I threw my shit on my bed and went into my bathroom for a shower. I didn’t even notice how nice our place was anymore. After staying in some of the nicest hotels in the world, I was accustomed to the best.

I stepped up to my shower and turned the water on full blast before stripping down naked and tossing my dirty clothes onto the floor. I’d called a temp agency for a maid. We were a bunch of messy asses and none of us wanted to clean when we were home from being on the road for so long. I could tell by looking at the bathroom that she’d already started her job and was damn good at it.

I turned around to grab a towel, and when I did, I ran straight into the maid, who was holding a large pile of fresh laundry in her arms. She screamed loudly before dropping all the laundry to the floor. The smell of fabric softer and washing detergent filled my senses as a thick white towel fell over my face.

I pulled down the towel, ready to see the shocked face on the maid when she realized that she’d just walked in on her employer naked as the day he was born. My eyes started at the top of her head and took in the long chocolate locks. Big brown eyes stared back at me. I’d thought I’d shock her with my nakedness, but instead, the shock was mine. I took in the woman in front of me and my chest got tight. Faith stared back at me with flushed, embarrassed cheeks. Her plump lips opened in a gasp before she collapsed at my feet.

Nineteen

Faith

“What do you mean I’m fired?” I asked Jesse, my manager.

I couldn’t afford to lose my second job. It was the only one that worked with my busy schedule and it was the main reason I was able to keep us above water. I was drowning and I hadn’t slept properly in four years, but my family was taken care of and that was all that mattered to me.

“I’m sorry, Faith, we can’t afford to keep you, and the owner’s pretty pissed at you still for giving away free gas,” Jesse said as he slid my final paycheck over the counter to me.

“But I paid for that out of my pocket!”

“I’m sorry.” He turned and walked away from the counter, letting me know our conversation was over.

The truth was I hated working in the gas station after dark. Especially in that neighborhood, but luckily some of the Spanish guys who lived in the trailer park nearby kept watch over me after I gave them a free tank of gas one day. But regardless of not being safe working there at night, it paid well enough.

I hated searching for a new job. With my day job at the grocery store by my apartment, it made it hard to get away to find another job, and honestly, I couldn’t afford to take a day off to search for another one.

After grabbing my final check, I ran outside to catch my mom before she pulled away. Thankfully, she’d needed gas before she went home. Otherwise, she would’ve been long gone.

“You aren’t working tonight?” she asked, confused.

“Nope. I got fired,” I said as I climbed into the front seat and slammed the door behind me.

She got into the driver’s seat and cranked up the car. It was hard to believe Mom’s old Taurus was still kicking. “I’m sorry, honey. I’ll start looking for something. It’s not fair for you to be working two jobs when I could find something.”

Mom had a stroke right after she and my dad divorced, and I was determined that she wasn’t going to have to work. I think it was the stress of the entire ordeal that did her in. I’d been so shocked when Mom had come into the room while Daddy was beating me and stood up to him. She’d done it once before, but that last time had been different. It might have had something to do with the fact that I was six months pregnant by that point.

“No, Mom, I got this.” I smiled over at her.

“Mommy, is work over?” Jimmy said from the back seat as he rubbed his sleepy eyes.

He must’ve fallen asleep right after I got out of the car. I turned around and ruffled his soft brown curls. The last thing I wanted was for Jimmy to get upset over me being upset.

“Yes, baby, work’s over. I’m going to take you home and we can watch your dinosaur movie until we fall asleep. Does that sound fun?”

Mom and I laughed at his excitement as we drove home, but still, I couldn’t help but feel stressed about our situation.

Both Mom and I had always lived under Daddy’s thumb. He worked and took care of us. When we first started out on our own without him, we were both lost as to what to do. Daddy no longer had anything to do with me since I’d shamed our family, so it wasn’t like I could ask him for help even if I wanted to, but we were making it. Barely, but we were making it.