Opposites Attract

For 4 years, I’ve been dealing with kindergartens and even smaller ones, so much so that it inspired me to help out my older sister, who opened a daycare near her house when I was 18 in California.

I used to live in Cleveland, my hometown, but I moved here just for this job. I’m 25 years old now, and this is my dream job—dealing with kids. It’s also my first day, and it’s 8 a.m.

Parents will be coming in three... Two... One. “Ms. Lopes!?” A woman with a toddler in her arms.

I appeared instead of shocking her. “I’m her younger sister,” I reassured her, and she smiled as she gave me her son, who was now crying.

“Jeffrey, please don’t start.” She whined, and I giggled before doing something that immediately shut Jeffrey up.

She gasped. “What was that?” She gives me the boy’s things, and I shrug. “I have a nephew who loves back rubs, so I figured this little guy would love it too,” I say, playing with him as he giggles.

“Well, that’s a new way to silence him. Thanks for the help.” She kissed her son goodbye before leaving in her car.

My sister Diane takes Jeffrey out of my hands and tells me to watch him while she collects the other kids.

I did as told and took his toys out for him to play with. He says something in gibberish, but I knew he was asking for the monster truck.

I give it to him and hear my sister talking to a guy. “Well, welcome to California, Mr. Ramirez.” I quickly stood up and saw a little girl with tall, curly brown hair and green eyes skip in, her Barbie doll in hand.

“Jamie,” my sister called me. “This is Natalie Ramirez. Her dad, Mateo Ramirez, just dropped her off. They’re new around here from Los Angeles.”

Natalie came up to show me her doll. I squat in front of her, and she starts telling me about who bought it for her. Her mom. Obviously

“She’s freaking cute,” I say, picking her up. “And you should see her father. Handsome guy with a little belly.”

Those are the keywords that made me curious. “How cute are we talking?” I ask to put Natalie in her crib. “He looks like a tall, chubby Hispanic Leonardo DiCaprio.”

I try to picture it in my head and fail, but at least I have an idea of how he looks until he picks her up.

10 more kids came, and before we knew it, we were dealing with kids.

I helped with five, and Diane dealt with the rest. We followed their schedule, feeding them, bathing them, teaching them the basics, letting them play, feeding them again, and letting them sleep. Also, bathing them again.

“You know, Kai misses you a lot.”

I looked up from my cleaning, smiling at the mention of Diane’s son. “I miss him, too. I’ll come visit on Sunday.”

Diane grinned. “He’ll be thrilled. He’s been asking about you non-stop.”

I chuckled, shaking my head. “I don’t know when he’s going to stop loving me. Not that I’m complaining.”

Diane laughed softly. “He’s always adored you. You’re his favorite aunt.”

“Well, I do spoil him a bit,” I admitted, thinking of the little surprises I always brought for Kai.

“That’s what makes you the best,” Diane said.

This is just the first day, and it feels okay to me, but then again, I have the rest of the days to see the stress of dealing with kids.

Now it’s one hour before pick-up time, so being the young woman that I am, I decided to let’s play a game for the little ones.

Duck, duck, goose was it, and I made Natalie do the duck, duck, goose just for today, though.

She was out of this world when she touched me and said Goose, so I could chase her, making all the kids want to be taggers.

“Okay, fine, everyone can be the tagger until pick-up time,” I say, and they scream, but Diane shushes them immediately after.

We played until Jeffrey’s mother came to pick him up. He was asleep, and she thanked me so very much.

“Please tell me your secret ’cause it’s hell if he wakes up.”

I laugh. “Okay, fine, clean his ear with a swab before he goes to bed at night. Do it gently as if you’re massaging the inside of his ear.”

She stood there stunned. “Simple but okay, how do you know it works? Do you have kids?” I shook my head.

“No, just nephews. As I said, my nephew loved it when I cleaned his ear. Usually, they hate it, but you just have to catch them like a mouse.”

I sigh, and she hums. “Okay, I’m off now. Tell Diane I said hi.” She walks off, picking up her son into his car seat before getting in her car and driving away.

As the last few minutes of the day tick by, I start tidying up the play area. The kids are winding down, 3 more of them have already picked up.

Diane approached me, grinning.“You did great today, Jamie. I knew you’d be a natural.”

I look at hersmiling back, a bit tired. “Thanks, Diane. It was a lot of work, but I loved it.”

Diane nods. “It always is, but it’s worth it. The kids adore you already.”

Just then, I saw a familiar figure walk through the door. It was Mateo Ramirez, here to pick up his daughter, Natalie.

He was just as my sister had described: a tall, handsome guy who looked like a Hispanic Leonardo DiCaprio and had a bit of a belly. not to mention the fluffy brown hair on his head and his mustache. I felt a flutter in my stomach.

He looked around and spotted us. “Hello, I’m here to pick up Natalie.”

Smiling warmly approached him, feeling a flutter of nerves. “Hi, Mr. Ramirez. I’m Jamie, Diane’s younger sister. Natalie was a well-behaved girl today.”

Smiling back, eyes softening as he sees his daughter. “Nice to meet you, Jamie. Thank you for taking such good care of her.”

Natalie Excitedly runs over to her father, holding out her doll. “Daddy! ms Jamie made us play Duck, Duck, Goose!”

Mateo kneeled to hug her, laughing softly. “Oh, did you now? That sounds like fun.”

As he looked up at me, I started feeling weird. “It was my pleasure. She’s a joy to have around.”

Mateo knit his brow. “So, she didn’t misbehave... like at all?”

Smiling, I assured him, “She was wonderful. I’m exhausted right now because you know how kids can make messes, but other than that. Your daughter was an angel.”

He was grinning proudly. “She takes after her mom. I’m still learning how to handle all this alone.”

After hearing that he’s a single dad, I encouraged him. “You’re doing great, Mateo. It’s clear how much you care about her.”

He paused, looking at me with genuine interest. “Thanks, Jamie. That means a lot.”

There was a moment of comfortable silence between us before he spoke again.

He examines me curiously. “So your sister told me earlier that you lived in Cleveland. What brought you to California? Was it just to help out with the daycare?”

I nod, “Yeah, I moved here from Cleveland to support my sister and pursue my dream of working with kids. It’s something I’ve always loved.”

Mateo smiled warmly. “That’s admirable. It’s not easy making such a big move.”

I shrugged lightly. “It’s worth it when you’re doing something you love.”

Mateo Stood up, giving me a lingering look as he towered over me. I didn’t even realize how tall he actually was until now. “Well, we’ll see you tomorrow then. Have a good evening.”

I kept smiling, my heart racing a bit because the height difference was making me have a mental panic attack. “You too, Mr. Ramirez.”

As Mateo and Natalie left, Diane walked over to me, a smug smile on her face.

Diane teasingly nudged me. “So, what do you think of the ‘chubby Hispanic Leonardo DiCaprio’?”

Laughing, a bit flustered, I hide my face. “You weren’t kidding. He’s something.”

Diane patted my shoulder. “Just take it one day at a time. You’re doing great.”

“He seems nice. And he loves his daughter.” I sigh as he drives off.

Diane Grinned. “I think he might be interested in more than just daycare.”

Ilaughed softly. “We’ll see, Diane. We’ll see.”