It Was Always You

Chapter Two

Isabel Alveraz stared at the ad in the newspaper, biting her lower lip in hesitation. It was a babysitting gig for a six year old child living in the finer parts of the city. The pay was amazing and the hours decent. But it was an in living employment and that is what had her hesitating.

Putting the paper down on the small two seater dining table that she found in an operation clean up last year she sighs heavily. The opportunity was a great one and hard to pass. If she applied and got the job it would finally put her financial burdens at ease. But leaving her sick mother behind...

She wasn't sure if she could do that.

Sudden hacking of coughs came from the other room causing her to rush in frantically. "Mama, are you alright?" She quickly asks as she takes the glass of water on the small table by the bed.

Helping to lift her up she carefully allows her to take a sip. Her frail mother pushes it away and breathes heavily. "I'm fine."

"So? What did he say? Don't try to avoid the conversation Issie, I know you avoided me last night when you came home."

Putting the glass down her shoulders slump. "I...didn't get it."

"That cheap bastard." Coughing ensued, her thin body shaking.

"You need to rest-"

"I'm tired of resting. What was his excuse this time?" She roughly snaps. "You've been working there for five years and not once getting a raise. You pull double shifts and come in on weekends and holidays when asked. The least he could do is give you a proper wage for all the hard work you do, Mija."

"The same excuse that it always is. Not enough revenue." She half lied, giving her the glass of water again.

Last night was confirmation that she was seeking another job and pronto. She had asked and his offer was one she wasn't willing to accept. He would give her the raise and a bonus at the end of every year, but she had to sleep with him whenever he asked for her. She could have gone to Human Resources against him, but he threatened to blacklist her with every job she tries to apply for if she did. He was a married man and yet he was cheating on his wife. Go figures since he was a slime ball that didn't have respect for any woman in his vicinity.

So instead she had quit on the spot and left him standing there flabbergasted as if him offering such a deal was a win-win situation for them both. She was desperate but not that desperate. She would never sell her body just to make a better living. Her morals was the only thing she had left at this point.

"I'm going to find another job." She tells her instead.

"You shouldn't work two jobs; you'll burn yourself out at this rate."

"No, mama. I'm quitting to find another job that will pay higher."

Her mother goes silent as she takes a sip of water. And Isabel knew what she was thinking and looking so guilty about. Her mother had gotten sick during her last year of high school. Sick enough to where she couldn't work at all. It was just the two of them since her father had passed when she was just a baby, and his family had abandoned them both. With her mother being an orphan all her life she didn't have any family to fall back on.

It was rough over the years, her mother working two to three jobs just to stay afloat. There were times where they even had to roommate with a family who provided a room, but they never lasted long. They moved a lot, lived in one room apartments and sometimes even had to go to shelters. They shopped in thrift stores and the dollar store more often then she could count. Her mother even had to apply for welfare for a little while just so they were able to get food stamps to have food on the table.

Birthdays and Christmas were spent with nothing but each other and every night she had to lay there in bed listening to her mother sob quietly in the bathroom for years. She vowed she was going to be a straight A student and get into a good college so she could provide her mother a life she was always meant to have.

But then she got diagnosed with terminal cancer, lost her job, medical bills started racking up to where they were now in debt. She had to quit school to get a full time job while also taking care of her mother in her worst days. Most times she thought she was going to lose her, freaking out on what she was going to do without her there. But she kept living, kept fighting as long as she could. They gave her seven months to live, and she was going on five years. Every day was a constant fear of her leaving her behind.

"I'm sorry Mija. This is all my fault." She whispers.

"Mama, no. I choose this myself. Don't ever think that." It was an argument they've had many times since she dropped out.

"But still. If it wasn't for me you would have graduated and gone off to college making a life for yourself." Tears brim her eyes as she looks at her.

"Again, I still have a whole life ahead of me. But I choose to take care of you just as you took care of me. You're my life too mama and I can't live without you here with me."

Her mother's lip wobbles with emotion. "I don't know what I ever did to deserve you."

She smiles leaning forward to kiss her on the forehead. "You deserve more than you know. Now enough of this depressing talk." She gets up and heads for the doorway. "I'm going to make us breakfast and then I'm going job hunting."

"Have you looked yet?" She asks her.

She peels the paint off the doorframe not quite looking at her. "I found something that I could do, and it pays three times more than what I did at Berkley's, but it might not work out."

Her mother perks up a little. "What is it? What's the job?"

She sighs heavily and leans against the doorframe this time. "It's a babysitting gig for a six year old. They live in the richer part of the city. Full hours though."

"That's great! You should apply quickly Mija, something like that won't last very long if at all."

"But there's a catch." She hated disappointing her mother, but the requirements was a huge issue for them both.

"I'm sure we can work things out."

"It requires a live in, mama. I would have to move in the residence to take care of the little girl." She quickly spills out before her mother said anything more. "And if I did that you'll be left on your own with no one to take care of you. I can't risk something like that."

Again they go silent. When the silence stretches out too long she gets ready to state she was going to make breakfast just as her mother blurts out,

"Do it."

Shock swarms within her. "What?"

"You should apply. If you get the job we can figure things out. If not then no harm done. But you shouldn't pass up this opportunity Mija. Something like this just doesn't fall into our laps. I think you need to go for it." She tells her sternly with a nod of her head.

"But what about you-"

"I'm a grown woman." She cuts her off. "Like I said we'll figure it out once we know you got the job. Don't wait on this. Go and call them right now. Let them know that you're interested."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. You have been thinking about nothing but taking care of me for the past five years. You need to start thinking about you. With this kind of income we can finally start living. So stop hesitating and go for it."