The Mix-Up

Chapter Ten

When Theodora found Alexander standing on her doorstep with a large duffle bag by his feet just two days ago she was surprised to say the least. In her stunned silence, she opened the door and welcomed him inside. Offering him a coffee and getting the girls settled with some colouring pages. Then she gave the man an opportunity to explain.

She was furious. Having heard the entire story she felt the burning need to get in her car, drive down to that dirty, crowd filled city and knock some sense into his ex boss – and that careless wife of his. These were two people – family – that had taken advantage of Alec's caring nature. And he didn't deserve that treatment.

Of course Teddy had welcomed him with open arms. She had allowed him into her house temporarily and offered him the pull out couch. The first couple days had been fine, the girls were on their best behaviour excited to have the guest around more often. Alec had been finding a way to balance time with the girls and work on his resume. In fact having him around to entertain the girls when Teddy was working turned out to be more beneficial than Teddy had first expected. He watched over the girls during the day, giving them crafts or toys to play with, allowing Teddy the time to keep the story open longer hours.

However today – on the third full day – Teddy was beginning to notice a shift in the air. Alec had appeared to be struggling with the constant presence of the girls – and although he loved them – he was accustom to having majority of his time to himself and in the quiet.

Teddy had first noticed the change in the morning – just as he was awakening.

Joey had gotten out of bed earlier than usual, and her energy level was through the roof. Bouncing out of her room in her tiger printed pajamas – literally jumping up and down as she pretended to be Tiger from Winnie the Pooh. Quickly spotting Alec on the couch she excitedly went to him.

"Josephine" Teddy warned her daughter with a quick glance over the shoulder. "Let Alec sleep. He went to bed late." Teddy was slicing some fresh strawberries to go on top of the waffles she was planning on preparing. Her gaze shift quickly over to Alec. The poor man had stayed awake last night sending out resumes. The women would've thought it'd be easy to find a new advertising job in Toronto, especially with Alexander's experience. But instead the man continued to struggle and mumble about how there wasn't anything in the location he wanted.

"Okay momma" Joey had offered as a response. But she was only three after all – and she didn't always listen to what was asked of her. Once her mother had turned away Joey reached a small finger out and pressed it against Alec's cheek. The young girl held in a little giggle as she reached forward and did the action again.

Beneath her finger the man started to stir a small groan escaping his lips. This only increased Joey's excitement. Unable to hold herself back the girl reached forward and grabbed Alexander's sleeping face in her small hands, holding his cheeks. She then proceeded to mush them together playfully.

The sudden force and feeling to his cheeks shook him awake. With a gasp Alec had shot up in his seat quickly – forcing Joey to let him go. "W-what?" the man looked at the young girl in surprise. She stood before the couch with wide eyes – that looked like they were brimming with tears – and a pouty lip.

"Josephine Teddy sighed turning to the scene before her. Crossing her arms disapprovingly over her chest she added "didn't I tell you not to wake Alec up?"

"But momma" Joey whined, "I wanna play."

"I know. But you need to listen to momma" Teddy warns. "You will get to play later. For now you need to let Alec sleep."

Joey huffed and puffed her cheeks out in defiance.

"It's alright" Alec let out a groan as he forced himself to sit upright. "I'm already awake."