For The Love Of You

39

"Alright ladies what do you say to us getting out here and having a girls day? Shopping nail salon lunch then a movie?" I suggested to quickly take everyone's mind off that conversation that just took place.

"It's okay with me if it's ok with this little princess. It is all about her today." Tabitha said as she smiled at Olivia. Olivia looked back at her and returned the same smile.

"What do you say baby girl?" I asked her.

"Sure that sounds like fun." She responded still holding onto her teddy bear.

"Alright then it settled. After she and I get ready we can head out. Tab you know how everything works around here just give us about an hour and we should be ready to go." I told her as Olivia and I made our way upstairs so we could get ourselves ready.

After Olivia and I finished getting dressed we made our way back downstairs where Tabitha was sitting on the couch scrolling through her phone.

"Alright my babies y'all ready to go?" I asked them.

"Just about yea. Olivia you bringing dr. Softhearted?" Tabitha asked her. Olivia shook her head yes and held the teddy close to her.

We headed outside and on the way to the car we were stopped by Norah. Not this lady again not right now. She's a little shady so I'm not with that.

"Hey Cheryl." She stopped me.

"Heyyy Norah. How are you?" I asked her trying to hurry this along.

"I'm good I'm good. How are you? Your husband? Your daughter?"

"Uhm were all good. Look I'm taking my daughter and my niece out for the day. Maybe we can continue this at another time."

"Oh okay of course have fun I just have one question."

"Uhm ok sure what is it?"

"Where'd you find her?"

"I beg your pardon?" I asked her abruptly. I know this woman didn't just try to ask me that.

"When did you adopt her?"

"A couple months ago I really have to go bye." I said as I turned toward my car and got in.

"Who was that auntie?" Tabitha asked me as I joined her and Olivia in the car.

"Just some neighbor wanting to check in and say hi." I said as I gave her a look symbolizing I'd tell her what really just happened. She understood that I didn't wanna talk about her in front of Olivia and agreed.

As our day continued on, Olivia found a few outfits that she had wanted to try on.

"Olivia, Tabitha and I will be right out here, so- when you're done...just come on out so that we can see how they fit, Okay?" I said to Olivia as she walked into the dressing room.

"Okay, Mommy." She said as she closed the door.

"Okay....you wanna tell me why that woman was asking you so many questions now?" Tab asked me as we sat down.

"I don't know why she's always asking me questions. She's always trying to get into my business and honestly, if she doesn't stop...I'm gonna call her out on it. It's like she's trying to get information about Olivia. I'm not sure why though..." I explained to her.

"Hm, did she just move there?"

"Yeah, not too long ago. I didn't want to be rude but she's always wanting to talk to me at unexpected times. Times when I've gotta get going." I said as I shrugged my shoulders and thought about Norah. Something was off about her but I'm gonna try to talk to her one day and she Why she's asking so many questions.

"Okay, Mommy...here's the first outfit." Olivia said as she came out in a pretty dress.

"Ah, that looks gorgeous on you, sweetheart. How do you feel about it?" I asked her as I examined the dress on her.

"I like it." Olivia said as she smiled down at it and shrugged her shoulders at the same time.

"Well, since you like it- let's get it." I said as I grabbed her hand and smiled at her. "Tab, what do you think?" I asked her.

"I love it! Looks very, very pretty." She said as she also smiled at Olivia.

"I have more to try on." Olivia said as she pointed behind her and towards the dressing room.

"Okay, Mommy and Tabitha will be right here. Go ahead and finish trying them on." I told her. She nodded her head and left.

"Yeah, that's awkward. Your neighbor needs to chill. Anyways, let's talk about something sweet. You have really got your hands full with that little angel. I can see why you fell In love with her. She's so special and sweet. How long are you gonna keep her with you?" She asked me.

"Hopefully for forever." I said as I laughed a little bit. "Not forever but...you know what I mean. How I'm looking at it...I'm her Mommy, you know? And she's by baby. I want her to legally be mines and for me to legally be her guardian. If she ever went back to her Mom...I think that I would go crazy but that's only because I know that her Mom isn't giving her the love, support and everything else that she needs. She deserves that and I'm gonna give it to her. I promised her. I've broken a lot of promises in my lifetime but with her...I'll never break it." I said as I tried to keep my voice down so that Olivia couldn't hear me.

"The way you talk about her...it's like you were meant to find her that night." Tab said as she touched my shoulder.

"You're right. Only because I was and I did."

Tabitha and I sat there as Olivia tried on all the outfits and showed em to us. With each outfit it showed Olivia's personality a little more. She seems to be more girly and into skirts dresses and things like that which I find adorable.

"Okay, baby gurl- let's check out and I think that it's best for us to just go home for the rest of the day." I told her.

"But...I wanna go to the movies. Can we call Mr. Mike to come with us?" She asked me as she held my hand.

"Uhm...lets do that at home, Okay? He can come by." I told her.

"Ah, I haven't seen Mike in a long time..." Tab said.

"Yeah...be nice." I said to her as I gave her a look.

"I can try to..." she said back.

—————

I called Mike and he told me that he was already at the house waiting for us.

Once we got there, Olivia jumped out of the car and ran to give him a hug.

Before I got out of the car, Tab stopped me by touching my arm.

"Cheryl..." she said as she gave me a look.

"Yes?"

"Why didn't you want to continue the girls day?"

"I-...I just feel like we should come home. That's all. After all, it's been a long day. We can watch a movie and yeah..."

"Nah...it's something else. What's up?"

"Nothing, Tab. Come on, girl." I said as I lightly laughed. I just wanted to get back home and there's nothing wrong with that.

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