Julia 5 years later I slowly open my eyes feeling groggy and insanely tired, inwardly groaning when I check the alarm clock beside me and realize that it's going to start blaring in exactly four minutes. Fuck my life! I shouldn't complain about getting up, not after I've had a solid 9 hours of sleep but still, between a bed that feels like I'm sleeping on fluffy clouds and an incredibly handsome husband wrapped around me how can I not? But with kids to get ready for the day and a job to get to I dont have much choice! Of course, Riley has always made it clear that I dont have to work and I did try it for a while but the truth is, the moment that I first walked into my office, I knew that it was the right thing for me. Of course, I love my children more than anything in this world but I can't be a stay-at-home mom. I need to be out working, helping to earn money and know that I'm contributing to their financial support. And honestly, being stuck inside the house for too long drives
Julia It's almost fifteen minutes later when we pull into Mandy's driveway and my curiosity is piqued even more when I see Riley's mom, Grandad, Josh and none other than little Miss Nina standing on the front steps. "What's going on?" I'm less worried now and more excited as I see the people that I love on the steps as Jenny steps out from behind them with the twins in her arms right before Josh leans down and takes Jacob from her. I would question the fact that Nina is here even though I know that she left the house for the school bus this morning but it just so happens that Josh was the one to take her for the bus today and then he drove separately from us... It doesn't take a genius to work out what happened there. "Let's go and find out shall we?" He gets out of the car and quickly makes his way around to my side and opens my door before holding out his hand for me to take and we head towards the others as they all continue to look at us with cheesy smiles on their faces. As so
Julia The snow beneath my feet crunches with every step I take, and a cloud of smoke leaves my mouth as I take a breath while the cold night air wraps around me like a blanket, only there's no comfort from it, it only makes my fingers and nose burn even more with how cold they are. I wrap my arms around my body as tightly as I can, but I only have on a tee shirt and hoody, so there's not much hope of me getting warm anytime soon. Any feeling in my fingers and toes stopped ages ago, and I'm pretty sure that if it was possible, my nose would fall off at any second. I swear it feels so numb that you'd think that it was frozen. The holes in my shoes are not helping my situation, and neither is the fact that I'm wearing the thinnest pair of leggings that I have ever owned, but beggars can't be choosers and, unfortunately, for me, begging is part of my life. As I walk across the front of a coffee shop, I stop in my tracks and take a moment to just enjoy the sight that's in front of me.
Riley "Mr Carter, there's a phone call on line one for you." Andrea, my assistant, chimes through the intercom. The woman is in her late 50s, has worked for me for the last four years, has barely taken any days off and, on top of it all, she is always happy, polite and with a smile on her face. "Thanks, Andrea." I turn off the intercom and pick up the call and unfortunately, get stuck in an hour-long conversation with Eric from Eli Electronics. The guy has spent the last three months trying to get me to invest in his business and won't take no for an answer. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for helping out businesses, especially small local ones, but sometimes I just can't do it. Eric is blowing money left, right, and center on personal purchases. Even after he received several loans and investments, he's still a sinking ship, and as I said, I'm all for helping businesses, but I'm not for throwing money at a sinking ship. I wouldn't be where I am today if I did that. The next five hour
Julia "Momma, I'm cold." I wrap the blanket even tighter around Nina, but I can still feel her shivering and it's killing me. The blanket is well-used and not very thick, but I found it in a dumpster last week, and even though it is covered in stains, it's still better than nothing. "I know, baby." I need to find her warmer clothes, but it's hard. I know many places don't throw out clothes anymore, they usually end up in charity shops and I can't even afford that. "Helen, would you mind Nina for a little while? I'm going to go treasure hunting." she gives me her motherly smile as she opens up her arms for Nina to get comfy on her lap. There are a couple of children in our group and, despite the harsh reality of their lives, we try and keep as much as possible away from them, so when one of us is going out to pinch we call it treasure hunting. "I will be as quick as I can. Nina, you make sure you listen to Helen." she gives me a kiss and nods, then turns away from me as Helen starts
Julia I turn to face the woman and for a moment I am thrown. The woman looks to be in her late 40s and she is absolutely beautiful. She has red hair pulled back in a bun and bright green eyes, she has a beautiful dress on but her clothes along with her jewelry scream money. However, she works in a charity shop, so there could be more to it. "Yes?" that's all I say. I am standing here with stolen property in my hands and that's all I can come out with. "Miss, I think you may have forgotten to pay for those items, but not to worry, it can happen. How about we head to the counter and get you checked out?" she smiles, and it feels like her smile alone could light up the entire place and her expression is warm and motherly, which makes me sad for a moment. She knows full well that I wasn't planning on paying, and yet she's giving me a chance to correct my behavior, without any judgment and God knows I wish I could do as she asks. I felt bad stealing these clothes before, but now afte
Riley Seeing her here was such a shock to me, but to find out that not only had she stolen clothes but that she had stolen clothes for a child, well, that just blew me away. The stuff that she stole came to a total of $11, so if she can't pay for them, fuck things must be bad for her. I've tried all I can to get her to talk to me and so has my Mom, but she won't. She won't tell us a Goddam thing, and now I'm pissed! So fucking pissed! She's lying to us about her name. I know she is, and she won't tell us why she has done this. Even when I threatened her with the cops, she didn't waver. We rarely have anyone steal from here. It's a charity shop after all, but it does happen. Usually, when it happens, the threat of me calling the cops is enough to get them talking, but not this time. I don't do it to be a dick. I do it to get them talking because if there's one thing that I've learned since my Mom opened this shop, it is that if someone steals from here, they are usually desperate an
Julia I'm still so ashamed that I was caught stealing from a charity shop and I swear the moment that he walked in I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me whole. I know that a man like him would never be interested in someone like me, but that doesn't mean that I can't daydream about it on the cold sleepless nights that I often face. However, after my antics today, even I'm going to struggle to daydream about him wanting me after what he saw. Despite all my mixed emotions, the look on Nina's face when I got home with a coat, jumper, and boots for her made every single embarrassing moment worthwhile. After being caught once today, I'm not up for any more stealing, so I'm staying here tonight with Nina and the others rather than going out on my usual nightly hunt. Thankfully, I managed to get a large amount of food last night, and we've kept enough for everyone to be able to eat tonight. Well, everyone except for me... I won't eat tonight. I'd rather keep my potion for tomorrow.