Back With the Boss

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

“There’s an early bird discount on fresh fruit and vegetables.”

“A what?” Samantha Parker was understandably confused. Why was a daycare center offering her discounts? And since when did fruit and vegetables become so damned expensive that they’d need a discount?

“Little Ella is now old enough to be eating fresh fruit and vegetables. We’ve moved beyond the simple food groups.”

“Right. Sure. She’s a four-year-old. Haven’t I paid my monthly dues?”

“Yes, Ms. Parker. But next month’s dues will be cheaper if you take the early bird discount for fruits and vegetables.”

The relentless grin on this frumpy woman at the desk was beginning to grate on Samantha. It wasn’t as if she had any choice about what Ella ate. Not eating fruit and vegetables was obviously out of the question. She just wished they could have held off trying to get in her wallet for a few more weeks. She needed new work pants because she’d put on a couple of pounds. The frumpy woman kept smiling at her; she may as well have been holding out an empty hand for Samantha to fill.

Samantha put on her best smile, dug her wallet out of her purse, and handed over the cash. Before she put it back in her purse, she looked forlornly where her money had been and imagined a half-sketched cartoon moth skittering out. That was her week’s cash taken away. But not paying for the discount seemed silly, so the wallet was duly emptied. Literally emptied.

Samantha walked out of the daycare center in a foul mood. When she reached the nearest metro station, she found that her metro card was also empty. Screaming a string of profanities, she tore it up and threw it in the face of the man in the queue behind her. The man, who was probably used to random acts of commuter anger and guilty of them himself at times, maintained a diplomatic smile. She considered apologizing, then didn’t.

Samantha had to yank the large, blue sports bag back on her shoulder, as it was beginning to slip. Zipping up her patterned, pink cardigan and accepting the bite of the outside wind whistling through her yoga pants, Samantha determined to walk all the way to the monstrous, seemingly infinite tower of the Phillips Corp building. This was a company big enough that, if she was late and pissed off the clientele, she would likely lose her job at Blue Bank Inc., the massage company she worked for.

There were times when Samantha missed her husband. Right now, she mostly missed his car and his willingness to drive her around. Ted’s restaurant business had meant he’d had a more flexible work schedule than she. Samantha had not left Ted; Ted had always been as faithful as a little dog. She had never had a reason to. After six years of a steady if stale marriage, Samantha lost both Ted and the car.

Following the news of his car accident, Samantha discovered that Ted had been in a mountain of debt. Samantha was forced to declare bankruptcy, which meant that the restaurant business was given to creditors along with the apartment Samantha spent years gradually improving to make her perfect home. Samantha had to move back in with her parents then, in her mid-thirties of all times, when that ship was supposed to have sailed a long time ago. Samantha had always hated her father, which made it all worse. He provided food and shelter and had never been physically abusive in any way, but he was fond of adding a healthy portion of meanness and aggression to the list of things he provided.

“Well, you shouldn’t have married that i***t in the first place,” was his favorite phrase, which took him about two months after Ted’s death to start saying. Samantha had to put up with the man until the seemingly-ever-receding finish line of I have enough money was reached, though, regardless of how she felt about him.

Most people said their parents were a perfect balance; like yin and yang, they complemented each other perfectly. Samantha just knew her mom was an exact contrast to her dad. She never complained and was always sweet.

“Take your time Samantha. You know our home is yours. You can stay as long as you want,” her mom always said, always accompanied by a hug. Sometimes, the hug would last a few seconds, though it could extend to several minutes on occasions when Samantha would burst into tears. Her mom would hold her comforting her when that happened, as long as she needed it.

There was Ella, too. Ella was Samantha’s lodestar, the most important thing in the universe, and was the single reason Samantha kept getting out of bed every morning. Ella was full of energy and imagination. Ella had a great relationship with Samantha’s mom and dad, too. They loved her and absolutely doted on her, including her grumpy dad, which she found a bit odd. Ella called him gramps, and he didn’t mind at all.

Sometimes Samantha wondered if Ella was really only four. The child seemed to understand everything—that daddy wasn’t around anymore, that mommy had to work extra sometimes, and that mommy was single now. She had even asked Samantha if she was going to get a new daddy one day. Samantha had no idea how to answer that.

Samantha had been on very few dates after Ted. She was careful not to bring different people into her daughter’s life, and she was also yet to find someone that intrigued her. Samantha was more concerned about her work and getting more jobs. It was ideal for her to stay with her parents at this stage, though she would move to her own apartment the very next day if she could. Running a business was tough, taking care of Ella was tough, and having to stay under her parent’s roof was tough, but she was thankful she had them to watch over Ella when business got busy.