Let Love Win

Chapter 7 - Hadley

"Thank you for taking us to the park today, Hadley," Max said as he came over and hugged my legs after supper.

"Of course kid, no problem," I said as I patted his back. He let go and I grabbed all the plates and utensils from the table. "Hey guys, what do we say to Ms. Montgomery for dinner tonight?"

"Thank you Ms. Montgomery," they all chorused.

"You're welcome boys," she answered them. They all headed out to the living room to have their hour of TV and video games before bed. "They don't always have to thank me for dinner, you know. It's my job to feed you guys."

I shrugged and got to work on washing the dinner dishes. The agreement around the orphanage was that one of us cooked dinner and the other cleaned the dishes. Tonight was Monty's night to cook, so it was my night to clean. I set my phone down on the counter away from the sinks while I ran the water in the right hand sink. I placed all the plates and bowls that we used for toppings in the water first so they could soak while I started washing the spoons and knives in the sink on the left.

My phone started ringing and the screen lit up with Mel's number and display picture. I dried off my right hand and reached over to grab it. I answered the call and tucked the phone under my ear. "Hey bitch, what can I do for you?"

"Don't ever let me drink as much as I did last night again," she groaned.

I laughed at her pain. "You say that every time we go to a party. You would think you'd have learned by now."

"Well excuse me, but when you're actually at the party you kind of forget all your morals."

"Whatever, did you just wake up?"

"No I've been up for a couple hours, but I still have to make trips to the loo." I laughed again. "Shut up! Anyways, there's an actual reason why I called you. You have some serious explaining to do from last night."

I groaned. I'd spent all day unsuccessfully occupying myself so I wouldn't have to think about the fact that I screwed the new employee that I have to train. I also unsuccessfully evaded Mel all day. "What do I have to explain?"

"Why didn't you tell me he was so hot? Why were you so late to introduce us? And tell me everything that happened last night."

"I did tell you he was hot, I didn't exactly expect you to be meeting him last night, not to mention the fact that he was obviously capable of introducing himself. And nothing happened last night."

"Don't pretend like I didn't see you walk off with his lips glued to yours. I may have been drunk, but I know what I saw."

I squeezed my eyes shut. "Ok, so we found ourselves a room at like 1, but only because I was really tired."

"Uh huh, and apparently a really bad liar too."

"Well what about you? You were pretty much hanging off of his cousin all night."

"Don't change the subject, this conversation isn't about me. So are you going to see him again?" she sang.

"Well, we do work together you know," I replied sarcastically.

"I don't like your attitude tonight. You know what I mean."

"Probably not, you know how I feel about dating and all that jazz. It's not for me."

"But he likes you girl, I think you should go for it. Try something new for a change."

I dropped the plate I was holding in my hand. Thankfully, it landed in the sink again and not all over the floor. "You're not serious."