Chapter 16

       I somehow became a babysitter for almost everyone in the village. If the daycare wasn't able to watch someone's kids, they would turn to me. I didn't blame them. I was a doctor after all and if I would definitely want a doctor watching over my kid.

       I had a feeling I was going to be babysitting a lot this month. The person who ran the daycare had to go out of town for a while, and they weren't able to find a replacement in time, so they gave all the parents a heads up that they would have to find a babysitter for the time being.

       I wasn't watching just one kid today. I was watching five, and it wasn't too bad. They were just very crazy as of right now.

       Cleo was at work, so I, of course, was watching Celeste. Along with Celeste, I had Guinevere, and all three of Destiny and Dan's kids; Anastasia, Ace, and Harry. Normally, Calvin and Kenny were the ones who watched Anastasia, Ace, and Harry since Calvin was Ace's dad, but Kenny was very sick, so Calvin was taking care of him.

       "Uncle Josh," Ace said as he sat down beside me on the couch. "Can we go to the park?" 

       Ace always referred to me and my brothers as his uncles. Calvin only had one brother, but we didn't talk about him much, and Destiny didn't have any siblings, so their cousins were always their kids' aunts and uncles.

       Though, it was dominantly uncles. And by dominantly, I meant all.

       "I don't want to go to the park," Anastasia said. "It's too cold. I want to stay here and watch TV."

       "TV is boring," Ace said.

       "You're boring," Anastasia shot back. There was nothing more amusing than a little kid's comebacks.

       Ace stuck his tongue out at Anastasia before looking back at me. "So, can we go to the park?"

       "I would take you, but Celeste is too young to stay out in the cold for a long time," I said. "That, and she's sleeping."

       "Ha ha," Anastasia said.

       "Stop being mean, Tasie," Ace said. "I thought we were friends."

       Anastasia furrowed her eyebrows. "Friends? We're brother and sister."

       "Not anymore."

       Little kids were also quite confusing.

       There was a knock on the door, and it wouldn't stop, so I got up from the couch to answer it. Joel was standing there with Jett standing behind him. "I really need your help," Joel said.

       "Right now?" I asked. "Because I'm kind of busy with five kids."

       "Please?" Joel asked. "It's really important."

       I looked back towards the living room. "Anastasia, can you keep your eye on Celeste and come get me if she starts crying? I'm just going to step outside for a moment."

       "Okay," Anastasia said.

       I stepped outside, closing the door behind me. "So, what's wrong?"

       "The policemen are what's wrong," Joel said.

       "Joel..." Jett began, but Joel wouldn't let him continue.

       "No, you were there, Jett," Joel said. "You saw what happened."

       "What happened?" I asked.

       "Well, since Cassidy is staying in the village now, no longer in hiding for whatever reason, I decided to finally go to the police to tell them what they did to me," Joel said. "And guess what? They didn't believe me."

       "What?" I asked. "Why not?"

       "Because I lied about who shot me," Joel said. "I said it was a man who was wearing a balaclava or whatever, and because I'm not the most honest and well-behaved person, they thought I was lying."

       "Are you serious?" I asked. "Police officers can't just immediately assume someone is lying. They have to take every word into account."

       "Yeah, well, apparently, the police officers here are totally d-bags," Joel said. "Anyway, that's why I need your help. I'm hoping they would believe you if you told them. You know, since you're..."

       "Cassidy's ex-boyfriend whom she lied to about being dead?" I asked.

       "Yeah..."

       I sighed, not knowing if I actually wanted to tell the police Cassidy was the one who shot Joel. I know that sounded selfish, but... Cassidy was a mom. To my daughter. I didn't want Guinevere to lose her mom.

       I couldn't be the one to cause my daughter to lose her mom.

       "I don't know if they'll believe me anymore than they'll believe you," I said. "But I know one thing you can do. Was Horatio at the police station when you went there?"

       "No, why?" Joel asked.

       "He's probably one of the few smart police officers," I said. "He'll actually listen to you and look into it. Even if he's not on shift, he'll be willing to help."

       "Are you sure?" Joel asked.

       "Yeah, I'm positive," I said. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to babysitting."

       "Alright, thanks anyway," Joel said before he and Jett walked off.

       I walked back in the house where Ace was now running around the living room with Anastasia chasing him, Guinevere was hanging upside down on the couch singing the alphabet, Harry was colouring at the coffee table, and Celeste was now babbling incoherently.

       When Ace saw me back into the house, he ran over to me. "Now can we go to the park?"

       "No," Anastasia whined. "I don't want to go to the park. There's too much snow on the ground, and Ace always throws a snowball at my face."

       "I wanna go outside!" Guinevere said.

       "Ha ha," Ace said to Anastasia. "It's two against one."

       "There's still one more person to vote, and Harry doesn't like going outside," Anastasia said. "So it's tied."

       "Ask him anyway," I said. "If Harry does want to, we'll walk around the village and I'll take you all out for dinner."

       Anastasia huffed. "Fine." She walked over to Harry and tapped him on the shoulder. After he was looking at her, she asked him in sign language if he wanted to go outside and out for dinner, to which he immediately responded by smiling and standing up, signing something back to her.

       "He said we wants to go to the diner," Anastasia said. "Ooh, and since Mom and Dad own it, we get free food."

       "Don't you ever get tired of eating there?" I asked.

       "Why would I ever get tired of free food?" Anastasia asked.

_________________

Same Tasie, same.

THE WINTER SHORT STORY IS ALMOST ARRIVING! I'M SO EXCITED. However, since it's during this book, there might be a few things out of place or that doesn't make sense or that doesn't go along with what happened. Just go along with it anyway. cx

It shouldn't be too bad, since this is only in Josh's POV, so it will only be his storyline in the winter story that might not go along with what's happening in here.

BUT THE WINTER SHORT STORY MEANS WE CAN FINALLY SEE SOME HOLDEN AND SHAW MOMENTS BECAUSE I LOVE THEM:

Shaw and Holden @ Holden's parents ^^

I mean whaaaaaaat?

NOW I MISS STARRY. MY STARRY HEART IS CURRENTLY BROKEN.