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“Hello?” I asked as I smoothed my hair from my face. My hands and lower arms were covered in paint and I could only guess how I looked. I’d even gotten some on my robe, despite having rolled up the sleeves.
“Hi, honey! I’m in town. I wanted to see what you and Dylan were up to today.”
“And you didn’t let me know ahead of time?” I asked before laughing. We confirmed plans for lunch and shopping, and when I hung up with her, I glanced around the room and took a deep breath.
Tracey Andrews was like a shot of sanity just when I needed it.
Then again, she had a track record when it came to saving my ass.
I smiled and cleaned up before heading down to get Dylan and myself ready for our day.
Noa
I wipedthe sweat from my brow and ran my hand through the blue strands of my hair as I entered the grocery store. I hated walking on hot days, but the store’s air conditioning was a blessing.
I grabbed a cart and walked through each aisle, my envious eyes on all the things I wished I could afford. The cakes and cookies, even the soda. But I knew I could only get what we needed.
Once I filled the cart with the cheapest items I could find, I went to check out, happy the line was short. When it was my turn to set my items on the conveyor belt, I did so in a rush, ready to start heading back home already. The walk back with the bags would be a pain in the ass.
Item after item, I watched the dollar amount climb. Every so often, my eyes would shift to the stoic cashier’s face, her steady hands sliding the food, the tampons, the detergent down the line.
Twenty dollars. That was all I had in my pocket.
Fucking Tim.
The deal was he worked, and I took care of the house. I cleaned, I cooked, I did laundry, and I managed to get above-average grades. There was no room for me to get a job. But he’d been too drunk last night for me to get anything out of him, so I sifted through his dirty jeans and the twenty was all I managed to find.
“Thirty-six dollars and seventeen cents.”
I blinked up at the cashier, my face getting hot. Immediately, I shuffled through my pockets, pulling out the wrinkled twenty and patting my other pockets, knowing full well that was all I had. But it was all about the show, wasn’t it?
“I’m so sorry,” I said, willing myself not to look at the people behind me. I didn’t need to see the annoyance on their faces. Or worse, their pity.
I needed everything I’d planned to purchase. That was the worst part. I wasn’t frivolously spending, but I’d have to do without.
“If you could just take some off the—”
A hand came from behind me, holding up a card. Another hand shoved my crumpled twenty back toward me.
“I’ve got it, Noa.”
At the sound of Tracey’s voice, my eyes watered.
My items were already bagged, and Tracey handled the transaction as I gathered my purchases.
When my receipt printed, I took off. As soon as I stepped out of the cool grocery store and hit the muggy heat, I stopped, inhaling as much air as I could. My bags felt so heavy in my hands.
“Noa!” Tracey came up behind me. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”
“I’m so fucking embarrassed,” I yelled at no one, not facing her. “I’m so tired of living this way.”
She gathered me in her arms and I held onto her, my tears moistening her shirt.
After a few moments, she led me to her car. She drove me home without saying a word.
There were people who were genuinely kind. These people walked with arms extended, not looking for something totakebut someone to help.
Tracey was one of those people. She thought I was worth her trouble. And I wanted to be. I needed to feel like I was worth her effort and Dexter’s love. Because for so long, I’d been living as though I wasn’t.
