Page 49 of Rejected Plus-Size Mate

Wendy shrugged. "Not really. I just mentioned you'd be good, and the rest was up to Becky."

"Well, whatever you said clearly made me look good."

Wendy smiled. "Riley, you were good for the job. Becky knew that. Besides, I heard all about you from Poppy when we got home after Christmas. You have a natural talent with kids."

"Same," Ashley said, nodding her head. "Ivy says a lot. She's always so eager to come to daycare. I've even heard the parents commenting that you've been helpful and answering their questions."

I blushed. I'd been working at the daycare for three weeks now, and I was trying to make changes where needed. I talked the girls into having an updated online system so parents could monitor their kids' progress. We discussed even having the kids start swimming lessons in the summer when the weather was nice enough.

Poppy hurried over to Wendy, throwing her arms around her mother. "Mom, guess what we're going to do! We're going to take a trip to the zoo next week." Poppy waved the letter we had given all the kids in Quinn and Hailly's classroom in her hand.

Wendy took the letter and scanned it. Her eyebrows went up. "You guys are going to the zoo? That sounds like fun."

I nodded. "They had been wanting to do that for a while, but they didn't have enough hands to plan it out."

Ivy hurried over to Ashley, waving the same letter. Both of the girls had been over the moon when we talked about it this morning.

"We are hoping to have a few parents agree to go as help."

"I'll chaperone," Wendy said, all too eager. "And I'm sure Ashley will."

Ashley quickly nodded. "Yeah, the zoo sounds like a fun time. I hear they still have everything put up for Christmas."

"Speaking of getting out, do you want to join us for girl's night? We're going to the new restaurant, Festiva. Gina said they have some good margaritas. We're all having the dads watch the kids, so we're going out and going to enjoy ourselves."

I was excited. I hadn't been out with the girls, really, minus hanging out on Christmas. I nodded. "Sure, I can meet you guys there after I close up."

"Great, we will save you a seat. We're meeting at seven."

The girls waved goodbye, and I smiled, looking forward to dinner.

I swept up after all the kids were gone and I locked up. I was out of the daycare a few minutes before seven. I drove to the restaurant and headed inside, finding the girls already had a table in the back. Wendy waved me over.

Gina sat next to Laura, and Ashley sat next to Wendy, who had an empty chair beside her. She patted it, and I sat down.

"I'm sorry if I'm late," I said, scooting closer.

"You're not late. Laura just got here a minute ago herself."

"We ordered you a strawberry margarita. We all figured we would have one."

"Sounds good."

"So, how have you been adjusting to the change in this town?" Laura asked, leaning onto the table. All of them looked at me, and I blushed. "I'm adjusting well. I love working at the daycare, and Cayden's been helpful."

"He's such a sweetie," Wendy said. "How is his sister doing? We haven't heard much."

"I haven't heard much myself," I said, suddenly feeling bad I hadn't asked her. However, any time I had, April had shifted the conversation back to me. She was avoiding us talking about her.

"She's actually going to be coming back soon. I'm sure she would love to meet you all."

"We look forward to getting to know her. We hardly knew that Cayden had a sister, so we can't wait to chat with her."

We continued to talk, and everyone spoke about their day. Wendy went on about her witch training and the struggles she was going through. Ashley and Laura talked about their trip out of town to find some new cameras while Gina walked about staying home and relaxing.

As we finished ordering our food, I asked each of them how they met their spouse. I hadn't realized they all had so much to overcome before getting where they were. The more I spoke with the girls, the more I knew that I made the best decision I could by staying in town. They all understood my pain, and it was relieving.

"You know, I've been questioning if this was all a good idea. Giving up my past life and diving into a new life…. it's scary."

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