The sound of soft bells wakes me up and I roll over in my bed. My hand reaches over to stop the noise. My head feels like it weighs five thousand pounds, while my eyes refuse to even crack open. This is what I get for staying up all night, replaying the conversation I had with Stefano in my head. Even when I finally fell asleep, all I did was dream of him. For the past five years, I would dream about him on and off, but now that I’ve seen him again, nothing can compare to being in front of him for real. I don’t know how I do it, but I press snooze and seven minutes later the bells ring again. I know I have to get up. I slowly crack open one eye before turning off the alarm. I throw the covers off myself before I slip back to sleep. Walking out of my room to the kitchen, I press the button for the coffee machine. I stand here in front of the Keurig with my eyes closed as the machine puffs out steam, and then the smell of coffee fills the room. After the coffee spits out the last drop, I add a splash of milk to it. I take two sips of coffee before I make my way to Avery’s room. Before this apartment, we shared a room and a bed. It was the most I could afford, but she was young and didn’t know better. I’m thankful she didn’t see the struggles I went through when she was younger.
Her bedroom is painted white, something I couldn’t change because the landlord wouldn’t let me, but everything else is pink, including her pink toddler bed I bought. I found the mosquito net at the dollar store, and with a little bit of YouTube and Pinterest, I turned it into a canopy bed. It was the best I could afford. I tiptoe into the room and see she is sleeping on her side, with the covers pushed to her feet. I slip into her bed with her, pulling her to me. I kiss her soft cheek as she softly snores in my arms. “Good morning,” I coo quietly to her. She groans in my arms like she does every single morning. The only thing my girl isn’t is a morning person. From when she was a baby, she was the best sleeper in the world. The doctor said it was because I was so calm during my pregnancy. I just went with I was lucky. “How did you sleep?”
She sticks her butt out as she stretches. “Good,” she mumbles as she cuddles into me. “I dreamed of a castle.” I can’t help but laugh quietly because this is her answer every single day.
“A castle.” I act surprised. “How cool is that?”
“And I was a princess.” I gasp, looking down at her. Her eyes go big as she nods her head. “With a crown.”
“Oh my goodness.” I kiss her nose. “Well, Princess Avery, it’s time to get up.” I turn to get out of her bed. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Pancakes,” she replies, and I smile down at her.
“Get dressed.” I point at the clothes I put on her bed last night. I rush through making her pancakes, and we walk out of the house five minutes later than I wanted to.
“We’ve got to hurry,” I urge her as we walk down the steps toward the front door. The heat hits us as soon as I open the front door and step out. “It’s going to be a hot one.”
Opening the back door of the car, I hold her hand as she steps in and attempts to buckle herself in. I finish for her. “It’s hot,” Avery grunts as I turn on the car.
“It’ll cool down in a second,” I tell her as I start the car, waiting a couple of minutes for the heat to leave the car. The drive to the daycare takes me six minutes since I caught all the green lights. I grab her backpack from the passenger seat before opening the back door for her. We walk in hand in hand, some kids scream her name as we walk by her class to her hook. I hang up her backpack before squatting down in front of her. “Tonight, Mommy has a friend coming over,” I inform her. I was supposed to tell her at breakfast, but every single time I tried to, the words wouldn’t come out. I wonder if it’s because I knew she would ask me questions, and I didn’t know what to answer. Either way, it’s now or never. “So we are going to have pizza.”
Her eyes go big, usually we have pizza night on Fridays, so this is a very special treat for her. “With french fries?”
“You bet,” I say. “Give me a kiss.” She leans in to kiss my lips. “Have a good day.” I get up and hold her hand as I walk her to the classroom door.
The teacher is there waiting for her. “Happy Monday,” she greets me, and all I can do is smile at her.
“Happy Monday,” I say to her as Avery runs into the class and toward her friends. I wave before walking back out and heading to work. I zone out mostly everything as I think of what is going to happen tonight. My head is already throbbing, and it’s not even nine o’clock. Grabbing my purse before walking up the steps to the office, I take my keys out to open the front door of the little bungalow they built with five offices where the bedrooms would be. I’m always the first one in since they were kind enough to work around the daycare’s schedule. I get to work by nine, and I work until four. It’s perfect, and I’m so grateful. I step in and press in my code for the alarm before looking around the living room and dining room that have been converted to the waiting area. It’s filled with pictures of past events they have done.
I put my purse on my desk before walking around to the kitchen in the back of the house. I look out of the window, seeing the side of the barn. Or at least what looks like a barn. Once you get inside, you’ll find rustic wooden floors and exposed wooden beams that can be dressed up. It can fit up to five hundred and fifty people. Right behind the barn is a kitchen where the caterers can set up.
I’m about to grab a cup of coffee when I hear the front door open and then close again. I walk out of the kitchen toward my desk. “What are you doing here?” I ask Sofia, who is standing next to my desk.
