Chapter 8: Chapter 8

As usual, my alarm woke me up and I nearly threw my phone against the wall in frustration as I was so tired. It took me almost thirty minutes to get off the couch as I kept setting five minutes each time on my alarm but kept switching them off over and over. I had to drop Kyle at his creche later but I still had work and I couldn't wake him now. He looked so peaceful in his sleep, so I delayed going to work early since I was the manager I could pop in after taking Kyle to creche. So I had an extra hour's sleep before I woke up again to get ready and make breakfast which was just cereal since I had to go shopping later for food.

"Morning," I said, waking Kyle up gently, he mumbled something incoherent, making me chuckle as I gently picked him up to take him to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

"Time to wake up," I said

"I don't wanna," he grumbled so adorably

"I know buddy but I promise we'll go for ice cream after school," I told him

"Really?" That sure got him awake

"Yes really, now brush your teeth," I said, making sure he brushed properly before he ran to the kitchen to eat his breakfast while I made the bed, laid out his set of clothes and packed his bag. He was practically skipping by the time we were out the door,

"You sure you didn't forget anything because your mom is picking you up today?" I asked him

"Nope, I didn't forget anything," he answered

"Alright off we go then," I said and started my Audi Q7

"Alright I'll see you soon buddy," I told Kyle, kissing him on the cheek once we arrived at his school.

"Ok see you tomorrow," he said excitedly waving bye as the teacher led him inside.

"Bye," I said not releasing today was Friday and I promised him I'd come over for a sleepover, I groaned completely forgetting about that promise. I got in my car and drove to work feeling drained and tired since I didn't eat anything,

"Morning Boss," Gary said, sexualizing the word boss, I shivered in disgust.

"Morning Gary," I said walking past him and heading to Lisa's office

"Morning Harley," she greeted me

"Morning, hope I'm not disturbing you," I said sitting on the couch opposite her desk

"Not at all, James filled me in on what I need to tell you and it was quite a shocker," She said in disbelief, making me frown.

"Am I that bad of an option?" I asked quietly

"Not that honestly, you're the best pick for this but I just didn't know he was handing over the entire business to you," she said in shock, I nearly choked on my saliva.

"I'm sorry what?" I asked

"Ya he wanted me to tell you the only reason he left was to get his cancer treatment and won't be back for months and when he does he wants to spend his time with his wife and children," She explained handing me a bottle of water that I accepted gratefully.

"Wow, I didn't know he had cancer," I said

"Me neither till he told me last night," she said sadly

"So he just said he's handing the business over to me and nothing else?" I asked

"He already signed the exchange of the business to your name, all you need to do is sign them," I was shocked to hear all this because I was not planning on sticking to this job for long I wanted to quit and find somewhere else to work. Now, this was thrown in my direction and I wasn't the quickest thinker so it was like a ball hitting me in the face, on one hand, I could decline and feel terrible for the rest of my life or accept and have the pressure of running a business on my shoulder even though I didn't study business. I was honestly stuck in a pickle because I didn't like being put under pressure and that's what a business brought, sure this clinic was quite busy but that didn't mean it would stay the same when I'm in charge.

"Chin up girl, you're not alone here we'll help you through it all," Sarah said reassuringly, squeezing my hand over the table.

"Thanks," I said, squeezing her hand back as I took a deep breath.

"The papers are ready for you to sign when you're ready, no rush, take some time to think about it," she kindly said, pulling out an envelope from a drawer and handing it over to me.

"Thank you Lisa truly you have no idea how much help your support is," I said

"Awe don't mention it love we have to stick together in this male-dominated world. Why didn't you take the day off to process everything I'll send you all the invoices for the day and we can discuss the rest tomorrow morning," she said

"That sounds like music to my ears thank you again," I said

"Anytime take it sleazy," she said

"Take it, what?" I asked with a raised brow.

"It's from a show called The Good Place. I'm sure you'd like it. It might help you decide on your answer," she said

"Ok thanks for the tip, enjoy your day," I awkwardly said

"You too," she said, I waved bye one last time and headed to my car with the envelope weighing a ton in my hand.

