Bed of Roses
by
Tina
- - -
Rachel glanced at her watch, balancing the phone on one shoulder while her hands were preoccupied fumbling through many sheets of paper scattered around her desk. Shit, it was almost twenty minutes past six."Lilah, I am telling you, it is not here!"
Oh, her mother was going to kill her if she showed up late to her birthday party! It was bad enough she hadn't made it to the last few parties she had thrown. This time Sandra Green had made it very clear she wasn't going to accept any excuse. And, oh well, Rachel knew she couldn't afford to be in her mother's black list at the moment. After all, she had surprisingly proved to be a great babysitter for Emma, specially since Rachel had decided to turn down the job offer in Paris and, from time to time, needed some alone time with her now fiance Ross.
"Ah, found it! OK, here's what we're gonna do, I'm gonna mark this very urgent-" She narrated as she wrote the words on a post-it and stuck it to the main page of the report she was holding. "-and I'll have it mailed to you first thing in the morning, how's that?
"If that's the best you can do...!" The snobbish voice said on the other end of the line, making Rachel's nerves stir even more. What a bitch.
A few minutes later, she finally exited her office, carrying a bag and her heavy coat. She dropped the report at her assistant's desk and, within a couple of minutes, hurriedly entered the Burberry daycare facility to find a tearful Emma with her arms crossed, looking at the door. The two and a half years old girl was very petite, giving her the appearance of being even younger, which was funny to watch since she was very well articulate, considering her age. Her father's genes doing their best to show, Rachel figured, since the little girl was a spitting image of herself. Her hair was now darker, dirty blonde, almost brown. Her eyes round and blue, her skin milky white and her cheeks naturally pink. Her pouty lips always won Rachel over.
"Sorry I'm late!" Rachel said to one of the ladies who worked there.
"Oh, it's quite alright. It's Emma you should be worried about, really."
Rachel turned her attention back to her child, who was hopping off her chair and tossing a doll she had been holding aside.
"What happened, sweetie?"
"Danny said you fogot me!"
Rachel approached her, got down on her knees and hugged her child.
"Of course I didn't, honey. Mommy was just working. Besides, what does Danny know anyway? Now come on, we're running late! We're gonna go and visit Grandma Green, isn't that exciting? It's her birthday today!"
Emma wiped her eyes with her long sleeves and went to pick up her pink Hello Kitty backpack.
"Awe we having cake?"
Rachel smiled. Her English was nearly perfect, yet it always amused Rachel how she usually couldn't get her Rs to sound right.
"Of course. Come here."
Rachel quickly helped her daughter putting her coat on and they left.
Outside, Rachel struggled to get a cab. She looked both ways and failed to see any yellow car driving by. After a few seconds, she felt Emma's hand slip away from hers and turned around to watch her run towards a pile of snow that had been pushed to the side of the building on the sidewalk. She didn't have time to say anything before Emma squatted down and shoved her gloved hands inside it. Rachel gasped, horrified.
"Emma, no!"
The little girl turned to face her mother, an innocent look on her face.
"What?" She asked, cluelessly.
Rachel approached her and pulled her up.
"Honey, that's dirty!"
"It's snow!"
"It'd old snow! It's been sitting there all day." Emma made a face and Rachel took her freezing hand. "And now it's gonna melt in your gloves, great...!"
They turned back around only to see an empty cab coming down the street.
"Oh, taxi, taxi!!" Rachel yelled out, waving her free hand frenetically.
Too late.
She closed her eyes and sighed, watching it drive away. It was one of those days.
-
She pushed the apartment door open and entered after Emma, who ran right into her bedroom. She was now holding her things and Emma's party dress she had to drop by the dry cleaners to get. Of course she had only remembered about it when she was almost home, costing her a few more dollars to have the driver to go back several blocks to get it. Wonderful.
"Ross?" Rachel shouted.
No response.
"Ross?" She tried again.
"Daddy's not home." Emma said, coming back from her room with a bucket filled with Lego pieces.
"Honey, you can't play now, we're gonna be late!" Rachel said picking up the phone and quickly calling Ross. Emma stared at her with narrowed eyes. "And don't give me that look, young lady."
Emma stood up and walked back into her room, leaving her bucket behind. Rachel sighed.
"Hello?" Ross answered.
"Honey, where are you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie, I'm at a bar with a few colleagues, we're celebrating! Jim's wife's pregnant! You should come and join us."
Rachel balled up her free hand into a fist.
"I can't. Emma is acting as if she's fifteen and, oh, anything along the lines of my mom's birthday ring any bells?"
"Oh." He paused. "Damn it! Sorry, Rach, I'll be home as quick as I can, OK?"
"Urgh, OK. Bye."
She hung up, frustrated. She glanced at her watch, it was half past seven. Ross would take a while to get home, meaning she would have to get Emma ready as well, a job that was usually left for Ross given that Rachel always took a long time to get ready herself.
