60-Day Evaluation

My head is spinning. I honestly don't know were to start. I guess I should start with work since that was the thing I was most nervous about when I posted yesterday. I didn't know how I would face Penny after what she did and I didn't know how she would react around me. I didn't want to create an environment at the day care that was unbearable.

When I went into work, both Penny and Nadine were already surrounded by kids. It would take about five minutes before I had Alexis settled in and for Nadine to come over to me and see how we were doing. "It's a ad chilly in here," she whispered as she glanced at Penny. "She hasn't said anything more than she needed to this morning. I haven't got a chance to find out what's up with her."

"I'm betting it has something to do with the fact that she thought she was screwing around with my man and it turns out she wasn't."

"WHAT!?!?!" Nadine's jaw dropped. "How do you know this? Wait! How could she think it was Reed and it not be?"

Out of the corner of my eyes I saw Penny heading over our way. "Couldn't wait to tell everyone about it, could you? I bet you think you are all that but I have news for you, you are nothing. If you weren't here no one would even notice." She spun around and stomped back to the kids that she was helping before I could say anything.

"Oh you have to tell me more about this later," Nadine said before breaking away to go see what the group of kids were doing in the far corner of the room.

I have to admit, it probably wasn't the best place or time to mention anything to Nadine but damn it, I wanted to tell someone. I needed to talk to someone. Since it happened Reed has pretty much not left me alone for five minutes, I'm not sure what that's about but it was starting to get to me. I know he wants to know more about this but I don't know anything more than I've told him and I'm not going to suddenly remember something. I know he wants to be around me because he needs someone to talk too or to bounce stuff off but sometimes I need some time for other things. Thank God we had his mom over to supper last night, he got to direct all his unanswered questions at her.

It's needless to say work was uncomfortable and I was glad that it was over. I was getting Alexis ready to go when Charlie came out of her office and reminded me that we had a meeting. So instead of walking out the front door like I was looking forward too, I headed down the hall towards Charlie's office. Once inside, I set Alexis down on the floor with some toys and went over to sit with Charlie in the same arm chairs that we sat in the say we first met.

I couldn't believe how nervous I was as I sat there watching Charlie as she went through my file. "This is really just a formality," she said finally. "I like to check my staff's progress after 60 days because think that it's enough time to know if we want you to continue with us or not and you know by now if you want to be here. So with that said," she tossed the file on her desk and turned to me. "I have to say I wasn't sure what I was getting into when Devon first came to me about giving you a chance. You didn't have any work history, no references and besides the experience with your little girl, you didn't seem to know what you were doing." I fought the urge to look away when she said that, I didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

She seemed to pause for dramatic effect. "But you surprised me, what you lacked in work experience you made up for in your willingness to learn and your creative ways to keep the kids entertained while learning various social skills that we love for them to develop at this age." She smiled at me as Alexis crawled over and sat at my feet. "It's been a real joy having you and Alexis join our day care and I hope that we get to enjoy your company long after Alexis has moved on to school."

I couldn't believe it, I thought it would be so different from what it actually was, I expected her to sit there with this form, ask me all sorts of questions and then make me sit there while she figures out how I did. Ok, so I obviously don't know much about how the 'real' world works.

"Now," Charlie smiled at me. "Is there anything that you would like to add?"

"I would like to say that I love working here, it's been so much fun and I've learnt so much. I would like to think you for giving me the chance to do this, you have no idea how important this was to me..." I paused, not really sure if I should get into the whole thing with Penny.

"Is something wrong?" She asked. "I kind of hear a but on the end of that and I'm not sure I like it."

I sighed. "As much as I love working here, working with the kids, I'm not sure if I can do so with the same enthusiasm as before."

"Why do you feel that way Amber? Are you unhappy here?" Charlie sat back in her chair, she looked like she was disappointed and I hated that.

