Chapter 21 - Riley
I walked down the hallway toward the front play area and took in the kids who were there already. Becky was sitting in a chair, helping one of the kids pull their jacket off. Becky glanced up and smiled. "Morning, Riley, you're here early."
"I got an early start to my day and decided to come in and help with getting the kids ready when they get here."
"That's so helpful," Becky said, letting the kid free of his jacket. He quickly rushed off towards the play area.
Just then, the door opened, and Rylie, one of the preschoolers, ran into the daycare. She was giddy as she moved, jumping on her heels. "Morning, Becky. Morning Riley."
"Good morning, Ryline. You look perky today."
Ryline nodded her head. "I am. Mom, let me wear my favorite shirt." Ryline quickly pulled her jacket off, showing a pink shirt with a princess on the front.
I smiled at her, loving how the kids always seemed in such a good mood. It was refreshing to be around kids and always feel their joy. It was so different from my normal life; the more time I spent here, the more thankful I was.
"Ryline, do you want to help me set up breakfast this morning?" I asked, having taken over the breakfast for the mornings. The girls always gathered the kids, and I helped bring everything to the rooms.
"Yeah!" She started jumping up and down eagerly. So, I took Ryline with me to the kitchen and handed her the spoons. I grabbed the bibs and napkins, and we went to each of the rooms, setting the spaces up.
Ryline told me about her night. Her family watched a movie with dinner and had ice cream for dessert. As she talked, I wondered what future I wanted. I'd never wondered much about having children since being with Brad. They weren't at the top of his list of important things to get started on right away. It had been one of the things I put aside for him.
"Can I tell you a secret," Ryline whispered. "My mom said not to tell anyone because it's early, but she's going to have another baby."
"Oh, that's wonderful. You must be so excited."
Ryline nodded her head. "I am."
After we finished setting everything out, we took the cart full of food and dropped off the trays. I handed them slowly to Ryline, who placed them in each spot. We were finishing the last plate when I heard a voice I had gotten to know well.
"Riley," Poppy spoke up, stepping into the room.
I turned, looking at Poppy. She was wearing overalls with a green shirt underneath. Her hair was pulled back in pigtails, and she smiled happily at me.
"Morning, Poppy. Is your brother Zayden here?"
Poppy nodded. "He is. He's in his room."
A moment later, Ivy walked into the room and smiled. "Morning, Riley."
"Morning, Ivy." Ivy was wearing a long blue dress with leggings underneath. Her hair was pulled back in a long braid.
Ivy looked at Poppy and smiled. "Hi, Poppy."
"Hi, Ivy," Poppy giggled. "Do you want to see the new trick I learned?"
"Poppy, no magic, remember," I crossed my arms, shaking my head at her. "You know magic is only for at home."
I had been warned that Poppy had been getting her powers and using them. Wendy had stated she might need reminders not to do them when no other witches were around to help train her.
Poppy frowned. "I forgot…sorry."
"It's fine," I said, giving her a pat on the head. "You can show Ivy another time."
Just then, Quinn walked into the room, followed by the rest of the kids. I said my mornings to each of them before I headed down the hallway to my office and heard my phone ringing. I smiled, realizing it was April.
"Hey, it's been a few days since we last spoke. I was starting to think you were avoiding my calls," It was a joke, but the silence at the end made me tense. "April, what's wrong?"
"Nothing besides I'm married to a jackass. He froze all our credit cards, so I can't take my plane down now."
I felt my shoulders sink. "What….so… you're not coming?"
"Not until I get this figured out."
I frowned. "I could lend you some money, or Cayden could."
"No, that's not happening." Her words came out sharp, and I swallowed. April didn't ever raise her voice at me, much less use a harsh tone. "Hey, April, what's going on? Is there something you're not telling me?"
"No. I'm fine. I just figured I would let you know I won't be down for a while longer. How has work been?"
I hated that she just shifted the conversation away from herself. I wanted to bring it back to her, but from the tone I was getting, I didn't.
"Okay. It's been going okay…well…keep me posted."
April ended the line before I could say anything, and I stared at my phone for a moment. The only time April got short was when something was wrong, and it twisted me up inside. I sent a message to Cayden telling him he should call April. One of us needed to try and get through to her. I knew she was going down to take care of some things, but I had no idea what that really entailed.
After I sent the message, I tried to get focused back on work. The day went by quickly, and the kids were getting picked up before I knew it.
