Loving Poppy (ON HOLD)

04. To New beginnings

04. "To New Beginnings."

Poppy

Harsh sunlight peeked through the sheer curtains of her room and touched her skin, making her groan. After a few minutes of trying to fall back asleep Poppy gave up and looked at the time on her alarm clock.

It read 9:45 am which made all the traces of sleep flow out of the window! She rushed out of the bed straight to the bathroom. Poppy raced with time and got ready within the next fifteen minutes for the very special day.

Today was her job interview, well not exactly interview, she was to meet the manager of a small restaurant where she had filled an application for job. The restaurant was well know in New York because of its location. Basically it was the restaurant department of the hotel.

Since Rebecca earned more than enough for both her and Lilly, Poppy never had to work before but now she was in New York and wanted to be independent. She wanted to know what it feels like to hold the hard earned money, even if it is from being a waitress in a restaurant.

She tied her hair into a neat French braid on the side and slipped on her ballerina flats before skipping out of the house into the harsh sunlight.

It was summer and the sun was in mood to burn everyone. But Poppy did not mind, the California girl liked sunlight, it reminded her of home. Hailing a cab she gave the address to the driver and he drove away to her destination.

Gathering all her courage she stepped into the big hotel building and went to the front desk to ask for the manager.

"He is in his office upstairs. I'll just ring him and then you can go inside." The lady on the reception said with a small smile and Poppy returned the gesture.

"Okay you can go now!"

"Thank you for your help!" She hurriedly replied and bounced up the stairs to reach the manager's office. She knocked on the wooden door and opened it once she heard 'come in'

The office was nice and big with a nice modern decor. The manager looked up from his computer and gestured for her to take a seat opposite him. Noticing her timid body language he offered her a friendly smile.

"Hello, you must be Miss Sanderson? And you applied for the waitress job, am I correct?" He asked. He tried to keep his tone friendly as to not frighten her more than she already was.

"Yes, you are correct. I saw a pamphlet for vacancy and applied two days ago."

"Okay then. Do you have past experiences in waitering?"

"No. Actually this is my first job."

"Very well then. You are hired Miss Sanderson, but let me tell you, the owner of the hotel who is also your boss's boss is not very friendly, you have to work hard and try not to mess up. He won't think before firing you. Okay?"

"Okay. I will try my best." She replied enthusiastically, happy to get her job.

"Lovely. You will be starting next Monday, which is four days from now and the other details will be mailed to you by the end of the day."

"Thank you so much! Have a nice day." Poppy said before skipping out of the room and out of the restaurant. The flier she had found said the salary will be $1000 per month, and Poppy was happy!

While she was lost in her own little world she crashed into something and fell flat on her butt making it throb.

She got up with help of the hand outstretched for her and apologised while rubbing her butt to lessen the pain.

"Poppy?" That made her eyes shoot open and snap to the tall man in front of her.

"Alessandro? What are you doing here?" She wanted to bite her tongue when she asked that.

"Oh just business, what about you? Roaming the streets on New York?" He asked amused.

"No. Just like that..um you know." She stuttered. She did not want to tell him about the waitress job she had taken just a few minutes ago, Poppy had nothing against the job but did not wanted to be judged by him. 

"Okay. Want to grab lunch with me? If you haven't eaten already, that is." He offered, he watched her eyes brighten at the mentioned of food and knew she was in, he mentally cooed at her adorableness.

"Yes! Sure! Where do you wanna go? I don't know many places here so you can choose!" She exclaimed and dragged the tall man behind her through the busy streets.

Originally he had come to inspect the work of one of his hotels but bumping into the girl who had occupied his attention for the past week made him change his plans instantly. He couldn't take her to his own hotel, so he decided to take her to a local diner.

They ordered and settled on the seats near the window.

"How have you been? Carla ask's about you." Poppy said and sipped on her OJ as they waited for the food.

"Busy as always. Business can't seem to give me a break. What about you Poppy? How are you?"

"Eh, just Living. I wanted to go around the around the city thought, I want to see everything!" She said happily with a big smile making Alessandro mentally fawn over her cute self.

"I can do that, I need a break from work and what's better than sight seeing with a friend?" He offered, Poppy thought about it while humming a random tune.

"Okay! We can go this weekend!" She exclaimed.

"Lovely. Now give me your phone, I'll give you my number." He said and save his number in her iPhone 8.

"Here. Give me a call whenever you want to go." He said. Although he was here only for business, he had visited enough to know every street and every tourist destination. He was going to be her personal tour guide, and he didn't mind it a bit.

"Will do." She giggled.

Soon the food arrived and both digged in to savour the taste of food with each others company.

Poppy decided she liked Alessandro's company, he was nice and wanted to be her friend. After lunch they bid each other goodbye, Sandro, as he insisted to be called, offered to drop her home but she politely declined saying she had some work to do before heading home.

As soon as Alessandro left Poppy hailed a cab to the nearest grocery/convenient store. She had a little shopping to do and since she was out, might as well do it.

*****

Placing the last bag on the kitchen counter Poppy huffed out a breath. She was exhausted to the point where she could just lay on the couch and sleep for days. It was already past five when she left the store and another half hour to reach home. It was dinner time.

Carla had called in earlier and explained that she had to leave early today due to her nephew's health issue. So Poppy was incharge of dinner, she rolled her shirt sleeve and started on her classic Mac and cheese.

It was the only thing she could prepare without burning the house. An hour later the food was prepared, table set and Poppy waited patiently for her mother and lilly to arrive. She wanted to tell them about the job she got today.

Another half an hour passed with no sign of her mother and Lilly. She checked her phone for any message from them but found none.

'Maybe mom is working late today?' Poppy thought. It was not unusual for Rebecca to work late, but she would leave a note or drop a message.

A few minutes later there was a loud knock on the door, which startled her. She slowly went to the front door and peeped through the small hole in the middle of the wooden door. It was Lilly.

Happily Poppy opened the door to let her in. However, she was not expecting Lilly to be dead drunk and with a random man on her arms. The man was about twenty years older than Lilly and did not seem like a good man. She felt embarrassed to be in front of him, he was checking her out shamelessly.

Poppy let out a gasp as Lilly shoved past her and trotted up the stairs in her tall red stilettos, the man right behind her.

"Lilly! Dinner is ready, do you-"

She was cut off by her sister who glared at her.

"You can take your dinner and go to hell! Don't bother me again, understood?!" She exclaimed loudly and the man dragged her back up, most probably to her room.

Poppy wanted to cry, she never understood why she was treated like this by her own sister. She did everything to please her mother and lilly, every time she was the one to compromise her happiness for the sake of her family, only to be disregarded in the end.

Wiping off the tear stains from her cheeks, Poppy ate her dinner in silence. She did not wait for her mother as she was clearly working late and lilly was just out of question.

She stored the left over Mac and cheese in the fridge and put a sticky note on the refrigerator door for her mother to eat before sleeping.

As Poppy retired for the day she could hear the faint sounds coming from her sister's room. Deciding not to think too much about it she let it go. Poppy changed into her purple silk pajama pants and shirt and prayed to God for a beautiful day and for the new beginning. She was thankful for the opportunities in life and her new friend. 

She hid below the thick covers to tune out the sounds from her sister's room and let sleep envelope her, sending her into a dream, where she was loved by her family as much as she loved them.