I make my way back into the kitchen and see Harmony in Diana's arms as Chloe begins tidying up the mess we made, I quickly jump into help her, as I hear Diana mumble something about going to play and disappearing out of the room.
"I'm sorry that you got roped into all of this, you could have said no, she would have understood" Chloe finally says once we were alone.
"It's okay honestly, I would have just ended up going home alone, cooking or ordering a meal for one and binge watching tv" I admit to my boring life. "Instead you had to make mini pizza's with a four year old and her mother whom you barely know" Chloe chuckles.
"I would choose mini pizza's and four year olds, over tv and being alone any day" I smile softly, and watch as a small blush creeps onto her cheeks.
"You don't find this extremely weird?"
"Oh yeah, one hundred percent, you hardly know me, yet I have been into your house twice, it's rare to be trusted so easily" I say.
"I don't normally trust easily, I'm actually quite surprised by myself if I am being honest, there's just something about you I guess, plus I trust my daughter's instincts, kids have a good judge of character" She smiles as she begins wiping down the countertops.
"Something about me" I quirk my eyebrow, intrigued. "You just seem trustworthy I guess, I just have a feeling that you wouldn't try to murder me, so I guess that's a good thing" She grins and I chuckle lightly. "Don't worry, I definitely won't try and murder you" I laugh.
"Okay good, well at least we have gotten that out of the way" She smiles.
"Well I said I wouldn't murder you, there's no saying what you're going to do" I joke.
"Aaah damn you're seeing through my plans, I'm using Harmony to corrupt your brain and think that I am innocent, until I finally gain enough of your trust to lead you down into my basement, to form science experiments on you"
"You live in an apartment" I laugh softly.
"Damn, I didn't think about that" She screws up her face adorably at her bad plans.
"Maybe you should rethink it through"
"Yes, just give me a few days to mull it over" She chuckles.
"Okay that's fine, I can give you a few days" I smile. "Would you like anything to drink?" She asks. "Um, just a water will be fine" I smile and she nods grabbing two glasses and filling them both.
"Thank you" I say as she places the glass in front of me.
"So you start school quite late" I say starting a new conversation, not really knowing what else to say. "Yeah I do on Monday's and Thursday's, I don't get home until about eleven, but the rest of the week I am home no later than eight, so Yeah, I don't really get to spend nights with Harmony all that often, weekends are really all I have, so I try to make the most of them" She explains.
"Well when you become a doctor, you're probably going to be doing twelve hour shifts, if not more, have you thought about what you're going to do then?" "Honestly? I try not to think about it, because every time I do, I just feel guilty, and because I am going to be missing out on her childhood, I know by the time I'm actually an intern in a hospital, she will be at school, so eight hours of the day, she will be occupied, but the other hours, she will have to be taken care of by either Diana or a nanny, but I try not to think about it, at least until we're closer to the time" "I like that you actually care, most doctors refuse to have kids because they know they can't be around, or don't care about them when they do, but you know the sacrifices you're going to have to make, and you're doing it anyway"
"I want a good life for her, I never had the greatest upbringing, don't get me wrong, I always had the things that I needed, but I still didn't live a great life, and I want that for her, I want her to never want or need anything, I don't want to be stuck working at a little diner for the rest of my life, just scraping by, I want her to live, truly live, if that means twelve hour shifts, then so be it, but Harmony will always be my number one priority, I will make sure I am a part of her life, and that I am the one that wishes her a goodnight before bed" Chloe speaks passionately. A smile graces my lips, and before I have a chance to respond, the oven timer goes off and Harmony comes zooming back into the kitchen with a huge smile on her face.
"Come on mummy, take them out of the oven" She grins hopping up onto one of the chairs.
Chloe just smiles and pulls the trays out of the oven setting them on the countertop, Diana enters the kitchen and pulls out the plates and I watch as they dish the mini pizza's onto two large plates, and set them in the centre of the island, then
Diana hands us each our own small plates. "Be careful baby, they're still hot" Chloe warns her, as she places two of the pizza's onto her daughters plate.
--
"Okay, mummy has to go to school, I'll see you in the morning okay" Chloe smiles bending and presses a kiss to Harmony's head.
"Okay mummy, I love you"
"I love you too"
"I'll walk out with you" I smile slipping my blazer onto my shoulders.
"Danielle will I see you again soon?" Harmony asks me.
"You'll have to talk to your mummy about that princess, she has my number, but anytime you want to see me, you can okay, as long as I can escape work" I smile.
"Really?" She grins.
"Really, really?" I grin back.
"Be good for auntie Diana"
"Always"
I smile at the interaction and follow Chloe out of her apartment.
"Thank you for dinner" I smile at her as we enter the elevator.
"Anytime" She smiles over at me.
"Oh don't say that to me, I'll be coming over every night just to have home cooked food" I chuckle. "You know I don't think I would mind" Chloe smiles softly, the doors opening to the ground floor. "I guess this is goodbye" I say once we're outside of the building.
"Yeah I guess it is" She nods.
"Bye Chloe" I smile.
