I just want to start off saying thank you to all of you that gave me so much love and support to continue to write this story.
Gavin Reid
This day wasn't starting out as he had planned. Gavin woke up hearing Lavender ask him if she wasn't going to school today. He had no idea what she was talking about. Why wouldn't she be going to school? In his sleep haze, he looked at the clock on his night stand and it read 7:45 AM? Oh shit! They were going to be late. He jumped out of bed so fast that he scared Lavender a little bit.
He apologized to her and set off to tell her that they were late and needed to hurry. So she can go to school and him to work.
He told her to hurry and brush her teeth and wash up while he picked out her clothes put them on her bed. Then he would come in and put her hair in a ponytail.
Lavender ran to the second bathroom they had in the hall. Gavin lived in a 4 bedroom, 2 bath house that he had purchased with Elle 7 yrs ago. There was his master bedroom, Lavenders room the 2 other rooms were his fitness slash home office and the last was the guest bedroom. Even though, they had plenty of space. He and Lavender never really had many visitors; Gavin wasn't really close to his family. He didn't really know why but they weren't all lovey dovey like most families he had seen. His family was always emotionally detached. His mother was never really concerned with the makings of really raising a child.
Gavin's mother got pregnant at 17 and had wanted to get and abortion but when she told Gavin's father he convinced her that they could be a family. But his mother had a dream of being a doctor but after only getting to graduate high school when she was already 6 months pregnant with Gavin she had to put her dream on the back burner. But after 25 years of marriage and 2 kids later his mother never ended up becoming a doctor and therefore blamed or regretted having Gavin and his brother Chris. Don't get him wrong, when it came to weddings and funerals and family reunions, they would all band together for the occasion to pretend they were a normal happy family not filled with resentment and distain.
He spoke to his parent's maybe twice a month. His mother would ask how he and Lavender were doing. Ask to speak to her for a little bit and that would be the end of the conversation. He didn't mind because he knew who Lavender really thought was her grandmother and that was Mrs. Roman he would second her on that the old woman was a better and more then a grandmother to her then her actually parental grandmother was.
Don't get him started on Elle's side of the family because after she left, they did too. He hadn't heard from them since Lavender turned 1 year old and had invited them to her birthday party. Elle's mother tried to be involved in Lavenders life for a while but after she started drinking again, she stopped caring for anything else. One day she called him to tell him that she'd no longer be stopping by to visit. She claimed that it was too hard to see Lavender; all she saw was her own little girl, lost to the world. Gavin at least had to give it to her for being honest with him. He knew that the night Elle left them, it would be just him and Lavender and if anyone didn't want to be apart of their little family, so be it.
He wasn't mad at all. He had all the family he needed with Lavender and Mrs. Roman.
After he lay out her clothes and her bed he hurried and got to his room and took care of his own personal hygiene. When he got out of the shower he knew that he didn't have time to dry his hair and he hated when his hair was air dried. His hair will be part poodle part shaggy dog. He knew he would look a mess at the end of the day. So he put some product in it and hoped for the best. Gavin rushed to his closet took out his gray pin stripe suit with a salmon colored button down; he didn't have time to be bothered with a tie. Once he was dressed he slipped on his Dolce & Gabbana loafers and went to see how Lavender was doing.
By the time Gavin made it to her room, she was dressed and was putting on her skecher twinkle toes with the velcro straps. Gavin looked at her Dora the Explorer clock that was on her wall and it was 8 o clock. They were running on time. He grabbed a brush and a ponytail holder from her dresser. As a single dad, all he knew how to do was a ponytail but you better believe he was the best ponytail stylist in town.
When he was done, he told her to get her coat and backpack and put them on and wait for him at the front door. Gavin got ready to do the same he grabbing his briefcase, a light jacket and keys. He rushes out the door. When they got outside, he realized that Lavender's school was 6 blocks away. On any given day it wouldn't be a problem but today wasn't the day it was already 8:10.He had 15 minutes to get lavender to school on time.. They would have to take Gavin's 2010 Q7 Audi, if they wanted to make it on time. Gavin didn't really drive much. There was times when he was ready to just sell the damn thing but days like today, he was happy that he hadn't. He walked to his car and opened the back door, strapped Lavender into her booster seat then got in himself.
Gavin sped and got Lavender to school in record time. He unbuckled her and asked the crossing guard if she would walk her to her class because he didn't have time to. She accepted and he watched her walk Lavender inside the building. Once the door closed, Gavin sped off. He still had time to make it work on time. Or so he had hope when he came across some traffic ahead. He decided to call his receptionist. He took his phone out and dialed the extension to his office.
"Hello, Idle Tech Industries. I'm Kimberly. How may I help you?
"Hey, Kim! It's me, Gavin. I'm going to be a little late this morning so if you could take messages of all my calls and if anyone stops by the office, tell them I stepped out unless it's really important".
"Sure Mr. Reid, no problem. How long do you think it will take you to get here?"
