Five o'clock was time to pick up the kids from day care. Always a good time of day, for some reasons that I would admit... and some others that I wouldn't share so readily. On the public side, everyone will tell you that watching your kids' eyes light up when they see you have arrived to pick them up, and them running over to give you a big hug and show you all the pictures they've been drawing, is enough to brighten even the most boring day in the office. And it really is true.
But an added bonus of picking up the kids that I wouldn't usually mention is to chat to the other parents... and specifically to chat to, and check out, the women. Yeah I know what you're thinking, these are mostly married women, but I know that everyone is doing it, mums as well as dads. We're only human. Day care is full of mums dropping off and picking up kids, and all the daycare assistants are all women. And like any group of women, they come in all shapes and sizes, some older, some younger, blondes, brunettes, redheads. And some that just really catch your eye.
Most of us parents are so busy we barely have time to socialize with other people, so when we do get together with the opposite sex we look, exchange some secretive glances, maybe we flirt a little bit, but we behave ourselves. Well, normally.
Now I said that this is always a good time of the day, but today was an exception. A meeting had run overtime and I was rushing in the car from the office, already ten minutes later than the deadline for picking up the kids. Fuck it. Another red light. Should I ring ahead? No OK, nearly there, I'll just grovel when I get arrive. The light changed, and I sped up the last stretch of road to the day care centre. I jumped out of the car and ran up the steps to the door and rang the buzzer, slightly out of breath. As I waited, heart pumping, I rehearsed a few excuses: meeting, roadworks, traffic lights...
But thankfully, it was Alessandra who answered the door. We knew each other fairly well by now -- she had looked after the kids for a couple of years now, including some nights of babysitting. Plus we had even been out for dinner with her and her boyfriend more than once. She was one of those people who was always smiling, fantastic with kids, full of energy, easy to talk to. We got on well. Anyone else would have lectured me about punctuality, but she just greeted me with a smile and a laugh.
"What's up, did you forget something?"
"Hey, sorry Ally", I said with an apologetic laugh, catching my breath, "I have a complicated life".
"Well, don't worry" she replied, "the kids are having a great time. They're out picking chestnuts -- look."
She pointed outside to the garden, where the kids were happily playing in the autumn leaves and gathering chestnuts into bags. Another day care lady was keeping an eye on them.
"That's great", I said, "hey, thanks for being cool even though I made you wait. Any of the other ladies would have told me off!".
"I still might do that!", she joked, poking a finger at me. Then she said, "Hey, how about a coffee for a few minutes? The kids will be happy out there for a while yet. You look like you need to take a break."
I hesitated, but only for a second. "If you're sure it's ok...? Yeah, that sounds great, thanks."
"Come on then." She led the way into the day care building, and I followed her. All the other kids had gone home, so it was quiet. As I walked behind her, I looked her up and down, as I had done many times before. She was probably late twenties or very early thirties, with a Mediterranean complexion, probably Italian or Spanish by origin, about average height. Her long, dark curly hair was tied up in a bunch and bounced around as she walked. She was wearing a long, dark green, tight-fitting woollen dress which hugged her figure, narrowly around her waist and then widening to accommodate the curve of her hips and her ass, ending mid-way up her thighs. Underneath, she was wearing black leggings, and a pair of pink trainers which didn't really match the ensemble but gave her a cute and playful look. I followed the line of the tight leggings as they disappeared under her dress, and gazed at the shape of her firm bum, which moved from side to side as she walked. What was it about the narrow waist, the wide hips and the ass that fascinated me so much? Some kind of ancient animal instinct, I guess. I shook myself, and tried to focus on something else.
Alessandra led me into the little staff kitchen. It was just a small room with a sink and a few cupboards, a kettle and a coffee machine, and a couple of chairs and armchairs where the day care staff could take a break and chat. At this time, it was empty except for us.
"Tea or coffee?" She smiled at me, and looked up at me through those dark eyelashes. She wore just a tiny amount of eyeliner to accentuate her eyes. I had always preferred women that didn't go overboard on the makeup.
"Coffee sounds great" I said, smiling back. She turned to face away from me, and turned on the coffee machine. I stole the opportunity to stare again at her figure. She turned back and I hurriedly looked somewhere else.
"Hey, so how's everything going?" I said.
We exchanged some small talk for a minute about work, where she'd been hiking at the weekend, but the conversation somehow quickly trailed off. I sensed that she wanted to talk about something, so I said, "is everything OK? You seem kind of thoughtful." I really liked her and I was ready to listen and help out if I could.
"Everything's great", she said. "Work's nice, but I'm pretty tired at the end of the day, looking after twenty kids is no joke!"
"Tell me about it", I said. "I only have two for part of the day, and sometimes I wonder how I'm still alive! I can't imagine how you keep it up all day, it's really amazing."