“I work here,” she says, laughing as the front door opens and Clarabella comes in.
“Is there a meeting I didn’t know of?” I ask, seeing Presley walk in, followed by Shelby.
“She called a Code Purple,” Presley reminds me, pointing at Sofia.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on your honeymoon?” Clarabella huffs, looking at Sofia.
“Are you crazy?” she asks Clarabella. “She just found her baby daddy.” She points at me. “Who slept in my spare bedroom last night!”
“What?” I ask, shocked.
“Oh, this is going to be good,” Presley singsongs, clapping her hands. “Let’s go to the conference room.”
“Do we really have to?” I ask them, and the sound of their laughter fills the room. “Yeah, I knew even as the words were leaving my lips it was a silly question.”
I follow them to the back of the house and into the conference room. “Okay, let’s hear it,” Shelby demands, pulling out one of the chairs around the round table.
“Well, I don’t know what to say, we met yesterday afternoon,” I share, pulling out my own chair and plopping down in it.
“And?” Clarabella prompts, as she sits down next to me.
“Well, he’s her father,” I say, “and he is going to meet her tonight.”
“Holy shit,” Sofia says.
“I know.” I throw up my hands. “How do you tell your kid this is her father?” I look around the table at all of them shaking their heads, not sure what to say.
“If it’s any consolation,” Sofia adds, “I turned out fine.” I roll my eyes.
“What did you tell her about her father?” Shelby asks softly.
“That he was at work,” I tell them and the whole room again laughs. “What was I supposed to tell her?” I look around the table. “Your momma had a ho moment and boom you were born?”
“You are not a ho, nor did you have a ho moment. It was two people who had needs.” Clarabella tries to make it sound better. “Two consenting adults.”
“Who didn’t even share last names,” I add in.
“When you spin it like that,” Presley waffles, “it does sound bad.”
“Presley,” Shelby snaps at her.
“What? It does.” She looks back at me. “Sorry.”
“What if he doesn’t like the way I parent her?” I admit my biggest fear to them. It’s also the question that kept me up half the night.
“Um, fuck him,” Shelby declares.
“Yeah, that.” Presley points her thumb to Shelby. “You did the best you could with what you had, and Avery is perfect, so there isn’t anything that will happen like that.”
“Well, when is he going to be telling everyone else?” Sofia asks. “Because I was waiting all night for him to say something, and he didn’t even say a word. I mean, he came home, went to the bedroom, and stayed there all night.”
“No idea. I was, like, freaking out, so he decided we should tell his parents first and then slowly…” I trail off.
“Have you met the family?” Sofia gawks at me. “There are no secrets in that family. They pretend they will keep secrets and then one person quietly tells another and then boom there are five different text chains that you are a part of.”
“Can we focus on what the hell is going to happen?” I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“You are going to go for dinner and then it’ll all be okay,” Shelby tries to reassure me.
“Sure, let’s pretend,” I mumble before I get up. “I’m going to go and get lost in my work,” I inform them, “and pretend I’m not having dinner with my baby daddy tonight.”
“Good luck with that,” Clarabella voices to my retreating back.
“Ugh, I know,” I grumble to myself as I walk back to the kitchen and grab a cup of coffee before attacking all the emails. Mondays are always a bit hectic because of the weekends, but I finally walk out of the office at five after four. Even though I was busy, I felt like every single hour was a lifetime.
When I finally pick up Avery and get her home, I start the bath. “We’re going to wash up before dinner,” I tell her, walking over to her dresser as I look through her clothes.
“Can I wear a dress?” she asks me and I nod my head, walking to the closet and seeing the four dresses she has. I call them her Sunday best clothes. She takes a quick bath and is getting dressed when my phone rings.
I rush over to the kitchen table, grabbing it out of my purse. His name flashes on the screen. “Hello.”
“Hi, it’s me,” he says to me, “Stefano.”
“Yes, I know; it says your name when you call.” I laugh at him.
I hear him chuckle. “I’m outside.” My head whips to the balcony door and I quickly walk over.
“Outside where?” I ask him, my feet stuck to the floor.
“Outside your place.” It’s his turn to laugh.
“What?” I shriek before I walk over to the balcony door, unlocking it, and pulling it open. Stepping outside and looking over the railing, I see him standing in front of the door. He’s wearing a pair of jeans and a black shirt. The aviator glasses on his face hide his green eyes.
I quickly back up and out of sight. “What are you doing here?” I say quietly, so he doesn’t look up.
“Well, you didn’t text me,” he replies, and I close my eyes.
“I was going to text you in a bit,” I admit to him as soon as I calmed myself down.
“Can I come up?” he asks me. No, my head screams, you can’t come up here.
“Um, sure,” I say, walking back inside and toward the front door. “We are apartment four,” I tell him right before I press the buzzer.
