She sticks her butt out as she stretches. “Good,” she mumbles as she cuddles into me. “I dreamed of a castle.” I can’t help but laugh quietly because this is her answer every single day.
“A castle.” I act surprised. “How cool is that?”
“And I was a princess.” I gasp, looking down at her. Her eyes go big as she nods her head. “With a crown.”
“Oh my goodness.” I kiss her nose. “Well, Princess Avery, it’s time to get up.” I turn to get out of her bed. “What do you want for breakfast?”
“Pancakes,” she replies, and I smile down at her.
“Get dressed.” I point at the clothes I put on her bed last night. I rush through making her pancakes, and we walk out of the house five minutes later than I wanted to.
“We've got to hurry,” I urge her as we walk down the steps toward the front door. The heat hits us as soon as I open the front door and step out. “It’s going to be a hot one.”
Opening the back door of the car, I hold her hand as she steps in and attempts to buckle herself in.
I finish for her. “It’s hot,” Avery grunts as I turn on the car.
“It’ll cool down in a second,” I tell her as I start the car, waiting a couple of minutes for the heat to leave the car. The drive to the daycare takes me six minutes since I caught all the green lights. I grab her backpack from the passenger seat before opening the back door for her. We walk in hand in hand, some kids scream her name as we walk by her class to her hook. I hang up her backpack before squatting down in front of her. “Tonight, Mommy has a friend coming over,” I inform her. I was supposed to tell her at breakfast, but every single time I tried to, the words wouldn’t come out. I wonder if it’s because I knew she would ask me questions, and I didn’t know what to answer. Either way, it’s now or never. “So we are going to have pizza.”
Her eyes go big, usually we have pizza night on Fridays, so this is a very special treat for her.
“With french fries?”
“You bet,” I say. “Give me a kiss.” She leans in to kiss my lips. “Have a good day.” I get up and hold her hand as I walk her to the classroom door.
The teacher is there waiting for her. “Happy Monday,” she greets me, and all I can do is smile at her.
“Happy Monday,” I say to her as Avery runs into the class and toward her friends. I wave before walking back out and heading to work. I zone out mostly everything as I think of what is going to happen tonight. My head is already throbbing, and it’s not even nine o’clock. Grabbing my purse before walking up the steps to the office, I take my keys out to open the front door of the little bungalow they built with five offices where the bedrooms would be. I’m always the first one in since they were kind enough to work around the daycare’s schedule. I get to work by nine, and I work until four. It’s perfect, and I’m so grateful. I step in and press in my code for the alarm before looking around the living room and dining room that have been converted to the waiting area. It’s filled with pictures of past events they have done.
I put my purse on my desk before walking around to the kitchen in the back of the house. I look out of the window, seeing the side of the barn. Or at least what looks like a barn. Once you get inside, you’ll find rustic wooden floors and exposed wooden beams that can be dressed up. It can fit up to five hundred and fifty people. Right behind the barn is a kitchen where the caterers can set up.
I’m about to grab a cup of coffee when I hear the front door open and then close again. I walk out
of the kitchen toward my desk. “What are you doing here?” I ask Sofia, who is standing next to my desk.
“I work here,” she says, laughing as the front door opens and Clarabella comes in.
“Is there a meeting I didn’t know of?” I ask, seeing Presley walk in, followed by Shelby.
“She called a Code Purple,” Presley reminds me, pointing at Sofia.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on your honeymoon?” Clarabella huffs, looking at Sofia.
“Are you crazy?” she asks Clarabella. “She just found her baby daddy.” She points at me. “Who slept in my spare bedroom last night!”
“What?” I ask, shocked.
“Oh, this is going to be good,” Presley singsongs, clapping her hands. “Let’s go to the conference room.”
“Do we really have to?” I ask them, and the sound of their laughter fills the room. “Yeah, I knew even as the words were leaving my lips it was a silly question.”