Furious, Jennifer whirled on her heel and looked at her. Sapphire knew that livid yet smug expression, and she could feel the knot of dread in her stomach coil in pain.
"Well, it looks like you’re getting your way on this," her mother announced.
No, she wasn't, Sapphire screamed in her mind. Nothing was going her way. It never had, and it sure as hell wouldn't start any time soon.
"Make sure you're packed up by the end of the week."
Chapter two
"Willyoutakethirtyfor both?" The woman asked, holding out the folded money toward Sapphire.
They were standing in the small front yard of her home next to theFor Salesign. Sapphire looked at the woman's waiting expression and caught a note of impatience flickering across her face as she waited for Sapphire to consider her ridiculously insulting offer.
Looking down at the shining toaster oven which sat on the black mini-fridge, Sapphire didn't bother hiding her dissatisfied frown. A few years back, she had paid that just for the toaster oven alone. Looking back at the woman's now obvious impatience, Sapphire flicked her gaze to the man who shifted nervously behind her. Sapphire guessed it was the cheap cow's husband. His eyes, however, weren't narrowed with irritation like his wife. His were glued to Sapphire's breasts. Resisting the urge to self-consciously pull at her shirt in order to loosen the material, Sapphire quickly considered her waning options.
It was already nearly six, and tomorrow her mother was leaving for Mexico. This was her last real chance to get the last of her items sold. Although the shitty two-bedroom, frame house never really had much stuff, it gutted Sapphire to get rid of the few things she did have.
The mini-fridge and toaster had been a lifesaver for her. No more random men walking half-dressed from her mother's bedroom into the kitchen at night and eating all of Sapphire's food. Getting the little fridge and toaster oven for her own room had ended the routine of being unceremoniously kicked out of the dining room and sent to her room in the middle of her dinner just so her mom could have a date. The ability to store and cook her own food had given Sapphire a level of sanctuary in her room that she would never forget.
But despite all of that, she needed the money, and she couldn’t very well travel from Houston for three and a half hours by bus with a clunky mini-fridge and toaster oven—no matter how much she didn’t want to part with it.
Sapphire sighed and nodded, holding out her hand for the money.
Like a cat that stole the cream, the woman gave her a satisfied smile and handed her the money. "Come on, Fred, get the fridge," she ordered the man before hoisting the toaster oven under her arm and marching to their car.
The man moved to stand next to the fridge and bent at his waist, and paused. Glancing hurriedly to his wife and back to Sapphire, at her eyes this time, the man shoved a hand down his pocket and produced a twenty-dollar bill.
"Here, take this," the man said with an apologetic smile. "Fifty for all of it is still a good deal."
That's what I thought when I marked it as such, Sapphire thought but refrained from voicing. Giving him a tight smile in return, she took the money and watched as his face flushed a little in response.
"Fred!" The sharp disapproving sound of his name made them both jump as the woman stood by the car, giving both Sapphire and him a caustic look.
Sapphire didn’t even blink as she stared back at the woman's hateful glare while her poor husband huffed and grunted as he picked up the mini-fridge. Sapphire was used to looks like that from women. Resentful, jealous scowls from women whose men couldn't control themselves in Sapphire's presence.
Ever since middle school, the world around her changed as her breasts grew, her face softened, and her body began to fill out. Boys and men alike began to focus their attentions on her, while the female population seemed to unanimously hate her on sight. It was something her mother found amusing and told her to be proud of. That Sapphire should be happy, she inherited her good looks.
"You’d much rather be pretty than ugly, trust me. You think women have it hard in this world? Just try being ugly, too." Her mother made a scoffing noise under her breath. "I know a few girls who are ugly as fuck and are working their asses off every day for it."
Sapphire had rolled her eyes at that. She could never take anything her mother said to heart. Jennifer Waters’ version of hard work was anything that required clocking in every day and actually working for money. If a woman couldn’t get through life on her looks and by a man's wallet, then that woman was just a poor sap who couldn’t play the game of life right, according to her.
A cold breeze whipped through the trees and down the street, cutting into her thoughts and through her thin jeans and sweater. Sapphire closed her eyes for a moment and tried to let the breeze take the thoughts of her selfish mother along its current.
Turning back to her porch, she sat down on the concrete stairs. Earlier she had a folding chair and a folding card table that had been in the house since she and her mother moved in three years ago, but she had sold them already. So now, with her few remaining things precariously laid out on the tops of a couple of cardboard boxes in the yard, she sat on the cold steps and waited and hoped for a few more sales.
With her head leaning against the cool window, Sapphire watched as the fields of brown wheat-like grass passed by her on the other side of the bus window. Everything looked so desolate and dreary this far from the city. Maybe it was the gloomy February weather, or maybe it was her oppressing lack of a future, Sapphire thought with a sigh. Turning her head ever so slightly, she glanced at the girl sitting across the aisle from her. The strawberry blond passenger was finally all cried out.
Thank God, Sapphire inwardly groaned.
Earlier, Sapphire had watched the girl from her seat on the bus as her parents hugged and kissed the girl goodbye at the bus stop. All three sets of eyes glistened as the girl handed off her matching pink, hard-case suitcases to the attendant to store under the bus. Making her way down the aisle, the girl's large teary green eyes had invoked sympathy from nearly every other passenger until she finally settled into the seat across the aisle from Sapphire. As soon as the girl sat down, Sapphire could feel her inquisitive stare burning at the side of her face. She probably wanted to commiserate, no doubt thinking Sapphire was surely one of her fellow collegiate students bound for Oakes University in Stardust Cove.
Sapphire did not return the girl's gaze. She had kept her eyes purposely focused out the window and watched the girl's tearful parents watching the bus as they waited for it to pull away. Something her mother never even considered.
That morning her mother had parted ways with her on the front porch after handing the realtor the keys to the house. With all of her worldly possessions reduced to one duffel bag, a backpack, and an old, forest-green fabric suitcase, Sapphire had stood there watching her mother hand her own shiny new suitcases to the Uber driver.
Pushing her long, silky chestnut hair over one shoulder, Jennifer Waters gave the house one final glance as a smirk spread over her red lips. Sapphire knew what she was thinking without it even needing to be voiced.Good riddance, you run-down piece of shit. And goodbye forever, Houston.
Eventually, she had turned to Sapphire, and her smile warmed by a few minuscule degrees. Giving her one hug, she slipped an envelope into Sapphire's hand before whispering in her ear. "Take care of yourself."
