Chapter Two
Chapter Two
My aunt lived in a luxury high-rise in Brickell. The elevator went straight up to the twenty-second floor.
When the door opened, I froze where I stood.
The living room was several times bigger than Dad’s whole house. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows lay Biscayne Bay, the water glittering so brightly it hurt to look at.
White leather couches. A crystal chandelier. On the coffee table sat a plate of sliced mango and strawberries.
I looked down at my old sneakers, the soles peeling away, and didn’t dare wiggle my toes.
My aunt dug a pair of fuzzy pink slippers out of the shoe cabinet and handed them to me.
“Put these on. We’re throwing those out tomorrow. I’ll take you shopping for new ones.”
“You don’t have to... these still work...”
“When I tell you to change, you change. Don’t dawdle.”
The boy had already tossed my backpack onto the couch.
He sprawled out next to it with a video game and asked without looking up, “Mom, when’s Dad getting home?”
“Soon. He went to pick up the cake.”
I blinked. “Cake?”
My aunt laughed. “Your uncle says when somebody new joins the family, you’ve got to mark the occasion.”
Before I could take that in, the boy jumped up and tugged me down the hallway. “Come on, don’t just stand there. Come see your room. I’m Jake, by the way. Jake Hayes.”
He pushed open the door at the end of the hall.
And I froze all over again.
Pink curtains. A brand-new comforter and sheets.
On the desk sat a complete set of school supplies. Even the pencils were sharpened and standing in a cup.
A giant teddy bear sat at the head of the bed, and a string of star lights hung across the wall.
“This is...”
Jake leaned against the doorframe and blew a bubble.
“Mom started getting it ready last week. Dragged me to the mall four times.”
“She changed the comforter three times. First it was too pink, then it was too boring.”
He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t get anything new. It all went to you.”
I ran my hand over the brand-new comforter. My fingers were shaking.
At Dad’s house, I slept on a folding cot in the corner of the laundry room, on an old mattress my stepmother didn’t want anymore.
In winter, when the dryer shut off, the cold woke me up. In summer, it was so stuffy I broke out in heat rash.
Nobody had ever made a room just for me.
At some point my aunt had come up behind me. She rested her hand on my shoulder.
“You’ve had it rough, sweetheart. Your dad... I can’t even be bothered to tell him off.”
“This is your home now. If you need anything, you tell me. Don’t be shy.”
I couldn’t hold it in. The tears just poured out.
Not because I was sad. Because I couldn’t believe it.
My aunt pulled me into her arms and patted my back.
“Go ahead and cry. When you’re done, we’ll have cake.”
Just then, we heard a key in the front door.
A tall, lean man walked in carrying a cake box. His suit was sharp, and he looked like a big-shot CEO off TV.
He saw me and smiled. “You must be Winnie.”
“Say hi to your Uncle James,” my aunt said.
“H-hi, Uncle James,” I said quietly.
He set the cake on the dining table, then took an envelope out of his briefcase and handed it to me.
“A little welcome present. It’s not much.”
I opened it. Inside was a kids’ debit card with a teddy bear printed on it.
My uncle crouched down to look me in the eye. “That’s your allowance. The PIN is your birthday.”
“Whenever you want something, you buy it yourself. You don’t have to ask anybody.”
I held the card, and my hands were trembling.
My whole life, I’d never had so much as a whole ten-dollar bill to my name.
That night, the frosting on the cake read: “Welcome Home, Winnie!”
Jake grabbed the slice with the biggest strawberry on top, and his mom rapped the back of his hand with a fork. “Give the big one to your sister!”
“She’s not even my real sister!”
“Say that one more time.”
“...Fine, fine, fine. She can have all of it.”
He shoved the plate over to me.
He grumbled the whole time, but when no one was looking, he scraped some of the chocolate shavings off his own plate onto mine.
I sat at that bright dining table, eating the first piece of cake in my life that was all my own.
It was so sweet I wanted to cry.
