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Heavenly waved at the camera, and they buzzed her through the barred door without incident as she clutched her purse. It held exactly three hundred twelve dollars. Once she left here, she’d have eleven dollars and some change to feed her and her father for the week, but he would have his life-saving meds. Nothing else mattered. At least not for nine days. That’s how long she’d have to come up with the rest of the rent. It was a tall order, but she’d learned to flirt better at Bazookas. Tips were slowly improving. It would be all right.
There was a line at the pharmacy, and the wait took longer than expected. Finally, she reached the counter and smiled at the tech, who nodded and reached into the bin for her father’s meds.
He glanced at the invoice stapled to the cluster of bags. “That will be eight hundred four dollars and seven cents.”
She froze. “There must be a mistake. It’s always three hundred dollars and twelve cents.”
It couldn’t be more than that or she’d have to dip into her already depleted rent stash to afford it. And then where would the money to put a roof over their heads come from?
The fifty-something man shrugged and pointed. “This one isn’t covered by your insurance anymore. And this one had a price increase as of March first.”
He handed her the invoice. She looked down at the numbers. The bold black digits swam in her eyes. But the damning facts blared at her in black and white.
The cost of her living had just increased by twenty-five percent without warning, and she had no way to pay for it.
She tried not to cry. Where would she come up with another five hundred a month? Would she have to resort to stripping? Prostitution? She was already eating as little as possible and had whittled their living expenses down to nothing. It was impossible to find a cheaper apartment. She’d looked, especially after Mr. Sanchez had hit on her.
Heavenly swallowed. Panic encroached. The man behind the counter was staring. She didn’t know what to do.
Blinking, she forced herself to look at the numbers again. “I-I’ll take these two today and come back for the others tomorrow.”
“Sure.” He rang them up and took her money as if he wasn’t completely terrifying her. As if he wasn’t forcing her into an awful position.
She hadn’t even managed to wrest control of her trembling hands and get her change into her wallet before the tech was leaning around her and helping the elderly gentleman just behind.
After picking up the meds, Heavenly stumbled out into the last of the March sun. She gulped in brisk air, trying to find calm, doing her best not to crumble and fall.
Why the hell was she so alone in the world? Because she had no siblings to share the responsibility. No aunts or uncles or cousins to help her carry the load. Because her own mother hadn’t loved either of them enough to stay and bear the responsibility.
It had taught her a valuable lesson.
Beck and Seth care, maybe even love you. They vanquished Kathryn for you…
She bit back a sob. Yes, she could just picture going to them and begging for forgiveness one minute…and money the next. She’d look disingenuous, gold-digging, and heartless. They might have contempt. They might even hate her.
There had to be a different way. She’d figure it out, get creative. There were other opportunities to make money, right? Maybe she could talk to Nurse Lewis about cutting back her hours at the hospital for a few months…but she couldn’t until May. Her nursing school gave her class credits for volunteering thirty hours a week. She’d graduate faster and spend less money on tuition by getting this valuable experience now.
The world is a hard place, and I’m not staying when it’s only going to get harder. Take care, kid…
Heavenly pressed a hand to her chest and shoved back the final words her mother had uttered to her before waving good-bye and driving off for good.
Letting out a shaky breath, she reviewed her options as she made her way to the bus and slid into an empty seat on numb legs. She stared sightlessly out the window as she reviewed the facts. One, she had enough money for everything except the rent. Two, if she didn’t have her father to worry about, she would go homeless until she could scrape together more funds, but she couldn’t have a man as sick as him on the streets, and she wasn’t naive enough to think she could show up at the VA hospital, sob story in hand, and convince them to admit her father until she found someplace else to live. Three, Mr. Sanchez had given her a way to pay the rent.
She just had to be brave enough to give him what he wanted.
