A Second Chance

4.

"Thank you." She muttered out as she looked away. "I was hoping to talk to you about my hours. That maybe I could have 30 minutes off from 2:45 till 3:15?"

I cocked an eyebrow at her and chewed the mouthful in my mouth before swallowing it. "I see. This is a bribe?"

I saw the small nervous smile as she nodded.

"Why that specific time?"

"Because I'll need to leave this estate in that time frame."

"Why?" I asked as I took another mouthful but not before twirling the fork in to the noodles.

"Because my husbaaaaand..." As I heard Harper drag the word out, I saw how her facial features changed. Her face tightened up like a bad realisation hit her. I knew she is married. "My ex husband." Harper corrected herself. Well this is a turn of events. "My ex husband is being a dick." She stated flatly.

"But why that time?"

"That's the next bit. I have to pay after school care fees and it's costing more than what I'm earning and defeats the porpuse of why I'm working."

"After school care?" I mumbled out, scrapping the last of my dinner against the plate. This meal was fantastic. Just like the lasagne I took the other day. That was divine as well.

"Yes. A place children go to after school if their parents are working."

I frowned at the smart reply. "You have children?" I never pictured her to have children. Harper was an attractive woman. Blonde hair, brown eyes, slightly tanned complexion. She was short but not petite. Her hips were a bit thick and from what I've gathered from some clothes she wears, her stomach isn't supermodel flat.

"No." She replied to me. It made me feel some sort of relief but mainly confusion. Why would she be going on about after school care then? "Not children. Child. Singular." She finished.

"Oh." It left before it came out.

"I have a daughter."

*

Harper

"I was wondering if it's alright by you, could my daughter come back here after school till I finish?"

I watched Ryan's face go blank.

"She is a good kid. She will behave and won't mess the place up." I quickly added. "If not, it's okay I understand, I'm asking for a lot. I have my ex nagging me every night, complaining he has to look after his own daughter. Then Willow is whinging and crying at me every morning and night."

"Willow?" Ryan asked me and I nodded.

"Yeah. I call her Will every now and then, but her name is Willow."

The look on Ryan's face as I bit down on my lip while I waited looked like everything clicked in to place for him. "So, all those personal phone calls?"

"That was Will, my daughter. I was trying to comfort her. She hates going to her dad's."

"You know, Will is a boys name?"

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Yeah." Then it dawned on me and before I could help it, a smile formed on my face. "Did you think the whole time I was talking to my husband? That serves you right for eavesdropping."

Ryan grinned at me. "Yeah, I guess so." He muttered out as I took his empty plate. "How old is your daughter?"

"Six."