"Know this:

you can start over, each morning."

◆ ◆ ◆

Morning sunlight peers through my window as I look through the box labeled 'clothes'. "Hurry Daisy! I made french toast and we have to meet Mr. Ricci at his house in 50 minutes." My mom yells from downstairs.

"I'll be down in a minute!" I yell back. I grab a fitted white t-shirt and jeans accompanied by navy blue nikes. I look in the mirror at my frizzy, curly hair and slick it back into a bun. When I run downstairs I see my mom pouring herself a cup of orange juice.

"Morning mama." I say cheerfully and grab a plate. I take a bite and hum gleefully. "Did you do something different to these?" I ask my mom.

"I added a little more vanilla. Like it?" I nod and grab a cup to get orange juice. When I turn back around I notice something I didn't notice before. My mom has on a white shirt with a picture of her and I holding flowers that says "Angela's Gardening Services" and has her number on the bottom.

"Hey mom, when did you do that?" I ask, pointing at her shirt.

"Oh yeah! I got shirts." She says excitedly.

"Yes, but why?"

"Well I decided that since we moved, we're kind of starting over in a way and we've never had shirts before so I got shirts. It also makes me feel like a professional business woman." She explains it like she's offering a new plan to her boss and really hopes they like it.

"I like it, but did you have to use the picture with me on it?" I groan and put my dishes in the sink.

"Oh hush! Now put this one on." She grabs a shirt from out of the box, checks the size and tosses it to me. We begin the half hour drive to Mr. Ricci's house.

• • •

When we arrive at the house I notice my mom wasn't exaggerating when she said he was loaded. My mom parks across the street and double checks the address that was sent to her. After verifying that it was the right house we walk up to the door and I knock firmly three times.

"Don't knock so hard, they might think we're the police or something." My mom tells me.

"You're taking this way too seriously, I knocked hard enough so they could hear us!" I say leading to me and my mom bickering back and forth until a woman holding cleaning supplies opens the door, causing my mom and I to stop abruptly and smile at the woman.

"Are you here for Antonio?" The woman asks in a sweet southern accent.

"Is that Mr. Ricci?" My mom asks, the woman nods.

"Antonio!" The woman shouts and a man at least 6' feet comes to the door dressed in an expensive suit. He flashes his diamond studded watch when he rubs his freshly shaved face, his slightly gray hair is perfectly styled. I am mesmerized by his watch until he speaks and breaks me out of my trance.

"Thank you Mable. You must be Ms. Jones! Nice to meet you." He says in a welcoming tone while extending his hand to shake my mother's.

"Nice to meet you as well and please call me Angela." My mother shakes his hand then he looks over at me.

"And who might you be?" He smiles and reaches to shake my hand. Before I can respond my mother interjects.

"This is my daughter Daisy."

"What a fitting yet beautiful name, nice to meet you as well." He says.

"Tell me about it." I mutter under my breath but quickly recover when my mother glares at me. "Nice to meet you too."

"Come in, come in. Let's go to my office." He leads us down the hallway to two big wooden doors and opens them simultaneously. We sit in front of his desk and watch as he walks behind it then sits.

"So I understand that you have been doing this for a while?" He asks looking at my mom. "And you help?" He asks turning his attention to me.

"Yes, I have been doing this for a little over 20 years, before she was even born and as soon as she was old enough she helped." My mom smiles and rubs my hand in a loving way.

"That is very sweet. Are you aware of how I found out about you?"

"No I never really asked but we were moving here anyways so I wondered why not give it a try." My mother answered a little too honestly but it seemed not to faze Mr. Ricci.

"The man you used to garden for, Mr. Dave Michaels, a good friend of mine. He knew I was looking for a gardener and I only hire the best of the best, he assured me that not only were you the best of the best but you were conveniently moving to Jersey. Now, I've done business with him for a very long time and not once has he ever let me down but since you will be the one working for me I need you to assure me that this won't be the first time he let me down." He eyes my mother, his quick shift from welcoming to strict business man is intimidating.

"I can assure you, he still hasn't let you down." I say before my mother could speak, the glint of doubt I saw behind her eyes let me know that I needed to interject. He smiles at me them reaches his hand out towards my mother.

"Well then, I guess that does it. You're hired!" Just then a boy walks in, he has a strong resemblance to the man in front of me, good genes must run in the family. He looks slightly older than me, maybe a year or two.

"Where are my keys?" He says, angrily. Mr. Ricci looks embarrassed at his sons outburst.

"Can't you see I'm in the middle of something, son." Mr. Ricci says through his teeth, trying not to show his anger.

"Hello." Mr. Ricci's son says smiling and shaking my mother's hand, nodding at me. "Now where are my keys?" He says, back to his irritated tone.

"We will discuss this in a moment, these two were just about to go anyways." The boy angrily walks out the door. "I am so very sorry about his behavior, that's my son." He says apologetically.

"It's ok, I know how kids are, especially teenagers. Daisy just 18 and I've been there with her before." My mom laughs and I glare at her.

"Well , my son is almost 21 so he has no excuse but I must be going. Email me your preferred work schedule and pay, we'll work from there." He says and walks us out.

"I'm rarely ever any trouble." I say to my mom once we get in the car. She looks at me and chuckles.

"Oh I know, but sometimes it makes people feel better. But who cares about that we just got a job, lets go get ice cream to celebrate!"

• • •