Divorced Love (Stauren) {Book 1}

Chapter 11

°•°Lauren's POV°•°

I used my left hand to wipe the few drops of sweat that were forming on my face while using my right hand to wipe the dirty tables at the small diner I worked at. It was nine o'clock on a Wednesday night, and at that point, I was exhausted. Practically every weekday, I worked from six in the morning to about nine thirty at night. Steven insisted that I stop working at the lousy diner because he made lots of money with his work, but I refused to let him handle all of the work for money himself.

By the time I was finished cleaning all of the tables, it was almost nine thirty, and practically everyone had already left. The only person still at the diner besides Bella and I was the head waitress who locked up every night.

I stole a glance at my daughter who was fast asleep with her head resting on the table. I always felt guilty about the fact that she had to wait at the diner with me until my shift was over. Bella used to have soccer practice after school, so she would always go there before. But, those soccer practices had ended a week before, so she had to stay with me.

After putting up all the cleaning supplies, I went to kneel down in front of Bella.

"Bella," I whispered, putting my hand on her shoulder to gently shake it. "Baby girl, it's time to go home." Bella then scrunched her face up and let out a small groan. "Come on, baby."

Finally, she opened her eyes and looked at me.

"Come on, let's go home," I said softly.

Once again, Bella groaned, for she didn't want to get up.

"Do you wanna go home and see daddy?" Bella nodded after I spoke and reached her arms out for me to carry her.

I smiled at how cute she was and lifted her up into my arms while going into the back to tell the head waitress that I was leaving.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Janice," I said, and she waved with a smile.

"Alright, tell your little girl I said hi when she wakes up," Janice said sweetly. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I gave her a small smile in return and began my long journey home.

•°•°•°•°•

It was around ten o'clock when Bella and I had arrived home, and Bella had slept practically the whole way. Steven wasn't home from work yet because he had a late meeting that night, but Bella insisted on waiting for him before she went to bed.

"Please, momma?" She begged while rubbing her eyes.

"Alright," I replied. "But you need to go get in your pajamas and brush your teeth." Bella nodded before slowly trudging up the stairs to get ready for bed.

I laid back on the living room couch with a sigh of relief, closing my eyes in the process. Everything began to run through my mind in that moment only to be interrupted moments later by the front door opening.

"Hey, Laur," Steven said while setting his stuff down by the door. "Sorry that I'm so late. The meeting went a little longer than expected."

"You're fine," I replied with a smile as he came to sit down on the couch next to me.

Steven leaned in for a quick kiss before asking, "Is Bella asleep?"

"Nope," I said. "She insisted on waiting for you, but she's getting ready for bed right now."

"So that gives us a couple of minutes." Steven had a smirk on his face as he leaned in once more to connect our lips. He was leaned over me slightly and I wrapped my arms around his neck to keep myself from falling back. 

"You know," I mumbled while pulling away from the kiss slightly. "I kinda like you in a suit and tie."

"You do?" He asked, the smirks on our faces growing bigger by the second.

I slowly ran one hand down his chest and gently gripped onto his black tie. "I really do." With that, I used the tie to pull him forward so that our lips were back together in a kiss.

"Daddy!" Bella squealed and suddenly came running over, causing Steven and I to quickly pull away.

"Hey, peanut!" Steven placed a kiss on Bella's cheek as she jumped up onto his lap. "How was your day?"

"Okay I guess," Bella responded. "I wish I could see you more during the day."

"Me too, peanut." Steven had a true smile on his face as he looked at Bella. "But you've got school, and I've got to go to work."

"But I miss you." Bella put on a sad face, which instantly made Steven crack.

He stood up while carrying Bella and held out a hand to help me up. "Well if you miss me so much, I guess you'll just have to come spend the night with your mom and I in our bed."

Bella let out a squeal of excitement and wiggled her way out of Steven's arms to run into Steven and I's bedroom. I felt Steven's arm wrap around my shoulder, and we began to follow Bella.

As soon as we entered the bedroom, Bella was already curled up in the middle of the bed, making me chuckle. Both Steven and I grabbed a pair of comfy clothes and quickly went into the bathroom to change.

"Hey," Steven whispered as we stood in the bathroom. I turned to face him, and his arms wrapped around my waist, making mine go around his neck. "I love you," he finished while pressing our foreheads together.

"I love you too, Steve," I replied and pecked him on the lips.

A couple of minutes later, the two of us went back into the bedroom and crawled into the bed on both sides of bed. Bella was practically asleep, so Steven quickly kissed both of our foreheads before settling down in bed. We both laid on our sides, facing each other with Bella between us and Stevens arms around us both.

There was no better feeling to me than having my family curled up next to me at night.

My family.

A/N
Thoughts on this chapter??

The beginning of this chapter is starting to set up the next main thing that happens, so there's a tiny bit of foreshadowing, and I decided to add a cute family part at the end :)