Stella and Annabelle

Stella and the text message

As Stella was trying to explain for the fifth time where and how she wanted the flowers arranged to her assistant she felt her phone buzz. Shit she thought, what now? But when she glanced down at her phone it was a number she didn't recognize. As she read the message Stella felt her face blushing.

"Mummy, can we have sushi for dinner?" Oscar was reaching for one of the platters of food, fuck!
"Don't touch that! I didn't think you like sushi? Anyway no, we'll sort something out at home, ok pumpkin? Let's go. Say bye to Sarah,"
"Bye bye Seh-wah,"
"See you later buddy!" Stella's assistant replied to the three year old.
"You sure you've got this?" Stella asked, trying not to sound too concerned Sarah would screw things up.
"Yes! Go! I got this!"

Stella was leaving Sarah in charge for the evening. It was just an anniversary party for a couple in their 60s but it was the first time Stella had left Sarah to run things on her own. By day Stella worked as a business consultant and in her spare time she also ran a catering and party planning business which was her true passion. But after having Oscar she knew she couldn't do it all herself and hired Sarah as her assistant. While Sarah was perfectly capable Stella struggled with relinquishing any sort of control.

After getting home, organizing dinner, giving Oscar a bath and finally getting him down to sleep Stella had a moment to herself to think. Right, better check on Sarah. She opened her phone and saw the message from earlier still open. Ok, she thought, I can do this first.

Hi, yes I would like that. Can you do tomorrow at 12:30? Say cafe Amour?
Stella x

Almost immediately her phone buzzed.

Sounds good. Bring cutie is you want 😉
...

Unfortunately he's busy (daycare). But if you're still keen to get coffee with just me I'll see you then 🙂
...

Looking forward to it x

Stella placed her phone down and let her mind wander with thoughts of rainbow socks, she hasn't even told me her name. She was clearly a bit younger than Stella but probably (hopefully) not too much. She wondered what she did for a living, her sense of style was much edgier than Stella's. Stella wondered what kind of industries you can get away with having such an alternative look these days.

Stella woke at 6 am in a panic. She had forgotten to message Sarah last night to check how things had gone. She took not hearing from her as a good sign but thought she'd give her a call a bit later in the morning, just to be sure.