Love or Money

The Piranha

Reece opened the door to his new home. He couldn't believe he actually came back. But he had finally had enough. Enough of Mia and her cruising for a third every weekend. Enough of staying out at the bar until 2 AM every night. Enough of not seeing the one person who used to be his best friend. He was pushing 40. He couldn't keep living his life this way. So he told Mia they were through, for real this time. He needed a clean break to show he was serious about starting over. To say she didn't take it well would be an understatement. It's fine. He needed a new car anyway.

Autumn was never far from his mind. Even during the years they were apart his thoughts always wandered to her. Where was she? Was she safe? Was she happy? She felt like the only family he had left and he didn't want to spend another day in their stupid fight. He let Mia get between them. It was the biggest regret of his life. He had to make this right.

He had never wanted to come crawling back to his father but when he found out Aut was working at the nursery he knew the only way to get her to return his calls was if they were colleagues. And if she was back in their father's grasp, Reece knew he needed to be there again to protect her. That would always be his job. He had to keep her safe.

And besides, Nursery life didn't sound all that bad. His sister couldn't stop going on about all the friends she had there. Autumn didn't take kindly to people often and her using the word "friend" was even more rare. Something about them had to be special.

"Though if they were friends with her could they really be that great?," he laughed to himself.

There was one staff member, though, that he was the most intrigued to meet. Through all the stories of Charlotte and Winter one name always managed to stick with him. Marjorie. According to Aut she was fiercely protective of the staff and willing to work with anyone, as was evident by the fact his sister kept her job for more than a month. There was not a single conversation over family dinner that didn't include Marjorie's name. He had to see just what kind of person could have earned Aut's admiration.

The next day he got ready to head to work. He was meant to be meeting his father and Siobhan at the sister nursery, but he wanted to stop into Aut's nursery first. He didn't know if anyone had told her he was coming. He assumed she didn't know since he hadn't gotten a ranting text from her telling him to stay away.

His heart sank as he turned the corner into the office. He immediately spotted Mia's calling card. The dead flowers. But this time they were not sent to Autumn, they were sent to Marjorie. Why would Mia even think to drag her into this? She was basically a stranger. He couldn't show his confusion though. As always he had to take the credit.

"Hello Marjorie. I see you got my flowers. Sorry about the dead ones, I've always liked them better that way."

At that moment Reece finally locked eyes with her. He couldn't believe what was before him. He didn't know much about her before. She was not at all what he imagined. She was so much more. His heart seemed to stop as he looked at the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen. He'd never felt like this before. It caught him completely off guard as he was sure he would have felt love before. He was with Mia for 20 years for god sake. But this was different. It was as if any dream he'd ever had of his future had come true all at once. A life with someone he couldn't live without. And here she was, looking at him like she'd seen a ghost. Was she...scared of him? He had to change her mind.

He tried to pull himself together, realizing he was having too many feelings too fast. They had just met and she didn't even ask him his name. With that thought he gave a quick greeting to Autumn. "Little Sis." His words shocked Marjorie. Obviously Autumn had not shared that detail about the new manager with her. And he headed out to start the journey to the Sister Nursery.