Chapter 3
Eddie made it to the center at a quarter to three, his appointment for the tour was at three o’clock so he was early. He takes a deep breath as he braces himself to get out of his truck and make his way to the door of the building. He decided to go alone, leaving both Christopher and Bell with Hen, figuring it would be easier that way. He was nervous to say the least, Christopher had never been in daycare so he wasn’t sure what it would be like. But he trusted Hen as she was the one that recommended daycare.
Before he reached the door his phone pinged with a new message from Ana. He opened up the text message, rolling his eyes as he read it.
From: Ana
Work trip got extended to a month
He shoved his phone into his pocket and rang the doorbell when he reached the door, he’d deal with Ana later. A few moments pass by, and woman opened the door, wide smile on her face. “You must be Eddie.” She says and let’s Eddie walk in before offering him her hand.
Eddie takes it and gives her a firm handshake. “That’s me.” He tells her.
“I’m Athena.” She introduces herself and I’m the director of the daycare here.
“Nice to meet you.” Eddie smiles, he was put at ease immediately when Athena had opened the door, her presence was calming and the man liked that about her. “Thank you for letting me tour the center on such short notice.”
Athena just waves him off and starts walking down the hall towards a door marked ‘ladybug room’. “Anything for a friend of Hen’s.” She spoke. “Now, she mentioned your daughter was two?”
“Yes ma’am.” Eddie hums as he follows her.
She opens the door to a classroom that was void of any children or teachers. “The teachers must be outside with the kids.” She says, gesturing for Eddie to enter the classroom. “This would be the classroom she’d be in. The twos room.” She explains to him. “And my lead teacher in here is Mister Buckley, the kids call him Buck.” She smiles.
Eddie smiles at that and nods his head as he looks around the classroom, toys strewn about, art projects on the wall and a lesson plan pinned to the corkboard along with lots of colorful wall décor. “Would I be able to meet with the teacher and explain Isabel’s situation? I’ll explain it to you too of course.” He tells her and follows her back out of the classroom.
“Of course. They’ll probably be back in the next couple of minutes since it’s nearing pick-up time. I’ll just have another teacher fill in for him so you two can talk.” Athena tells him and leads him to her office. She gestures for him to sit down in the chair across from her desk. “Now, tell me about Isabel’s situation.” She says, pulling different paperwork out of her drawers, setting them on top of her desk.
“So, She’s only going to be with me for about a month, so that’s as long as she’ll be enrolled in daycare for. I just learned about her and her mom dropped her off with me so she could go on a work trip.” Eddie explains the situation the best that he could. Now that he thinks about it, he sounds insane enrolling his daughter in daycare for only a month, but he really needed help.
Athena hums as she turns towards him, nodding her head. “That’s okay, we definitely have room here for her.” She tells him. “And since you know Hen, you get a friends and family discount.” She says to him and Eddie could cry right now.
“Thank you.” He says softly. The man had money, he did but he had to pay for Christopher’s medical bills and the monthly rent on his house wasn’t cheap, so he was pushing it. “That really means a lot.”
“It’s not a problem.” She glances at her window, noticing that the two-year-olds were coming in from outside. “Let’s go meet the teacher and then you can give me your decision and we can start the paperwork.”
Eddie stands and follows her, a walkie talkie in her hand as she radios for another teacher to fill in for Buck. “Eddie this is Maddie, another teacher in the building.” Athena introduces the woman who was about to enter the two-year-old room.
“Nice to meet you.” Eddie greets and the woman gives him a smile.
“Nice to meet you too. I’ll send Buck out for you.” She tells Athena and heads into the classroom and that’s when Buck walks out, stopping dead in his tracks when he sees the man standing next to Athena.
“Hey Thena.” Buck says, clearing his throat and shaking his head.
“Buck meet Eddie, he’s thinking about enrolling his daughter here and she would be in your class.” Athena explains to the man, Eddie gives him a shy wave, not knowing how to produce words at this point because holy fuck was that a gorgeous man that was standing in front of him.
“Anyways.” Says Athena, leading the two back to her office to have some privacy for their conversation. “He just wanted to explain the situation a bit and meet her potential teacher.” Athena lets them enter the office and closes the door, leaving the two men alone.
“I’m Buck, nice to meet you.” The blonde man holds out his hand for Eddie to take and Eddie does, his heart warming at the touch.
Eddie stands there awkwardly before remembering that he had to introduce himself as well. “Nice to meet you too, I’m Eddie.” He says and shoves his hands in his pockets, looking anywhere but at the other man. He didn’t think he’d be able to stop staring. He explains the situation to Buck and the man listens intently, nodding his head, signaling that he was listening to Eddie.
When he’s finished Buck finally speaks up. “Well, I think you’re doing the right thing by putting her in daycare. Kids at that age need the social interaction.” And Eddie was just glad that he didn’t mention the family dynamics.
Eddie runs a hand through his hair and lets out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. “Thank you for letting me explain. When she starts it might be hard for her to adapt to everything.”
“That’s understandable.” Buck tells him. “Thank you for telling me.” He smiles, gorgeous blue eyes twinkling in the sunlight that was peeking through the blinds. “I should probably get back to my room though, it really was nice to meet you, Eddie.” The man smiles and walks to the door, opening it and walking back to his room.
Moments later, Athena walks back in with a grin on her face. “So, what do you think?”
“I’m ready for the paperwork.” He smiles.
---
“He was so hot Hen.” Eddie groans as they’re sitting in her kitchen again, for the second time that day. “I had to look elsewhere so I wouldn’t just stare at him, I didn’t want him to think I’m a creep.”
“And which teacher was this?” Hen asks curiously, eyebrow raised.
“His name is Buck.” Eddie says and Hen just bursts out into laughter.
“Of course it is.” She laughs and shakes her head, sliding a beer across the table to Eddie.
Eddie thanks her and unscrews the top, taking a sip of the liquid. He goes to speak but he’s interrupted by Isabel running into the kitchen and grabbing onto the sleeve of his shirt, tugging on it. “I’m hungry.” She whines.
Eddie sets his beer down and picks up the toddler. “Okay, let’s go get Christopher and get ready to go. We’ll pick something up on the way home.”
“I see mommy?!” She exclaims and Eddie frowns, shaking his head.
“Not tonight, Bell. We can try to call her.” Eddie sighs and Bell just pouts, nodding her head reluctantly as she wriggles in his arms, signaling that she wanted to be put back on the floor and she bolts out of the kitchen to where Chris was in the living room.
Eddie groans and rests his head in his hands. “I don’t know how to get her to understand that she won’t be able to see her mom for a month.” He was blessed to be able to get to know his daughter but he was also frustrated by the situation.
Hen’s eyes widen at that. “I thought it was only two weeks!”
“It was supposed to be.” Eddie sighs. “But she texted me earlier to let me know it would be a month.” He rolls his eyes.
Hen just shakes her head at that. “I’m going to put a curse on that woman.” She mutters and Eddie just laughs.
He thanks the woman for her help and gets the kids ready before heading home for the night, grabbing fast food on the way not wanting to bother with cooking. The rest of the night his mind was flooded with thoughts about his daughters new daycare teacher and he didn’t know what to do with that information.