the love club; wilbur soot

seven

"journey, its time to get up baby." beatrice sat on the edge of her daughter's bed and gently ran her fingers through her hair.

"not yet." journey mumbled and grabbed her mother's hand to pull her closer, which beatrice couldn't resist.

beatrice knew there was a point when she grew independent of her mother's attention like this, and sadly journey would most likely someday also. she had become painfully aware that she needed to enjoy every little moment. so while this morning she was running late to having her and her daughter ready, she decided to pause her agenda momentarily to enjoy this moment.

she snuggled up next to journey and let her curl up into her arms. while it may had been because her father was not in the picture, journey had such a special and close relationship with her mum. she loved being near her.

"okay, mummy needs to start getting ready for work. why don't you pick out an outfit for today?"

beatrice kissed her daughter on the head before returning back to her bedroom to finish getting ready. she carefully curled a few pieces of her short hair before ultimately pulling it all back out of her face in an attempt to look professional.

beatrice had been a therapist for about a year, starting when she finally finished her schooling. she specialized in play therapy for children. her office was basically a giant play room that created a safe space for children needing to process and verbalize their feelings. but she only scheduled those appointments on mondays, wednesdays, and fridays.

on this thursday morning when she typically enjoyed her day with days with journey, she was having to make a difficult parenting decision and was working a side job for some extra money. all throughout high school her after school job was to teach piano and after a few close calls with the last paycheck, she figured it was time to enter back into the piano class game.

out of fear that he would offer to cover some expenses, she asked george to watch j so she could run a few errands. her plans began to fall apart when she received a call from her brother.

"hey george. i'm finishing getting ready and should have j over in about 20 minutes." beatrice said into the speaker phone as she brushed on some blush onto her cheeks and nose.

"yeah about that," george said before letting out a sickly cough. "i woke up feeling awful and i'm worried it may be contagious. do you think your errands are something you could run with journey today? i'm really sorry."

"oh, yeah, totally. sure i can figure it out," beatrice's tone gave away her worry. "okay get to feeling better and let me know if i need to bring you anything."

beatrice quickly hung up and began thinking over her options. her first day back teaching could not consist of her daughter running around and pressing piano keys the entire time. with george sick and her mother out of town, the options seemed slim.

just as she felt as though she would need to cancel, beatrice thought of one last ditch effort.

"hello?"

"hi wil, this is beatrice. sorry if this is early for you." beatrice nervously said as she held the phone to her ear and went to do journey's hair.

"not at all, whats up?" wilbur's calm demeanor brought peace to her.

"well, my brother was supposed to watch journey for me while i had a piano lesson today and he woke up sick and i was wondering if it was absolutely ridiculous of me to ask if you would be available to watch her for my hour lesson?"

"of course i would."

within 20 minutes, beatrice was rushing to answer the knock on her door. while her original plan was for george to watch beatrice at his home, she still did not know wilbur nor had the comfortability of that option, so he happily obliged when she asked if he could keep her busy in her bedroom while she taught the lesson in her living room.

"good morning." wilbur cheerily greeted as the front door was opened.

"good morning. thank you so much again for-"

"wiwbur!" journey interrupted as she pushed past her mother to greet her new friend.

"hi miss j." wilbur happily picked up the gurl with extended arms and made sure to turn his attention back to her mother.

"my lesson won't be any longer than an hour. and then i will make you lunch as a thank you, if that's alright."

a second knock on the door alerted her that her student had arrived.

"sounds lovely. journey, why don't we go play for a bit while your mum works?"

journey quickly hopped down and grabbed wilbur's hand, dragging him back to her bedroom to go play, allowing beatrice to welcome her student.

it was almost as though beatrice had never stopped teaching. she forgot how much of a passion she held for it. as she sat with her new, twelve year old student, she had so much excitement as she learned her potential.

"is that your child?" her student asked as she heard journey giggling through the walls.

"yes, that's my daughter. her name is journey and she's three." beatrice said with pride as she adjusted the students hands to the next chords to learn.

"i'm gonna get you!" wilbur's muffled voice was heard.

"is that your husband?" the student's eyes were eager to learn a bit more about beatrice's life.

"oh no, just a friend of mine. okay, now reset and show me a c chord again."

"thank you! tell your mum she can text me to set up your next lesson!"

beatrice quietly shut the door and let out a sigh of relief that she had successful taught a lesson for the first time in years. behind her she could hear feet shuffling. she turned to see both wilbur and journey peaking their heads out of her room.

"we're hungry." journey whispered.

"oh, you're hungry?" beatrice ran over and scooped her daughter into her arms. "what am i supposed to do about that? what do i look like? your mum?"

"you are my mum!" journey giggled as her mother tickled her sides.

beatrice sat her daughter onto the kitchen counter as she opened the fridge and looked for something to eat. she turned around to see wilbur leaning on the doorway and grinning while he watched her.

"may i help you?" beatrice teased.

"oh not at all. not one bit." he said smuggly as he came and stood in the kitchen, waiting on instructions on how to help.

after they finished their lunches, journey fell asleep from the exhaustion of playing with wilbur all morning. she laid curled up on the couch while wilbur and beatrice cleaned up their dishes.

"i can pay you for helping today after my student's mum gets me the payment for the lesson. it should be by this evening." beatrice said as she placed the last plate in the cupboard.

"don't be ridiculous. you don't owe me anything. you made me lunch."

"that's not real payment. you came all the way over and spent time here when you probably had plans."

"you wanna know how to pay me back?"

wilbur grabbed her hand and led her into the living room before sitting down at her piano, scooting over enough for her to have room to sit on the bench.

"teach me how to play and i will watch her as much as you need. its a win-win. you have someone to watch j and i get to spend time with you. oh, and learn piano better." a childlike grin spread across his face.

"i can do that," beatrice sat next to wilbur, close enough to wear the sides of their bodies were touching. "how much do you know?"