Chapter Four
Only two weeks into the new routine and Eliza was ready to collapse from exhaustion. The extra hours she spent driving to and from Haven Hollow ate into what little sleep she normally got and left her scrambling to adjust. The additional gas and higher expense of the daycare weren’t helping her stress levels either. However, the change was worth the added burden. Audrey was flourishing in the positive environment, so happy with the new arrangement that she didn’t even cry when Eliza dropped her off in the mornings. When Eliza picked her up in the evenings, she was all smiles and snuggles. The peace of mind she gained knowing her child was in good hands while she worked was priceless.
If only work was going so well, then she’d have it made. Unfortunately, her job sucked as much as ever. More so on days like today, when every customer who came through her line seemed to be crabby and in a rush. Her coworkers for the day were a pimply boy she’d never seen before who looked young enough to still be in high school, and Wilbur, a gruff older man who’d been with the store since dinosaurs roamed the earth. The kid seemed nice enough and appeared to like her, if the number of times she’d caught him staring at her chest was any indication. Wilbur, on the other hand, didn’t like anyone. He came in, did his job with brisk efficiency, and went home. To put the cherry on the sundae of her day, Harlon was the manager on duty and he’d stopped by her register every chance he’d gotten to make small talk. Needless to say, she was counting down the minutes until quitting time.
The minute the clock struck four and her line cleared, she turned off her register light and shut down her station. She carried her cash drawer into the office, counted down her money, and recorded her balances. Her drawer was off by ten cents, which sucked, but wasn’t the end of the world.
“All done,” she said, pushing the whole kit and caboodle across the desk to Harlon.
Harlon looked over the balance slip and nodded. “Looks good. Enjoy your weekend and we’ll see you first thing Monday morning.”
Relieved at the casual dismissal, she got up and hurried from the room. She clocked out in the hallway outside the office and headed into the bathroom to take care of business before the long drive to pick up Audrey.
On her way out, she overheard her name mentioned and paused in the hallway just outside Harlon’s office.
“Eliza gone for the day?” A deep voice asked.
It took her a moment to place the voice. Wilbur. The older man was scheduled to get off at four, the same as her, but he liked to take his time.
“Yes,” Harlon answered.
“It’s a real shame about that one,” Wilbur said. “She always seemed like a nice girl, if a little misguided.”
Eliza frowned, wondering what on earth he could be talking about.
“What do you mean?” Harlon asked.
“You haven’t heard? Well, the word on the street is that her kid is one of those hybrid freaks. Half human, half animal, or what-ever-the-hell the thing’s father happened to be.”
“You must be mistaken,” Harlon answered. “Eliza told me herself that her daughter is human.”
“Then she lied to you. My son’s wife goes to bingo with the woman who used to baby-sit the little mutant. Apparently the kid seemed perfectly normal until one day it just snapped and started flashing its eyes like something out of a science fiction movie. She said it even lunged at her and tried to bite her. Craziest shit I ever heard.”
Eliza stormed out of the building before she followed through on her urge to beat the ever-loving shit out of her coworker. Where did he get off calling her innocent daughter names? What kind of man did something like that?
People just sucked. More than ever before, she was beginning to see why some people became recluses. Avoiding humanity was starting to sound better every day. The thought of moving somewhere secluded was damn tempting. She didn’t want her daughter exposed to small-minded bigots like Wilbur. It was difficult enough dealing with it as an adult.
She fumed all the way to Haven Hollow, wondering how she was supposed to go back to work knowing she was surrounded by shifterphobic assholes. She really only had two options: find another position or suck it up.
By the time she reached her destination, she’d calmed down. Without the anger driving her, all she had left was worry and sadness. She strode through the community center, making a beeline toward the daycare.
When she entered, Trish smiled and rose from the desk to greet her. “Hey Eliza. How are you today?”
“I’m fine,” Eliza answered by rote. “How’re you?”
“Good. Audrey’s had a good day too. You can go on back and get her, if you want.”
“Okay. Thanks, Trish.” Eliza walked back to the infant room and entered quietly in case any of the little ones were napping. Upon entering, she spotted Abby sitting in the middle of the circular rug on the floor with two babies on play mats having tummy time and two more on their backs, swinging their little arms and legs at the activity gyms above them. Audrey was in Abby’s lap.
Abby nodded at Eliza. “Look who’s here, Audrey. There’s mommy.”
Eliza went down on her knees beside her girl. “Hello sweetheart. Want to come to mama?”
Abby handed Audrey over. “She’s had a great day. She ate like a champ and took two solid one hour naps.”
“That’s wonderful.” Eliza lifted Audrey up and kissed her chubby cheeks. “You’re such a good girl.”
Audrey babbled and grasped Eliza’s hair in one damp fist.
“I missed you so much.” She hugged her baby close to her heart. Just seeing Audrey’s sweet little face instantly lifted her mood. The insanity of her work day didn’t vanish from her mind, but it was overshadowed by her true purpose. Her job was something she did to pay the bills. Nothing more. Losing it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Audrey was her priority. The rest was irrelevant. She could figure out what to do as she went along, just as she had been since the day she’d aged out of the foster care system and realized she had absolutely no one to count on other than herself.
One of the other babies started to fuss. Abby leaned forward and picked the little one up, rocking the baby back and forth.
Eliza glanced over at her. “Thanks for today. I guess we’ll see you on Monday.”
Abby nodded. “I’ll be here. Have a good weekend.”
