"Hey girlie! How was day-care today?!" Eliza asked excitedly.

"Good mommy. Same as always... - I played with Ash today! We did blocks!" her daughter replied happily. She was always a happy girl.

"Great! I'm glad you had fun! Guess what? Today is your half birthday, and I was thinking, maybe you can get something small at the store! You didn't get much at Christmas... you can get something today!" Eliza said.

"Really! Yay! Can I get a Beanie Boo? Ash has lots of them!" her daughter exclaimed.

"Sure! I can't promise 'lots' of them though. I'm sorry, sweety" Eliza said and sighed. She felt terrible that she couldn't get her perfect daughter more than 3 Beanie Boos since she was two. "you can get one special one, though. Ok?".

"Yeah! That's amazing! Yes!! Thank you so much, Mommy!!!!!!" Phillipa yelled. Eliza felt warm inside. Anything her daughter did made her smile. Her perfect little Phillipa.

"Lets go then!" Eliza whispered screamed, and let her daughter out of her car seat.  "Stay right next to me, and then we can go to the Beanie Boos at the end. Ok?" Eliza said as they walked into CVS. "Ok Mommy!" Phillipa responded. 

Eliza was checking out the hair products, because they needed more shampoo and conditioner. They had used the same bottle for, what was it now, 5 months? For two people, and both with long, knotty hair, that was a long time. But Eliza couldn't afford to get one once every month. They were too expencive. 

Eliza went to grab Pippa's hand, but urned around to see she wasn't there.

"Pippa? Pippa?! Phillipa?!" she called over and over. Then she heard a  'ump!' and looked down the next isle to see her daughter on the floor, rubbing her head. But there was a man in front of her. Eliza couldn't make out the face.

"Woah! You ok there, kid?" the man asked in a kind voice. Eliza could've sworn it was familiar.

"Phillipa? PIPPA OH MY GOD ARE YOU OK?!?!" Eliza yelled, running over to her daughter.

"Yeah, Mommy. I saw a pretty picture, and then you where gone! When I heard my name I started running, and I bumped into this guy!" she exclaimed, like she was recalling an extreme adventure.

"Really? I'm sorry, hun. Lets go get your toy now, I finished my shopping." Eliza said. 

"Yay!" her daughter yelled.

"Oh! Thanks for, you know, not stealing my kid. Have a nice-" Eliza said, but then cut herself off when she saw his face.

"Oh my god..." she breathed.

"E-Elizabeth?!" the man said.

"Alexander" Eliza said coldly, all the memories she tried so hard to forget coming back to her. 

"Wow! We haven't seen each other in..." Alex trailed off, forgetting.

"About 6 years, Alexander. 6 freakin years. 6 terrible years. 6 years that I have been trying to raise my daughter BY MYSELF. YOU DIDN"T EVEN COME BACK! YOU JUST LEFT! HOW DO YOU THINK I FELT? YOU PROBABLY THOUGHT 'oh, life is gonna be better apart, bla bla bla' WELL GUESS WHAT? IT ISN'T! I HAVE A SHITTY JOB, A SHITTY BOSS, A SHITTY HOME, AND A SHITTY LIFE! THE ONLY THING THAT BRIGHTENS MY DAY IS MY LITTLE GIRL, AND MY ONE FRIEND. I BLAME YOU FOR EVERYTHING SHITTY THING THAT HAPPENED TO ME IN MY LIFE! THAT IS NOT A GOOD THING!" Eliza yelled, really getting pissed. 

"The one thing you did that made my life better, was this little girl. She makes me laugh everyday, and helps me cope with everything that happens during my day. But that is it. YOU RUINED MY LIFE, ALEXANDER!!!!" she said a little more calmly. She had started to tear up earlier, so now she was fully crying.

"Eliza...I'm sorry, so so sorry. I have a question, though." Alex said calmly

"What? What the hell do you possibly have to ask?" Eliza spat.

"S-she's... mine?" he asked, breaking a little.

Eliza started crying more. She didn't realize she had spit that out. So she just nodded her head.

"C-can I speak to her?" He asked slowly. Eliza only nodded her head. Alex didn't deserve it, but she didn't know what to do at this point. She was fully crying, yelling at a man, in the middle of a CVS. She honestly didn't care anymore.

"H-hi! I'm Alex. What's your name?" Alexander asked the young girl.

"Phillipa! Well, my friends call me Pippa! Do you wanna be my friend?" the innocent girl asked.

"Of course, Pippa. I'm back home. Your mother may not like this, but I will always be here for you. I'm so, so sorry" he said, breaking apart. Then, he hugged the small child. 

But then the manager walked up to them.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, sir. But you have to leave, you are disrupting the store. I can tell you are all having a ruff time, though. Whatever you have in your hands now, you can take on the house.

"But, Mommy! What about my Beanie Boo?" Pippa asked.

"Hi, young lady! You wanted a toy? Your mom was going to buy it?" he asked 

"Oh... I forgot about that. We'll just get you one tomorrow, ok?" Eliza said.

"No, no! She can pick one out and you can get that one free too. I feel like I can trust all of you. Have a nice day, and get better!" he said, and started to walk away.

"Oh! th-thank you so much sir! Eliza called after him. "C'mon, Pip" Eliza said, and started walking to the Beanie Boo section. 

Alex met them at the door.

"What do you want? Please, I'm tired and stressed, I just want to go home." Eliza said to Alex as he followed them to her car.

"I'm sorry. I know that's not enough though. Just- look. Here's my new number. One day soon, call me? I want to get to know my daughter. Bye, Eliza. I love you." Alex said, and walked off.

"Bye." Eliza muttered, and drove off.

FIRST CHAPTER OUT! I'M EXCITED TO WRITE THIS BOOK! I'LL DO A FLASHBACK NEXT CHAPTER SO YOU CAN UNDERSTAND BETTER. BYE!