Finding Her Joy

First Encounter

I had just sat down at my desk when Roger called. He was angry about something to do with Reece, as usual. I was so tired of having this same fight with him over and over again. Did he really have nothing else to occupy his time?

"Mia!" He practically screamed through the phone," You need to get a handle on him! I don't care what you have to do, but you need to do something and you need to do it now!"

I rolled my eyes as I listened to him go on about the problems Reece was causing just by talking to his sister again. "Roger. I don't know what you expect me to do. I do not have the same hold on him as I did before. You know this." I replied, he could sense the irritation and lack of interest in my voice. I could tell by the way he snapped back at me.

"Listen to me, Mia. If you don't do something soon, you can kiss the details on your father's whereabouts goodbye. And I'll handle this myself."

"Is that a threat, Roger?" I knew the things he'd done to Reecey in the past. That's one of the many reasons why I decided to take his deal. I knew anything I did to Reece wouldn't be half as bad as what his father would do to him.

"It's a promise. If you can't get him back where I want him, then I'm going to be taking it into my own hands. We know what will happen if it comes to that." I could feel his anger through the phone. I knew it wasn't going to be good if he got involved like this.

"Fine!" I yelled at him," I'll figure something out! But you'd better give me the information I need in return. I'm sick of this game, Roger." With that, I hung up the phone. I practically threw it out of frustration. I rubbed my temple and decided I needed to get out of the room for a few minutes.

I took a walk down the corridor to try and clear my mind, but it wasn't working. I was fuming, still trying to figure out what I was going to do. I needed a way to blow off some steam. As I continued walking, I came to the classroom Charlotte was in. She was doing circle time with her group, how cute. I looked around at the children and saw one of them was sitting on a chair instead of with the rest of the group on the floor.

I knew I shouldn't have, but I walked into the classroom to talk to Charlotte about it. "Why is that child on a chair for circle time instead of on the floor?" I asked, trying to hide my anger from my previous conversation.

Charlotte looked up at me, "Oh. Hi Mia. He has an injury. His mum told me this morning, it's in the accident book. It's just so he can be more comfortable." This is the perfect.

"Why does he need to be more comfortable? This is not a resort. He can sit on the floor like everyone else." I snapped back at her. Why was I picking a fight with her of all people? I should've walked into a different room.

She looks concerned for the child as I tell him he needs to sit on the floor. "No. Stay there, you're okay," she says to him. She looks over at me and tries to explain again, "He can not sit on the floor because it hurts him. He's fine on the chair, really."

"He was playing outside earlier just fine. He can sit on the floor and stop being a princess." If only my anger wasn't being redirected at this child and Charlotte. "If he's going to be a diva, then he's going to be written up." I walk out of the room and go fill out the form to put in his tray. I can hear Charlotte still trying to tell me not to do it on my way out, but I was so irritated I wasn't listening.

Later that evening, as I was getting ready to lock up some papers in the office, I saw a child's mother coming towards me. I figured it was the one from earlier. The divas mum. She'd very clearly seen the write-up and was coming to argue about it. Just what I needed after the day I'd had trying to figure out what I was going to do about Reecey.

The parent storms in, "Are you the one who wrote up my son?" She asks. I was waiting to go off on a parent all day.

"Mostly likely. Was he the princess who refused to sit on the floor?" I replied with a smirk on my face, hoping it would irritate her more. She then decided to tell me that he had a groin injury and he was hurt, blah blah blah. I cut her off, "You know if you continue to treat him like a spoiled little brat, that's exactly how he's going to turn out."

She was visibly angry now. "If I treat you like a nasty evil witch, then that might actually give an improvement to your attitude."

"Oh no," I said, mocking her, "did the truth strike a nerve about your little brat?" I smiled as I finished my sentence. I knew this was going to be good, but I didn't expect her to punch me in my nose and then rush out.

If you're going to hit somebody, at least stay for the aftermath. That's half the fun.

I heard her grab her child and leave as I grabbed some tissues for my nose.

That was Charlotte's last kid to leave as the other parents had come in to collect while the mum was in the office with me. I went around checking all the rooms. Just making sure no kids were left, all rooms were tidy, and windows locked. It was just me and Charlotte in the building. The other staff members had all gone to their cars and off home. I had this strange feeling in the pit of my stomach as we went to walk out together. I'd just assumed it had something to do with the fact I had been punched in the face not too long ago. At least I was lucky enough for the bruising not to show just yet.

"How's your nose?" Charlotte asked as she watched me lock the door. I looked over at her. She was trying to hide her genuine concern. She was definitely too nice not to check on a person just because they're seen as mean. Although with me, she already knew I wasn't the best person in the world.

"It's fine. Nothing seriously broken, just a little bit of damage." I said to her, trying to figure out what was going to happen next.

She fiddles with her wedding ring on her finger and fixes her hair behind her ear. "That's good. You should probably ice it when you get home...so the bruising doesn't get worse...um bye." She rushes off to her car, getting in quickly to avoid any awkwardness that might have come up. She was probably concerned someone would see her talking to me and assume the worst. That's fine by me because at least she talked to me.

I catch myself smiling. She was concerned about me. Nobody has ever been concerned before. Besides Reece, but that was a long time ago. It was strange to see her body language change towards me when she knew I'd been hurt. Granted, I did cause the whole thing, but that wasn't important. I did hear her scoff after the parent left. That was an acceptable reaction to have, but she still checked on me, and that is what had me confused. 

As I walked to my car and got in, I found myself thinking about her. She was messing with her ring, and she didn't rush off until she'd checked on me. Didn't she want to hurry home to her husband or children? Maybe I was just overthinking things. I started my car and drove home, trying to solidify my plan to get Reecey back on a short leash so Roger would get off my back. It wasn't going to be easy, but it was being made harder by thoughts of Charlotte popping into my mind. What a sweetheart.