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“Mom.” Brielle shook her head. She’d have to be a gold digger for that to happen, and even if it did, she wasn’t going to pop out a baby by summer’s end. She was already six months late with that plan. She shuddered.Kids are for years from now. Even marriage. I mean, I don’t even know anyone to date.
“I just mean that… Whatever you do, I need you to focus first and foremost on whatyouneed to do. On what will makeyouhappy. And I know for a fact working for me as a house cleaner for the rest of your life is not at all what you have in mind. Even if that might be all your majors prove good for.”
Brielle rubbed her fingers over her forehead. “Mom, I just graduated yesterday. Cut me some slack, maybe?”
Her mom held her hands together over her lap and shrugged. “Didn’t your friend Lilac have a job offer before she graduated?”
“Yeah, and she totally blew it all on a whim and is off to Florida instead of Minnesota. Something I didn’t even know until two days ago, by the way.” Brielle thought of the text she’d gotten from Lilac that morning, which had included a photo of her dressed in her Bohemian, flowy, flowery finest with sunglasses perched atop her head, even though she was clearly inside the O’Hare airport with cloudy skies apparent through the window behind her.So nervous but sooooo excited!read the text. Lilac hadn’t looked nervous at all.And really, movingthe dayafter graduation?
“So she hadtwojob offers. And your gay friend, too?”
“His name isGavin, Mom.” She shook her head. She didn’t think her mom was bigoted, but little slipups like that drove her crazy.
“Gavin, yes. You told me he got a job at a marketing company in Chicago.”
“He got anunpaid internship, but yes.”
“And internships are far more likely to lead to careers than cleaning houses for your mom. Unless you’re studying for the position of becoming a full-time maid.”
Brielle knew Mrs. Tanaka would hire her in a heartbeat if she charged less than minimum wage for the pleasure of cleaning full-time after Spark and Tigger, her two snobby cats. The thought sent shivers down her spine.
“That’s what I thought.” Her mom stood to go. “I’ll email you your weekly itinerary with directions to the clients who are new to you.”
“Oh, Mom.” Brielle held her shirt up. “I think I’m going to need a size up.” She could go buy a new pair of pants, but she wasn’t going to find this gaudy design on any other piece of clothing even if she spent the rest of her life combing thrift stores and garbage dumps.
“We don’t have any Larges right now.” She frowned. “I haven’t hired anyone in a while, so we only have the Smalls and Extra Smalls in the garage.”
Brielle grimaced. That would make things worse. She’d rather have a baggy XL if no Larges were available, but if even those were out of stock, then she’d be stuck with her too-small Medium. “Never mind.”
“I’d order you another one, but by the time it arrives, you might have a new job.”
“Got it.” Brielle also got the underlying “threat” there. How long did it take to have a shirt printed and shipped? Four weeks, if that? Her mom had to be crazy if she thought she’d have a new job by then.
“Okay… Can you have dinner on the table for your sister by five?”
Brielle cocked her head. “But you’re home.” She didn’t say the other words. The “for once.” To be fair, it’d been almost a year since she’d seen her mom’s daily routine at work. But graduation had taken place over a holiday weekend and the Scrubbing Cherubs actually didn’t disperse to dirty homes on national holidays, barring some emergencies.
Her mom cradled her forehead. “Bri, if you knew how much paperwork I have backlogged…”
“All right, all right. Dinner at five.” Brielle so wanted to go online for a pizza takeout menu, but this wasn’t school anymore, and she knew how her mom felt about eating out or paying someone to make your food for you. Every penny counted, and after you finished eating, you had nothing to show for those extra pennies spent.
Nothing to show except satisfaction and time better spent.
“I’ll eat the leftovers later, when I’m done. And make something… healthy.” She gave Brielle a onceover before stepping outside.
Brielle pinched the little bit of fat seeping out from her stomach as she slouched on the floor of her bedroom. She sighed.Maybe I ordered one too many pizzas at school anyway.
Chapter Three
“You know, it’spossibleto steam vegetables without them turning into rubber.” Nora pinched a limp broccoli stalk between her fingers and held it up to the light for a better look.
“Very funny.” Brielle let out an exasperated sigh and slid into the chair next to her little sister’s. Only she wasn’t so “little” anymore. One more year of high school and she’d be off to college, too. Of course, she still had to finish out her junior year. Brielle never understood why colleges let out practically a month earlier than grade schools.
Nora dropped the broccoli back on the plate beside her half-eaten chicken breast and three remaining grains of rice and pushed the plate forward. Brielle glanced at her as she picked up her fork, annoyed that Nora had “finished” before she’d even completed grilling her own chicken breast on the stovetop in the one—very small—frying pan her mom had that was easy to find. Brielle looked around at the state of the kitchen—dishes stacked in the sink, open boxes of cereal on the counters, condiments left out instead of put back in the fridge. If any of the Scrubbing Cherubs clients actuallysawthe house of the company’s owner, they’d very much doubt her ability to do the job.
Brielle knew better than to ever say that, though. She knew her mom could clean—she just thought cleaning her own house was a waste of time.
“Why don’t you clean up around here?” Brielle asked her sister.
