New York City, New York
September 12, 2018
I'd be lying if I said I slept last night. I kept periodically dozing off in class, but luckily I was never caught by one of my professors.
"Good afternoon, Olivia," I whisper while turning her light on.
"Good afternoon," she responds while quickly jumping out of her bed.
"Let's go eat breakfast!" She exclaims while pulling me towards the staircase.
"What are you so excited about?" I ask.
"Today is daddy's birthday," she says as if I were already supposed to know that.
"Oh! Do you want to make him a cake after we eat breakfast?" I ask.
"Yes!" She shouts while jumping up and down on the staircase.
"Ahhhh! That's dangerous, don't do that!" I shout, trying to hold her still as we walk down the stair case.
She laughs as we reach the bottom step.
"So, what do you want for breakfast ?" I ask her while walking into the kitchen.
"Hmmmm, cereal," she responds.
"All that build up, just for you to say cereal?" I ask and she shrugs.
"I love my cereal woman, got a problem with that?" She snaps and I shake my head quickly.
"I want to make my own," she says as I set the materials out on the counter top.
"Okay, I'll get a chair so you can reach the counter top," I pulled a chair from the table into the kitchen, setting it up for her to stand on.
"You know how to do this?" I ask.
"I might be three, but I'm not stupid," she is just all kinds of bossy today.
She picks up the milk first and begins pouring it into the bowl. I cringe at her actions.
"Why did you do that?" I ask while wanting to pull my hair out of my head.
"Do what?" She questions.
"Put the milk in first!" I shout.
"I did put the milk in first," she shrugs.
"Just carry on," I shake my head.
I clench my fist as she pours the cereal into the milk.
She takes her bowl to the table and sits down to eat while I begin making my cereal, the proper way.
"Milk first ehhhh," I sarcastically whisper to myself.
I eat beside her at the table before we begin making Connor a cake.
"He has all the stuff to make deserts organized in one spot, it's almost as if he knew we would try to make something for him. Do you know his favorite flavor of cake?" I ask Olivia.
"Vanilla!" She shouts.
"Okay, great, I'll play music too while we're making it," I pull out my phone and click "shuffle playlist".
New Soul by Yael Naim is the first song to play.
"I'm a new soul, I came to this strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit 'bout how to give and take
But since I came here, felt the joy and the fear
Finding myself making every possible mistake," I begin to sing along.
I turn to Olivia and see that she is giving me a funny look.
"What?" I question.
"You're a really good singer, Harper," she responds.
"Thank you Olivia, I took show choir all four years of high school," I explain as I begin to crack an egg in the vanilla Betty Crocker cake mix. After all the ingredients are mixed, I put the cake in the oven and wait at the table with Olivia for it to bake.
"Harper?" Olivia says.
"Yes?" I ask.
"My daddy really likes you," she smiles at me.
"Really? I don't even like myself. " Surely she doesn't know what she is talking about.
"Of course he does! Have you seen the way he looks at you when you're not looking?" She throws her hands in the air.
"If I'm not looking, then how am I supposed to how he looks at me?" I laugh.
"Oh, right," she finally realizes and we both burst into laughter.
After the cake is finished I remove it from the oven to cool. Once we have waited fifteen minutes, I find a butter cream frosting to cover the cake and a bunch of other frosting tubes to decorate with.
Olivia insists that I do the decorating, which is fine by me considering I worked at my Mom's bakery growing up.
After I'm completed, Olivia has a shocked expression on her face.
"How'd you do that?" She asks.
"I worked in my Mom's bakery growing up," I shrug.
I make a steak dinner for everyone.
Olivia and I found some spare birthday decorations we used to decorate around the house.
"Olivia he's here!" I shout while running to the front door as she follows behind me.
We hide around the corner until he opens the door.
"Surprise!" We shout in unison as we jump out in front of him.
"A surprise party of two people," he jokes.
"I'm kidding, thank you guys," he pulls the two of us into a hug.
We all walk into the kitchen with Olivia leading the way. The food is already on the table and the cake is close by. I found the candles from Olivia's second and third birthday. I placed them on the cake to read "23".
After our small celebration, I head upstairs to brush my teeth. But I can't find my phone, I must have left it downstairs. As I move through the dark hallway upstairs to get to the staircase, I am pulled into a different room.
The room has some lighting and I can clearly see Connor's face. He shuts the door and locks it before pushing me up against the wall. Kissing me roughly, yet passionately.
Things quickly become heated as he pulls my shirt over my head. Seconds later he has my shorts off as well, leaving me feeling vulnerable and insecure. I've never done this before, I managed to avoid having sex in high school. While all the other kids were out partying, I was at home studying.
Before things can go anything further there is a knock on the door. I run to hide while Connor who is fully clothed opens the door.
"Daddy I can't sleep," Olivia's soft voice says.
"Come with me, I'll put you to bed," he leaves the bedroom, closing the door behind him.
I sit on the floor and starting rolling around on the ground.
"Damn it, Olivia," I whisper, but, I can't help but laugh.
YOU ARE READING
When Rich Meets Poor
Romance"Or you can pay me $15,000," he gives me a second option. "Hi, my names Harper and I'm your new nanny," I extend my hand for him to shake, which he doesn't. I quickly pull my hand away. Harper Aspen was majoring in journalism/creative writing...
