As the late November morning air wisped it’s away in through the window, blowing Joeys’ hair ever so slightly off her face, she shivered and rolled over. Reaching her arm out to try and make connect with something solid but only finding the edge of the bed, she frowned opening her eyes, slowly. It was true; he yet again left only for work with out saying goodbye. She turned back to look at the clock under the windowsill, the red flashing numbers alarmed her.
“Fuck!” she muttered grabbing her dressing gown off the chair, on the way out the bedroom door, “Riley,” she opened the girls room to find it empty so she yelled again, “where are you?” that girl is going to be the death of me before she turns eight, Joey thought to her self as she hurried out heading to the other bedroom across the hallway and opening the door, “Annabelle, oh good your up, could you help me find Riley!” Annabelle sat at her dresser fixing her curly blonde hair into a neat bun, she groaned as Joey left the room.
“Stop calling me Annabelle!” Annabelle hated her first name as much as Joey hated her own, but she never did tell anyone what she would rather be called.
“Sorry, we are in a rush this morning; your father forgot to reset the alarm when he left this morning!” Joey yelled back as she walked into the living room and found Riley in her pyjamas sitting on the couch, with a bowl of cereal in her lap, her eyes fixated on the happy cartoon characters that happened to be flashing across the screen that very moment. Joey groaned again, “how many times did I tell you eat at the counter please!” Riley was definitely not pleased at Joey’s order and stuck her tongue out at her, when she took the bowl away from her and placed it on the counter, “That’s very cute, now go get dressed pleased!” Joey smiled, but it soon faded when Riley stubbornly sat there not budging. Annabelle smirked at the situation and walked into the kitchen, heading for the coffee pot.
“Joey go get dressed yourself, I can take care of her!” Annabelle said sipping her coffee. Joey turned around and smiled a thankyou at her; it was nice to have at least one of his kids on her side for a change, she thought as she hurried back to her bedroom.
Annabelle took another sip of coffee before throwing the rest of it down the sink and heading into the living room and shutting off the television.
“Hey!” Riley tried to reach the remote control but her sister kept it out of arms reach, so she sulked back into the couch.
“What’s the matter with you this morning huh?” Annabelle asked setting the controller on the table and kneeing down in front on her.
“Nothing!” Riley glanced away; she just wanted to be fussed over for a change.
“Well if you say so but if you don’t get in that bedroom of yours and get dressed in the next six seconds, you can be sure that mummy won’t be picking up Matt on your way to school!” Annabelle stared straight into Riley’s eyes and used the best tactic ever, her best friend.
“You wouldn’t dare, mummy never does that!” Riley was alarmed now, Annabelle smiled; she had her wrapped around her little finger.
“Well scoot if you don’t want it to happen!” Riley jumped off the couch, racing towards her room, almost knocking Joey over as she came back into the kitchen.
“Since when do you drink black coffee?” Joey asked grabbing her own, as the both sat down at the counter.
“Since when can’t you control Riley?” Annabelle challenged back.
“Since never, so what’s your story?” Joey sipped her coffee; Annabelle shrugged, she usually liked to talk about new things in her life, especially with Joey but this was different, “Wanna talk about it?”
The opening of the front door, ended the conversation for the moment, Andie was here. Annabelle got up from her chair and grabbed her bag from her room.
“Hello?” Andie’s perky voice travelled down the hallway as she rounded the corner and spotting me sipping my coffee, “Where are my girls?” it almost sounded like she was demanding that I hand them over to her, Joey thought to herself as she stood up and chucked the rest of her coffee down the sink.
“Oh, I got this rope last night, and hung them from the rafters!” Joey smirked over her words as Riley bounded happy out to meet her mother waiting arms; Annabelle trailed slowly after, smiling at her mother.
“Don’t joke like that Jo, one day I might believe you!” Andie picked up her youngest daughter, “Hey sweetie, how was your time with daddy?” Andie didn’t bother saying goodbye to Joey, after everything that happen between them they kept each other at a distance. Annabelle waved goodbye to Joey but Joey had already left the room.
