I woke to the sound of sweeping. I sat up and cracked my bones. I stretched, turned my neck and yawned. "You should have woken me. What if a customer had walked in?" I asked the beautiful man in a white ice cream apron and a cone hat.
Derek smiled at me. "They would have seen an angel resting her tired wings. Good morning."
"Good morning," I replied as I chuckled. "Angels do not rest though."
"This one in my shop does," he said and I blushed. "You could go freshen up."
"Uh...what do I do? At least to pay back since I do not have any money on me now."
He stopped sweeping and studied me squarely, "Nothing. You do not have to do anything."
I was dumbfounded. "Why not?"
He resumed sweeping as I stood up, "That is because I did nothing."
I scoffed. "Nothing? You gave my daughter an ice cream for free. You helped me with an umbrella. You offered me shelter and a change of clothes."
The door to the shop opened as a pizza delivery guy walked in. "And I am offering you breakfast." Derek beamed as he paid up and collected the pizza box. "If we start taking something in return for all we do, then no one would want to grant favours anymore."
I was awestruck. Does this guy know me from somewhere? People do not act this nice to strangers. I imagined Nancy telling me I was over thinking things but it was better to play safe than sorry.
"No. You can't do that. I am not hungry." But my tummy protested as it growled and Derek laughed out loud.
He chortled when he stopped and asked. "You were saying?"
"I was saying that life and nature is always against me."
He frowned, "I thought we were over that yesterday."
I smiled, "Sorry."
He walked to a table, set the pizza box down and got two ice cream plates, "Come on. Sit. Breakfast is served."
"I would not. Unless you think of an appropriate way I could pay you back," I crossed my arms over my chest.
"But I said I do not need repaying," he groaned.
"But I want to," I persisted, putting my foot down.
"I really do not have anything I would like you to do for me," he said.
I had the perfect job, "I do not see any workers around. Do you not have any?"
"No?" he replied, knitting his brows in confusion.
"You just got one," I clapped my hands in excitement and sat with him at the table.
He face palmed, "There is no arguing with you, is there?"
I shook my head, as I opened the pizza box and ice cream plate.
"Okay then," he stated and we dug in.
I left the shop after exchanging numbers with Derek and phoning Nancy. Nancy agreed I could stay with her a while until I sorted myself. I did my newspapers delivery on foot, dragging my luggage along. After I was done, I boarded a bus with my pay to Nancy's house. My parents either forgot to bring out my bicycle or they just wanted to punish me. I got to the address and alighted. Nancy was cycling in.
"Hey girl," she chimed as she parked her cycle in the driveway.
The mansion before us was magnificent.
"You stay here?" I had to ask.
"Yes," Nancy responded and walked me into the compound. But I was surprised when we walked behind the house and into the boys quarters. "But this is where I live."
The boys quarter was beautiful too. I could not afford this. "How much do you pay as rent?" When she told me, my mouth hung open. "How can you afford that?"
"That is the normal rent but the people who owns the mansion knew my father and they are doing me a favour they promised him. So I am not paying rent."
"Wow. You are really lucky," I said as she showed me her room and mine.
"Make yourself at home," she said and left for her room.
The next few hours, I rearranged the room. It was not dirty, mostly dusty. I did not have much stuff, so arranging them was not hard at all. I was done and laid on the single bed to rest. Nancy came in later to ask what I would have for lunch, I told her I was okay because I did not have any money. But she told me to dress up, she was gonna treat me to lunch. Soon, we were at a restaurant eating burger and fries and smoothies.
"I forgot to ask," Nancy said as she swallowed. "Where is baby?"
I choked on my burger and coughed. Nancy handed me a can of water and I drank. When I stopped coughing, she stared at me and asked, "What did you do? Did you kill her?"
My eyes were round as I glared at her, "Why would you think such a thing?" I shot back.
"I do not know. You did not come with her and you are acting all weird now I am asking," she shrugged.
"She is fine. She is in a better place," I said absent mindedly.
"So you did kill her. What did that babe do to you?" Nancy screamed and people from other tables looked at us.
"No. Keep it down," I whisper yelled. "I gave her away."
I saw her body feature calm, "Oh. So things were that hard, huh?"
"Yea." I became sad.
"You know what? We are gonna go see her today. Right now," she said excited.
"I do not have what to go see her with," I said.
"That is not a problem," Nancy said as she dragged me up and pulled me to the counter. She ordered a lot of snacks and we set out to Sunshine Foster Home.
When we got there, we both signed in and waited in the visiting room. Another opened as Benita walked in, sad and moody. Looked like seeing me made her even more angry. I ran to her and hugged her tight but she did not reciprocate, which was unlike her.
"Baby, how are you?" I asked as I walked her back to our table. But she did not reply either.
"Hey baby," Nancy wiggled her fingers in greeting.
Benita smiled at Nancy and replied, "Hi Nancy."
That was strange. "Baby, I am sorry. I did not want you suffering with me. I wanted the best life for you."
"I had a father?" she questioned me. Nancy looked at me and frowned.
"Baby?" I was at a loss of what to say.
"You killed him," she accused.
"Baby, that is not how it happened," I defended.
"You took away my father," she sobbed now.
"I wanted to tell you when the time was right," I cried too.
"I do not want to see you ever again. I hate you," she said and ran off. I wanted to go after her but Nancy pulled me back.
I sobbed hard, "Who brainwashed my kid? This is not what I signed up for."
Nancy soothed my hair, "I will return to speak with her tomorrow. But we have got to go now. You need to rest."
"My baby. She is the only one I got," I cried.
"You have got me too," she reassured.
My phone binged and I pulled it out to check my message.
'Congratulations, you just got employed as the dance tutor of Unity High School.'