Pursuing Brownie

Chapter Two

Elle Richardson

God what a night. I groan in pain as I push open the door to Mrs Fields ice cream shop. The fluorescent glow of the large 'sweets' sign above the main counter lighting the beautiful shop up even more, enticing groups of families and friends to come in.

I glance around noting that the shop is exceptionally busy for a Sunday night and give Mrs Fields a questioning look from where she's situated behind the camper van shaped counter.

Her green eyes brighten when they land on me, a small smile covering her visibly exhausted face. "Ah my darling Elle, we've just had a large group of teenagers, on a school trip, come in." She says while preparing a chocolate chip ice cream cone. I lean against the wall next to her. That explains why it's so busy. "Lily is in the back sleeping, she fell asleep about an hour ago." She finishes, handing the cone over to the customer.

A pang of guilt surges though me. I hate leaving Lily with Mrs Fields for too long. Not that I don't love and trust her with all my life, but because I feel like I'm neglecting my responsibility to Lily as her legal guardian.

I met Mrs Fields ten years ago when I first came into her shop with my parents. She was the kindest women I had ever met. She caught me starting at the ice cream, my nose pressed up against the glass. Next thing I know, she was thrusting a mint choc chip ice cream cone in my hand, telling me it was on the house. Since then I came back every Saturday with my mom up until three years ago when the accident happened.

My parents died in a car accident when I was eighteen. Just two months after my baby sister Lily was born. Because of my age, I took legal guardianship of both lily and my younger brother, Clayton, who was sixteen at the time.

I thank god every single day that Mrs Fields is in my life because without her I wouldn't of been able to look after both my siblings and continue with my college degree that I started three months prior to their death. I was close to dropping out due to the emotional stress I was placed under. Not only did I lose the two most important people in life, but I now had to look after two minors when I was barely an adult myself. Mrs Fields took on the "grandmother role" babysitting Lily whenever I had class, cooking us home cooked meals, and storming into my house whenever I was too sick to function with a bowl of her delicious secret recipe soup. Still to this day, she does all of that. And I've never been more grateful to someone in my life.

"Thank you so much, Mrs F!" I say wrapping my arms around her. "I'm so grateful for everything you do for me and my siblings." I whisper earnestly in her ear. Her arms tighten around my shoulders. A sign of comfort that I've grown to love and need over the years.

Placing both her hands on either side of my face, she kisses my forehead before pulling away. "You never have to thank me, Sweetheart. You're doing an amazing job raising that little girl and I couldn't be prouder of the women you've become." A look of adoration on her face.

I can feel my eyes welling up with tears. I take a step back and blink multiple times. Giving Mrs F a watery smile. She smiles back in understanding, nodding her head to the back room before turning away to serve the next customer before they start to get too impatient.

Pushing through the door, my eyes land on the beautiful three year old girl, curled up on the plush sofa placed in the corner of the room. Her curly brown hair and tanned skin, similar to mine, stands out against the white fluffy blanket she's wrapped in.

I sit down beside her. Trailing my hand through her hair. It's about 9pm, I'm never usually this late but I just started a new job at the arena working as an unofficial nurse. When I say unofficial, it's because I'm not qualified yet and the arena is where most of the underground fights are held. To hire a fully qualified nurse would be risking the safety of the illegal organisation. It would draw too much attention.
I hate that it's illegal but my part time job working here isn't paying enough to provide for Lily and pay the bills. I'm lucky enough that my parents already had college funds set up for Clayton and I. That's one less thing I have to worry about and one of the reasons why I can still afford to go to college.