Gail was late. Again. She had to chase a perp for three blocks, making her later then usual and so she got caught in traffic. She tried getting her brother to pick them up but he was busy, as was his wife and everyone else that was on the list to pick them up. So here she was running into the school, 2 hours late to picking them up. She'd have to make it up to them she thought as she opened the office door. Looking around the room she didn't see them.
"Uh where are my kids?" Gail asked very worried.
The secretary smiled, "they're ok. They should be in room 7 if they aren't there come back and I'll make an announcement."
Gail scold at the woman and left. Just outside of the class room she heard laughing followed by strumming and piano trying to play the same song but where out of sync. Stepping into the room she saw Zander on the piano, his back to her and Ollie sitting on top of a desk and strumming a ukulele. The girls face was pulled together in concentration, hidden slightly by her bangs and stray hairs that escaped her pony tail. There was a woman sitting beside her, nodding along in encouragement as she played a guitar. The woman was beautiful to say the least. She had long dark wavy hair that framed her face perfectly tucked behind her ears, she was wearing dark framed glasses and had a smile that brought butterflies to Gail's stomach. She was so lost in the brunette she didn't see Ollie look up.
"Mommy" she exclaimed and jumped off of the desk.
Gail smiled and opened her arms, "hey baby."
Zander turned on the piano bench and slid off to hug Gail. "I'm sorry for being late, again. I had to chase a guy for three blocks and then got caught in traffic." she explained as she hugged her son.
"It's ok Ms. Stewart brought us in here to listen to music and do homework and then started to teach us how to play cords." Ollie waved off her mothers apology.
Ms. Stewart smiled sheepishly at Gail and took a step forward, "I keep telling them to call me Holly but they insist on being formal." she extended her hand.
"It's nice to meet you Holly, I'm Gail." she shook the brunette's hand. "Thank you for," she gestured to the room. "I've been told this isn't the first time you've done this with them, right?"
Gail's been late a few times recently and she was told they were spent with a Ms. Stewart. Steve met her the last time she was late. Apparently Holly fed them, got them to do their homework, and took them outside to play. Another time the brunette took them to the kindergarten room to paint and watch Magic School bus. Every time it was something different, except for the homework, that always got done first. Gail was impressed and curious of this Mr. Stewart that had her kids nonstop talking about.
"A few times now, but it really isn't a bother. They're really good kids and great company." Holly reassured.
"You sure you're talking about my kids?" Gail faked disbelief. Ollie crossed her arms with an 'mhmm'.
"Yes I'm talking about your kids. Ollie is hilarious and Zander is very sweet, they make for good company." She smiled.
"Yeah they can be pretty awesome, I mean they did come from me." Gail replied and Holly laughed.
"I'm guessing you guys are as hungry as I am so we should get going, grab your bags." Ollie gathered papers off of a desk and Zander kicked a soccer towards the back of the room where their bags were. Gail turned back to the brunette and smiled, "do you have any plans?"
"No" she replied confused.
"Then you're coming to dinner with us."
"That's not a question." Holly pointed out.
"You should've been a detective with those skills." Gail smirked. "No it wasn't a question, I need to thank you properly and there's no better way than food."
Holly opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out, so she turned on her heel and headed to the teachers desk. Her desk from the looks of it. Gail smirked again and sat on a kids desk to wait. This should be fun, she thought to herself.
"So is it just you raising them or do they have another parent?" Holly asked, turning to face her.
Gail smiled, she'd been waiting for this question for the past two hours. "It's just the three of us. They're a product of a one night stand. I did find the guy but he isn't one for this kind of responsibility, I got lucky with him though. He gives me money when he can, has given me all of his family history -which does included twins- and is willing to meet them when they get old enough to understand his side."
"He sounds nice." Holly commented.
"He is. Ollie get's her hair from him, Zander gets his freckles and curls from him and same thing with both of their athleticism." she smiled as she watched her children crawl around the jungle gym in the Burger King.
"Oliver Traci Peck I told you to stop doing that. One more time and you're going to be sitting here watching your brother play" Gail yelled to the blonde girl with a pointing finger.
Holly smiled, "I thought her name was Olivia and we just called her Ollie cuz it's cute."
Gail chuckled at the memory, she barely noticed how different her daughters name was anymore. "She's named after my old T.O, he convinced me to name one of them after him. I was iffy about it at first but then was told I was going to have two boys so I was like 'why not'. After finding out she wasn't a boy I started to play with other names, I couldn't. Her name was Oliver, so I changed her middle name to a girls and that was that."
Holly nodded along, intrigued by Gail's logic and captivated by her voice. Everything about this woman had her captivated.
"Did you just like the name Traci or is it also after someone?"
"Traci is someone I owe my life to so it seemed fitting. She's actually my sister-in-law. And before you ask yes Zander is also named after people. His full name is Aleczander Steven Peck, Steven is my brothers name and I've always loved the name Zander. You know Buffy The Vampire Slayer right?" she chuckled.
Holly laughed, "I thought it might have been a Buffy thing."
They sat in silence watching the kids play. It'd been a long time since Gail had thought about someone in a romantic way, it'd been even longer since she'd even considered it but there was something about Holly. She was different. Gail could usually set her feelings aside, letting logic set in a concrete wall to prevent such things. She was too busy for dating and didn't want to break her childrens hearts if anything happened. But she couldn't get the wall up with Holly. The brunette snuck in when she wasn't looking and had set up camp with no intention of moving. Gail's stomach dropped at the thought.