the love club; wilbur soot

three

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the knock on the door almost brought journey out of her nap. george quickly shushed her back into her relax state before getting up to grab the door.

"hey, she's sleeping right now." he informed as he opened the door to his sister, who seemed pretty obviously exhausted.

"thank you again for watching her today." she came in and immediately collapsed onto the couch, letting out a long sigh.

"whats wrong, beatrice?" george asked as he stepped over to his fridge to get his sister a glass of water.

beatrice could always rely on her brother to know when something was wrong and then genuinely care about it.

"i'm worried my sessions just aren't enough to have all of the bills paid. i'm thinking about beginning piano lessons again like i used to in high school. i just don't know where to find the time for it."

beatrice worked as a therapist. since she was a young child, she was always so passionate about being able to offer help. her practice was pointed in the direction of offering psychological help to children. she was also passionate about music. her parents placed her in piano lessons when she was only 5 years old and ended up being the teacher a few years later after really perfecting her gifting.

"let me help you. i've been telling you that i want to and that i can." george looked at his sister very sadly as he sat on the couch with her.

this was true. george had offered his help in many ways. as soon as beatrice had given birth, he offered up his home, in the case she needed more help with her daughter or if she could use the financial help. since then there had been numerous times that george had wanted to help with bills, or groceries, or even taking the two on a weekend vacation to get away from everything. but the only help that beatrice has ever accepted is the babysitting, which only came after her daycare she used doubled their prices to the point that she could no longer afford to use them.

"i don't know george," beatrice glanced at her daughter, watching her chest rise and fall as she deeply slept. "he said i couldn't do it on my own. i don't want him to be right."

george didn't push much more. he knew that his sister's weak point was when she felt as though she needed to prove journey's father wrong.

"mommy?" journey groggily called out.

"hi baby," beatrice squatted down next to her daughter napping on the couch. "did you and uncle george have a good day?"

the little girl nodded and sat up in an attempt to help wake herself up as her mother combed through her curls with her fingers.

"we had so much fun. we made a music video and got to sing and dance and jump." journey said as she recalled the events of the day, making her uncle nervous, seeing as he had not told beatrice yet.

"oh wow, that sounds so fun," beatrice brushed it off, amusing what she assumed to be a game of pretend that had occurred. "we should probably get going. we have to run by the store before we get home. journey, will you go get your bag and toys together?"

j jumped up to go get her things together as george said his goodbyes with his sister.

"seriously, please consider letting me help you guys out. you're my sister and if i have the resources to help you out then i want to."

"i'll think about it." beatrice unsurely said as she wrapped her arms around her brother's torso, knowing she did not want to accept help.

"journey please stop grabbing things you aren't supposed to. i just have a few more things and then we can leave." beatrice exhaled.

journey stomped her feet as she went to place back the cereal she had grabbed off of the shelf. her patience was running very thin as she walked around the grocery store with her mother and she was beginning to get short tempered.

"can we go?" journey whined.

"please stop asking me. we are about to leave." and just as journey's patience was running thin, so was her mother's.

beatrice looked over her shopping list, double checking and hoping she had picked up everything she needed to. while the piece of paper in her hands had her attention, journey began wondering down the aisle. she could hear someone whistling and it got her attention.

she turned to walk down the next aisle and saw a tall figure that she immediately recognized.

"j? what are you doing here? is your uncle here?" wilbur asked as soon as he saw the little girl standing by herself.

"no, i'm here with mommy." she pointed to the shelf, indicating that she was on the next aisle.

"well lets go back to her. we can't walk away from our parents in the store." he quickly grabbed his shopping basket and journey's hand and walked her to the next aisle.

wilbur immediately made the connection that the woman standing in the aisle was journey's mother due to her resemblance both to her daughter and to george. she had her hair pulled out of her face in a claw clip, so you could see her focused expression.

"excuse me, um- you're her mother, correct?" wilbur said as he approached her.

"oh my goodness, yes. journey you cannot run from mommy like that. i didn't even realize, i-"

"no, don't worry. she was gone no more than a minute. i actually know her- well kind of, that sounded creepy. i am friends with your brother. you are george's sister, right?" wilbur said awkwardly, not knowing the proper way to introduce himself.

"mommy, this is wiwbur." journey whispered, unable to properly pronounce her L's.

"yes, sorry. i'm wilbur." he quickly stuck out his hand.

beatrice somewhat hesitantly stuck out her hand.

"i am beatrice. i'm sorry, how did you recognize my daughter?" the puzzle pieces were not fitting together properly in her mind.

"oh, i just saw her today. george brought her to a video shoot that he helped me with and she came and watched us."

"right, well, um- it was great meeting you. thanks again for bringing her back and not like kidnapping her or anything. come on, journey."

beatrice quickly grabbed her daughter's hand and led her to the nearest check out register. she stayed silent, trying to gather her thoughts until she had journey in her carseat and all of her groceries placed in her car.

"hello?" george answered the phone after a few rings.

"what the hell, george?"