"Drop-off"

I can hear whispers coming from the kitchen. Little light giggles too. Eleanor and Madz must have gotten up and started breakfast. I use the bathroom and wash my hands.

Heading out the door I'm greeted by Shortcake and Eleanor. "Good morning sleepy head!" Eleanor yells and Shortcake jumps out of her arms. "Whoops. I didn't mean to scare her."

"Its okay." I replied. "Everything is still new to her so we are all learning right now." I hug Eleanor and go to pick up Shortcake. "Good morning Shortcake. Did you sleep well with your new friend?"

I get a meow and a snuggle from my cat and I place her back into Eleanor's arms. "This time we have to use a gentle voice okay." Shortcake seems to be okay with this so I walk over to find Madz cooking an omelet.

"Good morning to you too Madz." I snuggle behind him. "Thank you for cooking. What time does Eleanor have to be at school?" Madz places the spatula down and turns to me.

"She has to be there by 8:30. So we have an hour before we need to head out. Will you be coming with us to drop off?" I nod my head yes. I haven't taken her to school yet. I'd like to see where she goes.

"Okay sounds good. You two ladies get ready to eat. Eleanor, you need to go wash your hands. I'll have your plate ready at the table for you." Eleanor runs off into the bathroom yelling.

"Okay uncle Madz!" He just shakes his head at her.

"She will learn. Shortcake will get used to it as well. Eleanor comes back with dripping hands and Madz tosses her a hand towel. It flops right on her head and she giggles.

"Uncle Madz, be careful." She dries her hands off and sets the towel down on the table. Climbing into the seat and digging into her food.

"What are you learning in school Eleanor? Anything fun?" I loved school when I was her age. It was away from my mom when my dad was at work and I liked my teacher.

"Well, My teacher read us a book about green eggs and ham and then she brought in the food for us to eat. It was green Nova! It was so gross looking." I laugh at her.

"Well did it taste good?" She nods.

"Yeah, it was good but it was still scary to eat it at first but I can trust my teacher." That's good. I'm glad she likes her teacher. I know some kids don't really connect to them right away.

"Okay you two. Let's get our food in our tummies so we can get ready for school. I still need to do your hair Eleanor." I look over at Madz. He can do her hair?

Eleanor has curly hair like mine but a little less frizzy. If he can do her hair I wonder if he could do mine. My hair takes so much work in the morning. Some days I wish I could just toss it up.

We finish up our food in silence and Madz gets to work cleaning up the mess. He just pushes me away. "It's your day off. You go sit down." Knowing I wont win this battle I listen.

Madz finishes up the kitchen and calls over to Eleanor. "Come here pipsqueak. How do you want your hair?" She seems to think about that for a moment.

"Can I have a Rapunzel braid? Just one?" Of course she would pick that hair style. Let's see how Madz works with this one. Madz grabs some hair detangler and sprays it on.

After letting it sit for a minute he combs through her hair and parts the sections. Bit by bit he is braiding her hair and he makes me smile. He's so gentle with her. Always moving the comb slowly through her hair.

Taking her sections of hair and braiding it he does a perfect job. Eleanor just babbles away about her friends at school. Once Madz is done he pats her head.

"Alright then. We're all done. Lets pack your lunch and get ready to go huh." Madz walks into the kitchen and pulls out ingredients to make a Nutella and banana sandwich.

I start packing up carrots, ranch and cutting up an apple for her. Working together we finished really quick. Madz tosses it all in her Tangled lunch box. Should have known that one. It even matches her backpack.

"Okay Eleanor. Are you ready to go to school?" She kisses Shortcake on the nose and sets her down.

"I guess so. I don't really want to leave the kitten but I can come visit anytime right?" Madz looks over at me.

"Of course Eleanor. You are welcome anytime to visit. And can sleepover on my days off if your grandma doesn't mind." We will have to speak to Georgia about it but I'm sure she wont mind at all.

