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The evening eased into it's night slippers silently. Darkness had not yet given way to daylight saving time. The slapping closed of the college dorm's front door alerted Lyla that her ride had arrived. Zippity-do-dahing down the stairs, she extended her hand to Sam.

"Happy to meet cha", she said. "You're Sam, right?" The smell of his cologne was as understated as he looked.

"That I am." He winked as he said it.

Sam was a lot different than Lyla expected. For one thing, he was thirty-something and handsome. For another thing, he didn't look serious enough to be somebody's dad.

"Thanks for taking this gig last minute like this." Sam said breathing an obvious sigh of relief.

"Sooo-kay. Me and Karen are sort of friends. We don't have any classes together but a jam is a jam." Lyla pretended to be indifferent.

"When I attended college here," Sam reminisced, "I remember dropping everything too, just so I could be in a jam like Karen's." They both laughed.

"Good luck, Karen." That was the only thing Lyla said to her sort of friend, when Karen ran screaming with delight up and down the halls not an hour before this.

"I owe you big time for filling in on the babysitting for me. I can't believe Craig wants me to go out. It's like I've waited for this my whole and entire life. And tonight, he finally asks." Almost as an afterthought, Karen added, "You saved my life, Lyla. You saved my life...oh, and Sam and Marian are a great couple. You'll love their kids."

Karen disappeared.

It was a warm night for March. The drive from campus to what must be southwest San Jose, California took long enough. Small talk helped to fill the gap between these two strangers. Much later, Lyla would remember thinking Sam was tall and thin. Other than that, his most outstanding feature was his dimples. He had stooped over, almost in half, when he opened the passenger side door for her taking a minute to brush off stuff on the seat for her. She noticed a car seat in the back before gettting in.

"Do you have an infant?" Lyla asked.

"Oh!" Sam seemed surprised. "Didn't Karen explain to you how this works?" He asked.

"Not exactly." Lyla whispered inaudibly pulling the stack of homework she'd brought along closer to her chest. She hoped to get a lot done while the kids slept.

"What was that?" Sam inquired unable to make out what she'd said . "Do you know about the kids?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Halwell. There really was no time for Karen to fill me in except to say she'd been babysitting for you and Mrs. Halwell for years."

"She's

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