The Art of Longing

[61] Emergency Room

He would stop by the shop before he picked up his kids, which meant that in total he was gone for over two hours. He left me alone for over two hours, which wasn't the best idea in retrospect. In an attempt to occupy my mind, I went to what would be my darkroom eventually, and attempted to visualise a potential finished layout. I sketched out a few ideas of what I could potentially do with the room, when I heard a sudden noise from downstairs. Keys. That could only mean one thing, Brian and his kids were here.

I took a deep breath and slowly got up.

"Ellie?," I heard Brian calling downstairs.

"Almost there," I replied as I walked downstairs. Controlling my nerves was a hard task. Luckily, Brian was the first me I saw, and he greeted me with a smile. "Hey," I greeted him, reminding myself that I shouldn't greet him with a kiss. I took a deep breath, before I looked at his kids. "Hello, you three, how are you doing?"

"Hello Ellie," Jimmy greeted me with a smile. "How are you?"

"I am very well, thank you. How are you, Jimmy?," I replied with a smile.

"I am very well, thank you," he replied. He sat on the stairs to take off his shoes.

I looked at Louisa. "And how are you, Louisa?"

I wasn't sure if I should really expect a reply, but she nodded a little. "Good," she replied, which made me smile.

"That's wonderful..," I replied. To say that I was comfortable would have been a lie. I glanced at Brian, hoping that he would help me out.

"Would you mind holding Emily, so I can get all their stuff from the car?," Brian asked me.

Surprised, I raised my eyebrows. "Uh, sure, I suppose," I replied. That wasn't the kind of help that I'd had in mind, but it was a fair request. I went up to him and carefully took Emily from him. She looked at me with big eyes, so I smiled at her. "Hey there," I said. "I hope you are doing well as well." Obviously, she didn't reply, but she seemed content for the moment.

Brian looked at me with a small smile. "I'll be right outside, and I won't be long, okay?"

"Yes, okay," I said, and nodded a little.

"Ellie, my shoes go where?," Jimmy asked from behind me.

I turned around and raised my eyebrows. "That is a very good question, Jimmy." We hadn't set aside a spot for that yet. "We're still missing a lot of furniture, so how about you leave them neatly here, next to the stairs?"

Luckily, Jimmy did as I suggested.

"Do you want me to help you with your shoes, Louisa?," l asked her. She didn't reply verbally, but she nodded. It was a bit of a task, with Emily on my arm, but somehow I managed.

When Brian returned and saw me kneeling on the floor with Emily, next to Louisa, he rushed to place down the bags he was carrying. "What are you doing?," he exclaimed.

"Managing just fine," I assured him as I got back up. When he saw that all kids were still happy, he relaxed a little. "We're fine, Bri," I repeated. "Right?," I asked and glanced at Emily who was looking at me with big eyes and squealed.

Brian smiled at me. "Okay. Good. I'll get the rest of their things," he said.

Jimmy was about to follow him, until I reminded him that he had already taken his shoes off. "We can look at the house," he suggested enthusiastically as an alternative.

"We will wait until your dad is back and then we'll look at the house together, okay?," I said, in an attempt to get him to be patient. He seemed excited, and being patient wasn't an easy task for an excited little boy, but he managed when l asked him about what he had done that past week. Louisa seemed to be a lot more timid in this unfamiliar environment with essentially a stranger, but she agreed with Jimmy when he talked about now fun their trip to some park had been. That was good enough for me.