adopted him a couple months ago. At first, I stepped away from my business for a few weeks then I found this great daycare that takes newborns and they’ve been watching him for five to six hours a day, usually. But, well, I’m not all that excited about daycare if I know my child could have better. I would rather he be at home and under the care of someone I hire or screen and not those of a daycare.” He smiled. “And so here we are.”

“Oh,” Sherry said. She rubbed the back of her neck as she looked away. She regretted asking the question at this point, as if brought about five more unanswered questions. And these were questions she wouldn’t dare ask someone she was asking for a job.

Sherry accepted what Darren said then the conversation moved on. Before they knew it, Darren escorted her out to his MKZ, held the door for her to get it, then they were on their way to the daycare. The ride only lasted less than ten minutes, but it felt longer to Sherry. Nearly a mile from Darren’s house, she realized what agreeing to riding with the guy could mean in regards to her getting the job.

Light snow started trickling from the sky as Darren pushed out into the wind. A blue blanket made of a strange fabric covered his baby’s head as he walked quickly down to the sidewalk. Sherry took it upon herself to step out of the car and take the baby from Darren. He then opened the backdoor and stood back as Sherry comforted Darren’s wrapped-up baby. The chill in the wind was getting sharper and there was no doubt such was irritating the baby. With her voice raised, she playfully talked to the baby about his rosy cheeks as she fastened him into the car seat.

When Sherry stepped back, Darren looked inside and nodded his head in approval. There was a long second where they locked eyes then Darren rushed around to the other side of the car and climbed into the driver seat. Sherry jumped into her seat as well.

For much of the ride across town to the address Sherry had given as where she lived, she turned and glanced back Darren’s baby numerous times. When the boy started to fuss, she would make just as loud of a whining noise. Every so often, she would readjust his blanket, in tune with whether or not he might be getting too hot. There was an instance where she caught herself staring off at the street as Darren drove, remembering the way she would do the same for her little nephew when she still lived at home with her mom and dad. Sherry turned her head more and gnawed on her bottom lip in thought. I wonder how they’re doing.

Darren followed his GPS then pulled up in front of a different apartment than where he remembered Sherry living the night they hooked up. “Oh, I see you moved. This is nice. When you start, what will happen with your lease?”

When I start? Sherry’s eyes darted around. Does that mean he’s hiring me? He hasn’t officially told me. “Um, well, it’s not actually my place. I’m just staying with a friend for now.”

Darren looked at Sherry, still wondering what it could be she’d gone through that made her a bit more mature. The more he looked at her face as well as her eyes, the more he felt convinced. “Oh, I see,” he said.

“Yes, well,” Sherry said, deciding she would end this strange, unconventional interview the best way she could. She never saw Darren again after the first time they met. This time could very well be no different. Finishing up a job interview on a good note then never hearing from the employer was nothing new. “First, I should thank you for the ride home. You really didn’t have to, but thank you. I enjoyed the interview today as well and hope that you’ll stronger consider considering me for the position.” She glanced back at Darren’s baby once again. “Your son certainly is a nice soul.”

Darren smiled, glancing back at Gabriel. A nice soul? Darren found Sherry’s word choice to be so interesting. “If I consider considering you for the position.” He chuckled. “Well, I guess I’ll consider considering considering you for the job.”

Sherry giggled, realizing how she must’ve sounded. This Darren guy was far more charming than she remembered. Maybe it was living in Ft. Wayne, or maybe it was being a single father to an adopted son. He seemed a little looser – a little more personal. “Thank you.”

“When can you start, Sherry?” Darren came out and asked. “Look, I noticed the way you put him into the seat and how nurturing you seemed when taking him from me out in the snow. It was pretty clear you have experience taking care of a baby, and you clearly have the drive to be in this kind of role. If you would accept, we can definitely sit down and discuss a salary and whatnot. I just need to know when you can start.”

Sherry smiled, excited that she got the job. She nearly broke out in laughter. This was one hell of an interview. Whoever heard of some stuff like this happening? A guy from Chicago I hooked up with from The Blue Ivy winds up hiring me to be his nanny? This is almost too hard to believe. “Oh, okay. Thank you, thank you.” She was gracious. “Um, I can start as soon as possible. Maybe give me a couple days to gather my things up here and all that and bring stuff over, I guess.”

