Once they started their walk back to the house, Blair hit Erin’s name to call her. She hated to bother her while she was working, but she knew if she texted it could take longer to get an answer. Because she had already promised Nolan they could go, she didn’t want to make him wait.

Erin picked up after only two rings. “Blair. Hi. Is everything okay?”

Blair cringed again. She hadn’t thought about the fact that calling Erin, something she had never done while babysitting, would scare her. “Oh yeah. Everything is fine. I’m sorry. We just walked to the pool, and it turns out it’s closed.”

“Yeah, Mommy. Someone shit in the pool!” Nolan shouted.

“Did he just say what I think he said?” Erin asked.

Shit, I am really messing this up. “Yes, he did. I don’t actually know if that’s what happened, but he might  have heard that from me. I’m so sorry. Anyway, I was calling to ask if it would be okay to take him to my… parents’ house to swim.”

“Bear is a giant kid and lives with her parents,” Nolan shouted once again.

Blair hoped Erin didn’t hear that, but the fact that she started laughing right after he said it made it pretty clear that she had. “I’m sorry my son is so savage. But yes, that would be fine. I’ll call before I leave work to see if you two are still there.”

“I’m sure we won’t be.” I will make sure we aren’t. No crossing any more lines. “But that sounds good.”

Blair said goodbye to Erin and continued the walk back to the house. After running inside to grab her car keys, they got into her car and headed in the direction of her house.

“Whoa,” Nolan said when they pulled up to the gate in front of her neighborhood. “Are you a princess?”

Blair laughed as she entered the code to open the gate. “No. I wish I was, though.”

After pulling into her parents’ driveway, she turned around to find Nolan staring at the house with wide eyes. “Are you sure you’re not a princess?”

“Last time I checked I wasn’t.”

Until seeing his reaction, Blair hadn’t thought too much about the size of her house. Sure, it was bigger than most of her friends' houses growing up, but it never mattered much to her. She liked having people come over, not because of the size, but because they could hang out in the pool. The only benefit to the size was her parents always slept through her and her friends sneaking alcohol into the basement.

Nolan pointed toward the house. “Who lives here?”

“Me, my mom, my dad, and my brother.”

“It’s huge.” Nolan spread his arms out dramatically as if to demonstrate just how big the house was.

“Just wait until you see the pool.”