A Bondi Dream

Chapter 24 - Jake

We started walking back up to the tower. I had this sad, empty feeling inside me. Mouse was packing up his stuff, so I started walking to the parking lot.

It was pitch black out now. It gets dark really early this time of year. I was standing next to the car door when I heard a little voice scare me.

"Hi." I tiny voice said behind me. I jumped back and dropped my phone. The little child jumped, too. He looked scared and shy.

It was the kid we've been looking for. He had the Ninja Turtle swimmers on. I sigh and crouch down to his level.

"Hi, sweetie. What's your name?" I ask him softly.

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers." His tiny voice said back with his hands on his face.

"We've been looking for you. Your mommy is worried." I tell him. "Do you want to come with me and we'll go find help?" He nods, and I pick him up.

Mouse walks to the car on his phone. "Mouse." I get his attention, and he notices the kid in my arms. His jaw drops.

"Where did you find him?"

"I didn't. He came up to me. He hasn't told me his name, though." I look at the kid.

Mouse pulls out his phone to call his mom. No answer. He tries a few more times. No answer.

"She must be sleeping. Should we take him back to our apartment and have him stay with us until the morning?" I ask him.

He hesitates. "Oh screw it. Sure." He says, getting into the car.

~~~~~~

We get home and walk into the house with little Jake.

"Woah, this is super duper big." Jake says with gleam in his eyes.

We laugh. "Jake, are you hungry?" I ask as he jumps onto the couch. He's so cute.

He nods lightly. He gasps and points to behind the couch. "Kitty!" He says.

"Yeah!" I sit down next to him. "That kitty's name is Cooper." He hesitantly pets him. "It's ok, he's a good kitty."

I turn on the TV and switch to paw patrol. That's what I loved as a kid.

I go into the kitchen and fix him a turkey sandwhich cut into quarters and some blueberries. I put them on a paper plate and bring them into him. He's sat on the couch with the cat on his lap, watching paw patrol sucking his thumb.

"Here you go, Jake. Here's a sandwich and some blueberries for you." I tell him.

"Thank you, Miss girl." Jake says while taking the plate and eating the blueberries.

"You can call me Lizzy, and over there is Mouse." I laugh.

After he finished eating, he was still watching pawpatrol with Cooper on his lap.

"When will I get to see Mommy?" He asks.

"Tomorrow morning, you can see Mommy." I tell him. He smiles.

~~~~~

Later, I got out of the shower to see Mpuse sleeping on the couch with Jake and Cooper in between them. I smiled to myself and went to sleep in my room.

~~~~~~

The next morning, I woke up and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. Mouse and Jake were still asleep. I wasn't sure what time little kids normally get up, so I just let him sleep.

I decided to make eggs and toast since that is what most kids like for breakfast. I've never been experienced in children, so I wasn't sure what to do.

Jake woke up about an hour later along with Mouse, and we all sat down to eat breakfast.

"Mommy is gonna be so happy to see me today." Jake says.

"Yes. I'm sure she will!"

We finished up breakfast and I went to wash the dishes. I played some music on Alexa and Jake and Mouse started dancing.

I love seeing Mouse good with kids. If he would ever gets a girlfriend, he could put that skill to use.

Mouse's phone started ringing. "Hello?" I heard him say. "Mhm." "Yes. Okay, thank you." He says.

"Who was that?" I ask.

"Jakes, mom. She was so happy to know that you found him. She's coming by at 12 to come and get him." He explains.

"Awesome! Did you hear that, Jake? Mommy's coming to get you!" I tell him happily.

He screams in happiness and jumps up and down while also spinning in circles. We laugh.

~~~~~~

About 3 hours later, there was a knock on the door. I go and open the door to see Jake's mom standing there.

"Where is he!?" She says frantically.

Mouse walks in with Jake in his arms. Jake puts his hands out to his mom, and she picks him up.

"Oh Jakey! Where did you go!?" She cries.

"Mooooom! I went to go see the butterfly and when I came back you were gone!" He says.

"How could I ever thank you guys?" She pleads.

"Don't worry about it. He was good!" I tell her.

"Well, thank you so much! Here, let me give you guys a hug." She gives both of us hugs and waves us off.

"I couldn't even imagine losing a child like that." I say, closing the door. Mouse nods in agreement.

I walk to my room with a sigh of relief and take out my phone. Just then, I got a call from Chase.

"Hello?" I say

"Hey Lizzy!"

"Hey Chase. What's up?"

"Well, I thought I'd call you to tell you some great news!"

"What's the good news?"

"Well, I officially got the traineeship at Bondi to become a lifeguard!"

"What!! That's amazing news, Chase!!"

"Thanks! I'm super excited! My first shift is tomorrow morning."

"I love it over there. My brother works as a lifeguard down there, so I go over there quite often. Hopefully, I'll see you there!"

"Oh really? Who's your brother?"

"His name is Michael Jenkinson. They call him Mouse over there."

"Oh, ok! Cool. Hopefully, I'll meet him soon. Anyway, I just wanted to call you quickly and tell you the good news! I need to get going now. Bye Liz!"

I hang up the phone and walk into the living room. I wanted to go visit Chase on his first day, but then I remembered Oliver comes home tomorrow. Great.