"Bye Danielle" She returns my smile and turns on her heel heading in the opposite direction, I stand watching her for a minute, before turning and making my way back home.
I don't know what it is but lately I just feel like walking everywhere, so I don't get on the subway, and I don't shout down a taxi, instead I just walk, my apartment isn't too far away from Chloe's, it's probably a twenty five minute walk at the most, so I walk.
The sidewalks are quiet, there's a few stragglers, a couple with a child, a couple of young boys on their bikes, work men delivering carpet to someone, I can hear the engines of cars as they drive past, and a helicopter flying over my head, I can hear the slight murmurs of the couple having a conversation on the opposite side of the road, there's a slight breeze in the air, blowing past my ears and blocking out most other sounds, and I feel alive.
I smile and stop walking, just standing in the middle of the sidewalk and breath in deeply, I feel good, I feel happy.
The great thing about Miami, is people don't tend to take any notice of you, you can stand on the side walk, and no one will care enough to look at you. But starting to feel a little odd myself, I begin to continue walking, but I'm not sure if I am ready to head inside just yet, so as I stop outside of my apartment building, instead of going inside, I continue to walk making my way around the block, I do it once, and then I do it twice, each time stopping outside of my apartment building and deciding if I am ready to go inside, and I'm not so I go around a third time. People probably think I am crazy, but right now, I feel so incredibly alive, I am not ready to leave the outside world, because I don't really want to lose that feeling.
But after reaching my apartment building for the fourth time, I decided I should head inside, it's getting late and it has been a long day, I'm feeling for a nice long soak in the bath, and then passing out in bed.
Chapter Four.
Danielle.
I stretch across my bed, groaning making weird noises, I roll over on my side and glance at my alarm clock seeing I had two minutes before it goes off, I huff quietly to myself, it's always the way, and as much as I would like to close my eyes
and get now ninety seconds of sleep, I won't be able to, because the sun is shining through my windows, illuminating my bedroom, reminding me that I forgot to close the curtains last night, so even though I don’t close my eyes, I still refused to move my body from my bed until my alarm blasted through the room.
I sigh and pull myself up in bed shutting my alarm off and rubbing the sleep from my eyes, another day in the office for Danielle Freeman, I stretch my arms above my head before swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, making my way into the bathroom. I follow through with my morning routine, and rush out of my apartment heading to work, entering the office always with ten minutes to spare, I head into the break room, and eat the breakfast I bought along the way, before heading towards my stationed desk.
I log into my computer and check my work emails, seeing two from my boss, giving me the list of things that I had to do today, so I throw myself into my work. By the time lunch time rolled around, my eyes were beginning to hurt from staring at the screen for so long, so I was grateful that I could go to lunch, just as I was about to leave my cubicle, my boss pops up in front of me, literally it's like he came out of nowhere. "Danielle, heading out for lunch?" He asks.
"Yes sir, would you like me to get you anything?" "Oh no, but once you have finished your lunch break, could you head down to IT support and pick up the blue prints" He asks while staring down at his phone. "Of course sir, do they know I am coming?" I ask. "Uh no, I was hoping you could persuade them into giving you the blue prints" He smiles at me.
I chuckle lightly and nod my head, he always uses me, because I am quite good at getting what I want. "Of course sir" I smile.
"Excellent, once you have brought them back here, you are free to go home"
"I still have a couple things on the list that I need to finish" I explain.
"You can finish them tomorrow, it's not a problem, as long as they're complete by tomorrow lunch time" He smiles.
"I will make sure they are"
"Great, see you later Danielle" He disappears with his eyes glued to his phone.
I must admit, I have quite a laid back boss, I am lucky really, he actually cares about his employees unlike most boss's.
I exit the building looking up and down the side walk, wanting to eat somewhere new, I always go to the same place every single day and I am starting to get a little bored of that, I need to change it up
sometimes, otherwise I grow sick of food, and I love food too much to be sick of it.
I pass multiple food places as I stroll down the side walk, it doesn't matter how far I go, or how long I take this time, because I won't be returning to the office straight away, so I have gone further than I normally would, but I stop when I spot a small diner with a certain brunette waiting the tables, I knew she was a waitress, but I didn't know that she worked this close to me.
I smile softly to myself and enter, sitting myself down on a table for two by the window, My eyes scan over the menu, trying to find something to appease my appetite, but not seeing anything jumping out at me, other than the milkshakes, I haven't had one of those in forever, so that is definitely going on my order. "Welcome to bob's diner, what can I get for you?" I hear her voice and smile lifting my head up to look at her and watch the shock cross her face.
"Danielle" The shock evident in her voice.
"Hey" I smile.
"What are you doing here?" She furrows her eyebrows.
"Well I am on my lunch break and wanted to eat somewhere new, that’s when I spotted you through the window, and it would have been awfully rude of me to just walk by" I smile up at her.
"Oh yes awfully rude" She smiles down at me. "I know, so I'm not entirely sure what I want to eat, but I will definitely take one of your banana
milkshakes" I grin up at her.
"One banana milkshake, of course" She smiles jotting it down.
"And what would you recommend I have for lunch?" She works here, so she must know what is good and what's not.
