Chapter 7: Boys in Her Life

          Unbeknownst to them, while the Harper boys slept peacefully in their room, their parents were in theirs enjoying a still satisfactory love life. Finley wouldn’t say she felt ashamed of her frequent woohoo sessions with Manu. Sure, he wasn’t always the friendliest or most reliable guy, and he was disappearing even more frequently of late, but he was a good father to their kids. If he wasn’t ready to step up into the role of an official relationship partner, then that was alright. Finley didn’t know if she’d even want to be closed into monogamy with him. He was the only man she knew in that way. Maybe one day she’d like for that to change. Maybe not.

          Even though he was gone more than ever, Manu brought home fish for dinner less often. And he almost never caught any for selling. That meant that the financial pressures weighed down upon Finley heavier than they had before. With a bigger family to support, Finley accepted the lowly position of being a kitchen dishwasher at the local restaurant. Ideally, Manu would stay home during her shifts. They started just as Eddie returned from school and went until the early hours in the morning. He refused to commit to this though. Finley had no idea of where he needed to be so late at night, but she was too tired to press him for answers. Instead, Brandon was kind enough to accept all of Finley’s desperate calls for a babysitter.

          “So how come Mister Manu isn’t holding down a job? It’s not fair that you’re workin’ Finn. Especially not like that.” He gestured toward her stomach. Instinctively, Finley ran a hand across her small belly. She wasn’t nearly as large as she had been with the other two, and was somewhat surprised when her friend was able to tell she was carrying again.

“I can’t get into this right now. I’m about to be late for the third time; my boss has already been on my back about it!”

          Finley knew that she should have been more grateful to her close friend, but stress seemed to have piled itself atop her shoulders and she held no coping mechanisms for it. She’d registered that he was overdressed for the occasion of watching a little boy and baby, but didn’t think much about it until her back was bent over a deep sink filled with murky water. She hoped that she hadn’t interrupted anything too important.

          Back at the house, Eddie questioned his babysitter, thinking him to be like the butler on his favorite superhero cartoon show. “So mister, why’re you dressed like a penguin?” In his eagerness to get his question answered, he’d jostled his glasses lower onto his nose and had to push them up again.

“A penguin?” Brandon chuckled. “Never heard that one before.”

“Can I tell you what to do? Like go clean the house really really fast!”

Not knowing where the questions were stemming from, Brandon shrugged. “I s’pose you could tell me to do anything you’d like. Doesn’t mean I’ll listen though.”

“Hmph. You look like a real weirdo.”

          Manu didn’t return home until Finley was rushing to get ready for her shift the following day. He strolled through the front door as Finley was calling up Brandon. She hung up the phone before he could answer, thinking it was a blessing to have the blonde home at last. She blurted out a myriad of things to be done, such as feeding and changing the baby, and then weakly promised that she’d try to get off early. Finley also thanked Manu for staying home with his own children.

          If Finley had known Manu’s route of accomplishing babysitting, then she wouldn’t have been so thankful to see him.

          Quinn lunged from his crib, a child with hair like his mother’s. He was only greeted by his father, who was near a stranger to him.

          Soon Eddie came home from school. He was thrilled to see his little brother more playable at last. The two roughhoused for what must have been close to an hour. Manu left them at it, heading to his bedroom for a nap. Eddie tasked himself to be the one to show Quinn around the house, and then to warn him about all the boring days of school they’d suffer through together. The red head didn’t think it sounded so bad. The idea of portable worlds created by words intrigued him.

          Being a Tuesday night, the restaurant was fairly dead after the dinner rush. They’d been overstaffed for once, and Finley begged enough to be let off at a decent hour so that she could return home to her baby. She arrived at her house by eight o’clock and was disconcerted by the sight of Manu fishing at the river.  “Calm down Finley. Maybe he’s been going back and forth to check on Quinn.”

          She could not remain calm when she saw that the bassinet was missing. Not seeing it made her jump back in fright and rendered her unable to fully realize the twin sized bed with the strange kid sleeping in its place. After several beats, it all clicked together in her head. She peered down at her second child, feeling warmth from admiration of her Quinn. The warm then turned to burning white rage.

          Finley stormed outside and yelled for Manu. He walked towards her, cocky smirk plastered on his face. She was so angry at him, aging her child without her being there, that no thoughts could fully form inside her head. When she was close enough, she released a stinging slap across his face, yelling all of the curses the chefs at work taught her. Neighbors be damned, she was too furious to care about the gossip fuel she was supplying.

          By the next morning, things had settled back down. Finley hadn’t forgiven Manu, but she was able to push her anger and bitterness down her throat and into her stomach. At least well enough to pretend to like him in front of their boys. Seeing the two enjoy breakfast together made it a bit easier for her. She had a growing family to think about. Perhaps her creator would be able to absolve some of her resentment in their next visit.