My mind was racing a mile a minute on my way home, I couldn't believe what just happened and when I tried calling James it would go straight to voicemail so I left about a hundred messages asking him to call me back urgently. This isn't what I wanted but it wasn't the worst thing to happen to me, quite easily put this should be a wonderful opportunity for myself yet why did I feel like I didn't deserve this like I wasn't good enough to handle this. I suppose that was just my insecurities kicking in and so I called my sister to see if she had anything to do with this.

"Yo, not exactly a good time right now," She sounded out of breath and I didn't want to know why.

"Did you have anything to do with James handing over his business to me?" I asked angrily

"Wow that old geezer finally did something right," she said

"Answer the damn question, Haley!" I said

"Cool your jets I had nothing to do with that, all he told me was he didn't want any more money from me I see this as a win-win so take it as is and don't mother me for the next couple hours," she said

"Don't forget you have to fetch Kyle at one-thirty," I told her

"Shit I forgot can't you fetch him?" She asked

"No Haley I'm not his mother you are and it's time you started acting like it," I said

"Ouch, what crawled up your ass," She said

"Just stop ignoring your kid this will affect him immensely if you don't change your ways," I said

"Way to kill my mood, but ya whatever later," And with that, she hung up. When Haley was seventeen she fell pregnant by an asshole who didn't want anything to do with her after he found out about it, she moved back in but since she and mom didn't get along Haley got a lot of backlash from mom about being irresponsible and falling pregnant at a young age and so Haley went rogue and we later found out she had depression and anxiety. The friend she stayed with told us she went to a therapist and I thought this was good for her to get things off her chest but a few months later she had a miscarriage and everything went downhill. I couldn't imagine the pain she went through as she was so excited for her first child, I tried so hard to be there for her but every time she would push me away in the meanest possible way but I knew she was just in pain so I stuck around because that's what family did.

I think she still thinks one day Kyle will randomly disappear so she doesn't want to get too attached and no amount of wake up calls could change that, I just hoped she could reach out to him before it's too late. As much as I loved taking care of Kyle I couldn't do it forever because he wasn't my child. All I was supposed to do was care for him when Haley couldn't and take him on trips like the cool aunt I was supposed to be, not take full responsibility for his well being like I was his mother.

Since it was only eleven I went back home to sleep a couple more hours because I was exhausted to the bone that I missed two of the alarms I set to go pick up Kyle.

"Shit," I cursed checking the time to see I was thirty minutes late, I hurried out the door and jumped into my car breaking almost every speed law in the country.

"Sorry, I'm so late buddy, how was school?" I asked once I got there, I probably looked like a crazy lady with my messed up hair and dishevelled clothing.

"It was good and I played with this new girl while I waited for Mommy," he said

"Oh really tell me about her," I said

"She's really pretty and funny and she said she'll be my friend," he said

"Good for you buddy as long as you had a good day then I'm happy" I smiled

"Where's mummy?" He asked

"She's busy at the moment so you'll be spending the weekend with me," I said

"Yay," he said happily, making me smile as I yawned trying to keep my eyes focused on the road. I quickly stopped at the grocery store to fetch a few things before we headed home.

"Can I please have it now?" Kyle begged over and over for some frozen ice cream I bought.

"Give me a sec," I smiled, placing the two bags of groceries on the kitchen counter. I took out the ice cream tub and took a couple of spoonfuls of ice cream into a small ball and gave it to him,

"Thank you," he said before he ran to sit on the couch and put the tv on.

I packed the rest of the food away and served myself a bowl of ice cream and sat on the couch next to Kyle and changed the channel switching to Netflix so he can continue to watch Teen Titans Go. It was nice spending these moments with Kyle almost made me imagine this is how it might be when I have a child of my own, after our ice cream I brought out a blanket to cover him since he was cold and he laid on the couch with his head on a pillow I placed on the couch. It was so peaceful that I almost fell asleep if it wasn't for my door getting unlocked and Cole barged in like he owned the place making a lot of noise with whoever he brought.

