A single, ambitious woman whose life revolves around work tries to kick a single father out of a coffee shop with a crying baby. Surprisingly, she meets him again a year later, but this time the tables have turned.
It was a busy Monday night when Libby entered the cafe, ordered her favorite coffee and sat in the plaza overlooking the busy city streets.
A terrible day lay behind her. With the long meetings and projects with tight deadlines, she was hoping to find some time to relax before returning home for her yoga meditation and more work before bed.
“Thank you,” she said softly as a waitress brought her order while checking her daily planner on her iPad. More meetings and tasks were scheduled for the next day. Nothing special.
Libby put down her iPad, drank a hot coffee and looked around. She gave a disgusting look at the table next to her, where a baby was staring at her with wide eyes and mashed apples in her mouth.
Libby assumed the decent-looking man talking on his cell phone while his baby giggled at a stranger was a single father. Why else would he be sitting in a coffee shop at 7 p.m. in formal clothes and with a briefcase, feeding a child?
“Disgusting!” Libby muttered to herself before looking away.
Libby hated babies. She despised how moody and affectionate they were. But it seemed like the baby she called disgusting liked her.
Everyone has a story to tell. You can’t judge anyone until you know their story.
As Libby turned away, the baby began to cry, tears pouring down his cheeks like a waterfall.
“What a mess,” she thought angrily.
When Libby turned to face the table a few seconds later, she saw that the baby’s father was still on the phone, which made her even more confused. She’d had a long day at work and the last thing she wanted to hear was the baby’s screams.
“Excuse me!” she called to the man from her table. “Please calm your baby! He’s crying like he’ll never sleep again!”
The man turned and whispered an apology before continuing the conversation while rocking his baby. Nothing changed. The baby kept crying and Libby was so angry that she called the waitress.
“I’m a regular here and that’s the bare minimum you can do for me. Please move her to another table where I can’t hear the screams of that unruly baby! Or just kick her out! Whatever , just put them far from my eyes!”
“Excuse me,” the waitress said apologetically, “but as you can see all the tables are currently occupied and the only free seats are on the terrace where it may be too cold for the baby. I’ll speak to you… ”
The waitress approached the man’s table and said something to him, and Libby noticed the man put the phone down.
“Well, if she has a problem, she should be the one to move,” Libby heard the man say. “It’s not even my fault, but I apologize for the inconvenience.”
Libby couldn’t contain her anger when she heard that. She walked over to the man’s table and told him to leave the cafe. At that moment, the crying child threw some apple puree on Libby’s clothes, which made her even more angry.
“Jason, boy!” the man shouted. “That’s not right. Calm down!”
“Hey, look, I’m sorry about that,” the man said to Libby. “I can make it up to you and…”
“This is ridiculous!” Libby exclaimed. “Both you and the kid! I’m done with this place,” she said as she stormed out of the cafe, glaring at the man and the waitress.
Libby never went to the cafe again, and she hoped never to see this man and his child again. She despised him as much as she despised this baby.
A year passed and Libby found herself a handsome man in the company where she worked. Trevor was only a contract employee, but he was charming, polite, confident, and everything Libby had ever wanted in a man. He fell in love with her first, but she fell in love harder, and soon after found out she was pregnant with his child.
When her baby bump showed, Libby shared the pregnancy news with her parents, but the older couple didn’t appreciate it.
“We’d rather have you unmarried for the rest of your life,” her father said sullenly. “I don’t want this man to have anything to do with you or our family, Libby.”
“Your father is right, darling,” her mother said. “He doesn’t deserve you. He’s not in our class, and well, the baby…there are other possibilities.”
Libby was shocked. She expected her parents to be happy, but the opposite happened. Because Libby insisted on marrying Trevor, both were thrown out of the company – they worked for her father’s company – and Libby’s parents excluded them from the will.
A few months later, Libby moved into Trevor’s one-bedroom apartment because she could no longer afford her rent. Trevor was working for a small private company at the time, supporting her and her child.
Months later, when the little gift of God came into Libby and Trevor’s life, they decided to give her all their love despite their struggles. Trevor started working two jobs and Libby also started looking for a job.
One day she was called for an interview at a newsroom and she had to take Baby Eve with her.
Libby has loved writing since she was a child. So she was very excited about the interview. However, as she approached the office, the other applicants condemned her for being the only one carrying a baby.
“I’m afraid you won’t be able to take her with you,” the receptionist told her when her name was called.
“I’m sorry,” Libby said. “If I leave her here, she will be a nuisance to others. Please understand.”
The woman sighed and finally allowed her to go inside with the baby.
Libby entered the room not knowing what to expect. When she saw the interviewer’s face, she froze in shock. He was none other than the man she had been rude to months ago.
“Do I know you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he asked Libby to sit down. “You look familiar.”
“Well,” Libby said shyly, “we met at the coffee shop and your baby was crying…”
“Ah,” he smiled. “So we know each other. Please have a seat.”
Before Libby could say anything, Eve started to cry. And she just wouldn’t stop.
Libby was embarrassed.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry. I can’t leave Eve home alone and it’s just…”
“May I?” he asked.
“What?” she said confused.
“May I hold her for a moment? I think I’ll be able to calm her down.”
Libby nodded because she had no other choice. She handed Eve to the man and the little girl stopped crying as soon as he started playing with her.
“She seems to like you,” said Libby. “That doesn’t look like her!”
“I love babies,” said the man. “By the way, I’m Jonathan. Aside from being the company director, I’m a single father to my little boy. He’s currently with my sister. I don’t like leaving children to strangers.”
Libby couldn’t control her tears. “I don’t know how to put it another way, but I can’t leave Eve alone. I’m not in the best of financial shape and since I can’t get her to work, I don’t think I’m the right person for the position I’m sorry.”
“No, that’s fine. I’d like to know more about you. We don’t want to lose an important candidate. Please…”
Jonathan interviewed Libby and eventually hired her. He also allowed her to take Eve to work as long as it didn’t interfere with her work.
“I’m a father too and I understand,” he said. “Not to mention that, at the end of the day, we are all human, Ms. Walsh.”
Libby was extremely grateful to Jonathan. That day, she not only landed a job, but understood that life was more than just work.
Jonathan was a single father who handled most of the company’s duties and she had seen what a wonderful father he was. While raising a child alone, he also did his best for his company and those around him. He taught Libby that humanity always comes first.
What can we learn from this story?
Everyone has a story to tell. You can’t judge anyone until you know their story. Libby despised Jonathan and his crying baby. Months later, she regretted her behavior when she met the real Jonathan, the kind man who hired her and felt sorry for her situation.
life is a circle What goes around comes around. When Libby found herself unable to calm Eve, she realized how wrong it had been to despise Jonathan’s child.
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