Thanks To You!

‘Yes! Yes!’ I said jogging into the lounge room.

Mum looked up at me and tilted her head, giving me a curious look.

‘I got the job!’ I said, sitting down on the couch next to her.

‘Oh, congratulations baby! I am so proud of you.’ Mum said, leaning into me, putting her arm over my shoulder. She squeezed me a little before kidding my cheek.

‘Once you get the money, you’ll be moving out?’ She questioned, moving away a bit.

‘I mean, I guess. I think it would be best for Melody and I. We’ve been under your support for too long and I love you and everything but mum, I think we need to move on.’ I said, looking to her. Her eyes softened and a tear rolled down her cheek.

‘Sweetie, of course, I completely understand. I love you so much and you know what, I am so glad that you aren’t leaving on bad terms anymore. I don’t think I could have that again, and never see my little grand-daughter again.’ She said, wiping the tears away.

‘Grandma, why are you crying?’ Melody said. We looked to the hallway to see a little girl staring at us with her little teddy in her hand. She rubbed her eyes with her other hand, she slowly walked over to me and climbed onto my lap.

‘Grandma is a little sad because we may be moving soon.’ I said pulling her closer to me.

‘Where are we going?’ She asked.

‘We may be moving closer to your school.’ I replied.

‘School?’ She questioned again

‘Yes sweetie, you start in about three weeks. Remember when Jack came over and we danced in the kitchen?’ I asked and she nodded her head. ‘Well, we enrolled you in school.’

‘I’m going to big girl school.’ she said, jumping up on my lap, so she was looking at me.
I nodded my head and she smiled at me. She laid back into my chest and wrapped my arms around her.

‘So when do you start?’ Mum asked.

‘Tomorrow actually.’ I replied.

‘Oh, well its early to bed for you and before you ask, yes I will look after Melody.’ She said pinching my cheek before she got up and started walking away.

I watched as she walked off shouting a good night to me and my little baby girl. I looked down to my baby and saw her that she was asleep. I slowly picked her up and we walked to our room where I put her on the bed. I crawled into the bed before I pulled the blanket we had over Melody. I kissed her head before I closed my eyes and went to sleep.

The next morning, I was up at 5 o’clock quickly turning my alarm off so I don’t wake up Melody. I gathered all my belongings for the day. I went to the bathroom and quickly had a shower. I was ready to go by 6:30 and it was a 40 minutes’ drive to the city. I started at 8 so I had some time to kill once I got there.

The drive was long and cold but once I got to the city, I found the office and parked my car in the place where my name was. I smiled forward, admiring my name on a sign hung on the wall. I got out and walked away from the office, looking for a little coffee shop where I could grab a coffee before I went into my new job.

I walked and admired that buildings which surrounded me. They made me feel so small and to be honest, I am pretty tall. I saw a little sign which lead me down an alleyway. The vibe of this way was actually calming.

Once I walked around the corner, there was an open area where seats and lights hanging above from the trees. The shop was just a wooden little shack but the coffee smelt amazing. I ordered a coffee before sitting down and waiting for my name to be called and I could walk back to the office.

I grabbed my coffee before heading out and heading back towards the office. I was at the door when I heard my name being called from behind me. I turned my head and saw Zack walking up to the door also. I waited for him to approach while I held open the door.

‘Thank you.’ Zack said walking in. I nodded my head and followed, allowing the door to close behind me.

‘So, are you nervous?’ He questioned.

‘Yeah. I am. I have to meet my supervisor in room 604’ I replied.

‘Oh, I know that office a bit too well. I was heading up there anyway so I’ll show you the way.’ Zack said, indicating for me to follow him.

We were stood in front of the elevators when I actually noticed what Zack was wearing. He was dressed neatly, suit and a nice, thin black tie. He held a briefcase and a coffee in the other hand.

The ding of the elevator made me shake my head, as I walked into it. The music they played in the elevator was awful, like all elevator music.

