Finding Daddy [Book 1; Daddy Series]

2: Well, He's Cute

“Sorry we’re late!” I quickly mention as I walk into the girl and boy scouts meeting room.

“It’s no problem.” Kandi smiles as I walk in the room. I nod at her and set down Bentley and Brynlee’s books on a table in the middle of the room.

“Go ahead and play, kids.” I smile at them. I pull out a chair and sit down at the table and put my head in my hands. Groaning and rubbing my eyes I try to wake up slightly.

“Kandi, I’m going to walk to the store really quick, I’ll be right back.” I say grabbing a few dollars out of my purse and walking to the door. The warm air hits me as I walk down the stairs. Living in Australia is nice but not at the same time. I mean, almost all year it’s pretty warm so we are swimming a lot. The down side is, well it’s always hot! I find myself being dragged out of my thoughts as I step into the little shop. I head back to the energy drink section and quickly grab a medium sized Redbull then head to the cashier.

“That will be $3.50, please.” The guy says behind the counter, “and your number.” He quickly adds winking.

“I have two kids I don’t want another one.” I groan rolling my eyes at him, taking my change and Redbull and heading out the door. It’s not like I don’t want a boyfriend, I do, it’s just I don’t want these guys to come into Bentley and Brynlee’s life then when they decide they don’t want to be a father figure they leave. I’ve had it happen before, of course they were too young to remember any of them, but still. It was with a guy named Samuel. I really liked him and he was a great influence on the kids, until he left.

“Hey, now that your back, do you want to start the food drive thing?” Kandi asks as I walk into the building again. Today we’re going door to door to see if people have cans to donate and we’re also trying to sell Girl Scout cookies. 

“Let’s go.” I smile grabbing two bags full of Girl Scout cookies and taking them to the truck.

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“Just go up and knock, I’ll be right behind you.” I smile at them. They nod and walk up the steps to the white door; we were in a nicer part of the neighborhood so mainly old people lived here. I follow right behind them and Bentley nervously knocks on the door and stands there waiting for someone to open the door.

“Hello, little ones.” The old woman smiles as she opens the door. A breathing tube in her nose that wraps around her ears and meets in the middle of her neck, leading to an oxygen tank.

“Do you-em-h-have any cans t-that we could h-have?” Bentley stutters. I smile at my little boy.

“Of course. I’ll be right back, sweetie.” She struggles to walk back into her house and minutes later she comes back with a wallet in hand and a can of peas.

“I would also like to buy some of those cookies, darling.” The woman tries to smile at Brynlee.

“We have peanut butter patties, th-thin mints, pean-peanut butter san-sandwich and Le-lemonades.” Brynlee says, carefully sounding out each word.

“Can I have a thin mint box and peanut butter sandwich please?” Brynlee nods handing her the boxes. The woman opens up her wallet and hands me the money.

“Thank you.” I smile at her, Bentley and Brynlee walk down the stairs.

“You look awfully young.” The woman says making me turn around. Here it comes, here comes the lecture about how stupid I am and how I shouldn’t have done all this stuff. Yes, lady, I under-freaking-stand I’ve heard it a million times. I know.

“But you’ve done an excellent job. Even only seeing them for a brief 10 minutes, I can tell how hard you’ve worked at raising the best kids you could.” I smile at her