The Secret of Xavier

Chapter 15

Chapter 15

       Never in my life had I brought Xavier to work with me before. Mom and I always made sure that our work schedules never clashed so either one of us would be watching him, especially since we couldn't really afford daycare almost every day.

       That, and Xavier wouldn't handle being at the daycare.

       Unfortunately, we ended up being scheduled to work the same day but I only had a three hours on this shift so I brought Xavier to work with me and let him sit at the counter, colouring in his colouring book while I worked. 

       It was a bit of a pain because Xavier kept whining that he was hungry while I was dealing with customers, and kept saying, "Dad," over and over.

       I was just really happy that the cafe wasn't too busy today, so it wasn't customer after customer, otherwise Xavier was going to get really annoying.

       While I was cleaning the counter, Xavier suddenly hopped off the stool he was sitting at and ran to the front door before I could even do anything. Thankfully, it was only because he saw Nova walked in.

       Xavier really loved her a whole lot.

       Nova picked Xavier up before walking to the counter. "Look, Daddy," Xavier said. "It's Nova. I love Nova."

       "Aww, I love you too, Xavier," Nova said before looking at me. "So, I see it's take your son to work day."

       "Nah, my mom's working too," I said. "I brought him to work with me so he wouldn't have to go to daycare."

       "You know, you could have asked me to babysit him," Nova said.

       "I am just realizing now I could have done that," I said. Nova was the only person I knew Xavier would want to be around without me or my mom, and quite frankly, she was the only person outside of my family I trusted with my son. "So, what can I get for you?"

       After taking Nova's order, she told me she could watch Xavier for the rest of my shift, something I really needed so Xavier wouldn't pester me every time I was helping a customer.

       Close to the end of my shift, two people walked into the cafe whom I really didn't want to see.

       Jolie's parents.

        At least it wasn't the devil herself.

       Jolie's parents, Jennifer and Ajay, walked up to the counter, both of them giving me a glare. "What can I get for you?" I asked, trying my best not to sound annoyed.

       "Well, for starters, our daughter's freedom would be nice," Jennifer said.

       "Sorry, I'm a barista, not a police officer," I said. "I have no control as to what will happen to Jolie."

       "Actually, you do," Ajay said. "You're the one testifying against her. You must make your statement so the judge knows she didn't mean any harm."

       "Are... are you serious?" I asked. "The only thing my statement will be is the truth, that she endangered my son just so she can go out an party. She wanted custody of him, and she couldn't even take care of him for the weekend, let alone a few hours. Don't act like it's my fault."

       "You were depriving her of seeing him," Ajay said.

       I didn't even know what was going on in their mind. Jolie was the one left all of Xavier's things at my doorsteps and took off. She was the one who chose not to stay in contact with me and Xavier, and the only reason why she wanted to see Xavier was because she was jealous there was another motherly figure in his life.