“Oh.” A moment later, he brightened. “Okay, Anna. I can do that.”
“First we clear the table. The leftovers go in a container in the fridge and…”
She didn’t expect Liam to stay and help, and when he did, she wasn’t sure what to make of it. He kept giving her odd looks, and she had even less understanding of what they were about.
“Kitchen’s done,” Colm said loudly half an hour later. “I’m gonna go watch TV. I think my Wizard show is on Disney. Anna, you wanna watch it with me?”
She glanced at Liam who was frowning. “I should probably be leaving, Colm.”
“Not yet, Anna,” Colm said. “You could stay longer, ’cause you have no date, remember?”
She expected Liam to agree that it was time for her to go home. She was sure he’d be polite. He’d make some noise about how he was sure she had something else to do. But what he said was, “Maybe we could all play a game? If you have the time, Anna.” He seemed to say her name with more ease.
Colm grabbed her hand. “Yeah, Anna, that’d be good. We can play a game.”
Anna smiled. “Maybe a hand of Go Fish?”
“I don’t know that one,” Colm said.
“If you can find some cards, I can teach you.” She’d barely got the words out when Colm shot down the hallway toward the living room.
“Are you sure Colm can handle a card game?” Liam asked.
“Liam, he can count and read a lot of words. It might take him a while to get the feel for the game, but he’ll do fine.”
And he did. Within a couple of hands, Colm had the idea and was holding his own.
“Go fish!” he shouted gleefully.
Anna did and on Colm’s next turn, he put all his cards down. “I got ’em. You gave me that five and I got it.”
“Great job, Colm.” She glanced at her watch. “But now, I really need to get home. I have an early day tomorrow.”
“You have an early day here tomorrow?” Colm asked.
“No. We talked about this, remember? We marked the calendar in the kitchen. I’m back the day after tomorrow.”
Colm threw his arms around her and hugged her tightly. “Okay. I’ll miss you, Anna, ’cause you teach me lots of stuff, like making spaghetti and puttin’stuff in the fridge after we’re done eatin’. You teach me good.”
“I taught you—”
He interrupted. “Yep, you did.”
Liam was smiling—again. Anna thought she could easily get used to seeing that expression on his face. He said, “Get your shower and put your pajamas on, bud. I’ll show Anna out.”
“Okay. ’Night, Anna.” Colm hugged her again.
She mussed his hair. “’Night, Colm.”
She knew from Liam’s tone that he wanted to talk to her, so she waited until Colm disappeared up the stairs and said, “Yes?”
He didn’t look annoyed, but if not, she wasn’t sure what he wanted to talk about.
He simply said, “Thank you.”
“For…?”
“For everything. You were right. Colm is capable of so much more than I ever imagined.”
His admission surprised and touched her. “You’re welcome.”
“Anna, I have to go out of town on Thursday. I know that three days is short notice, but it’s only one night, and I wondered if you’d found someone to stay with Colm?”
Anna had put off confirming someone. She wasn’t sure why, but had a sneaking suspicion that it was because she didn’t want to share the Franklin brothers with anyone else. “If you don’t mind, maybe I’ll stay with him? I mean, it’s one night, and it would give us more time to work together. I see so much potential in Colm, and there doesn’t seem to be enough time in my day to try as much as I would like to with him.”
Liam didn’t offer his opinion about her staying with Colm. Instead, he said, “Can I ask you a personal question?”
“You can, but I don’t promise to answer.” She smiled, hoping to soften her response. Liam was so much more approachable tonight that she didn’t want to jinx it.
“Why?” was all he asked.
“Huh?”
“Why do you do what you do? I can’t imagine the money is fantastic. And it seems that the hours are long. So, why do you work for Sunrise?”
That was a question that Anna not only didn’t mind answering, but relished sharing. Maybe Liam would understand her goals for Colm better if she did.
“I had a client. Denny. He was starting his first job at a local plant where he would be packing boxes. It wasn’t only him. I worked with the supervisor, as well. I explained that I’d help Denny get the rhythm of the job down, and stressed that he should do well with the status quo, but that for out-of-the-ordinary things he would require someone to help him. I like being sure that a client’s boss has realistic expectations. Two months after I’d gone, Denny’s supervisor called and told me that they’d hired a new person and that when the woman had made a mistake on the assembly, Denny had gone over and helped her. He said that Denny had told her that everyone makes mistakes. That she should take her time and ask for help when she needed it. The supervisor was so impressed. He wanted to employ more people from our program.”
“Those were your words that Denny said, weren’t they? I recognize them from Colm. If you make a mistake, it’s like the milk—you clean it up and start over. Things like that.”
“Yes.” She knew she could be somewhat repetitious with her catch phrases, but her clients needed to hear them over and over until they fully understood them. “And to answer your question, that’s why I do it. There are so many special people out there. They might take longer to learn something, or they might need to learn a bit differently than most folks, but with some assistance and time, they can lead remarkable lives. And if I can help that along, well, it means something to me. My job is important to people and that’s why I do it.”
Even as the words left her mouth, Anna wished she’d said something…well, something less. She felt naked. Exposed. And, Liam Franklin was the last person she wanted to feel like this with.
She wasn’t sure why and she wasn’t about to explore the reason. “I really should go now. Thanks for allowing me to share Colm’s first meal.”
“About Thursday,” Liam said before she could bolt out the door. “Yes. I knew you’d suggest someone reliable, but I’d have worried. I trust you with Colm. It’s a big meeting, and I appreciate you saving me the worry. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I’ll be here on Wednesday and you can give me the specifics of your trip then.”
“I’ll see you day after tomorrow, then.”
“Wednesday,” she agreed, then rushed out. Admittedly, an annoyed Liam Franklin seemed much easier to deal with than this insightful one.
Anna wasn’t sure why.
CHAPTER THREE
“OKAY, Li, what gives?” Patrick Yu asked breathlessly on Friday night as Liam got out of his car.
His neighbor pushed his walker at NASCAR-worthy speed toward Liam. Meanwhile, Liam was pulling his suitcase from the backseat, anxious to get in the house, a sense of…he wasn’t sure how to define it. Anticipation? Excitement?
He’d