Page 3 of Redemption
I stood up, pacing—a habit I couldn’t break while on the phone.
“Look, nothing you say is going to change this. Sell it to someone else. I didn’t want to do this, but it is what it is.”
Silence.
“Fuck you.”
I heard it first in my left ear, then through the phone in my right. I turned to see Sophia, the cute, soft-spoken woman, glaring at me like she wanted to claw my eyes out.
“Henry?” I teased.
Sophia stormed past me, grabbed my coffee and pastries, and threw everything into the sink behind the counter.
Then she turned back, angrier than before, fists clenched.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” she demanded.
“What is there to say?”
“You’re an asshole,” she snapped.
“Sophia, that’s no way to talk to a customer.”
“You aren’t a customer. You’re a freeloading broke dick.”
I took a step toward her and spoke calmly. “I’m not broke, or a freeloader. I’m actually very rich, and my?—”
“Yet you can’t afford a three-dollar coffee? Oh, look at you, Mr. Fucking Moneybags. Get the hell out of here, or I’ll call the cops.”
I laughed. “What are they going to do? Arrest me because you gave me coffee for free?”
“What the cops do depends on what I say you did.”
“What are you going to say Sophia? That I grabbed you? Bent you over the counter and forced you to make me coffee? Relax.”
She silently picked up the café’s phone and started dialing.
The door chimed as I hurried out into the cold morning air and down the street.
I needed to figure out a way to get as much money as possible, which would be a challenge without doing anything illegal, The sun hadn’t even risen yet, but I was ready for a drink.
Sophia
Iheard the stairs creak and expected a knock from Henry. Instead, my bedroom door flew open, nearly causing me to ruin my mascara.
“The men in this town only care about fishing and beer,” Emma said as she barged into my room.
“They care about more than that. You just have to get to know them,” I counted off with my fingers as I finished my eyelashes. “They also like sitting on their ass all day, doing the bare minimum to get through life, Hmm, what else?” I tapped my lip as if thinking of more desirable qualities.
Rolling her eyes, Emma handed me a box. “Henry gave this to me downstairs.”
Excitement washed over me. “It's finally here!”
Light spilled in through the small circular window above my bed. The room was always filled with dust, but just before noon, on days like today, the dust would catch the light, casting a golden pillar across my room. It would be more beautiful if my room was clean, but working three jobs meant some sacrifices had to be made.
“Will you open it for me?” I asked, showing Emma my freshly painted nails. She sat on my bed, her blond hair glowing in theradiance as she tore the box open and dumped its contents on my bed.
I had ordered paints and a few other supplies I needed, but what I was excited for was a set of high-quality paintbrushes, which, unsurprisingly, weren’t in the box.
