In another life

13

(Mia's pov)
In my thirty eight years on this earth I never thought I would be standing in a playground waiting. I mean, I never thought I'd ever have kids so. It's not that I don't want kids, but I've never had the chance to really think about it. There was a point in my life I wanted to be with Reece and have our own family, far away from the life we were born into. We were going to make our own life, somewhere safe and happy. Things didn't exactly turn out that way.

I always knew that Reece wanted children, but he was terrified of turning out like his father. Even now he's so good with kids though and I do hope he gets his happy ending. Having kids with Reece now wouldn't be right. Yes, as teenagers it's what we planned eventually but that's before everything happened. After prom night our relationship changed completely. It was built on lies and betrayal and hurt. We were only really using each other, but it was familiar. I suppose we just got used to that.

"Mia!" I'm brought out of my thoughts when I feel arms hug around my waist,
"Hi sweetheart" I see that most of her classmates are now coming out of the door with the teacher letting them go one by one. Thankfully there was no issue picking her up as I told her teacher this morning that I would when I dropped her off.

"How was your day sweetheart?"
"It was good" we walk back over to my car and I help her with the seatbelt. I still have her car seat in my car from this morning.

"Daisy and Hadley fell out today" she tells me, "Daisy was playing with Ben at playtime but Ben is Hadley's boyfriend!" Wow, okay. These kids have drama!
"Oh no"
"But now Hadley wants Tyler to be her boyfriend"
"Why are you girls even thinking about boyfriends? How old are you?"
"Er Mia I'm six. You come to my party silly!"
"I know! Do you have a boyfriend?" She smiles but doesn't say anything
"Elsie?"
"Promise not to tell mummy?"
"Alright"
"My boyfriend is Joshua but he isn't in my class. He is in year 2"
"He's in the older year?!"
"Yeah but don't tell my mummy" I can tell why she doesn't want Char to know if he's in the older class. Kids don't even need boyfriends and girlfriends, it's kind of sad how fast they all want to grow up.

I know how that feels. Being younger and just wanting to grow up, I grew up far too fast and all I want to do is go back. To be an actual child.

Char's girls are lucky. They have the most incredible mum watching out for them. And the way she works with Jason still is amazing, her only concern is keeping those girls happy and safe. I think everyone could do with a Charlotte. She's probably the best thing that's happened to me in years. And I'm about to loose her.

I didn't expect this to go this far. I didn't even expect her to know my name let alone picking up her children from school. But now I do, now I know her for her, she's not that bad. In fact she's amazing. She's so sweet and has the kindest heart. She's beautiful. She's everything I never knew I wanted. But I do want her. And I'll never have her. And that hurts. What hurts even more is that maybe, I would have had the smallest chance. But once she knows the truth, it'll never happen.

I know eventually she'll find out. Sooner rather than later now Roger has dragged me back. It's too late now. I know this is my fault and I shouldn't have let it get this far, but I want to spend every last moment I have with her. I know it's selfish and bitchy and I'm a terrible person. I'm such an idiot. I think I might love her.

...

(Char's pov)
The doorbell rings and when I open it I see Carly?
"Hey Carly, what's up?"
"Hey Char. I just got off work and I had to talk to you! Is this a bad time?" She asks,
"No, no, come in. Izzy is a little ill though"
"Yeah Marjorie mentioned that. But I wasn't at her nursery today anyway, I was with Reece"
"Okay" we sit down in the kitchen,
"Okay, I have so much drama. So, this week I'm working at Reece's nursery and I found out the drama with Autumn and Reece" I nod for her to continue and she's smiling brightly. This girl loves knowing all the gossip.

"So, when Autumn was younger she thought this really popular guy asked her to prom, but when she opened the door it was Reece stood there holding dead flowers"
"Oh my gosh that's horrible"
"So that's why Autumn hates Reece. But then she found out it wasn't Reece at all, it was actually the guys older brother who wanted to go out with her. But he was like in his 20s"
"That's disgusting Autumn was a child" she nods, "Carly? Should we really be talking about this?"
"Oh it's fine! So Reece beat up this guy and his girlfriend at the time saw it all. Then she started blackmailing Reece with it because he didn't want to go to jail and leave Autumn but he didn't want to be with her either"
"So she blackmailed him into staying with her?"
"Yep. And any time that they broke up, she would send Autumn dead flowers to remind Reece that she can control him. And Autumn just thought it was from Reece" wow. I feel awful for Reece and Autumn,
"How long has this been going on?"
"Until Reece started here. He said he was done with her for good and got the job here to get closer to Autumn, but you'll never guess what Roger did"
"What?"
"He hired Reece's psycho ex!"
"What?!"
"Yep. As the new deputy manager so Reece now has to work with her everyday"
"Oh my god" that's crazy. Now Reece has to work with his ex girlfriend who seems crazy? Wow I do feel bad for him.
"Have you met this woman?"
"Not yet but I will most likely tomorrow, I'm at the sister nursery all week so"
"Well tell me how it goes, alright?"
"Of course" my phone pings and I read the message from Mia. She offered to pick Elsie up from school so I didn't have to leave or take Izzy out,
'Hey sweetheart, got Elsie and coming back now xx'