Page 43 of Rejected Plus-Size Mate

A moment later, Cayden was gone, and I sat down with my bagel. I gathered my lunch and headed to work.

When I arrived at the daycare, I found a few kids playing in the front. A lady with a clipboard was watching them. The bell above the door rang, and the lady turned. She smiled as her eyes landed on me. "You must be Riley, our new manager."

I nodded. "I am. I'm a little early. Is Becky here? She said she was going to be showing me around."

"She's on her way. She normally gets here around eight. You're welcome to wait in one of the rooms if you want."

I nodded, looking at the kids there. They were playing with some toys in the corner by the window, giggling at each other. I couldn't help but smile at them.

"Do you need a hand with them?" I asked. I'd rather help than sit in a room waiting.

The gal's eyebrows went up. "Oh, well, if you want, I could use a hand to get these chairs moved to the eating area."

"Yeah, let me help." I pulled my jacket and purse off, hung them up, and then walked over and helped her move the chairs.

"So, Riley, are you new in Honeyville? I don't think I've seen you around."

"Yeah, sort of. I came down on a vacation with a friend and fell in love with the town."

"It has that effect on people," she chirped back with a smile. "Ayden has worked hard to make this a town worth living in."

I thought about all that Cayden had told me, how hard the guys worked to make this town what it was. The longer I was there, the more I understood it was a team effort. The guys worked extremely well together and listened to what the town needed. I could see it when I watched them all dressed up for the festival.

The bell went off above the door, and I turned to find a large black woman stepping into the space. She had long braided hair and a long black coat on. But as I took the woman in, I realized she radiated happiness, and the kids already here squealed with glee when they spotted her.

She smiled as she hung up her jacket and turned to her. "You must be Riley."

I nodded. "I am. Are you Becky?"

The lady nodded her head. "I sure am. And my goodness, you aren't what I was expecting."

I knew that it wasn't an insult because Becky's smile grew. "Let's show you the room and to your office."

We started walking down the hallway to some rooms where Becky pointed. "We have three rooms as well as the front playroom. The kitchen is down this other hallway and one of the three bathrooms."

I took the space to find pictures of kids lining the hallway. "Are these all kids that have been here?"

Becky paused and turned, taking the wall in. She nodded her head. "Yeah, we've had over three hundred children since we opened thirty years ago."

That was impressive, considering the size of the town. "Wow."

"Your office is down here," Becky said as we continued to walk. We stopped in front of a door, and inside was a small space. Like the rest of the place, it lacked character but was neat and tidy.

"Do you have any questions?"

I nodded. "Yeah, not that I'm not grateful for this job, but….why did you guys pick me?" I questioned it after she gave me the call and offered me the job.

Becky smirked. "Because you had all the right answers to our questions. That and I had a conversation with Ayden and Wendy about you."

My eyebrows went up. "You asked them about me?"

"In a way," she said with a shrug. "I asked Ayden if he knew anyone fit for the job, and that was when Wendy mentioned you. She said you handled her kids extremely well and knew how to handle tasks well. It so happened that your resume was on my desk that evening. I looked at your past jobs, and while they weren't extremely long, they all included difficult skills that you did extremely well. I called and asked."

I was stunned. I figured it was partly luck and not because I was the best for the job.

"You're not concerned at all? Considering I haven't worked in over two years."

Becky shook her head. "Not at all. If Wendy says you're a good fit, then I take that in."

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