Chapter Text
"Renee, Renee!"
"Yes?"
"Look!" Natalie excitedly said as she held a drawing up. She pointed to the bigger purple figure on the left. "This is you,"—she pointed to the smaller orange figure in the middle—"this is me, and this is Nessie." She pointed to the even smaller green dinosaur on the right. In her drawing, all three of them were standing in front of colourful bookshelves and a fireplace. It was her father's, Luc Paquette, library.
"Wow, good job, Nat." Renee said, holding her hand out.
Natalie gave her a high five before shoving the piece of paper in her hand. "It's for you."
Renee gently took hold of the drawing and smiled. "Merci, I'll make sure to keep it safe for as long as I can."
A wide grin appeared on Natalie's face as she laughed and ran back to her small table in the living room. Most of the time, if they weren't outside or in Mr. Paquette's library, that's where Renee was able to find her. She enjoyed drawing and would spend hours making piles of drawings. Interestingly enough, she didn't much care for drawing dragons and princesses or superheros like most kids. Instead, she settled for drawing clouds and lightning bolts and rough drawings of Mr. Paquette's blueprints. It was Natalie's dream to become an engineer, just like her father.
Opening one of the kitchen drawers, Renee pulled a pen out and quickly wrote on the back of Natalie's drawing. Mr. Paquette asked for her to put the date on all of Natalie's drawings so when she was older, she'd be able to look back on them and know when they were drawn. Now it was second-nature to do so.
Time passed, giving time for Renee to wash the dishes she had to do from lunch and put some of their laundry in the wash. In between tasks, she dated four more of Natalie's drawings. The clock clicked to three-thirty, and right on cue, the front door squeaked open.
"Renee? Natalie?"
"Papa!" Natalie jumped up from her chair and bolted to the mudroom.
Mr. Paquette let out a soft 'hmph' as Natalie practically jumped into his arms before he laughed. "Natalie, mon bébé." He began to speak in French, Renee picking up on the simple phrase. How're you?
Natalie also spoke in French. She was much better with French than she was with English, anyway. When she spoke English, she always donned a thick French accent and spoke much more slowly. She also scrunched her nose whenever she couldn't remember something in English.
Once Mr. Paquette was done checking in with Natalie, he finally shed himself of his coat and hat and she ran upstairs. Mr. Paquette made his way into the kitchen and sat down in his usual chair. "How was Natalie?"
Renee turned the water off and grabbed the towel hanging over the sink. As she dried her hands, she spoke, "She was great, drew quite a bit and didn't even fuss once. She didn't want to eat her sandwich though, only her applesauce."
"Should've saved that for after lunch, you know how she gets with her applesauce." Mr. Paquette said.
"Right." Renee laughed. She hung the towel back up.
Both of them sat there in silence, muted thumps coming from upstairs. Mr. Paquette broke the silence. "She loves you, you know."—Renee glanced at him before both of them stared at the stairs—"She's shy around other people and didn't like school because of it. You're the first person that isn't me she grew attached to. Always babbling on about your visits."
"You haven't told her yet, have you?" Renee asked. They looked back at each other, Renee raising a questioning eyebrow at Mr. Paquette.
He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose and eyes. "No, I haven't."
"You're gonna need to, she needs to know—sooner rather than later."
"I know, I just don't want to see her so heartbroken. She's going to be devastated when she finds out." Mr. Paquette said. "You're the only babysitter she's liked, I don't know how I'm going to find another."
"You'll manage." Renee said.
"Renee, Renee, Renee!" Natalie yelled as she came running down the stairs. She stopped on the final step, her toy Nessie in her arms and a hopeful look on her face. "Can you stay to watch boxing with me?"
Renee looked between Natalie and Mr. Paquette, who raised his eyebrows at her. She smiled. "Of course."
—
One Saturday later, Renee and Natalie were sitting on the couch with Natalie's head on Renee's arm. Natalie was still in her pyjamas and had her blanket loosely wrapped around herself and her Nessie in her lap. This was because they had an early start to their day, Mr. Paquette having left for the weekend for work. This left Renee to not only babysit, but housesit, too.
To let her wake up, Renee decided to let Natalie watch some cartoons before she started breakfast. Usually, Mr. Paquette had already made breakfast, but with how early he had to leave, he didn't have enough time to. He had to be on the airship by six-thirty that morning.
"Hey, Natalie, are you awake?" Renee asked, gently nudging Natalie. She popped her head up and stared blankly at Renee. "I have something important to tell you."
"Oui?" Natalie said.
Taking a deep breath in, Renee spoke, "I'm leaving for college soon."
Natalie continued to stare at her, but this time with a look of terror on her face. "You're leaving?"
"Yes, I'm leaving. I didn't want to tell you because I knew you were going to be sad, but I knew I needed to." Renee said. "I don't want to leave you, but this is important to me, just like your Nessie's important to you."
"But who's going to watch me?" Natalie asked. The first tear fell and Renee quickly wiped it away with her thumb.
