Page 7 of Fated to Them

“So good, Maya. You did a great job,” I tell her, popping the rest of the cookie into my mouth. It’s a little chewy, and the center isn’t quite cooked all the way through, but she’s made it, so I don’t care.

Maya beams up at me, and I return her smile.

“You really think so?” she asks.

“The best cookies ever,” I tell her, pinching her nose as she runs off happily toward the living room, where I can hear her favorite cartoon playing on the TV.

“What happened?” my mother asks, looking at me. Her light-blue eyes intensely stare at me, a worried expression gracing her aging face.

My mother used to be gorgeous and always looked younger than her age, but since losing my father and the stress of my sister, she has aged terribly. Her once clear porcelain skin is no longer vibrant, now gray, and she has lines etched on her face.

“Nothing really. I have been moved. I am now working for the two owners who are a nightmare to work for.”

“So, you got promoted?” she asks excitedly, trying to figure out why this is a bad thing.

“Yes, but no, I don’t know. It was a punishment, I think. But the hours are hectic. They need me to start at 7AM,” I tell her.

She huffs, seeing the dilemma. “Okay, we will figure it out. We can’t afford for you to get fired right now. We’ll just have to enroll Maya in before-school care.”

Great, another bill to pay for. Though it sounds convenient. They will drop her to school for us, but then I still have the problem of after school. My mother doesn’t finish work till an hour after she finishes school, so Maya usually waits with me at work till I leave.

“What about after school?”

“After school?” she asks, her eyes snapping back to mine, and I nod.

“I won’t be finished till 7PM.”

She groans, gripping her hair, trying to come up with a solution. “Just drop her to me at the surgery, and we will work something out. Have you heard from her?”

I shake my head. I haven’t heard a single word from my sister since she bailed from the rehab clinic my mother and I painstakingly got her into using every bit of our savings.

“I wonder where she is,” my mother mutters to herself.

I can hear the sadness in her voice, the worry for her child. My sister has been a constant worry for her. She has for me, too, but it is what it is, and now we just have to deal with it. I look away, not wanting to see her break. If she cries, I cry, and both of us crying means neither of us is fit to deal with Maya. The last thing we need is for Maya to start asking questions we don’t have the answers for. She doesn’t need adult stress; she is just a child.

Chapter Five

Adeline

The next week goes by in a blur of rushing around, trying to adjust to the new schedule my mother and I have come up with. Life has been hectic, although they haven’t actually called outside office hours. I dread the time they will, knowing it’s going to be a juggling act for me.

Walking into the office, I turn the phones over and flick on the AC, getting ready for the day. For the most part, they stay in their offices, and the only time I see them is when they need me to file something or print, or just give me random annoying tasks.

They usually start at 8AM, which after speaking to Bella, she says is strange because, for the most part, they handle a lot of the company’s business from their homes.

Apparently, the last secretary spent most of her time in the office by herself, but I have seen them every day since I started working under them, and they’ve never missed a day. Cyrus, though, I can tell, doesn’t like being here; it has only been a week working under them, and I have discovered he has quite the temper.

“Adeline,” I hear Eli call out from his office.

My entire body tenses as I get up from my seat. My heels click on the tiled floor, and I smooth out my skirt the best I can before opening the door.

Eli raises an eyebrow at me, and I realize I have forgotten to knock.

Seriously? He calls me in here, but I still need to knock? I roll my eyes and shut the door knocking on it before breathing out, annoyed and waiting for him to answer.

“Come in,” he says.

I walk in, and his arms are folded over his chest as he stares at me with an annoyed look on his face.