Chapter 14

AMBER'S POV
THE NEXT DAY
"Stop running! You're not children!" Someone was yelling downstairs and I could hear footsteps running up the stairs. I rolled over and checked the clock, it was 8:23am. We had both overslept and the kids were going to be late for school. I tapped Mel on the shoulder as we both hurried down the stairs to get the kids ready and 30 minutes later, after much hustle and bustle, I drove into the schoolyard of Oxford Oaks middle school.
Maddie gave me a quick kiss, Danny gave me a side hug, Stacey and Ken Jr waved and Frankie acted like I didn't exist as they all filed out of the car to the main gate of the school. Oxford Oaks consisted of a high school, middle school and surprisingly Pre school also. The triplets and Mel's children were all in middle school but Frankie was a year behind so he was classmates with Stacey instead.
As I drove back to the house, I decided to stop by at Alfred's to get some coffee and snacks for Melissa who had wanted to stay back at the house cause of the bruise that had formed on her face due to her altercation with Ken.
Last night didn't exactly go as I had planned mostly because I couldn't control the agitation I felt when it came to matters involving Jay Harley. I was never really close to Jay while we were in highschool but somehow we had ended up establishing a bond much stronger than we both had bargained for and 10 years after, it still haunted me.
"Two cups of black coffee, yes. Little sugar. Okay. Thank you" I waited patiently in line as the woman in front of me kept on mixing up her orders.
"No, I wanted one cup of black coffee and one cup of iced coffee" But that wasn't what she had said earlier. The waitress was confused too,
"Ma'am, you had ordered for two cups of black coffee. You made no mention of iced coffee" the woman was furious,
"Are you trying to tell me I don't know how to place an order for what I want?" The waitress flinched and I had the drive to interfere but decided against it. I had enough going on already, it's best to just mind my business and few minutes after the order had been corrected, finally, I realized I had made the right choice.
"Amber Swift?" The woman spoke with a drawl that usually made my skin crawl as she turned around. I did a little mental shake and told myself to get my acts together as I plastered my most insincere but convincing smile and looked back at the person that had called my name. I was right,
"Pauline Harley, what a pleasant surprise" it actually wasn't. She couldn't see through my facade cause she had one of her own,
"It's so so nice to see you, Amber. It's been what? Three years..?" She gave a venomous laugh and I replied,
"Yes, actually, it's been four years. You've been good?" That should have been a rhetorical question or better still, I should have placed it well. She did look good, no, she looked amazing. And she knew it,
"I've been splendid, darling" Her looked over her shoulder and her very fake smile broadened as a man walked up to the line we were still standing at with a smile plastered on his handsome face, a face I couldn't possibly forget even if I hadn't seen it for over four years. With a familiar drawl, he spoke,
"Hi, Amber Swift. It's been awhile"
JAY'S POV
Mum was already seated at the dining table when I finally got ready and came downstairs. The scent of homemade food greeted me and I almost cried from relief. I had missed Doris cooking, it's not like Noah was a bad chef but you can't compare an experienced cook to a butler that specializes in making toast.
"You're up early, seems like I'll get myself a butler after all" Mum teased and I sighed, you couldn't possibly miss Mrs Angela's sarcasm.
"I would have recommended Noah but he's taken" I glanced over at Noah who winked at me, then added just to spite him, "Not for long though" Mum laughed,
"I don't think you're going to pull through with your plans after all. You're too attached to your loyal butler" Noah's smile broadened and I wanted to shove some pork into mum's mouth. What was the use of making the annoying butler know I can't possibly let him go?
"If you're done eating, you'd like to hurry up. You'd be late for the meeting" Noah gave a reminder and mum intervened,
"You're going to the company, that's good. Peter is away on a business trip but I think Pauline will be back tonight" Great. I still hadn't learnt the trick that enables you hide your feelings from your mother. She noticed my mood switch,
"Great. I haven't seen the twins in a long time, I haven't seen the company too. It would be nice to go see what's going on without Pauline breathing down my neck" I tried to feign enthusiasm when in actuality I wanted to lay in bed all day. I downed the rest of my juice, kissed my mum goodbye and followed Noah to the car. It was going to be a busy day and I wasn't sure I wanted to be a participant but you didn't have much of a choice when Mrs Angela Harley was involved.
"Take a deep breath and just smile. You've got this" Noah's pep talk wasn't really helping much but at least I knew I just had to smile my way through it all. As he drove into the parking lot of the building, I reminded myself to breathe. Noah noticed my mood,
"We'll be in and out before your siblings get back. Just relax, sign some papers, greet some clients. Before you know it, we're out. Okay?" I nodded to show I understood. Wouldn't be hard at all.