Lost love

Chapter 3

At lunchtime Mrs Adams had made an effort to call Meredith's mother to ask her to bring her lunch box to school but as expected she never showed up. Sue felt sorry for the little girl, it was obvious that her mother wasn't completely in the picture as she spoke to her.

"Hi this is Dr Grey's phone. Who's calling?" A male voice answered, it was obviously not Ellis.

"This is Mrs Adams, I'm Meredith's teacher. Is Dr Grey available?"

"Uh- no, no she's not." The voice sounded skittish.

"Please. Meredith has forgotten her lunch box and has no food for the day." She sighed.

"I'm sorry." The voice said before the call ended. Looking back down at Meredith's home information on the computer screen, she dialled the next number who she assumed to be her father.

"Mr Grey?"

"Yes. Who is this?"

"This is Mrs Adams, Meredith's teacher-" before she could finish he cut her off.

"What's she done now." He replied angrily.

"No, no, she hasn't done anything wrong it's just that she has forgotten her lunch for today. I was wondering if you are available to bring it in for her, I know she has a nut allergy."

"Listen, Meredith is responsible for making sure she has everything for school and if she's forgotten her lunch then she's gonna learn how it feels to go hungry so she doesn't do it again. Is that all?"

"I- well..." she turned to look at the young girl playing by herself and sighed, "yes."

After the call ended she had decided that she would take Meredith to get some lunch outside of school, she had been made aware of her severe nut allergy on her file which meant that she wasn't able to eat a school lunch in case of a reaction. She headed into the next classroom to ask the teacher to watch her class also.

"Poor thing, I'll watch them don't worry." She smiled as Mrs Adams went to grab Meredith.

"Hey Mer, do you want to go and get some lunch?" She asked looking down at her perfectly in line colouring.

"Daddy brought my lunch box?" Her face light up.

"No, he didn't, but we can go to the store and get some?" She smiled holding her hand out.

Meredith nodded and grabbed her hand as they signed out at the office, her teacher explaining what was happening to the head teacher who agreed for her to let take Meredith for lunch. She buckled herself into the car, smiling when she heard the music playing which was something she never got in her parents car. Arriving shortly at the store, Mrs Adams helped her out of the car, holding her hand carefully as they crossed the parking lot.

"Okay Mer, what do we want for lunch?"

"Um, can I have a chicken sandwich with tomato's and lettuce please."

"You sure can, any snacks? Do you want some water?" She asked, her hand on Meredith's small shoulder.

"Can I? And yes please." She nodded.

"Of course you can. Go pick something out."

Mrs Adams watched the small girl walk over to the snacks, she was very polite and she could tell that Meredith felt bad about her having to buy her lunch. She watched her reach for a small bag of salted pretzels and a 300ml bottle of water, looking at the price cards where the items sat on the shelf as she did. She knew that Meredith was trying to not be expensive and it made her sad.

"Kathleen?" She heard and spun around.

"Hey mom! What are you doing here?" She asked as she gave her mom a hug.

"Just doing some shopping with Derek and Amelia, their school is closed today for training." She said looking back at the two children teasing each other in the aisle. "Who's this?" She asked as Meredith stood behind her daughters leg.

"This is Meredith, we're out getting some lunch." She smiled, "Mer, this is my mommy."

"Hi." She said shyly.

"Hello, I'm Carolyn. Your hair bow is very pretty." Carolyn smiled at the petite girl who clearly trusted her daughter.

"Thank you, Mrs Adams did it for me." She looked up at her teacher.

It wasn't long before two young children were also stood in front of her. She recognised the girl almost instantly and she did too.

"Hey! You live by our house!" Amelia said looking between her mom and Meredith. "You should come play with us sometime."

"Maybe she doesn't want to play with you Amelia." A boy teased her, he didn't look that much older than her, maybe about 2 years.

"Shut up Derek. Ignore him, he's my stupid brother." Amelia told Meredith who giggled.

"Okay guys me and Mer have to head back to school now. And you too, be good for mom." Mrs Adams said narrowing her eyes playfully at her younger siblings.

They quickly said their goodbyes and turned around to go pay for their lunch, she heard her little sister say something to her mom.

"That's the girl from the window mommy."

She made a mental note of it and to ask her mom what she meant by it when she saw her next.

"Thank you for my lunch Mrs Adams." Meredith hugged her as the school day was over and everyone was going home.

"Your very welcome Meredith. Have a good evening." She smiled as she held the small girl close to her.

She couldn't help but feel a connection with the small girl, she worried that she had no one in her corner, especially after hearing her fathers words about letting her go hungry. It definitely raises some red flags for her, but she decided to leave it telling herself that she was overreacting. After all, Meredith would have told someone if things were happening at home & there were no marks visible on her to tell anyone otherwise.