The rest of the day goes by like a blur, he had text Abulea explaining he was staying till close as someone had rung in sick, and that he would be taking extra breaks mainly because Nick told him to, but he was thankful the shift was nearly over he forgot how tiring mental work could be, but the one thought Eddie could only think about was the fact Buck knew spanish which meant the throwaway comment Abuela made Buck heard and understood. But then Buck had asked for Eddie's number and to walk more so maybe just maybe Eddie had a chance.
"Oi Eddie, can you move the parcels you have built up, instead of leaving them for others to do, lazy git." Ruth snarls.
"Woah, what crawled up you and died." Eddie joked back and he could see the glare she gave him.
"Don't be so crude, I'm just saying you shouldn't let the mail build up like that, should be cleared away like mine is." She replies.
"Every couple of minutes, there have been queues so I sit and serve and deal with it when we are quiet, unlike you who would rather come off and not serve and mess about with the bags." Eddie snarks back.
It was true he saw her throughout the afternoon serve a few people and then get off to do the bags leaving the queue to be served by him, which he didn't mind as he could serve quicker than her but still it was annoying he was getting called out on serving customers first.
"Oh Mr friendly clerk wants to serve the people, well we are a post office we have queues. Now I'm packing up as we're finished, so stop slowing me down." She snarks and continues to pack stuff away.
"Is there a problem here?" Nick questions.
"No nothing, just finishing up." Eddie explains.
"Good, and well done today Eddie, some good conversations and sales." Nick says giving Eddie a wink as they hear Ruth huff.
"Yeah, simple really, hopefully we will get more customers coming back. " Eddie replies.
"Well I'm sure one will, I saw how he looked at you." Nick chuckles.
"Ugh you too, well I've already been embarrassed by my grandmother so that's that haha." Eddie laughs.
"Well get packed up and i'll see you tomorrow." Nick says.
"Will do. Thanks again for letting me work." Eddie replies, heading back to his desk.
"It's fine, nice to have someone here to talk to, Ruth can I have your daily paperwork please?" Nick asks.
There's a huff and Eddie just chuckles to himself at the desk as he counts the money and makes sure it all balances, once it's all done he takes the till and locks it in the vault, grabbing his things he says bye to Nick and makes sure to be overly friendly to Ruth as he leaves, as he walks out the station he is greeted by Abuela.
The drive home is filled with talk and how he found the day, he explains how it was easy to fall back into work but there was no chemistry with the other staff yet like he had at his place, he wished he would have Louise with him but knew she was taking more time away.
"So did you take the cakes around?" Abuela's question breaks his train of thought.
"No, Buck came in today so I gave them to him. He said thank you." Eddie explained, leaving out the fact he said it in spanish, that would be a whole other conversation.
"Good, have you checked your phone? Shannon called me moaning you had not replied to her and i explained you were at work to which she stated you shouldnt be working." Abuela explained.
"No, what did she want?" Eddie questions.
"She is dropping Chris off tonight as she is going to France for a few months, which means she won't be having Chris for a while. To be honest I think it's more so she doesn't have to have him, you should make her sign over her parental rights, it would make life easier." Abuela states.
He knew she was right and maybe he should, but that would involve court and heaven forbid Shannon would make his life a misery for it, she would never just sign them.
"Nah, you know she would want to make a scene and cause as much damage to me regardless of Chris's welfare. It works as it does now, let's just leave it." Eddie says.
"Fine, well you will be glad to know I have sorted out his room, fresh sheets down, my stew is slow cooking, so everything is ready for him when he gets back, I will stay in the spare room just in case. I mean he is off school still and you have work, so it makes sense till we sort out something permanent." She says and he knew it was a dig again.
"I know, I know, I will sort something I promise," he says.
Once they arrived home, Eddie headed to his room, he knew Chris would be soon here and he needed to make sure he was ready, once in his room he took his stuff out his pockets and looks at his phone a few missed calls off Shannon and a voicemail, and a text off a number he didn't know. He clicked on the text first as he knew what Shannon would have left in the voicemail.
