Shortish first chapter just to kind of get the story started and see what people think so feel free to throw some feedback my way.
Being awoken by his young daughter's cries Paul rolled over in bed rubbing the sleep from his eyes before he opened them and they immediately settled on his wife getting dressed, "what are you doing?"
"Getting dressed? What does it look like I'm doing Paul?"
Glaring at her he shook his head, "don't get smart with me. Why are you getting dressed in a business suit?"
"Because I'm going to work. What are you? Stupid?"
Throwing the covers from his body he stood up, "you barely had our daughter two weeks ago and you're already going back to work? Are you out of your mind? I thought you were staying home to look after out daughter."
Rolling her eyes she grabbed her brush to tie her hair back, "no, you just assumed I would stay home. Keith called last week, he said if I went back to work then there is a promotion with my name on it, you know the promotion I have been working my ass off for years to get."
"And what about Chloe?"
"What about her? You're here aren't you? It's not like I wanted a kid to begin with."
Groaning as their daughter's cries got louder he shook his head, "stay here, I just need to go and get her and we will finish this conversation."
Quickly hurrying out of the bedroom to the nursery he smiled scooping Chloe up into his arms and pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head, "it's okay, Daddy's here now. We will just talk to Mommy and then we will get you your breakfast."
Turning around he exited the nursery and as he turned to go back to the Master bedroom he heard the front door slam and he shook his head muttering, "Megan this is not over by any stretch of the imagination." Spinning on his heel he headed downstairs to prepare and feed his daughter her breakfast.
Stephanie jumped as she stepped under the shower only to be greeted by ice cold water, "the fucking hot water is on the blink again?! What is this shit hole?"
Showering her body at the speed of light she jumped out before she dried herself off and got dressed but leaving her top off as she walked to the kitchen and boiled the kettle, she was not giving herself frost bite just because she needed to wash her hair this morning before work.
She as just pulling the plug on the water in the sink and wringing the water out of her hair when the phone started to ring, "god-dammit, I will kill whoever is on the other end of the line."
Quickly grabbing her towel she attempted to wrap it around her hair as she hurried to pick the phone up, "hello?"
Dropping the phone accidentally as she secured the towel she quickly picked the phone up again, "sorry about that, I dropped the phone by accident. Who did you say you were?"
Linda shook her head at her daughter, "your Mom. What were you doing that you dropped your phone?"
"Just fixing the towel in my hair, the hot water is broken again so I had to wash my hair in the sink and I have just finished. What can I do for you Mom? I really have to finish getting ready for work soon otherwise I will be late."
Playing with the piece of paper in her hand she knew she was doing the right thing by her daughter, "I just called to see if you had a teaching job yet?"
Sighing heavily Stephanie made her way the short distance through her apartment to her bedroom to plug in her hair dryer and get her brush, "no Mom. I'm looking every night after work and when I'm not in early I'm looking before work, I have sent out numerous resumes to different schools in the area and have heard nothing back but I'm not giving up."
"Maybe you should. Stephanie you can't continue to live in that apartment as it is bad for your health and unless you get a teaching job then you won't be able to afford to move out. I'm doing this because I love and care about you but I have spoken to the headteacher at the local school and they said they are looking for a new Kindergarten teacher for the new year and they would love to interview you for the post. I have their e-mail address for you but there is a time limit on this of two weeks so you have two weeks to find a teaching job there or I expect you to interview for this job and take it if offered to you which I am sure that it will be."
Dropping the comb she pulled the phone from her ear briefly staring at it before she put it back to her ear, "you what?"
Frowning Linda shook her head, "you heard me. You have two weeks to find a job in New York or I expect you back in Ohio."
Not wanting to continue this conversation she shook her head, "well I have to finish getting ready for my job, goodbye Mom."
"I will e-mail you the details."
Not even answering the last statement she just hung up the phone and tossed it onto the bed before she turned her attention to getting ready for work as she had ten minutes less time to do so than she had before her Mom rang.
Quickly pulling her worn denim jacket on she grabbed her bag rushing out of the front door to catch the bus and begin her journey to work so she wasn't late and didn't lose her job as this was the only real excuse she had right now not to go home to Ohio and that was the last place she ever wanted to be again.
After feeding Chloe Paul burped her before he lay her down in his arms, "it's a good thing that Daddy is working from home this week because otherwise you would be coming to building sites with him and I don't think you'd like that."
Chloe just lay there staring up at her Dad gripping his finger as he slipped it into her hand. All she wanted and needed was food and to know her parents loved her so laying here in her Dad's arms she was very happy.
Staring at his daughter as she gripped his finger he stroked the back of her hand with his finger watching her, he did not understand why his wife didn't want to be at home enjoying these moments when she was so young. Before they knew it she would be all grown up and Megan would have missed out completely and if it was him he would never be able to forgive himself if he did that but she just didn't seem to care at all and he just didn't know why. He thought about her possibly having Post Natal Depression but ultimately he was confident it wasn't that, she just had no maternal instincts and didn't care.
He couldn't do this alone not when he had his own business to take care of and jobs already piled up to the top of his head. He could only hope that she would go to work today and realise what she was missing out on and would decide that she did want to be at home with their daughter so things could go back to being how they discussed that they would be and if not he didn't know what he would do or how he would cope.
