The Magnolia Story(26)

It was just another day in my new life with Chip Gaines. But that was the moment I realized that we were right on the edge of a real financial struggle, and I didn’t like that feeling.

I have a naturally conservative nature, and Chip and I were supposed to balance each other out, not concede to each other’s strengths and weaknesses. My strength is saving and being tight with the money, but I had not exercised that strength recently. I had let my head get in the clouds and forgotten that this was important.

Not having the money to pay for those tickets in the first place should have been a wake-up call. Having to scrape the bottom of our barrel for bail money was certainly cause for alarm. I promised myself I would start putting money aside for future emergencies.

I don’t think it’s irrational or too conservative of me to think, I never want to carry my baby into the county jail ever again.

Is it?





SEVEN



ONE DOOR CLOSES

The very next week, I got back to work. I needed to get back in the shop and start making some sales to recoup the money we’d pulled out for bail and then to pay off the rest of those tickets. I didn’t have a babysitter or the money to pay one. So I started working every day with a two-week-old baby.

We set up a little nursery area in the back office with a Pack ’n Play portable crib, and I worked the register with Drake in his BabyBj?rn. I would run to the back office to feed him, and then, of course, a customer would walk in. So I’d have to wrap up the feeding session, which would make him cry.

I knew I needed to get some help at the shop. I couldn’t do all of this by myself anymore.

Thank God for Jessica! She was a good friend from college, one of the two sets of twins in our wedding. And best of all, she was available. I hired her on to assist behind the register, and that gave me a little bit of freedom. Jessica had a way about her that made every customer feel warm and welcome. I was thankful for her diligence and friendship during that time when I was both a new mom and a new business owner.

Just as Drake turned six weeks old, I decided I wanted to lose some baby weight. Chip and I were both still getting used to the idea that we had a baby of our own now, but I felt it was okay to leave him with Chip for a half hour or so in the mornings so I could take a short run up and down Third Street. I left Drake in the little swing he loved, kissed Chip good-bye, and off I went.

Chip was so sweet and supportive. When I got back he was standing in the doorway saying, “Way to go, baby!” He handed me a banana and asked if I’d had any cramps or anything. I hadn’t. I actually felt great.

I walked in and discovered Chip had prepared an elaborate breakfast for me, as if I’d run a marathon or something. I hadn’t done more than a half-mile walk-run, but he wanted to celebrate the idea that I was trying to get myself back together physically. He’d actually driven to the store and back and bought fresh fruit and real maple syrup and orange juice for me.

I sat down to eat, and I looked over at Drake. He was sound asleep in his swing, still wearing nothing but his diaper. “Chip, did you take Drake to the grocery store without any clothes on?”

Chip gave me a real funny look. He said, “What?”

I gave him a funny look back.

“Oh my gosh,” he said. “I totally forgot Drake was here. He was so quiet.”

“Chip!” I yelled, totally freaked out.

I was a first-time mom. Can you imagine?

Anyone who’s met Chip knows he can get a little sidetracked, but this was our child!

He was in that dang swing that just made him perfectly silent. I felt terrible. It had only been for a few minutes. The store was just down the street. But I literally got on my knees to beg for Jo’s forgiveness.

Several days later I decided to go on a good long jog, trusting that Chip would not leave Drake again. As I was on my way back I saw Chip coming down the road in his truck with the trailer on it. He rolled up to me with his window down and said, “Baby, you’re doing so good. I’m heading to work now. I’ve got to go.”

I looked in the back, thinking, Of course, he’s got Drake. But I didn’t see a car seat.

“Chip, where’s Drake?” she said, and I was like, “Oh, shoot!” She took off without a word and ran like lightning all the way back to the house as I turned the truck around. She got there faster on foot than I did in my truck.

I sure hope no one from Child Protective Services reads this book. They can’t come after me retroactively, can they?

Chip promised it would never happen again. So the third time I attempted to take a run, I went running down Third Street and made it all the way home. I walked in, and Chip and Drake were gone. I thought, Oh, good. Finally he remembered to take the baby. But then I noticed his car was still parked out front. I looked around and couldn’t find them anywhere.

Moments later, Chip pulled up on his four-wheeler—with Drake bungee-strapped to the handlebars in his car seat. “Chip!” I screamed, “What in the heck are you doing?”

“Oh, he was crying, and I’d always heard my mom say she would drive me around the neighborhood when I was a baby, and it made me feel better,” Chip said. “He loved it. He fell right to sleep.”

“He didn’t love it, Chip. He probably fell asleep because the wind in his face made it impossible to breathe.”