raising madison ava

five

|sammy|

Finally it's Monday. 9am to be exact.

Nate will be watching Madison the days I'm at work, which I'm getting my schedule today.

Sharron dropped off a red button up shirt that had the diner's name in the top left corner and told me I had to wear black pants (jeans are acceptable) and black sneakers.

Clearly, I chose to wear my all black Nikes cuz I'm a real OG.

I style my hair in its usual form, put on some cologne and go out into the living room.

I pick Madison up from her play pen and say, "Now you be a good girl for Uncle Nate whike daddy is at work okay? I'll promise I'll be home as soon as I can." I kiss her little forehead.

God I haven't been separated from this kid for the past 2 weeks. I don't wanna leave.

"Okay give me the kid. I know you're thinking about how much you'll moss her." Nate says as he motions for me to hand Madison to him.

I give her one last kiss and say, "See you later. Thanks for watching her bro."

"No problem. Now go before you're late." He laughs as I head out the door.

-

"9:30. Right on time." Sharron says when I walk in the diner and I smile. "Aribella is going to be kind of like your trainer today since she will be waitressing as well. I'll give you your schedule during your lunch break." I nod as she explains. "

Aribella appears behind her with her cute little smile as I smile back.

She's shorter now that she's wearing sneakers instead of heels.

"You'll be waiting on the same tables at the same time, that way you'll understand how it's done." Sharron explains to Ari and I. "Illll let you two get to work."

And with that, Sharron walked off.

"Hey Aribella." I smile down at her.

"I told you to call me Ari." She giggles a little.

"I know but I like the name Aribella." I chuckle.

"Ugh fine. You can call me that, but only because you seem like a nice guy." She jokes.

She's so adorable.

"We have section 5 from now until our lunch break. That's those few tables right there." She points to a few tables in the back dining hall. "Oh and our lunch break starts at 12 and ends at 12:30. Usually the waiters and waitresses eat here cuz it's free for us." She laughs and I join her.

"Do all the waiters and waitresses have the same lunch break?" I ask.

"No. Me and you do because Sharron told me we look 'compatible' together and she wants us to get to know eachother better."

"She said that?" I laugh and she joins.

"Yep."

Sharron is a genius and I love her.

-

Ari and I have been waiting on tables for a while and it's finally our lunch break.

We had little conversations here and there while we weren't serving costumers.

I now know that she is 18 years old, has two younger sisters that are 2 and 3 years old, she got this job to help pay for her family, and she likes whatever music is catchy, just like me.

I also told her a little bit about me and Madison too.

"What do you want for lunch?" I ask her. "Are we gonna get something from here?"

"Well I'm kinda in the mood for McDonald's. You down?" She asks.

"Yeah let's go. We can take my car?" I state, more as a question.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to waste your gas." She says concerned.

"It's fine." I laugh. "Let's go."

I open the passenger door for her and she smiles, "What a gentleman."

"Anything for a beautiful girl like yourself." I respond and she blushes.

I jog over to the drivers side and hop in and drive down the road to McDonald's.

We ordered and took a seat inside.

"You know, you should come over sometime and meet Madison. I think she'll like you." I smile before taking a bite of my burger.

"I would like that." she blushes a little.

"Now of course, I would need your number that way I can text you and tell you what time is good to stop by." I say confidently.

"Using your kid to pick me up. Good one Wilkinson. give me your phone." she giggles.

God I love that giggle.

"How did you know my last name." I laugh, ignoring her cheeky comment, handing her my phone and watch her as she puts her number in.

"Sharron told me course." She laughs and hands me my phone back. "I already texted myself that way I can save your number later." She informs me and I nod.

"It's almost 12:30. We should get back. I don't want to mess up on my first day. That would look awful." I over exaggerate for a little affect and I earn a cute little giggle fron Aribella.

"You know, that giggle of yours is really cute." I compliment her confidently as we walk out to my car, even though I'm the inside, I have so many butterflies and my stomach is doing so many flips I feel like I'm going to burst.

As I open the door for her and she hops in, she covers her face with her hands and whines an elongated, "Stop." Which made her so much more cuter.

It's like she's this cute, innocent girl that's shy around me.

-

It was 6 o'clock. Time for me to go home to see my baby girl.

When Aribella and I got back from lunch, Sharron gave me my schedule;

Sunday: on call
Monday: 9am-6pm
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: 3pm-7pm
Thurday: 12pm-4pm
Friday: off
Saturday: off

She made the schedule around me being a single father and all, which I am very thankful for. But she 'just so happened' to give Aribella a new schedule - the same exact on as mine.

Me and Aribella had a good laugh about that.

"Bye Aribella. Thank you for training me today. I'll be sure to give you that text on our day off so you can meet Madsion." I emphasize the word our and laugh as she joins me.

"I'll be waiting." She giggles. "See you tomorrow."

"Bye." I lean in and give her a peck on the cheek and walk out and I notice her blushing.

Wait. Did I just kiss her on the cheek?

I never kiss any girl on the cheek.

I'm not good at the whole relationship thing, which is why I became a major fuckboy.

I mean I blame my fuckboy syndrome on a past girlfriend who fucked me over, but that's a story for another time.

I think I'm falling for Aribella.

I just hope I don't fuck it up, and I hope she doesn't fuck me over if anything romantic does happen between us.

I need to stop thinking about this and focus on seeing my baby girl when I get home. All this over thinking is giving me a headache.