Chapter Two

It was almost an hour before I was due for my shift, but I hadn’t slept last night, worrying about Rio’s Jeep. The only option that I could come up with was to set up monthly payments for the damage. I was hoping I could get extra shifts, and that money could go directly to Rio.

Tory wasn’t awake when I left, but she had promised that she would go job-hunting today.

Getting to work early so I could talk to Rio about this had been weighing on me since I’d come up with the idea at four this morning. Tory and I shared the fifteen-year-old Buick that had belonged to our aunt before she died. Some mornings, it didn’t want to start, but with a little extra work, we could normally get it going.

Tory had been able to walk to her last two jobs from our apartment. The farmers market was five miles from our place, and I could walk it if I absolutely had to, but it would be easier if Tory found a job in town close enough she could walk to.

Parking the Buick in the back of the lot with the other staff members, I made my way to the back entrance. I didn’t see Rio’s Jeep here, but then I doubted he would drive it. He was always here early for deliveries. I hoped he would be today. I couldn’t make what Tory had done right, but I could at least pay him back.

The cooler fall air that had finally arrived in the South wasn’t even enough to make me smile this morning, and I loved this time of year. My stomach was in knots, and I replayed exactly what I was going to say to Rio as I walked across the parking lot. I had almost reached the entrance when Rio emerged from the back, carrying a crate of sweet potatoes.

His eyes immediately locked on me, and he turned to a younger guy I had seen working in the back, unloading trucks, and shoved the crate into his hands. Jeremiah nodded at whatever he’d said and then turned to go back inside. When Rio’s gaze swung back to me, I was thankful he was alone.

“Don’t say anything yet,” he said, his glare leveled on me.

Confused, I waited, unsure why he wanted me to remain silent. There was a lot I needed to say to him and hopefully ease the hateful look in his eyes. I understood why he was upset, and I didn’t blame him, but if I could just tell him my plans, then maybe we could find a way to move on from this.

Hazel, Rio’s aunt—who was a few years younger than him, but I wasn’t sure by how many—appeared behind him in the doorway. Hazel was kind and always there to help anyone who needed it. She had become the closest thing I’d made to a friend while working here at Deep South Farmers Market. Other than the interactions I’d had with Rio at least.

“Sorry, Daddy ain’t here jest yet. His arthritis is acting up this mornin’ somethin’ awful,” she said to Rio, then gave me a nod; however, her always-present smile was not there.

She was mad at me too. I couldn’t say I blamed her. What Tory had done to Rio’s Jeep was bad. I opened my mouth then to try and fix things the best way I could, but I didn’t get that far.

“That’s fine. You’re management,” Rio said to her. “I just need a witness to this.”

A witness? What did he need a witness for? He needed someone else to hear what I was going to say? If so, then I was okay with that because I intended to keep my word. I would pay him back for the damage.

“I wasn’t sure you’d show up this morning. I figured you’d just quit,” he told me matter-of-factly. “Since you didn’t do the respectable thing and quit, you’re fired.”

My stomach sank. I had feared this outcome, but I had hoped I could talk to him before this was decided. “I n-n-need this j-j-job, Rio. I’m s-s-sorry about your J-J-J-Jeep, and I am going to—”

“You’re sorry about my Jeep? Well, that doesn’t fucking fix it, does it?” He glared at me. “You’re going to leave this property. You’re not welcome here. Buy your produce elsewhere,” he said, not letting me finish what I had come here to tell him. He turned then to walk inside.

Hazel gave me a sad smile. “I’m sorry, but you must have expected this,” she said softly.

Part of me had, but then there was the part of me that had hoped Rio knew me better than that. Deep down, he had to know I wouldn’t do something so insane. Apparently, I had been mixing up my childhood Rio with this one, and they were not the same. That was something I had realized more than once, watching him in his life here. The more I observed him, the more I doubted he was there somewhere, lurking beneath the surface.

“I want to pay you back,” I blurted out without a stammer. “I was hoping I could work extra shifts here and give the money to y-y-y-you.”

He paused then, but he didn’t look back at me. “I don’t want you here. You can work extra shifts somewhere else.” He turned his head slightly in my direction then. “Your first payment to me will be your last paycheck. Don’t come pick it up. There won’t be one.”

With that last bit of devastating news, he walked inside, and Hazel turned to follow him.

I stood there for several moments, debating if I should go beg him for at least half of my last paycheck. Just enough to get some milk, bread, and cheese to keep Cullen fed until I could get another job. We were on our last ten dollars, and if I did get a job, most of them would make me wait two weeks for my first paycheck.

Tears stung my eyes as the frustration and panic set in. Tory hadn’t thought about any of this when she decided to act like a maniac last night. Now, we had ten dollars, neither of us had a job, and we had a four-year-old to feed. I knew going inside and begging wouldn’t help. Rio had made it clear he didn’t want me here. He also didn’t want to listen to my problems.

I wanted to hate him for it, and part of me did. He hadn’t known struggle in a very long time. His life here was magical. I had watched him live in this fairy tale, and I wondered sometimes if he remembered what it had been like back at Sumit Head.

Not once in my life had anything been as easy for me as it was for Rio. Sure, his Jeep had been ruined, but he had car insurance and a rich grandfather. He would survive it. No, it wasn’t fair that Tory had damaged his vehicle, but it wasn’t fair that I had to give Cullen water to drink and a piece of fried bologna for dinner either.

By the time I was back in my car, my guilt over what Tory had done was slowly morphing into an extreme dislike of Rio March. His life wasn’t hard at all. Nothing in it was a challenge. Today, his Jeep would go to a body shop and get fixed. He would eat three solid meals and not once worry about his rent being paid. There would be no four-year-old little boy begging him for a glass of milk that he couldn’t afford.

One thing I was certain of was that the Rio I had once loved was no longer. He was long gone. In his place was someone I had no desire to be around.

There were other jobs, and I would get one. I didn’t need Rio’s help to get a good paying job with benefits. I had been desperate most of my life, and I had always found a way out. I would do it this time too. Reaching up, I wiped at the tears that had fallen, angry with myself that I had shed even one of them.

Depending on someone was a mistake I should have learned not to do by now. It never worked. The only person I could depend on was myself. I would take care of things. Cullen would get his milk, and he wouldn’t be forced to eat cheap, unhealthy food.

Holding on to pride was pointless. What had that gotten me in life? Absolutely nothing. I was over it.