Page 4 of Sugar Pie
The redhead interrupted with “get out.” She then turned to give Beauty the cold shoulder.
Beauty wiped her eyes. “Wait. What about my pay for the week?”
The woman gave a loud sigh, opened her pocketbook, and dropped a few bills on the counter. “After what you already cost me, this should cover what’s left.”
Beauty lowered her head.
I stepped out of the shadows and called, “Ma’am, the chandelier is hung.”
She rolled her eyes as she passed Beauty then stepped in front of me with her bag open. “Perfect.”
Then she paid me the two-hundred-dollar installation fee.
Beauty ran out of the room. I headed out to my truck and waited on the curb.
That day, I’d spent twenty-five dollars for gas and food, but I made two hundred dollars. It wasn’t the start of a million-dollar idea, and I needed to move more quickly. I had one more two-hundred-dollar job that day. I would have to get a better system in place to line up jobs for myself, but it was a start. I was in no position to help unless I broke my promises to myself on the first day of work.
Finally, she walked out with only her Coach pocketbook and nothing else. She had less than I did.
I stepped out of the truck. “I saw what happened. Do you need a ride?”
She shook her head. “No…” But the rest of her words were drowned out by a clap of thunder. She glanced up at the sky in evident distress, and her shoulders slumped. “Okay.”
I opened her door. “You didn’t need that lady as your boss.”
She hopped in and shook her head. “We both took her money.”
Right, except that wasn’t my life for long. I rounded the truck, sat in the driver’s seat, and started the engine, which made a horrible sound. “She’s someone I did a job for.”
She chewed on her bottom lip and didn’t say a word as I drove us away from Mrs. Morris’s house. Once we were on the main road, she said, “She paid you, probably more than me.”
“It’s a means to an end.” I tapped the wheel, and we headed toward the main part of town.
“To pay your rent.”
“I have bigger plans than that.”
“Oh, really?” Her gaze narrowed, and she crossed her arms over her chest, but for the first time, she had a gleam in her eye. “What is your big master plan, then?”
How much should I tell her?A trillion-dollar inheritance that I wasn’t sure I deserved, she surely would have laughed off as a bad joke. Maybe I cared so much about it because I was adopted. The fact was, that money bought me friends, and the truth didn’t seem the way to win her trust. I tightened my grip on the wheel. “I want to start a bigger business, so I need seed money. To get that, I intend to buy and flip a house.”
She let out a breath. “You make that sound easy.”
The town was small, and we passed city hall. Soon, I would be at my new place, and I hadn’t asked where she was heading—maybe I had unconsciously wanted to take her back to my place. I blinked. “This isn’t the hard part. What about you? Where am I dropping you?”
She didn’t say anything and rubbed the back of her head. “The cheapest hotel in town, I guess. I need to find a new job, fast.”
The idea of Beauty scraping by made my gut twist. My money could have helped her. “Another maid job?”
She shrugged. “It’s a living until I get my own master plan together.”
I wouldn’t let the worst happen to her if I could help. “I don’t have much right now, but if you need a place to crash that’s safe, you can take my bed.”
“No thanks.” Her face went white. “I’m not that kind of girl.”
Good.I laughed. “That’s not it. I’ll take the couch. It’s an offer of friendship.”
She relaxed her shoulders and smiled. “Ulterior motives usually start out with small niceties, and we don’t really know each other.”
