better now > sequel to neighbours. [HS]

four

It was a Thursday morning, and the coldness of the house was almost as bad as the loud yelling coming from the bedroom. A string of curse words left Jordan's  mouth as he realized he was late, and I could do nothing but distract Annabel from it as I dressed her for the day. I combed her tangled locks back into a ponytail, completed with a white bow to hide the elastic and smiled brightly at my gorgeous girl.

'Beautiful, baby. As always.' I smiled. She grinned back, looking adorable in her denim overalls and pink long sleeve shirt underneath. The jean part of the overalls were too long, so they were rolled at the ankles and her outfit was paired with a pair of white converse, sent from her grandpa. She was truly a beauty.

The yelling from the bedroom seemed to stop, but a slammed door made us both jump. I held my breath for a moment and left Annabel's  bedroom to the kitchen. It was my fourth day at the day care and I was loving it, so was she. I packed her lunch in her little bag and grabbed the keys from the counter top as we both excitedly put our jackets on. The denim coat I wore hid the white tee I had on under it, paired with basic black denim jeans. I swayed towards a more casual style, which is another benefit of the job.

The two of us chatted away happily as we drove to our destination and I  listened intently to the radio in the background. I was so lucky to be in this position right now, and even though I might have some setbacks right now like the possible uninvited return of Harry, I was so blessed with my baby girl. It was amazing that such a sweet caring little girl could come from such a nasty, awful man like her father. I lingered on the thought and counted my blessings as I parked the car.

'Mummy,' Annabel held her arms out for me to unstrap her from her seat and let her free and so I did. Other kids were beginning to join me in the car park with their parents and I smiled happily to them all. My coworker was inside already and I sighed a relief when I spotted Noah sitting at a table colouring away, it meant I wasn't here for when Harry did drop off. Aria mentioned he would do drop offs Thursday's and Fridays.

It looked as though I spoke too soon, as the minute I stepped into the classroom, the woman of the week abruptly stood from her seat on one of the tables, and I noticed she wasn't wearing her usual dress and heels, instead a tracksuit and runners. She slipped her phone into her pocket and offered me a halfhearted smile as she walked toward me. I dropped Annabel's hand so that she could go play and waited for what she was going to say

'Good morning.' She chirped. I squinted my eyes slightly at her tone and put my own bag on my desk, setting car keys down too. '..Morning, Mrs. Styles.' I mumbled back. I wanted to keep this professional and not develop any other mixed signals of a potential friendship. I could never maintain any sort of relationship with her.

She was still unaware of why I did not come across as the friendliest person and I felt bad about it but I simply couldn't bring myself to be nice to her. Her and Harry destroyed my life at such a young age and if it weren't for her, maybe Annabel would have her father in her life.

I found myself blaming Aria a lot, too. Even though it wasn't her fault directly, I hated her. From the day he mentioned her to me I felt off about her and I laugh now at how naive I was, so blissfully unaware of it all and so in love. It took me almost two years to fall out of love with him, only to fall in love with his daughter straight away instead.

"He's not feeling so well today, so if his temperature goes up and more you can give him some calpol and ring his father to collect him." She explained.

I stared at her dumbfounded for a few seconds and before I had a chance to reply she was gone.

I looked at Noah, who was quite obviously sick. I could see the sweat forming on his face and he was alarmingly pale. I sighed out, "why do parents send their children in like this." I mumbled to myself.

I grabbed the thermometer and checked his temperature which was 37.4. Not too bad, but if it keeps rising I'll have to call his dad. He smiled at me and held up his hand. "Miss Mae, two more nights of sleep and I'm going to be four!" He yelled.

I laughed and pushed the hair from his face. "I know darling, I'm so excited."

I put out some blocks to keep them occupied while I wrote out my daily plan sheet, going about my day.

"Alright guys, to the bean bags." I rose my voice.

Immediately they carried themselves to our cosy corner and I picked up a book. I sat in front of the group and after a few attempts to hush them, they were silent.

My mouth was reading the words but my eyes were focused on Annabel. The story about the happy family seemed to upset her. As I spoke about the dad putting his kids to bed she spoke up. "I don't have a daddy." She told her friends.

My heart tightened as I watched them stare at her, one asking "why?"

She shrugged. "Mummy says that not all kids have daddies. Some don't have mummies."

I decided to chime in. "All families are different. Some kids have two mommies or two daddies. Some kids have only a mummy or only a daddy. Some kids have a mummy
And a daddy, but it's okay because everyone is loved. Isn't that right guys?" I asked.

They all cheered and I smiled, quite relieved that ana has cheered up again.

Storytime continued as usual and while the kids had their morning snack afterwards, I checked Noah's temperature again. As he sat on my lap I couldn't help but begin to compare Noah and Annabel in my mind, they were so alike the more I thought about it and the fact Annabel had a younger brother in the same room as her right now without knowing truly made my heart hurt. She would love a baby brother. 

The beep from the thermometer brought me back to reality and I furrowed my brows, he was at 38.1 and that concerned me. It had shot up from 37.4 to 38.1 in half an hour. I smiled at him, "I'm going to ring Daddy, Noah, okay? I think you're a bit unwell." I smiled at him and went for the phone at my desk. Noah was quiet and sat on a chair, wiping his sweaty forehead every now and then.

With every single fibre of my being, I did not want to ring Harry to come to collect his son. I wanted to hide in the closet and wait until they were gone actually and I cursed every single thing in my life that decided to lead him back into mine, uninvited. But I had a duty and I wasn't going to let my petty feelings get in the way of doing my job.

I opened up my files and punched in Harry's number to my phone, pressing it against my ear while I anxiously waited, chewing my lip. It only rang three times before it was picked up. 

"Hi, Harry is it?" I nervously spoke.

He cleared his throat and told me to go on.

"Hi. This is Mae, from little treasures preschool, I've just checked Noah's temperature and it's concerning me. I can give him some calpol and check it again later for you but I would prefer he be picked up as he is clearly unwell." I explained, finding myself breathless towards the end as my heart sped up. 

I heard some background noise and Harry began talking to someone, asking them to leave. His voice was deeper than I had remembered and was so smooth, I got shivers. It was almost like I could feel the vibrations of his voice through the phone. 

"I can collect him. I'll be there in ten minutes." He told me. He hung up soon after confirming I could distribute some medicine and I sighed out in relief that the conversation was over.