I helped Jason pull his jacket on, and his mother walked in. She smiled. "Hello, Riley. Looks like Jason is good to go."
I nodded my head. "He is. The girls said he was amazing today. His daily chart is in his backpack."
She patted his head, thanking me as she turned to leave. As she left, Ashley and Wendy stepped inside. They both smiled as they spotted me. "Riley, I think this is the first time I've seen you at pick-up."
I nodded. "Haley left sick this afternoon, so I took over her classroom."
"Oh, what a good boss you make," Wendy said.
"Thank you," I smiled at Wendy. “I hear you had a little say in me getting my job."
Wendy shrugged. "Not really. I just mentioned you'd be good, and the rest was up to Becky."
"Well, whatever you said clearly made me look good."
Wendy smiled. "Riley, you were good for the job. Becky knew that. Besides, I heard all about you from Poppy when we got home after Christmas. You have a natural talent with kids."
"Same," Ashley said, nodding her head. "Ivy says a lot. She's always so eager to come to daycare. I've even heard the parents commenting that you've been helpful and answering their questions."
I blushed. I'd been working at the daycare for three weeks now, and I was trying to make changes where needed. I talked the girls into having an updated online system so parents could monitor their kids' progress. We discussed even having the kids start swimming lessons in the summer when the weather was nice enough.
Poppy hurried over to Wendy, throwing her arms around her mother. "Mom, guess what we're going to do! We're going to take a trip to the zoo next week." Poppy waved the letter we had given all the kids in Quinn and Hailly's classroom in her hand.
Wendy took the letter and scanned it. Her eyebrows went up. "You guys are going to the zoo? That sounds like fun."
I nodded. "They had been wanting to do that for a while, but they didn't have enough hands to plan it out."
Ivy hurried over to Ashley, waving the same letter. Both of the girls had been over the moon when we talked about it this morning.
"We are hoping to have a few parents agree to go as help."
"I'll chaperone," Wendy said, all too eager. "And I'm sure Ashley will."
Ashley quickly nodded. "Yeah, the zoo sounds like a fun time. I hear they still have everything put up for Christmas."
"Speaking of getting out, do you want to join us for girl's night? We're going to the new restaurant, Festiva. Gina said they have some good margaritas. We're all having the dads watch the kids, so we're going out and going to enjoy ourselves."
I was excited. I hadn't been out with the girls, really, minus hanging out on Christmas. I nodded. "Sure, I can meet you guys there after I close up."
"Great, we will save you a seat. We're meeting at seven."
The girls waved goodbye, and I smiled, looking forward to dinner.
I swept up after all the kids were gone and I locked up. I was out of the daycare a few minutes before seven. I drove to the restaurant and headed inside, finding the girls already had a table in the back. Wendy waved me over.
Gina sat next to Laura, and Ashley sat next to Wendy, who had an empty chair beside her. She patted it, and I sat down.
"I'm sorry if I'm late," I said, scooting closer.
"You're not late. Laura just got here a minute ago herself."
"We ordered you a strawberry margarita. We all figured we would have one."
"Sounds good."
"So, how have you been adjusting to the change in this town?" Laura asked, leaning onto the table. All of them looked at me, and I blushed. "I'm adjusting well. I love working at the daycare, and Cayden's been helpful."
"He's such a sweetie," Wendy said. "How is his sister doing? We haven't heard much."
"I haven't heard much myself," I said, suddenly feeling bad I hadn't asked her. However, any time I had, April had shifted the conversation back to me. She was avoiding us talking about her.
"She's actually going to be coming back soon. I'm sure she would love to meet you all."
"We look forward to getting to know her. We hardly knew that Cayden had a sister, so we can't wait to chat with her."
We continued to talk, and everyone spoke about their day. Wendy went on about her witch training and the struggles she was going through. Ashley and Laura talked about their trip out of town to find some new cameras while Gina walked about staying home and relaxing.
As we finished ordering our food, I asked each of them how they met their spouse. I hadn't realized they all had so much to overcome before getting where they were. The more I spoke with the girls, the more I knew that I made the best decision I could by staying in town. They all understood my pain, and it was relieving.
"You know, I've been questioning if this was all a good idea. Giving up my past life and diving into a new life…. it's scary."
The girls all nodded, and Wendy chuckled. "We get it. If you ever need anything, let us know. That's what friends are for."
I smiled, taking each of them. I could call them friends, but I couldn't remember the last time I felt that besides with April.