The Untitled Job

-7- Just In Time

I pull up to the primary school parking area at 3:14. I made it. I jump out of the car, lock it, and make my way to the office. I'm greeted with two of the biggest smiles in the world and four arms being wrapped around my body.

"Hey you two. How was school?" I look down at them both and smile sweetly. My smile is returned yet again with one innocent smile from Aidan and a grin from ear to ear from Taylor.

"Tay-Tay...What did you get yourself into?" I hear a laugh from Aidan and Taylor rocks back and forth on the ball and heel of her feet.

"Nothing Lexi," she says in a singing tune, "okay okay. I may have ended up gluing a load of glitter onto a new boy's arm. His name was Justin and he was pretty cute. I was trying to be friendly and thought he needed some sparkle in his life." I pull a shocked face and look down at her shaking my head from side to side.

"Aww, Taylor, do you have a crush?" She pulls a disgusted face, making me laugh.

"Right, well come on then. I have a surprise." I turn around to start walking and Taylor grabs a hold of my hand and Aidan walks a little in front of us. We make it back to the car and do the exact same as yesterday but with different songs. The first song to play is I Wanna Be Like You from The Jungle Book, the second to play is Just Can't Wait To Be King from The Lion King. We get into the house and I notice the envelope with the money in. I take a look and find three £10 notes. I turn around to the two monkeys gazing at me in anticipation.

"Which do you two want to do, you can only pick one okay? 1. I can take you both to Coffee Time for some food, 2. I can take you shopping so you can pick the food for today, or 3. We can order take away?" Their eyes start shining before they turn to each other and speak in hushed tones.

"Can we order take away so we can stay here?" They both say in unison.

"Okay, which one: pizza, Chinese, or Indian?"

"PIZZA!" All three of us scream. I rummage through a drawer of take away menus until I see one that's all too familiar for me. I order two of my usual order which makes the total order come to £28.89. I go into the living room and sit on the sofa to pass the time.

*42 minutes later*

"Pizza's here!" Mere seconds later the sound of fast paced light steps are running toward the kitchen. I dish out the slices equally, making it 4 slices each. I leave two of mine in the box in case Madison or Daniel wants them. Taylor and Aidan leave a slice each after seeing what I had done. After we all finish the pizza I pick up all three plates and set them on the counter before picking up two smaller pizza styled boxes with the words 'Cookie Dough' printed on the top of each box. Their eyes widen in surprise as I try not to laugh at the love-struck faces they were both making. They share one between them and Aidan points at the pizza box with the spare slices are. I walk over to the box and put the other cookie dough box on top of it, leaving them for whoever want them. I send a quick text to Madison.

To: Madison | 5:04 p.m.

Hi Madison, just to let you know I ordered a take away for the kids with the money you left me. There are some left overs if you or Daniel (or both) want them. It's no rush to get home, the kids will be asleep soon if it's anything like yesterday – Lexi x

Moments after sending the text I hear the front door slam shut followed by a thud of what I assume was either a heavy bag being thrown to the floor or a punch to the wall or door. The kids looked up at each other and over to me and I saw confusion laced in each of their expressions.

"I'll go see what it is. You two stay here okay?" They stay quiet but nod twice as if in a trance. I feel my body tense as I step out of the kitchen and into the hallway. I take a look towards the front door and see Daniel with his head against the door with his arms almost cradling his head as his fists were clenched. I walk towards him quietly and I start to notice a red mark forming across his knuckles on his right hand. Shit. He must've punched something. As I got closer I caught my hip on the corner of a small table in the hallway. A wince escapes my lips and he turns around to see where the sound had come from.

"What now Lexi? Have to knock my mum's things over because I'm not in your way for you to run into now, is that it?" His harsh tone makes my eyes widen. "Seriously. What do you want?" Scared that he's going to shout any louder than this I gain control over my expressions and relax my tensed jaw.

"I only came to say there's leftover pizza and cookie dough if you want some. Well, and I came to see if you were okay. The kids looked a little worried from the door slamming." He sighs in defeat and makes his way to the kitchen. 

I let him walk straight past me and I follow his footsteps into the kitchen. I stand by the doorway and give him a moment with his siblings. He crouches down next to the table where the kids are sat and he offers a fist-bump to Aidan and kisses Taylor's forehead.

"Sorry about the noise. You both okay?" The kids looked up at him and nodded with a smile, which he returned. He walked over to the counter, took 2 of the 4 slices left and put them on a plate before cutting the cookie dough into equal halves and took one half. He nodded a thanks to me before leaving the kitchen and heading up the stairs.