Saving Amina

Four.

She sighed, because she knew exactly what he wanted to talk about, but she was trying her hardest to avoid to conversation, but she knew that eventually, they did need to talk about it.

---

Amina was making her rounds at the diner, making sure all of the empty tables were clean and clear, before walking back behind the counter. She looked at her watch, seeing that Nova was about to get out of school soon, and her mother was going to pick her up and drop her off at the diner.

The lunch time rush had just ended, so there wasn't much to do, so Amina took the time to count the registers and then her tips. Her phone vibrated, taking her attention away from the money and she pulled it out of her pocket she saw that Chadwick had texted her.

Work is stressing me out, I need a distraction.-Chadwick

"Amina." She looked up and saw her manager looking at her. "You can go ahead and take your break."

"Okay, thanks Amy."  She said, putting the money back, and taking off her apron. She went back into the kitchen and started to make her own meal, and after a few minutes, she was sitting down at one of the booths, with her plate in front of her. She was going to wait for Nova to get here, to make food for her. To kill time, she decided to call Chadwick.

"Hey, are you on break?" He asked and she smiled hearing his voice.

"Yeah, I am. I'm also waiting for my mom to drop off Nova." She said, before putting a piece of her pancake into her mouth. "What's going on at work?"

"Just looking at all of these number are giving me a headache." He sighed, rubbing his face. This had become a routine for the two of them, when Chadwick became stressed at work, he called Amina. He was an accountant, and managed the money for a lot of different big, and successful companies. When he first started working there, he would call Monica, but it seemed to him that she would become irritated with him talking about his job. "This new company started off with good profits and budgets, but as of lately, they've been spending a lot more and their profit it tanking. I'm trying to draw up at new budget plan for them."

"How long have they been in business?" She asked, taking a sip from her coffee.

"This is their third year. They're gaining popularity quickly, which means demand is increasing, but they are increasing their supply way too much. I'm trying to figure out exactly how much of everything they will need, and how much it will cost."

"Maybe I can help, give me the numbers." She shrugged, and Chadwick started to laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Trust me, Mina, you don't want to hear all of what I have to go through everyday." He said and she smirked.

"I actually enjoyed math in high school okay?" She said, continuing to eat. "Let me try, I want to see how it feels to be an accountant."

"If you say so." He shrugged, sitting up at his desk and started reading off all of the information to her. While he was speaking, she was writing everything down on the notepad she use to take orders. She put the phone on speaker and went to the calculator and started going to work.

"So, while you're doing that, what are you eating for lunch?" He asked, leaning back in his chair, looking at the pictures on his desk.

"Pancakes, eggs and bacon." She said, while still working. "What's the goal budget?"

"At least, 25% percent." He said, with a small smile on his face. He found it quite humorous that Amina was actually trying to help him out, he also thought it was cute. "That's so simple, and you eat that all the time, you need to try something different."

"I'm a simple person, what can I say." She mumbled, trying to focus on the task. The bell on the door to the diner rung, making Amina look up, seeing Nova and her mother walking inside. "Hey, Nova just got here, I'll call you back later tonight and tell you what I figured out."

"Alright, tell my Nova girl, I said Hi." He said and Amina smiled. "I will, bye Chad."

"Bye Mina." He hung up the phone, and then sighed, getting ready to leave, to go have lunch with his wife.

"Hey baby girl." Amina said, hugging and kissing Nova's forehead and Nova hugged her back.

"Look mommy, we had a spelling test today and I got a 100!" Nova said with excitement while pushing the paper toward her. Amina looked at the paper and gave Nova a high-five. "Good job, baby. I'm proud of you." Amina looked up at her mother, who was looking at her with her arms crossed over her chest. "Go ahead and start your homework, while I talk to granny." Nova nodded her head, sliding into the booth and Amina her mother walked away.

"Thanks for picking her up." Amina said, pulling the tips she's collecting so far today and gave her mother twenty dollars, for gas, because she already knew she would ask.

"Yeah, whatever." She said, snatching the money. "What did I tell you about coming into my house and disrespecting my husband?"

Amina rolled her eyes, and sighed. The other day, when Amina has went to house to pick up Nova after a night shift, Nova had told her that he was still saying mean things about her mother, which resulted in her crying.

"Your husband constantly disrespects me in front my daughter and tells her bad things about me and I'm suppose to be okay with that?" She said, to her mother. They were the complete opposite of each other and Amina felt that if Nova wasn't around, she would have stopped speaking to her years ago. "I also asked you not to leave her alone with him, but you do anyways."

"I'm a grown ass woman, which means I can do whatever the hell I want. You're never on time to pick her up, and I have to be at work at a certain time, so I'm going to leave her with Curtis. At least I'm not leaving her alone."  She would be better alone, Amina thought, but she just shook her head, not wanting to fight with her mom at her job.

"I have to get back to work." Amina said, walking away and going toward where Nova was sitting. She was going to ask her what she wanted to eat, but she noticed that Nova had already eaten to food that was on Amina's plate. She was too busy talking to Chadwick and trying to help him, she didn't eat much of her food.

"You were hungry, weren't you?" Amina smiled, playing with one of Nova's twist, and she nodded her head. "Do you want some more?"

"No, thank you, I'm full." She said, and Amina picked up the plate, her apron and notepad.

"Okay, well mommy is gonna get back to work. Stay here and if you need anything let me know, and tell me when you have to use to restroom." She said, and Nova gave her a thumbs up, then Amina went to clock back in and work for the next few hours.

•••

Hey loves! How are you guys doing?
Sorry for not updating in a while, the chapter was finished before I even published the book, but midterms has had my life in shambles, and now I'm out of town, so yea.

I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, I love you guys so much!

✨Mimi✨