We Don't Have to Feel Alone

Chapter 3

"Yup, I just dropped Nova off at school," Sariah says into her phone, connected to her cochlear via Bluetooth, as she walks back up to the house.

"And everything's been okay this past week?" Chris asks.

"Yup. We've been going to the park, reading bedtime stories, playing tea party a lot - and yesterday, I even got her to eat a vegetable."

"Woah, teach me your ways," Chris laughs.

Sariah laughs too as she unlocks the house and lets herself in, shutting the door behind her.

"She definitely misses you, but she doesn't seem to have a problem with telling me if she's feeling sad."

"Well, that's good. Thank you so much for all of this; I was afraid that it was going to be so much harder to leave. I miss her so much already."

"I'm glad I can make it a bit easier on you."

"For sure, I know she's in good hands," Chris says, "What about you? Are you settling in okay?"

"Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for being so welcoming."

"Are you kidding? You're taking care of my child - the least I can do is make you feel at home," Chris says, "What are your plans for the day while Nova's in school? Besides enjoying the quiet," He jokes.

Sariah smiles, "Straighten up around the house a bit, then I'm meeting Easton and Jason for lunch and we're officially going to start talking wedding plans."

"Awesome - have fun! And thank you so much again for everything."

"Of course, Chris. Have a good show tonight."

"Thanks, I'll talk to you later."

They hang up, then Sariah puts her phone in her pocket. She walks into her room, then removes her cochlear and sets it on the nightstand. When she had some time to herself, she did at times like to remove it while she got things done.

Sariah had sort of developed a routine with the other families that she worked for, and she continued this here as well. Since Sariah took her cochlear out to sleep, she had a watch that she wore that would vibrate to wake her up that functioned as her alarm clock. She'd get herself and Nova ready for the day, take Nova to school, and then she'd have some time to herself for a few hours. During this time, Sariah would typically take time to clean up around the house, do laundry, get groceries if needed, and so on. Before she knew it, it would be time to get Nova from school again.

Since Nova was in kindergarten, she didn't have much homework apart from the fact that her teachers encouraged the students to read at home. When returning from school, Sariah made sure she took some time to play with Nova and have fun with her before starting on dinner - which Nova often asked to help with. After dinner, Sariah tried to do something like taking Nova to the park, doing a craft, or something else of the sort. Afterwards, Nova would watch cartoons for a little while, and when it came for bed, Sariah would have Nova read one of her books out loud, helping her sound out some of the bigger words. Then, Sariah would read another story to Nova, and Nova usually went to sleep fairly easily after that.

It was clear that Chris was worried, so he checked in frequently, but with each time that he called Sariah, the more he found comfort in her being with Nova. It was clear that she knew what she was doing that that Nova adored her.

x

Sariah walks up to Jason and Easton, who were sitting at a table outside a café in town. The two of them each had an Air Pod in and were looking at something on Easton's phone.