"Your papa will find you a new babysitter, and they'll be just as good as I am—if not, better." Renee said.
"I don't want a new babysitter." Natalie cried. She wrapped her arms around Renee's arm and buried her face into her sleeve. "I don't want you to go. Please don't go."
"I'm sorry, Nat, but I have to." Renee said. This made Nat's grip on her tighten.
They sat there with the TV quietly playing in the background. Renee stroked Natalie's hair as Natalie sobbed into her hoodie. She knew she would react like this—any kid would if they were in this situation—she just didn't want it to actually happen. But, like Renee had said before, it was best that she knew.
—
The car pulled up in front of the house, Renee stepping out from the passenger side and readjusting her jean jacket. About two months ago, Renee had told Natalie about her departure—remembering the heartbreaking look on her face like it was yesterday. And now… today was the day.
"I'll just be a minute." Renee said to her driver. She walked around the front of the car, down the pavement, and up the few stairs. She froze in front of the door.
Was she really ready to say goodbye to Natalie and Mr. Paquette?
Natalie was such a sweet kid and Renee had watched her grow up in the past few years. She remembered how small Natalie was when they first met—barely touching her elbow—and now she was nearly above the midway point of her upper arm. Not to mention her grasp on the English language was way better than before.
And Mr. Paquette was like a father to her. Sure, he may have drowned himself in his work, but he always treated her like his own daughter. He offered anything he could to her and made sure she always had what she needed. At one point, he had even offered to fix her car for her—which he did free of charge.
It was nice to have a family like theirs.
Renee stared blankly at the door, a loose fist mere inches away from the door. She didn't want to do this. Nothing prepared her for saying goodbye to the kid she babysat for years. But, with a heavy sigh, she knocked on the door.
A loud thud came from inside the house, followed by something yelled in French. Natalie must've tripped over something. Shortly after, the front door opened.
"Renee!" Natalie cheered. She jumped into Renee's arms, squeezing her in a bear hug. As soon as she let go, she grabbed her arm and began to tug her inside. "Come on, I want to show you the lab I made!"
"Actually, Nat, I'm not here to visit today." Renee said. Natalie immediately stopped her pulling and looked at Renee with curious eyes. "I came to say goodbye."
Natalie stared at her. And stared, and stared… and stared. Then a small frown. "Are you leaving for college?" Renee nodded. Natalie continued to stare at her, her lips starting to tremble.
Oh no…
She tightly wrapped her arms around Renee's neck and buried her face into her shoulder. "I don't want you to go…"
Renee rubbed Natalie's back. "I know, Nat. I don't want to, either."
"Then don't go." Natalie said.
Renee put her hands on Natalie's shoulders and looked into her eyes while Natalie stared at the ground. "I don't want to leave you, but this is something important to me. I'll only be gone for a few months and then I'll come visit you when I come home for Christmas, okay? I'll even bring you presents if you're a good girl. I'm sure Papa Noël will tell me what you want."
Natalie sniffled and looked at Renee's nose—her way of making eye contact. "You promise?"
Renee smiled. "I promise."
"You pinky-promise?" Natalie asked, holding her pinky out.
Renee let go of one of her shoulders and wrapped her pinky around Natalie's smaller pinky. "I pinky-promise."
This seemed to raise Natalie's spirits as she giggled. She let go of Renee's pinky and gave her another hug, Renee immediately hugging her back. A soft smile of her own grew on Renee's face.
Renee finally let Natalie go and stood up. Mr. Paquette took a step to the side as Natalie ran back inside, him and Renee looking at each other. He gave her a sorrowful smile. "You did well, Renee."
"Thank you, Mr. Paquette." Renee said. Her entire body tensed up as Mr. Paquette pulled her into an unexpected hug, but she quickly relaxed and hugged him back. Another thing she was going to miss was his hugs. Mr. Paquette's hugs—while rare—were always comforting and warm.
Mr. Paquette let Renee go and put a hand on her shoulder. "Please, if you ever need anything, call me. You know our number."
Renee smiled at him. "I'll be sure to remember that. Thank you again, Mr. Paquette."
"Please, you can call me Luc. You're old enough now." Luc said.
"Right," Renee said, "thank you… Luc."
Luc nodded and removed his hand from her shoulder. Without another word, Renee walked back down the pavement and towards the car. She opened the passenger side door, but before she got in, she looked back at the Paquettes' home.
The front door was closed, but in the kitchen window was Natalie holding her stuffed Nessie and Luc standing behind her. Both of them waved at Renee. She smiled and waved back at them.
Renee finally climbed inside the car, closing the door behind herself and buckling herself in. Her eyes burned, her throat felt dry, and her chest felt like it was being squeezed. God, how she hated goodbyes. But hopefully this one wouldn't be for long.
"Ready to go?"
Renee looked over at her driver and smiled at him. "As ready as I'll ever be."
He gave Renee a reassuring smile before looking back at the road and pulling away from the pavement. "Look out, King's Creek, here we come!"