"My little girl"

Chapter 1

"Bagel sandwich again?" My daughter complained as soon as she stepped into the kitchen and saw me finishing packing up her lunch for school.

"What's wrong with them? I thought you liked it."

"I used to, but now they are just blah."

"Blah?" I looked at her with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah. Why do I have to take lunch from home anyway? I could buy food at school you know?"

"Kiera, I'm not giving you money to buy food at school."

"Why not.?" She whined, "Everybody does! Everybody at school gets money for lunch, but me."

"Well, I'm very sorry if anybody but you have a mother who wants to make sure her kids have a decent meal."

"Ugh! You suck!" She screamed before stomping out of the kitchen.

I watched her until she was out of sight and then leaned on the counter and massaged my temple. I missed the days when she was little and would cry her heart out every time I'd leave her sight. Now it's like she has a problem with everything I do.

"Mommy, mommy! How do I look?" My younger son, Brandon, asked anxiously as he ran into the kitchen, stopping right in front of me.

I moved my hand from my temple and folded it under my chin as I calmly examined him.

"You look very handsome baby." I said smiling.

"And look." He walked closer to me and offered me his neck to sniff.

"You smell good. You actually smell just like your father. Are you wearing his cologne?"

"Yeah, he said I can borrow."

"Hmm. and can I know why you are embellishing yourself so much for school?"

"Nothing," He shrugged, but didn't look at me. He didn't know how to lie to me yet. And I was very thankful for that. When he finally looked up, he couldn't hold it anymore ". there's this girl at my class. She's new. I kind of like her."

"You like her?" I asked trying not to laugh at that. "Baby you're 7 and you already have a girlfriend at school?"

"She's not my girlfriend." He corrected me, singing out the sentence.

"Well, but you want her to be, don't you?"

"No, I just like her." He shrugged again and I could swear I saw him blush this time.

"Okay Don Juan. Go get your things and your sister. We need to leave now or you'll be late for school."

"Okay." He quickly ran out of the kitchen and I yelled after him to slow down.

It took us our usual 15 minutes to be in the car and on our way to school. Sometimes it takes us longer to leave the house than to actually get to our destination. When I parked the car, Kiera immediately opened the passenger door and got out, quickly joining her friends at the sidewalk that were waiting for her, without bothering to give me a goodbye. I no longer wasted my time trying to stop her. You reach a point when you have so many things to worry about that you don't have much patience for the small ones. I gave Brandon a kiss before handing him over to his teacher and going back to the car to go back home. My day was just starting, and I would be lucky if I had enough time to check half of the things off my to-do list.

***

"Hello?" I said to the mailman standing at my porch as I dried my hands on a dishcloth.

"Mr. Shawn Carter." He read out loud from his paper sheet.