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There were some fucking idiots that had grown up at the country club with me. Money didn’t make you important. It wasn’t a one way ticket into the world of the elite. Especially for people like me and Octavia. We weren’t rich. Our parents were. We were trust fund kids. Not exactly impressive.
But Bliss’s job was at stake and I knew I had to play the role. Keep my thoughts to myself. Pretend I agreed. I could question this all later. When I wasn’t standing here in front of a woman that was watching my every expression.
“Bliss isn’t like us. You’re right. She’s a farm girl from Alabama with an inferior education and very little sense of the real world. She lives in a bubble here in Sea Breeze. One she won’t ever get out of or hope to break free from. But that makes her safe. She’s a good employee and one we now know you can trust.”
Just saying all of that bullshit made me hate myself. It wasn’t true. Bliss had beat a disease that took lives daily. If she wanted out of this damn town she’d get out. She’d create herself. She would achieve any goal she set for herself. She would fight until she had it. I believed that.
Octavia nodded. “Good. I’m glad you agree.” She then let out a laugh. “The idea of her ever fitting into your world is ludicrous anyway. I guess I was tired last night. Being too sensitive. I should have known you weren’t interested in someone like her. I’ve never known you to settle for someone so beneath you.”
Bliss York
“BLISS ISN’T LIKE us . . . She’s a farm girl from Alabama with an inferior education and very little sense of the real world. She lives in a bubble here in Sea Breeze. One she won’t ever get out of or hope to break free from . . .”
Those words ran through my head over and over again. Long after I had walked away from Octavia’s office door. I’d needed to confirm a price on sandals she had ordered. That was it. Nothing more.
Yet . . . I’d been crushed instead. A pair of the sandals were still in my hand as I stood in the store front and stared blankly out the window. Farm girl from Alabama. I winced and closed my eyes tightly wishing I could erase that. If only I had waited a few more minutes before walking back there. I’d still be living in my happy bubble where Nate had watched me all evening and my heart had soared with hope.
This was my punishment. I shouldn’t have wanted him to watch me. To look at me. Because he wasn’t free. I had wanted to take Octavia’s fiancé away. That was wrong. This was what I deserved. The pain of knowing Nate’s real feelings about me.
He wasn’t the same boy from that summer. He was grown and he had changed. More so than me. I was stronger. Less naïve. The real world and its horror had touched me briefly. But the pain of heartbreak was new. I preferred not knowing how this felt.
I had been sheltered from so much. How the world saw me was one of those things I didn’t really know. Until now. I liked to think I was on the road to making a real life for myself. That my beating leukemia had made me strong. I wasn’t easily beaten down and I had goals. A lot of goals. When people saw me I hoped they also saw all of that.
Apparently, they didn’t. I was a farm girl, with an inferior education and no sense of the real world. It was a slap in the face and a knife to the chest. If only these damn shoes had a price on them I could still be in a happy place.
“Oh good you’re here. We need to add something to the window. A flash. A touch of what the others don’t have. White twinkle lights or the feel of Manhattan. Give the shoppers a taste of what they’re getting when they walk through those doors. Draw them in. The clothing isn’t enough.”
I still had a job to do. More so than before I had something to prove too. This farm girl from Alabama could impress them. I wasn’t an idiot. The pressure to do so however made me somewhat nervous. What if I gave her ideas and he shot them down? What if my ideas were simple? Just like Nate said I was.
“Don’t get me wrong. You’ve done a beautiful job displaying the best of what we offer. Kudos to you for that. Now we need to take it a step further. Give them what they don’t get when they look in the other windows. Show them why this store stands out. Why they can’t walk past it. Why they must buy something from Octavia’s.”
