Girl in a Hoodie: Where the Future Lies

Chapter 41

Not proofread, sorry.

James's POV:

When I go down the stairs on Sunday, dressed in my usual black dress suit I take to work with me, I see Riley stood by the counters, cooking a sauce in a pan for the pasta she was making for herself and Ellie had been placed on the baby mat on the floor, smiling to herself. I chuckle and walk over to the middle of the living room, going to my knees as I smile at my daughter, taking in the upwards tug on each corner of her lips, something I never thought I'd see this early in life. She coughs a little as I gently sit up properly which causes Riley to turn around, but when I look up at her, she smiles back at the two of us.

"Father-daughter quality time, huh?" she smirks before going back to facing the stove to focus on what she was cooking. 

I laugh a little, rubbing Ellie's back to sober her as I reset her pillow arrangements where they had separated due to her vast head movements. I fix it and then lie her down again, carefully removing my hands from the back of her head and then I get back up, not forgetting to plant a soft kiss on her forehead. 

As I reach Riley by walking through the kitchen, I wrap my arms around her waist from behind, resting my chin on top of her shoulder and look at what she was cooking, although I have no idea what the ingredients she was using were as I didn't take Food and Nutrition at school, but she did.

"You still need to teach me how to cook you know," I chuckle, kissing her cheek. I could see her roll her eyes as she grabs the nearest ingredient to her and raises it shaking her hand slightly to indicate what she was about to say. 

"It's just herbs and spices. You use the tomato purée first and chop a few onions then add it, maybe some garlic but that's optional, and then to make the flavour you just sprinkle some of this on it," she instructs before turning around in my arms. She smirks at the look on my face and pecks my lips softly, then walks around me to get a wooden spoon from out of one of the drawers.

"Okay, but are you sure you don't want to come with me tonight?" I ask her, leaning against the counter. She  turns to face me and raises an eyebrow before hitting me with a classic line of sarcasm,

"You mean am I sure I don't want to ruin your work dinner by bringing along an eleven day old baby with me who I'll need to breast feed at least once every two hours and not feel awkward by being swarmed with a bunch of questions? No, Jay, I'm not sure, why don't you give me a while to rethink that?" She rolls her eyes and then grabs the bowl of pasta from the side before pouring it into the pan and stirring it with the spoon.

"I love it when your sarcastic," I grin, elbows resting on the top of the counter surface which she somehow instantly realises and swats my arm.

"I know, now move your arm before you get your blazer soaked in food oil," she scolds me. I do as she says and step back, grabbing my car keys from out of the drawer. "And I might go to my dad's later," she tells me slowly. "I was a bit harsh to him at the hospital and I think I owe him an apology."

"He's come out of rehab?"

"Yeah, I got an email about it earlier from Felicity," she says, citing our social worker which causes an awful distaste to enter my mouth. She smirks. "I also think he should get to see Ellie properly, instead of getting a quick view of her from a distance in a hospital room."

"Fair enough. What time will you go?" 

"When I finish eating so probably around..." She glances up at the clock on the wall by the TV, reading the fact that it was almost six in the evening and then tuts her teeth in thought before answering, "six-thirty. Hopefully I should be home around seven-thirty but I'll let you know if anything changes."