"Oh I didn't know you were still here bud," he said to Kyle, his eyes slightly red, clearly he has been busy today. What unnerved me was Lila coming inside with such a wide smile like she never did anything wrong,

"Girl why haven't you called me I missed you," she slurred practically putting most of her weight over my shoulder in a messy hug, she smelt of booze and I nearly gagged at the strong stench who got drunk this early.

"Wicked witch of the west, what do I owe this pleasure?" I asked annoyedly, pushing her off me.

"Ahh what's wrong boo I thought you're over Liam," she pouted trying to hug me again and I dogged her looking over at Kyle who was too occupied by the tv to care about us.

"I'm only going to ask you this once, leave now before I make you," I angrily whispered pointing to the door.

"What?" She asked sadly

"I know what you did and if I ever see your sorry excuse of a shell again in my house I'll rip you to shreds are we clear," I dangerously said getting in her personal space.

"Crystal," she said, tensed up as she left my flat in a hurry.

"Well damn she was my best drinking buddy," Cole complained

"And you, how dare you come back here intoxicated with that hoe?" I angrily whispered

"How am I supposed to know you guys aren't friends anymore," he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly

"Oh I so badly want to kick you in the nutsack but I won't so go take a shower hopefully that will sober you enough to think straight," I grumbled pushing him to the bedroom.

"Party pooper," he muttered

"Like I give a fuck," I said closing the bedroom door. I went to sit back down on the couch with a sigh, seeing Lila back just brought back unwelcome memories and watching cartoons with my favourite nephew was what the doctor ordered. At six I dished out dinner for Kyle who hungrily ate his entire plate and had seconds.

"Take it easy, the food isn't going anywhere," I chuckled, taking my time with my food.

"Mhmm," he mumbled with food in his mouth, after he finished eating he went to play on his iPad while I cleared up the kitchen leaving a plate in the microwave for Cole.

"Hey," he cleared his throat behind me while I was washing the dishes

"Hey yourself," I angrily said

"Sorry about bringing her over. I honestly thought things were good between you two and I just thought you needed a break from all of this stress," he sounded sorry for his actions but I understood it came from a good heart he was just looking out for me.

"Doesn't matter but ask me or just let me know before you invite anyone to my place?" I asked

"Deal," he said his usual lazy smile plastered his face, "Isn't Haley supposed to take her kid home?" He asked

"She was but she's still 'busy' as she says," I said putting air quotes on the word busy.

"Typical Haley," he said

"Did you eat?" I asked

"Nope hoping to come eat here," he said

"Your foods in the microwave clean up when you're done," I said drying my hands and headed to my room to get some writing done.

"Thanks for dinner," Cole came into my room after eating

"Anytime," I said not looking up from my screen

"Busy?" He asked

"Ya just a bit," I answered

"Alright then," he said and I thought he left my room only to feel the bed dip as he came to sit side by side,

"Oh, are you still busy writing that book?" He asked me

"Yes it doesn't just take a week to write a book you know," I said frustratedly

"Aight, still not reading it until it becomes a paperback," he said

"Mhm," I hummed, I got an email from Lisa earlier that I finally decided to open and read through. True to her words she did send me the voice notes of the day and a few pointers for tomorrow if I was coming in. I groaned out loud remembering that I still had to sign those papers,

"You alright?" Cole asked me

"Yap just dandy," I grumbled

"I know that frown line, you won't sleep unless you get it off your chest," he said

"James wants to give me his company," I said

"So that's great news, why are you not happy about this?" He asked

"Because I wasn't prepared for this and you know I don't like pressure as much as the next guy," I answered

"Those are just lame excuses Harley take the damn deal or you'll be crying you never took it in the next couple of years," Cole said seriously staring me dead in the eyes

"I was afraid you'd say that," I mumbled, exhaling a breath I didn't know I was holding. I switched off my laptop and placed my head on the wall looking at the ceiling hoping it had all the answers.

"Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and if anything goes wrong you know I'm always here to help you in whatever way you need me to," He said gently interlacing our hands with a squeeze giving me a bit of confidence boost,

"Thanks," I said leaning my head on his shoulder

"Anytime, just don't back out on my party though," he smirked

"Oh god don't remind me," I chuckled, making him smile.