28 Blind Dates: After the Costumes (Part 15)

Three Against Two

After a surprisingly decent amount of sleep, Merlin and Jalisa are back up with the babies. But all three are crying, and they can only handle two at a time. Jalisa rushes through feeding and changing Jamelia’s diaper, then lifts Jalin out of the crib to feed him. Merlin finishes up with Melisa and changes her diaper.

Jalisa: *observes* You’re getting good at that!

Merlin: Thanks. Who would have thought?

Merlin stumbles a bit while trying to put four wiggling limbs into a fresh onesie, but he manages and stands back proudly admiring his work.

Merlin does the same for Jamelia. But the job is never really done. When one baby is calm, two others are crying for attention. Jalisa works on soothing one daughter while Merlin cuddles the other. Then he moves over to Jalin and manages to change his onesie without even waking him. Finally, all three babies are calmed and cared for. Merlin feels as though he and Jalisa can now conquer anything.

But, Jalisa isn’t so confident. She knows their biggest battle is still yet to come. How will they juggle three babies and their careers? Her family leave is due to be up soon, and she realizes that Merlin will also have to get back to running his business.

Jalisa quickly showers, changes, and meets Merlin downstairs. She intends to bring up her concerns while they eat.

Merlin: We’re doing a good job, aren’t we? The babies are clean and fed, and we’re clean and fed. That’s not a small feat.

Jalisa: No, I guess it isn’t.

Merlin: *proud* Yeah, we are! We’re doing a great job!

Merlin is feeling so good that Jalisa hates to burst his bubble by bringing up another issue. She’ll save it for a little later.

Merlin is upstairs on the computer playing a video game. Jalisa figures it’s a great time to broach her concerns. She walks over and sits down in the chair across from him.

Jalisa: Merlin, we need a nanny.

Merlin: But we’re doing a good job. I said it, and you agreed with me.

Jalisa: And we are, for now. But what happens when we return to work? Who’s going to take care of them?

Merlin pauses his game and looks over at Jalisa.

Merlin: You want to hire someone else to take care of them? But that’s our job.

Jalisa: We’ll still be the ones mainly taking care of them. But our job is also to provide for them and make sure they have everything they need. Unless one of us is going to quit our job, we need help.

Merlin: I can take some more vacation time.

Jalisa: You can’t, Merlin. Your company isn’t going to run itself. And didn’t you use up all your vacation time during our wedding and honeymoon?

Merlin: Oh, right. I did.

Jalisa: This is something that we’re going to have to do. We don’t have a choice. It’s either a nanny or daycare, and I‘d rather have more control of who we put in charge of our babies.

Merlin realizes that Jalisa is right. Unless they are ready to give up their careers completely, neither one of them can afford to stay home for much longer. He turns back to his computer and resumes his game.

Merlin: Okay, so how do we find someone?

Jalisa: I’ll call an agency and have them send over some candidates. We’ll interview them and check their references together.

Merlin: I have your back. Go ahead and give them a call.

Jalisa: Thanks, Merlin.

BDC: After the Costumes Summaries | read from the beginning

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