Matters Of The Heart ✔

Chapter Two

“Did you brush your teeth?”, Abigail questioned as she lifted Emily's chin with her index finger. Emily grinned widely to show her clean, pearly white teeth. “Good girl”, she kissed her forehead.

“Are you taking me to school Mommy?”, she questioned as Abigail packed her lunch in her bag

“No, Aunty Stephanie is taking you. Mommy is writing a test today honey”, she said and Steph appeared behind them, always cheerful as ever. Abigail always wondered how she did it, wake up every morning beaming with happiness. She could be having the worst day of her life, but a smile would never leave her lips.

“Are you ready for today Abbie?”, she asked and Abigail hesitated before she shrugged

“I'll see how it goes”, she breathed out as she watched Steph help Emily put her bag on and held her by her hand. The two of them were inseparable.

“All the best okay?”, she said as they walked towards the door

“Bye Mommy”, Emily waved at her as Steph opened the door for her

“Thanks Steph. Bye sweetie, I love you okay?”, she called out to Emily.

“I love you too”, Emily said as Steph closed the door behind them. Abbie sighed heavily as she pulled her notes towards her to go through the chapters she studied the whole night. She yawned as she paged through her notes. She was studying microbiology part-time at the Richfield University, and it was her last year. Things were much easier for her now that she had a car of her own. Having to depend on Steph and public transportation for traveling to and from campus was never a problem, the problem was when she sometimes arrived late for lectures and exams. She didn't like drawing attention to herself when other students would look at her like she just murdered someone.

But she seemed to be handling it well, working as a waitress during the day, studying part-time and raising a child all in one scenario

They had to move shortly after Emily was born. Stephanie got promoted at work to another branch in another city. Abigail secured a waitressing job when Emily was about a year old. She didn't want to depend on Stephanie for everything when she had already done so much for her, and she was grateful. Together, they were taking one mission at a time

They settled in well to an apartment, which was big enough for the three of them and was closer to both Emily's school and the diner

That year Emily started attending preschool, the expenses were increasing tremendously and Abigail was trying by all means to make ends meet. She was thankful for the bursary she was rewarded, because without it, she wouldn't be able to afford the tuition fees.

After the test, she had to be at work just in time for the afternoon rush. She walked through the diner doors dragging her feet to the staff room, the test she wrote left her at her last straw of exhaustion. Even though she knew most of the content of the question paper, there were surprise questions she wasn't prepared for, but overall she was confident she aced that paper.

“Are you okay honey? “, Debby Parker, her boss asked as she pushed a sandwich towards her, and she nodded her head

“I'm just tired”

“I thought we agreed that you'll be taking the day off today. You were studying the whole night, you must be worn out”, she said with concern raining from her eyes.

“I need the money Ms Parker”, Abbie shrugged and Debby gave her a long, hard look before nodding her head. The young woman was such a determined hard worker, she always pushed herself when she was at the edge of exhaustion. It was remarkable.

“Okay, but if you feel too tired, you go home, okay?”, she patted Abigail on the shoulder as she smiled at her, Abigail reciprocated her smile and nodded in agreement and thanked her

After eating her sandwich, she stood up and put her apron on, took her notepad and pen in hand and ready to serve people. She walked out and Ginger was at the till, cashing in money, and she smiled as Abigail walked towards her.

“Hi Abbie”, she greeted with her bubbly personality. “Are you sure you're up for today? Ms Parker told me to take over your tables if you feel to tired to continue”.

“I'm going to be fine Ginger”, she reassured and Ginger gave a simple shrug before walking toward one of her tables to take an order

“Hey Abbie”, Tracy, walked towards her with both her hands carrying a tray full of plates of food. “Can you please take table six for me?”, she pleaded and Abigail agreed. The afternoon rush was even more hectic than the morning rush, and they had each other's backs whenever one of them has too many tables to attend to all at once.

Abigail tucked a loose strand of her curly hair behind her ear and walked towards table six to take their order

“So how was the test?”, Stephanie asked as they shared a plate of fries drenched in tomato sauce soon after Emily had fallen asleep

“It was okay”

“You nailed it?”

“Hopefully, yes “, Abigail took two fries in her mouth

“Great”

“So, how's Tyler doing?”, Abigail asked with a mischievous look in her eyes and Stephanie's shoulders slumped down as she sighed heavily. Tyler was the guy who was constantly asking Stephanie out on a date for weeks, but Stephanie was convinced office romance was just complicated for her to handle.

“Really Abbie? You had to take it there?”, she rolled her eyes at her.

“You really like him, don't you?”

“No I don't. I told you he's just a colleague of mine”.

“Sure he is”, Abigail wiggled her eyebrows as she popped more fries into her mouth again and Steph twisted her bottom lip, staring at her

“Do you have a death wish? Is that what this is?”, she joked and Abigail laughed out loud.

“Okay, I'm dropping it”, she surrendered in defeat and they both laughed. “I have the morning off tomorrow, how about bran muffins for a breakfast snack tomorrow morning after we drop Emily off?”

“I'm game”, Steph said as she licked some tomato sauce off her fingers

The pair were laughing at Stephanie's antics as Martin bought them their order to their table. He was the manager at their favorite coffee shop, and he had a crush on Abigail. He asked her several times on a date, to which Abigail politely declined on all occasions. She wasn't ready for a relationship or any kind of attachments whatsoever. Even after everything that's happened, she hadn't moved on from Austin.

“Aww thanks Martin”, Stephanie cooed as she threw Abigail a glare. “You shouldn't have”, she added as Martin placed their bran muffins and tea on the table, and he smiled nervously, careful not to spill anything because Abbie's presence made him seem clumsy. He bumped into people, dropped plates and glasses. He was a mess.

“Yeah, thank you, Martin”, Abigail smiled at him, and he nodded before turning to bump into a poor waiter on his way. The women both suppressed their laughs long enough he was out of sight, and they burst into laughter.

Abigail's phone ringed in her bag and she searched for it. Calvin, her younger brother was calling. He was the only one who hadn't turned his back on him even when the others did and the two of them kept contact over the years. Despite everything that had happened, she was still his sister.

Her mother once tried to reach out to her one day. She called and when Abigail answered, she told her she just wanted to know how she's doing and quickly hung up as it seemed her father walked in on her.

“Hey stranger”, Abigail joked as she answered his call. They hadn't talked in weeks, but he just started collage, he still needed to settle in and get used to his new environment. Calvin didn't say anything, instead Abigail heard his ragged breathing.

“What's wrong Cal? Are you okay?”, she was getting worried and Calvin sniffed before answering.

“Father has passed away”