[ON HOLD] Mrs. Hart (Collaboration Story with @rac06h10ael)

Chapter One

Cleo's POV

I woke up to baby cries through a baby monitor. That had to be my ten month old daughter, Evelyn. This wasn't new, this was a daily basis: wake up to baby cries at five in the morning, get her ready for the day and dropped off at my parents, and then off to work I go. Sometimes, my roommate, Alyssa helps out, but, she was almost always on tour with her clients since she was an agent for Island Records.

I moan as I roll myself out of bed, rubbing my face groggily as I stumble over to the bedroom door. I pull it open and the crying becomes even louder, making me want to stay in my room.

If only the father would be able to help me out. Being a single mother at the age of twenty-five is fucking horrible.

I trudge across the hallway and push in the door to the room across from mine, the one Evelyn's father and I turned into a nursery when we found out I was pregnant. He was there right up until she was born. The minute he had to take on the responsibility of taking care of someone that wasn't him, he flaked out on me.

What an ass.

I approach the crib and look down at my daughter, resting my arms on the side and heaving a sigh. "I don't even know why I have an alarm clock anymore," I say - mostly to myself - before reaching down and picking her up in my arms. The second I begin to bounce on my feet and rock side to side, Evelyn's crying calms down and she rests her head on my shoulder, sniffling every now and then as she tries to regulate her breathing, snot dripping from her small nose and onto my shirt.

I roll my eyes and look at the clock hanging on the wall. Fuck! It's 5:38, which meant that I had less than an hour and a half to leave the house. I had to drop Eve at my parents house at a quarter to seven, and then somehow get to work by seven. My parents lived a half hour away in Winnetka.

"Okay, Evie, you and I are going to doing everything really fast this morning, okay?" I say as I look down at her, seeing she's fallen back asleep. I sigh and walk out of the nursery, going out into the living room where I lay her carefully down in her playpen.

I then go to the kitchen and start making some French toast. As I wait to flip over the pieces of toast, my cell phone that's plugged in and was charging overnight begins to go off. I glance over at it and see that it's Alyssa. I gasp in surprise and rush over to it, answering it as quickly as possible.

"Hey! Haven't heard from you in a while. What's up?"

"We need to talk," She responds, a serious tone to her voice.

"Okay, okay. What's going on?"

"I can't tell you right now, but are you off today or do you have to go to work?"

"I have to go in at seven. Why?"

"Shit...um, when's your lunch?"

"I'm leaving at five to pick up Evie. But lunch is at one."

"Great. Let's meet up then and I'll tell you everything." Before I can object, she hangs up on me and I pull the phone away from my ear. I stare at the screen in confusion.

"Damn it, Alyssa. I love you like a sister but you can be so vague sometimes," I murmur to myself, shaking my head. I then realize that the French toast is almost burned. "Shit!" I exclaim quietly, using the spatula to pick up the French toast and landing it on my plate.

****

I head out at one for my lunch and check my phone, seeing the text that Alyssa had sent me, giving me the address of the restaurant she wants to meet up at.

"Where you headed to?" I look up from the LED screen and see one of my coworkers, Asher, standing in front of me.

I blush in embarrassment and he reaches in front of me and clocks out as well. "I was just headed out to lunch. I'm meeting up with one of my friends."