Ruthless

Chapter 3

Jean dropped her purse on the couch and rubbed her tired eyes. It was only two p.m., but already her bed was calling to her. The result of waking up at three in the morning to get to work. The added stress of waiting on pins and needles for an angry call from her boss about the Dickie incident hadn't helped.

But so far there had been no word. She hoped that meant Dickie's injured pride had kept him from squealing about what happened to his hand. Not that it was her fault. That stranger was built like a tank. Even if she wanted to stop him, there was nothing she could've done. Though, from the angry words Dickie had shouted at her once Stranger left, he put the blame squarely on her shoulders. Asshole.

She hoped his hand hurt like a bitch and he missed work over this. Of course, if he missed work that would give him more time to show up during her shifts and cause trouble.

That bed sounded better and better by the moment. Falling into unconsciousness for a few hours where she wouldn't have to think of any of her problems. But she needed to get her electric bill paid now that she had enough tips deposited into the bank to cover it and clean up the coffee machine so it would be ready to go when she woke up again. Really, only fifteen minutes until she could sleep. That was doable, even if it did seem way too long for some reason.

Jean pulled out her checkbook to write out the payment for the power. Hopefully she should be safe in the time it took the power company to get the check. She was only three days late this time, so really she should be in the safe zone, but she never knew whether the guy in charge of shutting off the lights was in a bad mood.

But no electricity meant no coffee, and that was a life she didn't want to think about. The walk to the trailer park's mailbox could be a pain, but considering the weather was a nice seventy degrees with a cool breeze running through the trees that surrounded the park, she decided to walk it.

She waved at a few of the younger kids out playing as she walked to the front of the park. The older kids should be getting home from school any minute and the park would get much louder, but Jean didn't mind. She could sleep through anything, and she had so many memories of running around this park.

Most of the kids she'd played with back then had moved on. Either they'd gotten jobs out of state or had babies much too young and started up families of their own. She was supposed to be at that spot now. Married and with a husband with a good job. Maybe even a child or two of her own.

But things just hadn't panned out the way they were supposed to. She figured she should be happy she hadn't ended up a single mom like her own mother, but it was hard not to feel lonely. The only family she had only came by when she needed something.

That was half the reason she wanted her own family so bad. So she could correct the mistakes her own mother had made. So she could do it better. Who knew what would've happened if Grandma hadn't stepped up?

Jean dropped the bill in the mailbox and headed back to her trailer. Trailer parks had a bad reputation, and, to be fair, there were a lot of residents in the park who completely lived up to their reputation. But Grandmother had treated their home with the love and respect it deserved, and Jean did her best to keep it up to her standards. The outside was a powder blue that she'd repainted about two years ago, so it still looked fresh and clean.

The windowsills were detailed with planters with some pink annuals that her grandmother favored. Jean had considered switching out the flowers a few times, but switching to something her grandmother might not have approved of seemed too painful.

The door was a bright white, and Jean had switched out the dated, old gold knobs for brushed silver ones to add a touch of modern to it. It also helped that it had allowed her to change the locks after Mark broke it off with her. She hadn't expected him to break in or anything—he was far too...respectable for that—but it made her feel better to literally lock the door on that part of her life.