Chapter 11

Julia:

I walked into CeeCee's grocery store with a bright smile on my face. I had the best sleep I have ever had in my entire life. It felt as if I was lying on clouds. Rome even dropped me off, only because I begged him. He was going in this direction, yet he refused to take me along. Something about having to live and still travel with me.

I didn't get why he was so grumpy all the time. Like, who removed the pots of gold from the end of his rainbow?

"Julia!" Emmie said while rushing towards me. She embraced me in a hug that I returned.

"It's good to see you too, kiddo."

I returned her call last night after Rome practically complimented me, and she was so worried that something had happened. I finally got her to calm down by reassuring her that I was out of harm's way.

"I'm seventeen, Julia, not ten."

"Mrs. C is going to wonder why you're wearing a scarf over your head and around your face like those old-time Hollywood actresses," she said while studying my outfit.

"I'll come up with something. Now, tell me, are all those people waiting to be interviewed?" I asked while looking at the people through the glass door. They were sitting, some patiently, while most seemed anxious, which is normal.

Emmie patted my shoulder. "Yup, and I'm glad I'm not you right now."

I watched as she walked away, leaving me to face all those people alone. It must have been about thirty of them. I guess the people of Greengrove definitely wanted to change their lives for the better.

I was exhausted, and my head hurt. Who would have thought that conducting an interview would be such a difficult task? It was now 3:15 PM, and thankfully, that was over with.

So far, I have had 12 résumés out of 45 that I had to look over. It was unfortunate that I would have to turn most of them down when all they were trying to do was make a better life for themselves and their families.

"Are you leaving now, my dear?" Mrs. C asked as I walked over to the cash register.

"Yes, I have my other work to get to."

I should have been there hours ago. I knew I lived there now, and I had plenty of time to clean, but I still wanted to keep to a schedule.

"Alright, honey, thank you for all your help today. I hope that rash gets better soon."

Emmie glanced at me, and I shrugged. It was the only thing I could think of when she asked.

"It's no problem, Mrs. C, and I hope so too. Emmie, say hi to Ajax and Anthony for me. I'll see you ladies...when I see you," I said, not sure when I'd see them again.

"Bye, Julia. Take care," Emmie said at the same time Mrs. C said, "Get home safe, love."

Rome:

I watched as Julia walked out of the grocery store. She was wearing a red scarf to hide her face, a matching dress, and black shoes. It was Josh's idea to stand out here and wait for her as if I didn't have more important things to do with my time. We were having dinner together just like every Saturday, and he wanted to invite her along.

"Julies!" he yelled with his arms wide open as he saw her.

I noticed her smile faded and how she seemed to panic before she noticed us standing across the street. Then, her smile appeared once more, and she began to make her way over to us. I rolled my eyes and looked the other way as she ran into Josh's arms.

"Hey, Josh. Rome."

I ignored her and started to make my way to my car.

"Don't mind him, Julies. We're having dinner together today, and we wanted to invite you," I heard Josh telling her.

"Together?"

"Yeah, I always have dinner with my big brother on Saturdays," Josh said, utterly oblivious to the way she stressed the word 'together,' as if she was thinking of being the third wheel or something.

"Brother?" she said in surprise. "Oh wow, I had no idea—"

"That's understandable because I'm much better looking," Josh said, cutting her off.

Julia giggled. "Right, and definitely not grumpy."

They were clearly trying to get a reaction out of me, but that wasn't going to happen. I got in my car and waited for them; Josh was coming too since he didn't bother driving here.

He opened the back door for Julia before getting in the front.

"And such a gentleman too. How are you both even related?" Julia said as I drove off.

"Don't let him fool you, Julies. We might have different fathers, but this one is more of a gentleman than I am."

"Can you both stop talking about me as if I weren't here," I told them. They were getting on my goddamn nerves.

"Who pissed in his coffee, right, Julies?"

I knew I should have left them. Having to deal with one idiot was enough.

Julia chuckled. "Josh, can you please call me Julia instead," she said shyly, like it bothered her that he calls her Julies, but at the same time, she was scared to hurt his feelings.

"But that's my nickname for you," he whined like a kid.

"Anything but Julies, please."

I glanced at her through the mirror. She didn't seem very happy again, and this bigmouth idiot didn't seem to pick up on it as he continued to complain.

"Julie," I suggested. "Now, shut up in my car. You're both giving me a headache."

"Pizza or Chinese, Julia?" Josh asked. He didn't like Julie because I picked it, so instead, he told her that he would just continue to call her by her given name until he came up with one himself.

We were sitting in my living room. Josh sat on the single sofa looking through different menus while I sat on the couch switching through the channels. Julia decided to sit next to me, much to my dismay. She was busy reading through some résumés, which reminded me of the job I needed to tell her about.

"Pizza. I'm in need of some delicious pineapple pizza."

"Really? Pineapple?" Josh asked with a frown.

"Yes, it's my favorite. Who doesn't like pineapple pizza?"

"Seems like you and brother dearest have something in common. I don't get why anyone would want pineapples baked."

"Are you kidding me? It's so much better that way. Back me up here, mister."

I could feel her eyes practically piercing the side of my face. I continued to skip through the channels without looking at them. "It's just pizza. I'm sure we are not the only ones who like it. There's no need to make it a big deal."

Julia sighed. "I don't know what I was thinking."

Josh chuckled. "I'll just call them and go wait for them to show up at the gate."

When he was gone, I settled on a sci-fi movie and glanced at Julia, who seemed to be in deep thought.

"Here." I threw an envelope in her lap. It had the check inside with her pay. I took it back from Jimmy this morning since there was no need to have him give it to her again.

"What's this?"

I didn't answer her. If she wanted to know what was inside, why not just open the damn thing?

"Two thousand dollars," she said. "Is this for the entire month or just the week?"

Her tone made me look at her. Was it not enough? I never had a maid before, so how would I know that's not enough?

Before I could open my mouth, she was on me like a fucking leech. "What are you doing? Get the fuck off of me," I said, trying to remove her arms from around my waist.

She pulled away with a frown. "Gosh, I was just hugging you—have you never been hugged before?"

Instead of giving her a reply, I looked away. "Oh, you poor thing," I heard her whisper before her arms were around me again. But, this time, I didn't push her away. I'd let her have this, just this once.