"No, it has nothing to do with the job really, I just...well..." I sighed. "Some thing has happened outside of work that makes it hard for me to trust one of my co-workers; I wish it wasn't this way and I wish there was something I could do about it but I don't know what to do."

Charlie looked away and then turned back to me. "What did Penny do now?" She almost rolled her eyes when she asked that.

"Well...see..."

"Amber just tell me what she did, don't worry about it going pass these walls; everything you say here is confidential."

I took a deep breath, "For a couple weeks now I've been receiving calls late at night. At first I didn't know who it was only that they were claiming that my boyfriend - Alexis' father was cheating on me with them." Charlie's eyes widen as I spoke but she didn't say anything. "I didn't believe it because each time she called, I knew where Reed was and I knew that he wouldn't cheat on me; he just got me to let him back into our" I pointed to Alexis and me "lives so I knew he wouldn't blow something he worked so hard for."

"Then last week she called again, whispering still so I couldn't tell who it was; she insisted that Reed was with her and I even heard a guy's voice. Reed wasn't in bed with me because he had gone to check on Alexis an hour earlier and I almost started to believe her; the guy sounded so much like Reed it was uncanny. I ended up going down stairs to check on Alexis while I was on the phone and found Reed sleeping on the couch with our daughter in his arms. When I told her this she started to freak out, talking in her normal voice and I knew right away it was Penny. I just..." I shrugged.

"I don't know who the guy was that she had with her, she insisted still that it was Reed but there is only one Reed and he was with me. I'm not even going to go into who I think it could be because it's all just speculation but the thing is, I don't think I can work with Penny anymore knowing that she purposely got involved with a guy she thought was Reed, without any consideration for me or the daughter we have together."

Charlie was now sitting back in her chair with her eyes closed and her head in her hand as she let my words sink in. For the longest time she didn't move or speak. I wasn't sure if I should've told her all of this but I felt that she needed to know what was going on, especially since she did give me a chance in the first place.

"I don't want to leave," I told her. "Reed told me that I shouldn't let Penny ruin this for me but I don't know what else to do."

"This is..." Charlie shook her head. "I knew there was something going on with Penny but she wouldn't tell me what it was, my son couldn't even tell me." I gave her a confused look and she frowned. "You didn't know that Colin is my son?"

I gasped. I had no clue that Colin was remotely related to Charlie. Suddenly the room seemed hot and stuffy. "I'm so sorry," I whispered. Although she told me not to be, I couldn't help but feel terrible to be the one to tell her that Penny was cheating on her son.

"I suspected Penny was cheating on Colin for a while now," she admitted. "I was just waiting for her to slip up." Charlie reached out and squeezed my hand. "I'm sorry that she put you through this, I don't want you to worry about anything. I'll take care of Penny."

I asked her what she was going to do and she told me something she wanted to do for a long time but didn't because Colin asked her not too, she wouldn't tell me what that was but I was pretty sure it would end up with Penny searching for a new job. I just hope she has work related reasons to fire her.

When I got home last night, Reed was waiting for me. "So?" He took Alexis from me and set her down before he turned to help me with the diaper bag. "How did it go with Charlie?"

"What time is your mom coming over?" I asked him as I headed to the kitchen to start on supper.

"Don't change the subject," he said as he followed me into the kitchen. "I want to know how your day went."

"It was tense and uncomfortable," I told him as I walked over to the stove where I was surprised to find that he had already started supper. "You did this?" I motioned to the various pots on the stove.

"Yes, I did." He told me that he needed something to keep his mind off his possible brother while he waited for me to get home. "I hope that was ok, I followed the recipe exactly, so it sound be ok."

"Oh Reed!" I turned and threw my arms around his neck, hugging him tight. "I love you so much." He chuckled and made a comment about if he had only knew that cooking was all it took, he would've saved himself a lot of trouble in the last couple months. I laughed, "It's not all it takes," I kissed him before continuing. "But it does help a lot."

Dinner will have to wait until tomorrow, life is getting in the way of my storytelling.