The Forty-Sixth Day

My sister-in-law had been staying with us for forty-six days when she asked if she could have two more weeks.

Before I had a chance to answer, my five-year-old son, Owen, looked up from his spaghetti and asked, “Who’s taking Sadie and Miles to school after Aunt Paige gets on the airplane?”

My husband, Caleb, paused with his fork halfway to his mouth. Paige became very interested in the napkin in her lap.

“Owen, finish your dinner,” Caleb said.

“But Aunt Paige said—”

“Buddy, eat.”

I set down the water pitcher. “What airplane?”

Paige gave a small, uneasy laugh. “It’s for work. It’s nothing to worry about.”

Six weeks earlier, she had arrived with two suitcases, three laundry baskets, and her children, nine-year-old Sadie and six-year-old Miles. She had lost her office coordinator job, her apartment lease had ended, and she couldn’t afford another place without steady income. Caleb asked if they could stay with us for a couple of weeks while she got back on her feet.

Of course I said yes. I couldn’t imagine turning them away when they had nowhere settled to go. We made up the guest room for Sadie and Miles, and Paige moved into the little office upstairs. I shifted my work equipment to a corner of our bedroom so I could keep working from home as a claims quality specialist.

Two weeks became four, then six. Somehow, I became the one making breakfasts, checking backpacks, washing extra towels, and remembering which child needed a library book on Wednesday. Paige was supposed to be looking for work. I was supposed to be helping temporarily.

Now, there was an airplane.

“What’s going on, Paige?” I asked.

She glanced at Caleb before answering. That was the first sign that there was more to this than she had told me.

“I got an offer,” she said. “A really good one, in Denver.”

“Colorado?”

She nodded.

“That’s wonderful,” I said, and meant it. For weeks, she had worried over bills and unanswered applications. A steady job could give her and the children a fresh start.

Then I remembered Owen’s question.

“When are you leaving?”

“Thursday morning.”

It was Monday.

I looked from Paige to Caleb. “You’re leaving in three days?”

Caleb cleared his throat. “We were going to talk to you tonight.”

“We’re talking now. What about the kids?”

Paige folded her napkin into a small square. “That’s why I asked about staying another two weeks. I need time to get settled before I bring them out.”

I looked at Sadie and Miles, who were still at the table, then back at her. “You mean you want them to stay here while you’re in Colorado?”

“Just until I find an apartment.”

“How long do you think that will take?”

She hesitated. Caleb answered for her. “We can figure that out.”

I turned toward him. “That wasn’t my question.”

Paige said she couldn’t take the children to a hotel while she started a new job and searched for housing. I understood the difficulty. What I didn’t understand was why I was hearing about it three days before her flight.

“How long, Paige?”

“A few weeks, probably. Maybe a little longer.”

Caleb sighed. “Can we talk about this after dinner?”

“Not in front of the kids,” he added a moment later, and that part made sense. I smiled at Owen and asked the three children to carry their plates into the kitchen and choose a movie. Sadie took Miles by the hand and led him out. Owen followed, then stopped at the doorway.

“Is Aunt Paige coming back for Halloween?”

Paige closed her eyes.

Once the children were gone, I turned to Caleb. “How long have you known about the job?”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “She interviewed last month.”

“And the flight?”

“She booked it Friday.”

For three days, he had known his sister planned to leave the state. He had eaten breakfast beside me, kissed me goodbye, and asked if I could pick up a prescription on my lunch break, never mentioning that two more children might soon become my responsibility.

I looked at Paige. “Have you talked to their school?”

She hesitated. “We’ve been working through some things.”

My stomach tightened. “What things?”

Caleb reached for my hand. “Don’t get upset before we’ve explained.”

I moved my hand away. “Then explain.”

Paige’s eyes filled. “I can’t lose this job.”

“I’m not asking you to.”

“And I can’t move the kids until I have somewhere permanent.”

“I understand that.”

Her expression softened with relief. “Then you understand why they need to stay.”

Understanding why someone needed help wasn’t the same as agreeing to provide it.

“I understand why you’re worried,” I said. “I don’t understand why you made plans involving my home and my time without asking me.”

Caleb leaned back. “They’re family.”

“Yes, they are. And I know they need help.”

“Then what are we arguing about?”

I looked at the man I had been married to for twelve years. “The fact that you seem to think my answer doesn’t matter.”

Paige began to cry quietly, and, somehow, I was suddenly the person making everyone uncomfortable—not the woman who had booked a flight without arranging care for her children, or the man who had known about it for days.

From the living room, I heard Sadie tell Miles to stop jumping on the couch. Then she said something that made my chest tighten.

“Be good, Miles. Mom said we have to be really good while she’s gone.”

I stared down at the empty plates. No one had told me Paige was leaving, but her nine-year-old already understood that she was supposed to make sure we wanted to keep her.

The Suitcase by the Door

At 9:15 that night, I saw a large black suitcase beside Paige’s bedroom door. It was zipped shut, and a smaller carry-on with a luggage tag rested on top. She hadn’t started packing after dinner. She had been getting ready to leave for days.

Sadie came out of the bathroom in pink pajamas, holding her toothbrush.

“Aunt Nora?”

I crouched beside her. “What is it, sweetheart?”

“Are you mad at us?”

The question hurt more than I expected.

“No, honey. I’m not mad at you or Miles.”

She watched my face carefully. “Mom said you might be upset.”

“Your mom and Uncle Caleb should have talked to me about some grown-up things. That’s all.”

Her fingers tightened around the toothbrush. “Do we have to go somewhere else?”

“No one is sending you anywhere tonight.”

She nodded, but she didn’t look completely reassured. Then she asked, “Is Mom coming back before Thanksgiving?”

Thanksgiving was almost two months away. “Why do you ask?”

Sadie glanced toward Paige’s closed door. “She said we might still be here then, but she wasn’t sure.”

I kissed her forehead and sent her back to bed. Then I went downstairs, where Caleb was watching television. I turned it off.

“How long is Paige planning to leave the kids here?”

He looked annoyed. “Nora, we’ve been over this.”

“No, we’ve gone around it. That’s different.”

He put down his phone. “Until she gets an apartment.”

“How long might that take?”

“Six weeks, maybe eight. I don’t know.”

“Eight weeks?”

“That’s the outside estimate.”

I let out a short laugh, because I couldn’t think of anything else to do. “You didn’t want to overwhelm me with the real plan, so you told me two weeks and hoped I wouldn’t notice when it became eight?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“It’s what you just described.”

Caleb folded his arms. “Paige finally got a chance to start over. The company is offering her more money than she’s ever made. We should be happy for her.”

“I am happy for her.”

“Then why are you turning this into a fight?”