"Emma, hop into the shower, Missy, come on!"
The little girl was at her best that night. Although Rachel wasn't sure if that was the best way to put it. Maybe it was a punishment for leaving her waiting so long at daycare, maybe it was just the phase. Oh, the "terrible twos". Emma had been unusually bossy lately, always wanting to have things her way, defying authority and claiming an independency she wasn't nearly quite ready for yet.
In the shower, she decided to apply soap in her hair instead of shampoo while Rachel wasn't paying attention, simply 'cause "it smelled so good!". As a result to that, brushing it proved to be quite a traumatizing experience.
"Mommy, no, it hurts!!" She wept.
"That'll teach you. I can't leave it like this, Emma!"
"But no!"
"OK, come on, let's try one of my products to make it better."
Rachel turned around to check on her things and Emma saw this as an opportunity to save herself. She dropped her towel and ran out of the bathroom stark naked.
"Wha- Emma!!"
Rachel cursed under her breath and ran after her daughter in the living room, only to find the wet girl running towards her father's open arms.
"Hey, Emma!" He said lovingly, picking her up. He noticed Rachel's frustrated expression and looked back at their child, who was smirking. "What's going on?" He asked.
"You take care of her, I need to get ready." Rachel said, throwing the hair brush over her shoulder on her way to the bathroom.
Ahhhhrghh!!
She could really use a long and nice hot shower. Yet, she knew she had to be as quick as she could. Damn, what a long week. She massaged her own shoulders, one at a time, as she thought about her life. Of course she loved her child. Of course she loved her fiance. Of course she loved her job and everything else in her life. But oh... She was so tired. God knows it wasn't always easy. She missed her friends. She missed having time to do whatever she pleased or simply nothing at all. She missed a lot of things she knew she would never have again.
She picked out a dress and took care of her hair in record time. She knew she wouldn't have time to blow dry it, so she quickly styled it with some mousse, hoped for the best and started working on her make up. As she brushed foundation onto her face, she cringed, hearing Emma on the background screaming for something. It simply did not help her developing headache. She massaged her temples and decided it would be wise to take as aspirin if she wanted to make it through the evening.
"But daddy, oh daddy, please!!" Emma was pleading in the kitchen while bouncing up and down.
Rachel eyed her and was pleased to see she was all ready, looking very fresh in her pretty floral dress.
"Honey, no, you can't have pudding right now. We're going to your grandma's, you know she's gonna have a lot of treats for you there! Here, I'll give you an apple if you're hungry." Ross reasoned.
Rachel quickly took the aspiring, swallowed it with a sip of tap water and left before she ended up getting involved in the discussion. A few seconds later, Ross followed her into the bathroom and started undressing.
"Oh God, Emma won't let anything go tonight, will she?" He commented as he stepped into the shower.
Rachel looked down at his clothes on the floor and sighed. Not the kind of thing that would bother her in the past, but lately Rachel found herself becoming more and more like a suburban housewife. She dropped the concealer onto the sink and picked up his clothes, throwing them into the hamper.
"Nope. That'll teach you not to bring up the matter of other kids for another few years." She hissed. If she said anything else, it would definitely turn into a fight.
Ross grinned.
"We'll see about that." Still leaving the water running, he opened the door and looked at Rachel. "Come here."
"What?"
"Come here, I wanna give you a kiss."
She shook her head. Sure he must have noticed her annoyance and simply wanted to make it up to her, take a shot at lighting up her spirit. But... oh, it was simply not the time for that!
"Ross, we're running late and you're wet."
"Come on." He stepped out of the shower, dripping as he crossed the bathroom to throw his arms around her.
"Ross, no!"
He kissed her cheek and she put her hands on his chest, pushing him away.
Gladly, they were interrupted by a loud noise coming from the kitchen. They exchanged looks.
"I'll go check on Emma." Rachel said.
Upon entering the kitchen, she couldn't help but gasp and raise both hands to each side of her face.
"Oh my God!"
There stood Emma all covered in marinara sauce, the fridge door open and a big tupperware on the floor, surrounded by fettuccine strings.
"Emma?!"
The little girl looked down and started playing with her dirty hair.
"I'm sowy...!" She mumbled.
"I cannot believe you! Were you trying to get some pudding?"
"Er, no? I was hm, I was weaching for the apple!" She obviously lied.
Rachel took yet another deep breath and tried to keep it together.
This story... It's very random, really. It was gonna be a one shot, but it's gotten way too long. So I'll break it down into three or four chapters, I'm not sure. It's not finished yet, but I'm almost there! Hopefully getting reviews will make me write faster! I'll probably post one chapter every two days or so :) So please review, it's still time to make a few changes! Anyway. Kids...! This isn't Emma all the time, as the next few chapters will show you. But she still a child, so... :) And of course Rachel's got a full head right now. Bear with me. Thanks for reading!