The Fix (Carolina Connections #1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

I’d get to them
later. The number on the caller ID was unfamiliar, but I pressed Accept.
    “Hello?”
    “Oh
hi. Is this Laney Monroe?”
    “Yes.”
    “This
is Mellie Jordan from Cornerstone Daycare. How are you?”
    Rocco’s
daycare director.
    “Oh
hi, Mellie! I’m good – how about you?” We exchanged pleasantries.
    “I’m
just fine, Laney. Listen, I’m sorry to bother you at home. I was hoping to
catch you when you picked Rocco up this afternoon but I think I just missed
you. I wanted to touch base on a couple things – nothing’s wrong, so don’t
worry,” she reassured me.
    “Okay,
what’s up?” I asked.
    “Well,
first of all, I wanted to tell you that we all love Rocco here. He is
just such a sweet little guy.”
    My
chest wanted to swell at this, but my motherly instincts were sensing a “but
sandwich” on the horizon – your kid is great, but he’s pantsing all the
other kids on the playground and we’ll have to expel him, but did I tell you we
really think he’s great?
    “But,”
Mellie continued.
    Here
it comes.
    “I’m
just the teensiest bit concerned about him, socially speaking,” Mellie said.
    My
hand that wasn’t holding the phone went to my cheek and the rubbing began.
    “He
seems to spend most of his time playing by himself and when we try to encourage
him to join in with some of the other kids he says he doesn’t want to,” she
continued.
    Rub.
    “I
wouldn’t mention it since he’s new to the school and I know kids can be shy,
but we just haven’t seen any improvement yet – I catch him looking at what
other kids are doing so I think he’s probably interested, but he won’t go that
next step. Sometimes one of us teachers will play with him to get the ball rolling
and he’ll talk to us just fine. But not with the other kids.”
    Rub
rub.
    “I’m
not trying to scare you or anything because this is probably something we’ll
look back on later and laugh about, but at his age he really should be engaging
in interactive play with other kids instead of parallel play we see with the
younger ones. I wanted to ask, does he have friends in the neighborhood or from
his old school he interacts with regularly? Am I just bothering you for
nothing?” She laughed lightly.
    Rub
rub rub rub – oh, Jesus Christ, somebody just bring me a loofah!
    “Um,
hmm. Well, you see, Mellie, we just moved to a new neighborhood as well as the
new school and we really haven’t gotten a chance to meet too many people…” I
trailed off.
    “Oh,
you poor thing – that is a lot of change all at once. Rocco probably
just needs a few more weeks to get in the swing of things, then. Is he getting
a chance to see any of his old friends?”
    Crap.
How did one explain this? Of course my five-year-old has friends! There’s
his uncle who is great fun and is always offering to share his Playboy
collection. Sure, his brain could probably be traded with an orangutan and
nobody would notice, but who doesn’t like monkeys, right? And then there are
Rocco’s grandparents!  His grandma lets him help grade exams and tells him all
sorts of interesting tidbits about late twentieth century American history –
what kid doesn’t love to chat about Vietnam?! Let’s not forget Grandpa either –
he takes Rocco to the Farm and Fleet to talk to the three fingered manager about
riding mowers, because that guy is the one to ask about machines with sharp
blades. And, sure, a couple of these besties just moved four hours away, but
there’s always Skype and everyone knows that is interactive as hell – nothing
parallel in sight!
    Rub.
    Yeah,
that wasn’t going to go over well. Time to fess up.
    “The
truth is, Mellie, what you’re talking about has pretty much always been the
case. He’s not really been into kids his own age. He’s an only child and has
always seemed content to hang out with adults. I’ve tried not to worry about it
before. I guess I just hoped it would resolve on its own.” How could I