Darren nodded. “Tomorrow, I’ll arrange to bring the car over so you can go ahead and start using it. I’ll need to give information from you so I can put you on my insurance, but that won’t be a problem.”

Sherry nodded, processing it all. The last year of agony she’d been through was finally looking up. She kept time in mind and climbed out of the car so she wouldn’t hold Darren up. Before stepping away from the curb, she leaned behind the front seat and stuck her finger out toward Darren’s son’s closed fist. The little baby snickered in his sleep. Memories reminiscent of when she watched her nieces and nephew as a baby flooded back into her heart. There was something about holding Darren’s baby that made her soul glow in a way it never had with another baby. After all, she had experienced this very same feeling in the delivery room when the obstetrician finally brought her brand new baby boy into the world and up to his mother’s arms. There’s something about this baby.

“Okay, I’ll see you in a couple days little...” Sherry’s face scrunched up as she realized she still hadn’t been told the baby’s name. She wondered if Darren noticed her voice trail off. Would he be looking for her to remember because he perhaps had brought it up casually?
“Gabriel,” Darren said. “His name is Gabriel.”

Sherry’s stomach dropped; her heart skipped a beat. Her mouth hung open for a couple of seconds too long. Blinks were now few and far between. With a stiff neck, Sherry turned back to Darren’s baby – to Gabriel. She forced herself to finish her goodbyes with the baby as genuine as possible. She then backed up, she and Darren telling the other they would be in touch about her moving in, and watched Darren’s MKZ pull off and ride down the street. Sherry’s eyes followed Darren’s taillights until they were out of sight.

There, on the snowy walkway with nothing but her thoughts and suddenly brought-up memories that punched the sides of her heart like a needle carefully stabbing a filled balloon, The wind picked up; it’s chill was unforgiving. Sherry’s had been so lost in thought that the stinging sides of her face went unnoticed for several seconds. Only when the wind picked up and threw a light snow drift up onto her legs, some of it blowing up into her face, did she finally turned around and head for the entrance. As she climbed the steps and approached Chrissy’s apartment door, she paused and stared down at the floor. The silence of the hallway did nothing to mask her thoughts as they rang out like yelling in a library. Her head dropped and she sobbed. My Gabriel… I wonder where he is now? Did somebody adopt him? What kind of life will he wind up having?

***

When Darren pulled up back at home, he carried Gabriel into the house quickly. The snow had only gotten heavier during the drive back. The trees lining his street were heavy with a fresh layer of snow. Darren climbed his steps, thinking about some things, on his way to putting Gabriel back into his crib. At the first landing, the staircase faced a window with a built-in seat. Darren started to climb the second fleet of steps, but stopped and looked at the window for a moment. It looked out at the backyard of the house next door – a backyard so well-designed and manicured that a fresh layer of snow made it look like a winter wonderland masterpiece.

“Come on, buddy,” he said to sleeping Gabriel. “Let’s sit here for a minute. Why not?
Darren sat there, in the window, with his son. Gabriel’s head lay on the father’s shoulder while he looked out at the neighbor’s backyard. That was weird. Sherry had been on his mind for much of the ride. “This was just a strange day.”

Darren reflected on the interview. Sherry answered the questions pretty professionally, even though I know she must’ve been thinking about that night. Wondered what happened at The Blue Ivy? Seemed like it was something out of the ordinary...not a run-of-the-mill getting fired. Her reaction to me having adopted a child was pretty mild… She didn’t ask a lot of the questions a lot of people so far.

Gabriel started to wake up, pulling Darren’s train of thought off of its track. The father comforted the baby, hoping to ward off crying as he rose up and headed into the bedroom. Darren gently placed the Gabriel back down into his crib. He looked at him for a moment while standing at the doorway. Darren’s smiled as he thought about how his life had changed in ways he would’ve never imagined.

After standing in Gabriel’s doorway for several moments more, Darren finally turned away. As he headed back downstairs, he thought more about Sherry. Why did she react that way when I told her Gabriel’s name?
Darren went on with his evening, pushing today’s strange and very unconventional events to the side as he went on to answer emails and get in touch with the property management company.