“You too.” Eliza climbed to her feet with Audrey in her arms. She walked over to the back counter, grabbed Audrey’s diaper bag, slung it over her shoulder along with her purse, and left the room. On the way out, she stopped by Trish’s desk to settle her balance for the week. She set both her bags on the chair and used her free hand to riffle through her purse for her wallet.
Trish came around the desk and held her arms out. “Let me hold that precious little girl while you do what you need to do.”
“All right.” Eliza kissed Aubrey’s head and handed her off to Trish. “Thanks. I swear women should be granted an extra set of hands when they give birth. I always need an extra one these days.”
Trish laughed. “You’re telling me. I raised three boys.”
“I can’t even imagine that. One is a handful.” Eliza pulled out her wallet, opened it up to her checkbook, and started writing one out.
“It gets easier after your first in some ways, harder in others.”
Eliza just nodded, unsure of what to say. There were no more babies on the horizon for her. It didn’t really matter that she’d always wanted a large family. She couldn’t handle more than one by herself. On her own, she could barely provide for Audrey and herself.
She tore off the check and held it out. “Trade you.”
Trish took the check and gave back Audrey. “Thanks. You know, Audrey’s adjusting great—she’s such a pleasure to have around—but how are you doing? You’ve seemed a little frazzled lately.”
“I’m all right. The commute is cutting into my sleep a little bit, but it’s no big deal.”
“Yeah, it’s a long drive back and forth from the city. Have you ever given any thought to relocating?”
“Some.” Before she could elaborate, the door opened and Carter waltzed into the room. She looked down and busied herself with putting away her wallet before she got caught staring. Again. Every time she’d bumped into him in the last couple of weeks, she felt like some kind of drooling cartoon character. Unlike her, the man never had the good grace to look tired or flustered. He was always calm and cool, and looked way too appealing to be fair. Every time she saw him she was struck by an intense wave of attraction and self-consciousness thanks to her unflattering work clothes and hastily styled hair. Just once she’d like to look her best when they ran into each other. Not that it really mattered. A man like him would never be interested in someone like her.
A grin spread across Carter’s handsome face. “Hey Eliza. How you doin’?”
“Good.” She bounced Audrey, uncomfortably nervous. “You?”
“I’m good too.” Their gazes connected and stuck.
She’d just bet he was good…at everything. Butterflies did the tango in her stomach as the moment stretched out between them. Realizing she was once again staring at him like some lovelorn teenager, she broke eye contact and looked down at the baby.
Trish cleared her throat. Eliza glanced over to find the older woman gazing back at her speculatively.
Embarrassment welled inside her. “Well, I should go.”
“Hang on a second,” Trish said. “What are you doing for the holiday?”
Eliza frowned. “Nothing. Why?”
“If you don’t have plans, you should come by the house. We have a little cookout every year to celebrate and we’d love to have you and Audrey over.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I really wouldn’t want to intrude on your family.”
“You wouldn’t be,” Carter insisted. “It’ll mostly be friends there. You should definitely come.”
“You’re both more than welcome,” Trish added. “I’d love it if you came. I think it would be a good chance for you to meet other people and get a feel for the area.”
Carter moved closer. “Are you thinking of moving here?”
“Oh, I um… Thinking about it is all I’m doing at the moment. I don’t know if it’s really possible for us right now.”
“You should come down tomorrow,” Carter repeated. “It would be nice to see you outside of the community center.”
There seemed to be more than friendly intentions behind his invitation, but that was probably only wishful thinking. “I guess we could come.”
“Here.” Trish held out a slip of paper. “This is our address. We usually start up the grill around 2, but feel free to come on over whenever you can.”
“Okay.” Eliza took the address, glanced at it, and stuck it in her pocket. “Thanks. Is there anything I can bring?”
“Just yourself.” Trish smiled. “We’ll have everything else under control.”
“All right.” She glanced back at Carter. “I guess I’ll see you there then.”
Carter nodded. “I’ll be there. If you need any help finding the place, just give a shout and I’ll come out and meet you somewhere.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m sure we’ll be fine. I have GPS on my phone.” Besides, it wasn’t like she had his phone number.
Trish’s gaze turned shrewd as it bounced back and forth between Carter and Eliza. The scrutiny made Eliza want to grab Audrey and run. Her crush on Carter must’ve been more obvious than she’d thought.
“Well, I need to run. I guess I’ll see you both tomorrow.” Eliza picked up her purse and diaper bag by the straps and moved to lift them over her shoulder.
“Give those here.” Carter held out a hand.
“Huh?”
“Your bags. Give them here and I’ll carry them out for you.”
“That’s all right. I can manage.”
“It’s no trouble.” He took the bags from her. “I’m on my way out too. I only swung by here to tell Mom I was leaving and see if she needed a lift home.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Trish said. “I drove this morning.”
“Okay then.” He turned his focus on Eliza. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” He turned to go and she followed him. At the door, she turned and looked back at Trish. “Thanks for the invitation.”
“You’re welcome, honey. You drive safe.”
With a wave, Eliza walked through the door and accompanied Carter down the hall and through the lobby. He pushed open the front door and held it for her. “Thanks,” she mumbled as she walked by him.
She led the way to her beat up car and went ahead and got Audrey situated in her car seat in the back. Once she was done, she closed the back door and turned to find Carter standing much closer than she’d expected. She gazed up at him, her stomach twisting into knots. “Thanks for carrying my bags.”
“No problem.” He handed her things over. “Listen, I know you might be nervous about coming out tomorrow, but I really do hope you’ll make it. I’d love the chance to get to know you a little better.”
She smiled up at him, pleased. “I’d like that.”