'Hey Eddie or Marlin to which I have set your profile pic on my contact too haha, thanks for the help today, oh the team say to tell your Abuela thanks for the cakes they went down a treat. Hope grumpy Ruth wasn't too bad. When are you next in? Oh it's Buck btw I forgot mention'
Eddie chuckled to himself, and he had to admit it was nice to have a nice message from someone who wasn't from his workplace, he quickly replied as he could hear Abuela moaning.
'Hey Buck, thanks for the text, well I have set your pic to dory so you know haha, I will pass the message on to her, and it was ok, I didn't pay much attention to her just served how was or is your shift going? What time do you finish?'
Once the message is sent he quickly strips down regretting it straight away when his body aches, once in the bathroom he turns on the shower and once it is warm he just stays under the jets of water enjoying the heat, relaxing his body and mind.
Soon he is out the shower and drying himself off, he can hear people talking down the hall, which means Shannon must be here already, he quickly slides joggers and a vest on and heads out and follows the voices to the kitchen.
"DAD!" Chris shouts and embraces him in a hug.
He can see the look Shannon gives him and the angry face Abuela has, which meant there had been words already.
"Hey kiddo, how have you been?" He says kissing his son's head.
"Fine, glad to see your home and not injured." Chris says holding his dad tightly.
"Hey Shannon." he says gritting his teeth, they always stated they would be civil in front of Chris..
"Hey, glad you're ok, can we speak outside in private?" She asks.
"Yeah , Chris, go unpack and then get ready for some food, Abuela made your favorite stew." Eddie explains and Chris nods, heading off to his room.
He follows Shannon out to the front of the house, closing the door behind him, which he regretted as it was cool outside, not too cold considering the time of year but still cold enough.
"Let's get it over with then." Eddie mutters out, he knew she wanted to shout at him.
"Why didn't you answer me earlier?" She snarls.
"Well I was at work, so no phone was allowed on the counter. But you know that, always looking for something to argue about." Eddie snarks back.
"Look I dont have the time for your bs, I got things sorted." She replies.
"Oh yeah your trip away, well I hate to break it to you Shannon, but you have a son which you need to see so how are you doing that?" Eddie questions, he tries to keep calm.
"Simple, as long as you don't decide to blow yourself up everything will be fine. He has you and that old goat in there." She remarks.
"First, don't speak about Abuela like that, she is doing the job you should be, and with regards to blowing up, I didn't ask for the guy to come in and blow the place up, so i don't care what you want to do, Chris is a joint priority everything else can wait like trips." Eddie snarls, he is fed up now.
"Nah it's simple Edmundo, here." Shannon says handing over an envelope.
"What's this?" he asks, holding it.
"Well first its are divorce papers, which you forgot to sign before you left and second is my legal document waiving all parental responsibilities to Chris, so now he is your problem not mine, there is a letter and a cheque in there for Chris when he turns 18 to help start him on his adulthood and hopefully he uses it to get away from the freak that is his father." she states and starts to walk off.
"You gotta be shitting me, you can't do this, what about Chris what do I tell him?" Eddie says he starts to follow her.
"Whatever you want, the fact is his father is a freak who lied and used me but whatever I really don't care anymore, he is your problem now, not mine. This is all your fault, if you were just honest from the get go I wouldn't have wasted so many years of my life." she says getting her car keys out and opening the car.
Eddie places his hand on the door stopping her opening it, which he is met by a slap across his face.
"How dare you, you let me go or I scream, which will make you look worse than you already look." She says and Eddie concedes, he was new to the area and didn't want to cause a scene.
"Fine, but you know he will never forgive you for this and neither will I." Eddie says, watching as she gets in the car, as the engine starts the window scrolls down.
"I don't care, you are a filthy faggot and should should have burned in that fire." she says and drives off before Eddie can do anything.
He watches as the car vanishes down the road, he walks back to the house and see's Abuela move away from the window which meant she most likely heard what was said, he enters the house and just walks to his room, he hears Abuela tell Chris something but doesn't pay attention, once in his room he locks the door and falls on his bed tears falling, soon he dozes off the stress of everything that happened and the long day catching him up as well as his sore body.