Fighting For a Second Chance (Fighting 1)

I walk inside her room and sure enough she’s still curled up in her sheets with her little head poking out softly snoring away.

“Bella Faith! You’ve got to get up. Did you hear me? I’m going to take away Maleficent for a week.”

She pushes her covers down just enough, so I can see her attitude peeking through. “Oh, Mommy, you can have it because it’s not my favorite no more. Dolphin Tale is my new favorite.” See? Didn’t I tell you? New movie every month!

She starts to contemplate something, and if I wasn’t running so late, I might find it funny. Then she actually has the nerve to say, “Mommy, if I get out of bed, can we go buy a dolphin? I want a Winter! Pleeeease!”

And with those words, I draw the conclusion my daughter could be a professional hostage negotiator, and to be honest, at this point, I probably would buy her her own dolphin just to get her out of bed, but I’m definitely not going to tell her that. Parenting rule number one: You don’t give in to the battle. You give in once and it’s all downhill. At this rate, by next week, I’ll have to buy her a car to get her out of bed.

“Bella Faith Browning.” I’m trying hard to keep my composure because you can’t let the enemy know you’re sweating. “No, I will not buy you a dolphin, and I’m not negotiating with you. They belong in the ocean! Get up now.”

She starts giggling. Yup, actual full-on giggling. I have no clue what she thinks is funny, but in a second I’m going to send her butt to the ocean to play with the dolphins!

“Bella what is so funny? Please get out of bed.”

“Mom,” she says between giggles. “I don’t want to buy a real dolphin! I want to buy a cute squishy one at the toy store. One that is grey and smooth just like Winter the dolphin. Duh! Where would we even put a real dolphin? Wait a second, can it fit in the bathtub? How big is a real dolphin?”

Once again, Kayla, my savior, comes to the rescue.

“How about you go to your interview and I’ll take Bella to school? I have the morning off. They’re cutting back hours at the sports center.” She’s sporting a sad smile, which tells me her loss of hours is really upsetting her even though she doesn’t want me to worry.

God, I’m such a crappy friend. Kayla works so hard and she’s stressing out since she’s the sole provider in this house. I really need to get this job. She’s done so much for us over the years. I need to pull my weight around here as well.

“Okay, thank you,” I say, as I glare at my darling daughter who’s back to snuggling under the sheets. I’ll deal with her later, hopefully after I’m gainfully employed.

“Wish me luck.” I kiss Bella on the forehead and give Kayla a one-armed hug before I rush out the door, hoping I’ll be coming home employed.

I’m at the interview and it’s not going well. First of all, my phone keeps vibrating in my purse, which keeps distracting me. On top of that, the gentleman, Bernard, who’s running the interview is speaking in a monotone voice and looks like he’s bored out of his mind to be here. I know. I know. Do I really expect a job that involves crunching numbers to be fun? I guess not, but I think he should at least look somewhat happy to be here. If this is how I’m going to look if I get a job here... No, thank you.

My phone vibrates in my purse again, and he looks at me with a brow raised, daring me to answer it. What the hell, I’m not going to take this job anyway. What if it’s an emergency?

I excuse myself for a moment to take the call. “Liz, thank God you answered.” I glance at the screen, but it doesn’t have a name on the caller ID.

“Um, yes, it’s me. May I ask who’s calling?”

“Liz, it’s Bentley. Listen, there has been an accident. Kayla and Bella are both in the hospital. I was here getting my hand checked out and saw them come in the ambulance. You need to get here right away.”

Without bothering to explain anything to Bernard, I grab my purse and, with the phone still to my ear, run out the door with a million horrible thoughts going through my head. “Okay, I’m on my way. Bentley, are they okay? What happened?”

“I don’t know. I’m not family so they won’t tell me anything. Apparently, you’re Kayla and Bella’s only emergency contact and they’ve been trying to reach you. I would get down here now.”

After telling him once again, I’m on my way, we hang up.