"Well I must say, the BLT's here are the best that I have ever tasted"
"Then I will take one of those too"
"Okay, I will be right back with your order" She's about to turn away from my table but I quickly place my hand on her wrist to stop her, she looks back at me in questioning.
"Have you had lunch yet?" I question.
"I haven't no" She smiles clearly catching on to what I am saying.
"Are you allowed to have lunch with me?" I ask shyly. "I don't see why that would be a problem" She smiles softly.
"Good"
She giggles slightly and leaves my table heading over to the kitchen window, handing my order over to the chef, as well as telling him her own, before I watch her make two banana milkshakes.
She makes her way back over to my table placing the drinks down and sitting opposite me, placing the straw between her lips and sucking softly.
"You ordered my favourite drink from here" She grins up at me.
"Is that so? I haven't had a milkshake in forever, I normally always order strawberry, but something told me to go with banana" I grin back.
"Harmony always chooses strawberry, she's obsessed with them, almost as much as bacon, but I am such a banana girl, I swear I could live off of them" She chuckles lightly.
"Well I guess I'll have to order strawberry next time so that I can compare the two"
"Banana will win all the way, obviously"
“Says you” I laugh
"Well I'm always right, I'm just letting you know now" She smirks.
"We'll see about that" I bring the straw to my lips and take a sip, closing my eyes as the flavour hits me, okay she is right, this is really good, hands down the best milkshake I have ever tasted.
"Told you it was good" She still has that smirk on her face as I open my eyes.
"Pfftt it's not that good" I downplay it.
"You're such a liar" She laughs.
"Maybe a little" I say sheepishly.
"Chlo, your orders are ready" The guy behind the counter calls.
"I'll be right back" She smiles at me sliding out from the table, I can’t help but watch her back as she walks away from me, I quickly avert my gaze as she turns around.
"So how has your day been at work?" She asks me as she places our food on the table and sits back down.
"Rather busy, I still have a few things I need to finish, but my boss is sending me on an errand once I have finished here, so once I've completed that, I'm free to go, and then finish what I have to do tomorrow" I have no idea why I just explained all of
that to her, but why not right?
"Sounds good to me, at least you don't have to work late" She smiles softly.
"Yeah my boss isn't one for overworking his employees, he either makes them leave earlier or on the exact time they're supposed to" I say.
"So what time would you normally finish?"
"Most days it's 5:30pm, sometimes he'll kick me out before then" I chuckle.
"I wish I got kicked out before then" She rolls her eyes softly.
"What hours do you do?" I ask.
"Nine til three, I drop Harmony off at nursery, then I come straight here, Diana picks her up for me and brings her here, then she starts her three hour shift because she only works part time"
"Well sounds like you two have the routine down" I chuckle softly.
"Yeah you could say that, it's just natural for the two of us now" She shrugs softly.
"It must be good, to have someone like her in your life who is willing to do those things for you" "Oh yeah, honestly if it weren't for Diana, I don't know where I would be in my life right now, I'd probably be a mess"
"I'm sure you would've been just fine on your own" I tell her with a small smile.
I believe it wholeheartedly, she comes across as a very strong and independent woman, if she had to, she could have somehow managed to do it all on her own, but it's good that she has someone else to help her out, so she doesn't have to deal with as much stress as she wou
ld have had to.
"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Chloe speaks up after a moment of silence.
"Go ahead" I nod.
"Yesterday, when you said to Harmony that you don't like boys, does that mean that you are" She trails off letting her words hang in the air waiting for me to finish it for her.
"Gay?" I ask in response, knowing that was what she meant.
"Yeah" A small tint of pink appearing on her cheeks. "I am yes" I nod and watch as she ponders this information.
"Is that a problem?" I quirk my eyebrow.
"Oh no, no god no, of course not, I mean I'm not exactly straight" Now this peaks my interest. "You're not?" I arch my brow.
"Well I mean I have a daughter, so I'm not going to say I'm gay" She chuckles softly and I can't help but smile.
"But I've had a girlfriend before, back before Jacob happened, after him I realised I prefer girls a lot more" She admits.
I can't help but let a small chuckle slip past my lips when she says that.
"Women are always better" I wink and watch the blush on her cheeks grow darker.
Two points for Danielle, let's see if we can go for a third.
"At this moment in time, I think I might have to agree" The way she is looking at me when she says that, causes a blush to creep up onto my cheeks, one to Chloe, two for me.
I duck my head down and bite my bottom lip before bringing my sandwich to my mouth and biting down, so I don't have to say anything in response to that. I can see a small smirk playing on her lips from the reaction she got out of me, she knew what she was doing, sneaky.
"So you know practically everything about my family, well you know we don't talk, but what about yours?" "We still talk, they live here too, not too far away actually, my brother Chris has three kids, two twin boys and a little girl, who is going to be one next month and Taylor is doing her first year at uni" I tell her and she nods along.
"Does that make you the middle child?" Chloe asks. "It does yeah" I nod.
"What about your parents?"
"My mum is a middle school teacher and my dad owns a small hardware store"
Falling For You Page 3
