Page 23 of Our Little Wedding

“What can I get for you?”

I didn’t want to turn around. I wanted to grab Nikki and run, only it was too late. She’d already seen us.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the babysitter.” Brittany stood behind the counter staring at me, and then she noticed Nikki. “Why the hell isn’t Nikki in school?”

“Don’t worry, her father knows. Actually, allowing her out of school for the day was his idea. Now, we’d like two vanilla Frappuccinos please.”

She punched a couple of keys on the register with attitude and then looked at me. “Loading my child up on sugar, huh? Not a wonder why she always acts like a little brat when she’s home.”

“I highly doubt that I’m the problem.”

“Oh, my dear, how naïve are you? You are the only problem that I see here. If you honestly think that by you ordering I am just going to drop the subject, you’re more naïve than I thought.”

Ignoring her, I pulled Spencer’s card out of my wallet and handed it to her without thinking. I didn’t understand what her problem was. All I knew was that I wanted this confrontation to end and for us to be away from her.

She looked down at the card and then up at me and chuckled to herself, shaking her head. “Living the high life, are you? You’re living with him, fucking him, and also getting a paycheck from him. Why do you need his credit card, too?”

I felt my cheeks heat at her words.

“Oh wait, I know why. I mean, he was a mediocre fuck. He can only make up for it by padding your chequebook.”

I was about to lean over the counter and tell Brittany to fuck herself when I heard Nikki call out to her. “Mommy, oh Mommy, just wait till you see what Ainsley got me.”

Brittany looked at me and rolled her eyes.

“She got me a pretty pink blanket for our new house!” Nikki cried with excitement.

Brittany completely ignored her and continued to glare at me.

“Nikki, not now,” I whispered as Brittany looked down at her. Once her eyes were off me, I closed my eyes and took in a breath. I just wanted out of here because I knew from here on things would not go over well.

“Is that so? Did you put it in on this card too? Perhaps I should call him and let him know I found his credit card, that some tramp stole it,” she whispered as she leaned over the counter.

I glared at her. “Brittany, you really should calm down before you get fired from yet another job.”

Brittany glared back at me and yelled out for two vanilla Frappuccinos. She ran Spencer’s credit card through the machine and handed it back to me. Then, in a huff, shedisappeared behind the counter, saying nothing to Nikki, who looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

“Did I do something wrong, Ainsley?” Nikki asked me, a tear slipping down her cheek.

“No, sweetie, you did nothing wrong. It appears your mother is having a bad day.”

I occupied Nikki while we waited for our drinks, and I prayed Brittany didn’t return to the counter. Once I heard my name called, we took our drinks and made our way into the bookstore, where we headed into the children’s section to pick out a couple of new books for Nikki, when all I really wanted to do was go back home.

It was almost nine thirty by the time I crawled into bed. I’d put Nikki to bed at seven and read to her until she drifted off to sleep, then I sat down and caught up on work emails before taking a hot bath.

I then crawled into bed and snuggled down under the covers and turned on the TV. I searched until I found a show I’d been watching and then grabbed my phone to text Spencer. It was a pleasant surprise to find a message waiting for me instead.

RomanticAlpha42: I’m at the hotel. Call me.

I dialled his number and waited for him to pick up. “Hey, sweetie.”

“Hey, how did things go today?” his tired voice asked.

“Okay. We picked out her bedding for her room.”

“Good. Was she happy?”

“She was so excited. I wish you could have seen her face. I also have a wish list of items for her birthday and for Christmas.”

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