Valentina's POV:
I used the restroom as I needed to and walked out of the stall seeing that Evie and her play thing had left.
The look on Evie's face hurt me a little but I brushed it off like it was nothing. I hardly knew the woman so her feelings didn't necessarily mean anything to me.
Her weekend plans were also none of my business of course but it bothered me to have walked in on it. I could've gone my whole life without knowing that she got off in bathroom stalls in clubs.
I washed my hands and checked my makeup before making my way back out to rejoin my coworkers and friends.
. . .
By Monday Nani was over her little attitude charade. Likely because I did end up allowing her to go trick or treating.
Vivi was always a mommy's girl and hardly argued with me. So her and Nani were in a funk for a while too.
I walked in the school with my heels clicking beneath me and heads turning as I made my way to the front desk.
"Miss Clair, what can I do for you this afternoon?" The older lady asked.
"I'm here to speak with Miss Love during her lunch break. It's important and I don't have long" I stated.
"Um.. well it is her lunch break and—"
I cut her off with one of my stares. I didn't have to say anything when it came to them.
"Ya know what I'll just send you on your way. Here's a pass, room 120 just down the hall to your left" the woman rushed out nervously.
I gave her a fake smile and snatched the pass rolling my eyes behind my sunglasses.
My heels echoed through the empty halls since everyone was likely at the cafeteria.
I turned left down the hall and stopped outside of room 120. The door was closed and I was hoping it wasn't locked.
Grabbing the handle I yanked the door open and walked right in looking around the room spotting Evie at her desk putting away some papers.
She glanced up probably thinking it was another teacher and looked back down to her papers before her head snapped up again.
Evie stood from her desk, papers flying everywhere making me laugh a little.
This poor girl was a hot mess.
Her face turned red and she rushed to the floor picking up the papers trying to stack them on top of one another.
"How are you even a teacher?" I laughed again watching her scramble to get the papers.
The look on her face as she stood up reminded me of Halloween night when we saw each other in the restroom. Saddened and embarrassed.
I ignored it and sat down on the table across from her desk.
Evie visibly gulped and turned around placing the papers elsewhere.
"What do you want.." she said in a shaky voice.
I leaned back on my hands and watched her turn around crossing her arms trying to protect herself.
"Did you just come here to insult me some more?"
I frowned and sat up crossing my legs. "I came here to talk Miss Love. I want to be clear about your involvement with my children"
Evie furrowed her brows in confusion.
"I don't want another incident like Friday to ever happen again. I'm a busy woman as you and everyone else in this building should know by now. I don't get to choose my schedule.. and sometimes things come up. So I don't appreciate you trying to step in or saying things to upset my daughters"
Evie scoffed and stepped closer towards her desk.
"Miss Clair.. you have it all wrong. I never said a single word to your girls about your absence. All I did was defuse their fight during class when we returned and I held Nani's hand because she wanted me to. I'm her teacher, I comfort my kids when they're upset" she said defensively.
"Whatever. Either way I have boundaries and I don't like when people try to invade our home life" I said sternly looking back at her.
Evie nodded and uncrossed her arms avoiding my stare.
"Yes ma'am.. I can assure you nothing of the sort will happen. Now if you'll excuse me I have papers to grade" Evie sat down at her desk.
I stood from the table making my heels click against the tile floor.
Slowly I approached her desk and leaned down on it on my hands. "By the way... I actually want to apologize for Friday night. What you do is none of my business and my comment was uncalled for. So.. I'm sorry" I forced out.
Evie looked up at me with her hazel eyes. They sparkled a little more than I liked.
"You don't apologize very often do you..?" She said softly.
"No" I laughed "so take the damn apology before I take it back"
Evie looked down smiling and tucked her hair behind her ear. Something I noticed she does often.
"Thank you.. I appreciate the apology"
I nodded in response standing up straight and twirled my keys around my finger. "Well then.. I'll see you after school for pick up" I said before walking off towards the door.
Evie continued to smile and nodded watching me leave.
The energy in the room was odd and almost made me feel sick to my stomach. Butterflies were something I hated. The feeling made me want to rip my insides out.
. . .
Evie's View:
I stayed smiling like an idiot in my classroom after Valentina left.
I may not have gotten her to smile directly in front of me but she apologized. Another accomplishment. I liked knowing I got her to do things she never did for anyone else. But her apology really did mean a lot.
After that night at the club I had gone home early to basically cry my eyes out and hadn't talked to lily since.
I ignored her texts and calls. Even Addie was covering for me. I just didn't wanna deal with explaining myself or the situation that happened right in front of her.
By pick up time I was a little too eager to see Valentina. For what reason I don't know. I just knew I liked being in her presence.
Nani and Vivi sat next to me playing with their stuffed animals.
I stared down at my watch seeing it was well past the pick up time. Normally Valentina was late but not this late.
"Girls... stay right here. I'm just gonna go make a phone call okay" I said standing from my chair.
They nodded up at me and continued to play.
"Hey, Charlotte did Miss Clair happen to call at all saying how late she'd be?" I asked our secretary.
"Mmm.. no she did not. I noticed you three were waiting longer than usual. I'll give her a call, one second"
I gave her a little smile and turned to watch over the girls.
