Page 11 of Second Chances

Thankfully, her daughter kept up her end of the bargain and showered peacefully. But that was the extent of Simona’s cooperation. It took twice as long as usual to get her daughter dressed, her wet hair combed and braided, and both of them out the door.

They were running more than ten minutes late to drop her off at Kayla’s for day care. She’d pick her up for the graduation later that evening. Olivia was due to open up the store and planned on working until just after one.

It was so nice to have friends that could help her out with Simona and who had kids that her daughter liked to play with. Lately, she’d been complaining about CJ teasing her, but Olivia figured it came with the territory since the kids were around each other all of the time and CJ was at an age where having a little girl trail behind you just wasn’t cool.

She and Kayla had talked in great detail about how CJ was changing and wanting to hang out with boys his own age rather than his little sister and Simona.

They’d determined to separate the kids’ playtime by having some of CJ’s other friends over each day. Kayla had decided a few months back that she needed to open a day care of sorts. It had turned from a joke into reality as the summer drew closer and several of their friends’ day care options ran out.

Today was Simona’s very first official day at Kayla’s day care. Kayla had eight kids signed up, not including her own two.

Olivia wasn’t nervous about leaving Simona there for a few hours. After all, she and Kayla had been each other’s backup babysitters for a few years now.

It was one of the reasons she had grown to love Silver Cove. So many people had stepped up to help her after Brock had been sent to prison. There hadn’t been a moment since then that she hadn’t felt loved and accepted. Which was new to her, as her own parents had shunned her years ago, long before Brock had come into her life.

They’d never been good parents, but kicking her out a week after her eighteenth birthday had given them the ultimate ‘good parents’ award. But they were old news.

Crystal and Rory had stepped into the role of Simona’s grandparents seamlessly. Simona even called them MeMa and G-pa, names Simona had chosen for them. Her daughter did have a way of making others feel comfortable and loved.

By the time she unlocked the store, she was almost ten minutes late. She hated being late. Especially when it was her job to unlock the store and let the other employees inside. Lea was waiting for her along with her first client of the day.

Normally Crystal or Daisy would have been there to unlock the door, but Crystal wasn’t due back in town until later that morning, and Daisy appeared to also be running late.

There was a small line of yoga class attendees standing out front.

“Sorry,” she said as she pushed the doors opened, walked in, and flipped on the lights.

Many of the people mumbled their hellos or good mornings as they passed by, heading to the back rooms.

She locked her purse up in Crystal’s office and got right to work setting the displays out on the sidewalk and rearranging some products that had gotten knocked down or put in the wrong locations.

More people shuffled in for the yoga classes, and she greeted each of them.

It wasn’t as if early mornings were high sales traffic times. Although, since it was officially summer, she knew the tourists would start coming in waves each day, which meant more work for her and the four other employees underneath her.

Since Kayla had officially stepped aside to start her day care, she’d hired three more part-time employees, Amy, Jodi, and Tara to help with the shifts. Then there was Cora, who had been around almost as long as Olivia had and usually worked the night shift and closed up since she didn’t have kids.

She’d just finished training all of the new hires and was positive that the store was in good hands for the influx of patrons that would soon be streaming through the doors.

Each summer was different, but also the same. There were days when they were so busy that she hardly had time for lunch breaks, and then there were days she sat and caught up on her reading between customers.

Today, unfortunately, wasn’t one of those days. After the regular crowd shuffled in and started their first yoga class, the bell above the door never stopped ringing as customers came and went.

She even worked up a little sweat as she helped people find what they were looking for. Thankfully, she had just enough time to eat an apple behind the counter, taking bites between checking out customers.

When a group of young teens came in looking for summer dresses, she helped them each find the right sizes as they tried everything on.

She was standing up on a stepladder, using the metal hook to reach a different size dress, when she heard that sexy voice directly behind her.

“Should you be doing that?” he asked, almost sending her toppling over.

She let out a squeal that sounded like something Simona would have done and gripped the handle on the ladder so she wouldn’t fall over.

“Don’t do that,” she hissed as she glared over her shoulder down at Todd. He was smiling a very sexy smile back up at her, no doubt pleased with her reaction. Turning slightly, she frowned down at him. “What would you have done if I’d fallen?” she asked.

His smile grew. “I would have caught you.”

Her eyes ran over him, and suddenly she imagined herself being held by him, his muscular arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer. Then her eyes moved down to his lips, and her mind changed gears to imagine what it would be like to kiss him.