"Alright ladies, let's pack it into the truck. Let's go. Let's go." Madz starts rushing us out the door and both Eleanor and I laugh at him walking as slow as we can.

As we are walking down the steps Eleanor slips her hand into mine. She looks up at me with a gentle smile. "I hope you have a good day too Nova."

"Thank you sweetheart." We walk to the back of the store and Madz locks up behind us. I pick Eleanor up and place her into her car seat. She's light weight so It wasn't a struggle for me.

"Okay ladies, let's get to school before we are late." Madz checks my work on the car seat and kisses Eleanor on the head. He then comes to buckle me in and kisses my temple.

He jumped into his truck and were off to the school drop off line. On our way over Georgia sent me a text. 'Everything go okay last night? Are you guys on your way to school yet?'

I replied to her text. 'Everything was perfect. We are pulling into the parking lot now. Thanks for letting her over.' I get a heart reaction to my text and I place my phone in the cup holder.

Once we were in line Madz and I both wished Eleanor a good day. We are next up in line and Eleanor unbuckles her car seat and grabs her bags. "I love you guys. See you later."

The teacher helping with the car riders helps her out of the truck and waves us off. "Bye guys. Have a good day." She says. Well that was some morning.

"Do you want to come into work with me today for a little bit? I could use some help with that paperwork. Maybe a little extra help as well." Madz winks over at me and we pull away.

Shaking my head at his antics. "Yes, I'd love to help. I told you I'd help and that's what I'll do." We start heading towards his shop when I think about last night. It took him awhile at the grocery store.

"Everything okay? Looks like you are thinking awfully hard over there." I smile.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I was just thinking. It took you longer than normal at the grocery store last night. Was everything okay? I didn't want to ask while Eleanor was around."

"Well, everything was okay but I ran into this weird lady. Apparently she was asking about me to the store clerk and I've never seen her before. I thought she was you at first."

That makes me look over at him. We pull into the shop's parking lot and Madz puts his truck in park. "I went up to her and called your name and when she turned around. I knew she wasn't you but she had your same hair color and was the same height."

That gives me a cold chill and I look over at Madz. "She started hitting on me and told me her name. She said it was something like Melissa I think?" I stop from unbuckling my seat belt.

"You said she looked like me? Did she have a beauty mark on her face?" Madz looks over at me with concern.

"I think so. It was above her lip." No. It can't be. She can't have found me. I didn't even tell her where I was. How could she have found me that quick? My breathing gets a little more rough.

"Nova, Darlin'. What's wrong? What's happening?" I try to speak but nothing comes out. I try again and I mumble.

"That was my m-mom. I don't know how she found me Madz. I never told her where I was or where I was going. I even bought a burner phone just so I know she couldn't track me." Madz unbuckles my seat belt and pulls me into his lap.

"Its going to be okay. Can you tell me why its so bad that she found you? Has she hurt you?" She has but not in the same way he's probably thinking. It was always with words and empty threats.

"No, not really. She would just say things or threaten me. She's been texting me and I've been ignoring her. I forgot she sent me a text the other day." Madz hugs me and combs through my hair.

"Its going to be okay. I had one of my men look into the cameras last night. We'll see what we're dealing with later okay. Don't worry." I nod and lean my head onto his chest.

This is so overwhelming and I cant believe she is really here. I know she wants money but I don't have any. I don't know why she wont believe me.

"Let's go inside and settle down, okay? I love you Nova. Everything is going to be okay." Madz pulls us out of the truck and hand in hand we walk into the shop. I get some hellos from people I haven't met before and I send them a light smile.

Everything was just starting to become so perfect. I don't want my mother to come in and ruin it with her hatred. Everything she touches crumbles into pieces and I can't let that happen to me again. I wont let it.

Hello readers 👋🏻

Serious moment here!

Can anyone guess what today is?

It's an annual thing.

No?



I wanted to pop in and thank everyone for the sweet comments, the votes and the reads. You all rock! ❤️