Growing Apart

Chapter 3

(Emma's POV)

I'm awoken by my 6:00 am wakeup call from Alexandra. She's three and has gotten tall enough, and wise enough use the doorknob so forgetting to lock the door was now a fatal mistake.

"There you are. Alexandra, let Emma sleep," Ashley says coming up to the door.

"It's fine, she's actually more consistent than any alarm clock I've ever had," I joke.

"I didn't see you after work last night, how'd it go?" she asks as I get up from bed.

"Ok I guess, but my allergies are driving me crazy especially now that it's spring," I answer.

I work at a floral shop called "Game of Thorns" to pay the bills. I never even knew I had allergies until I started working there. Now I'm popping allergy pills before every shift. The job itself isn't bad. It's pretty calming, just watering plants and chatting up customers mostly. I'm the only employee other than the owner, Moe, which means I get the shifts I need to keep myself afloat. Thanks to Killian I'm not worrying about tuition on top of everything, but I still need all the money I can get.

"Have you considered quitting, and maybe finding a job that doesn't literally make you a pill popper?" she asks as we walk to the kitchen.

"I can't just change jobs, it's not that easy. Plus I like it there, other than the allergy part, it's a good place to work," I argue and start making coffee as Ashley gets Alex's breakfast ready.

"What are you talking about? You hate it there, don't lie. Sure it's calming and you get a lot of shifts, but it bores you to death. How much useless crap about plants have you learned since you started working there?" she asks. I think.

"It's not all useless Ashley. I can now have a very successful garden if I wanted, nothing would die on my watch," I say as I pour two cups of coffee and hand one to her.

"Emma, you're never going to have a garden, because you don't want a garden. Just admit it that this job isn't right for you. You should be trying to get into something that helps you in your degree."

"Yes I should," I hand Alex a sippy cup full of milk. "But that's not reality."

"Fine, just think about it," she gives up and moves on. "What about the rest of your day, anything interesting?" she asks. I maneuver around the kitchen getting the cereal and bowls.

"How was your day?" I redirect the question.

"You know how my day was. I ran Mommy and Me before school, dropped Alex off at daycare, went to class, and came home. Nothing interesting, nothing out of the norm. Now no more avoiding, something interesting obviously happened to you with that kind of deflection," she pries.

"You sound like Archie," I sigh.

"I'm not a licensed therapist, but I've known you for a while Emma. I know when you're hiding something," she says as she hands Alex her breakfast.

"Hey! That's my super power not yours," I scoff. Alexandra smiles from the table.

"Yeah well I'm picking up on it. Come on, tell me,"

"Ok, fine. Killian showed up a couple days ago, and we went to coffee yesterday," I tell her as I sit down to eat. Her mouth drops, and her eyes go wide. I try to act like I don't notice her reaction.

"Wait, Mr. Jones, your adulterous ex, showed up here? And you went out?!" She says in shock. I had told her everything about Killian and I a while back, before she had even moved in. I knew I could trust her, and I needed someone to talk to. She's who recommended I try therapy.