Forever in My Life (Third Book in Life Series)

Chapter 1

And you're late."
"I prefer chronologically challenged.
~Victoria Aveyard

"Mommy." My daughter, Ashton, says shaking me awake. "It's already 7:45. I have to be at school soon." She adds.

"What?! Crap. It's late." I say bolting out of bed. We have thirty minutes before she has to be at school and it takes 15 minutes to get there.

"Mommy, you said a bad word." Ash says, calling me out on 'crap.'

"I'm sorry, Ash." I say. "Let's go pick out your clothes." I say. We walk to her bedroom and I open her closet. I pull out a pale yellow sundress for her to wear. "Get this on while Mommy gets dressed." She obeys.

I hurry back to my bedroom. I open up my dresser and find a pair of yoga pants and a light colored shirt. I pull on a pair of flip flops instead of tennis shoes like usual. I walk back to Ash's room with a hair brush. I brush out her long blonde hair. "Mommy, what shoes should I wear?" She asks.

"How about your silver shoes?" I suggest.

"Okay!" She says. As she gets her shoes on, I make her a quick breakfast of toast. We have about five minutes before we have to go so she will just have to eat this in the car.

I make sure Ash has her backpack and school supplies since it is the first day of first grade. My baby is growing up so fast. I put her school stuff in the trunk of my new sedan as she gets buckled into her booster seat.

I pull into the school parking lot with ten minutes to spare. "Are you ready for your first day of first grade?" I ask my daughter as we walk into the building.

"Yes!" She says excitedly. "It's going to be so much fun!" She squeals in delight.

"Yeah, it will be." I say with a grin. I walk her to her desk. "I love you so much, Ash." I say before giving her a hug. "I want you to have fun today."

"Okay Mommy." She says. I introduce myself to the teacher before I leave.

As I leave the school parking lot, my mom calls me. "Don't forget you are meeting us at the diner for breakfast at nine-thirty." Mom says after I answer.

"I know. I couldn't possibly forget with you reminding me." I say.

"Is Ashton at school already?"

"Just dropped her off." I reply. "We were almost late." I add.

"Classic Tatiana." Mom sighs through the phone. "Don't you use an alarm clock?"

"Of course I do! I just sleep through it." I reply.

"Then set two alarms!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever Mom." I hear another sigh through the phone.

"Well I'm going to let you go. See you later." Mom says.

"Bye, Mom." I say before hanging up.

I take a quick shower before breakfast. I find a blue t-shirt dress and a pair of flats. I braid my wet hair and then put on the bare minimum of makeup. I grab my purse and head out to the diner.

I park in the parking lot next to Claire's car. Claire is my twin brother's wife of two years. Right now she is eight months pregnant and she hates it. I walk into the diner and see Claire immediately. She is sitting in one of the booths. My mom and my sisters haven't arrived yet. My sister, Anya, is here visiting from college until next week when she returns to Birmingham. My sister, Hannah, is 15 and doesn't return to school until next Monday. "Claire!" I say excitedly when I reach the table.

"Hey, Tatiana!" She says, standing up to give me a hug. "How are you?" She asks.

"I'm good! You?" I ask.

"Fat. Really fat. And hot. I really don't like being pregnant in the summer." She replies.

"It must be horrible. I was lucky. I only had to be pregnant in the colder months." I was pregnant with Ash my senior year of high school. Chad, her father, raped me and I got pregnant. He left soon after he did that too. No one has seen him since and I'm happy about that.

"Stop bragging." She says laughing. She sits back down and I sit beside her. "So it was Ash's first day of school?"

"Yeah. My baby is growing up so fast." I say sounding kinda sad about it too.

"Soon she'll be graduating high school and being an adult." Claire says.

"Don't remind me." I say with an eye roll.

Mom, Anya, and Hannah arrive about five minutes later. "Hannah is the worst driver out there!" Anya says before sitting down at the booth. My baby sister, Hannah, just got her learners permit. Hannah rolls her eyes at Anya's comment.

"It's not my fault I had to slam on the brakes! It was the other driver's fault. He suddenly stopped. Did you want to crash?!" Hannah responds.

"My forehead almost collided into the windshield!" Anya retorts. "Mom was smart and took her own car."

"Whatever." Hannah says. Mom tries not to laugh at this whole thing. "I'm an excellent driver." Hannah adds. Now everyone at the table bursts out laughing. We have all taken her out driving and we don't ever want to do it again. "I am!"

"What about the time you forgot which pedal was the brake?" I ask.

"That was the first time behind the wheel!"

"Or the time you almost went off roading?" Claire asks.

"You told me to avoid the large puddle on the road."

"Or the time you attempted to parallel park but almost parked on the sidewalk?" Mom asks.

"It was the first time parallel parking." Hannah replies. "Okay, maybe I'm not the best driver but there is worse."

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