We reached the 6th floor and walked towards the left of the building. Room 606 was the room on the corner. Zack placed two, simple knocks on the door before we heard someone call out. He entered and I slowly followed, worried of who I was going to see.

‘Morning Jack.’ Zack said. Jack spun around in his chair and placed his arms on the desk as he leaned forward, smirk across his face.

‘Hey Zack. Alex.’ He said as he saw us walk in.

‘You are my supervisor?’ I questioned as I stood near the door.

‘Yeah, well, I didn’t purposely do it, there was a couple new people starting and I just happened to have you as my student.’ Jack replied.

‘Well, I better get going, I need to go meet my student in my office. See you around Alex. Jack.’ Zack said, finishing off with a nod.

We watched as Zack walked out the door, he closed the door and jack looked at me and laughed.

‘What?’ I asked as I looked at him.

‘We said we would never see each other again but here we are, working together. Fate wants us together.’ Jack said, smirking as he pointed to the seat. ‘Take a seat my friend.’

‘Alright, now. Serious business. I have a few forms in which you need to sign, then we can start with the tour.’ Jack said, as he sat up straight and pulled out some papers out from his pile of papers. He put them in front of me and explained.

‘Now, this is your contract, saying that you will receive your pay in monthly payments as you requested, you will receive holidays around Christmas time so you can spend time with Melody, I uh, had that one put in there for you. Um, yeah, sign here.’ Jack said as he handed me a pen and pointed to the line.

I grabbed the pen and signed my name before looking to him. He smiled and pulled out the other pieces of paper, these were just privacy papers. Once they were signed, Jack filed them away in his cabinet. I got up and walked over to the glass window he had in his room.

‘It’s wonderful isn’t?’ He said as he stood next to me.

‘You can see the entire city from here.’ I said.

‘Yeah, I mean, I don’t even know how I got it. I mean, I am the boss of the company now…’ He said, as if it wasn’t a big thing.

‘So you did purposely chose me over other people. You did have a choice.’ I said turning to him.

‘Well… I guess I did but I just wanted to spend as much time with you as I can, Vic doesn’t particularly like me hanging out with you.’ He said.

‘You shouldn’t be going behind Vic’s back; you have no idea what he’ll do.’ I said.

‘It’s worth it. Huummm, well anyway, let’s get on with the tour.’ Jack said before walking to the door. I watched as he walked to the door and opened it. He faced me and his eyes drew me to him.

I walked out the door and followed Jack when I could. We walked past Zack’s office before walking to the elevators. We hopped in and stood in silence.

‘So, what is my job?’ I asked.

‘Well, I don’t want you to get the wrong idea or anything but I needed an assistant.’ He replied.

‘That is perfectly fine with me. I just really needed a job. For melody.’ I replied.

‘And that was one of the things I saw when I met up with you again.’ He said.

‘And is that why I didn’t have an interview?’ I questioned.

‘Uh, yeah, about that… sorry.’ Jack replied, smile on his face. I couldn’t help but smile back and look away as I could feel myself blushing.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. As Jack walked out, he said ‘I missed that colour on your cheeks.’ I stood for a second later before getting my thoughts and walking out the elevator to see Jack heading for the main entrance doors.

‘So, do you know any good coffee stops?’ Jack asked when I caught up to him.

‘Actually, I do.’ I said as I walked a little fast so Jack had to follow me.

We reached the alleyway and Jack looked at me with a frown. I grabbed his hand and pulled him down the way before we turned the corner. I looked up to him and his eyes weren’t looking at the hidden garden, he was looking down at our hands.

My hands were linked with his like they used to when we were 16. He pulled it away and smiled to me before his eyes reached the area.

‘I have been walking past this for nearly 4 years. How did I not know?’ He said.

‘Sometimes the beauty is hidden in the darkest ways. You need to get through that darkness before you realize the beauty.’ I said.

Notes