"Hi Miss Clair, I'm so sorry to bother you. I was just calling to clarify if you were picking the girls up or if they were staying after school?" Charlotte said into the phone. I watched her, anticipated for an answer. "Oh, yes she's right here. One moment"
Charlotte covered the bottom half of the phone with her hand. "She wants to speak with you"
My eyes widened and I grabbed the phone from her, "hello?" I said awkwardly.
A genuine laugh came from the other side and I grinned at the sound of it.
"Hello to you too Miss Love. Anyways, I apologize for my tardiness today. I'm still in a meeting with my boss and I'm afraid I'm going to be much later than I thought"
"Oh.. that's okay. I can just drop them off at the after school—" she cut me off before I could finish.
"That's actually what I wanted to speak to you about. I'm going to be late, later than the program runs. I'd ask my assistant to go get them but he's an idiot and doesn't know a thing about children" she sighed.
"If it's not too much to ask..." I could hear hesitation in her voice. "Would you mind taking the girls with you? I assume I can trust at least you with them"
My mouth opened and closed not knowing what to say back.
"Evie?" She said making sure I was still there.
I gasped quietly and cleared my throat to cover it up. "Um.. yeah. I mean, yes ma'am that's no problem. You can most definitely trust me. Do you need to write my address down?"
"No need. I know everything I need to know already. I'll be there around 8, thank you for doing this for me Miss Love"
"No problem.." I said before she hung up.
I looked at the phone and handed it back to Charlotte who was giving me an odd look.
I smiled and walked away back to the girls.
They were more than thrilled to go to my apartment but I was freaking out because I had no car seats. Did Valentina even think this through?
I swear I drove slower than a turtle and it took us like 15 minutes to get there. Normally it took 5 minutes.
Nani and Vivi grabbed their backpacks from my car and walked with me up the steps to the door.
When we walked in Addie was cooking dinner as usual and she did a double take at me noticing the twins.
"Evie if this is your way of getting her to notice you I don't think this is the right way to do it.." she teased.
I rolled my eyes and mouthed the words to tell her to shut up.
Nani and Vivi went and sat on the couch looking like they waiting for me to tell them what to do next.
"Okay girls, are you hungry?" I asked setting my bags down.
"Yes! Can we have macaroni?" Nani asked.
"But mommy says we can't eat that" Vivi said to her sister.
"Shhhh!" Nani hushed her.
Vivi pouted and crossed her arms. "You're gonna get in trouble, not me"
"Well, What does your mommy normally feed you guys for dinner?" I asked.
"Rabbit food" Nani said making a disgusted face.
"No she doesn't! It's healthy food!" Vivi continued to defend her mom.
I smiled at their cute argument.
"Well healthy tastes gross. I like eating cheese"
I laughed and shook my head. "We don't really have any rabbit food here so I'm sorry. But we do have—"
"Spaghetti!" Addie sang from the kitchen.
The girls giggled at her and ran to towards the kitchen. "Wash your hands first please!"
They did as told and we all sat the table enjoying Addie's cooking. Nani and Vivi were shockingly well mannered for six year olds at the dinner table.
Addie and I cleaned up as I explained to her what was going on.
"Alright girls your mom will be here soon so we can just rest for now until then" I nodded and turned on some cartoons for them.
I went to go change into a pair of shorts and a t shirt and came back out to sit in between the twins on the couch.
"Miss Love.." Nani said.
"Yes sweetheart?"
"Do people from heaven come back to visit?"
I raised my eyebrows at her question.
"Um... sometimes yes. We just can't see them"
Nani looked down at her stuffed animal pouting. "I wish we could"
"Why do you say that..?" I asked quietly.
She looked back up at me with her blue eyes. "So I could hug my mama again"
I stared down at her confused trying to understand what she meant.
"Nani don't... mommy says not to talk about it" Vivi said from the right side of me.
"I don't care. She's your mama too" Nani whimpered hugging her stuffed toy.
I wrapped my arm around her rubbing her back gently as she sobbed into my chest. It pained me to see Nani cry and upset.
So they had another mom? That would explain why they didn't really look like Valentina.
Vivi started to cry as well making me wrap my other arm around her, rubbing bother of their backs.
"We may not be able to hug our loved ones again if they go to heaven. But just know that they can see you... and can still give you kisses and hugs. Have you ever felt a little tickle on your face before?" I asked looking down at them.
They both nodded sniffling.
"Well those little tickles you feel are angel kisses"
Nani smiled and so did Vivi. "My mama loves to give them to me all the time then. My face always tickles as night" I smiled and leaned down to kiss the top of their heads.
A knock came from the door and I got up to answer it.
"Sorry for all of this. But thank you again for taking them for me" Valentina said as I opened the door. "Come on girls grab your things"
I opened the door wider letting her walk in.
"It's not problem. They—"
"Why are they crying?" She turned to look at me.
My smile fell and I looked back to the girls who were busy putting their shoes on.
"Um.. they were just talking to me about their Uh.. their.. mama" I said softly.
The blood left Valentina's face and her hard exterior began to fade. She didn't bother to look at me anymore, "Girls let's go!" She yelled.
Nani and Vivi gasped and rushed to grab their bags.
"Valentina.. I didn't mean to pry. They just brought up a question about heaven and I—"
"Stop. I don't care about what they asked. I told you I don't like people forcing their way into our home life. You've done enough as it is now. Goodbye Miss Love" She said before walking out the door with the girls leaving me standing there.
. . .
A/N:
The rabbit food comment always kills me lol. Especially when we all find out who they got it from.
- Des