Unapologetically, Juliet

Chapter Twenty-Nine

MARCIA Pleasant was one of the sweetest people I'd ever met. She had a really rough exterior, but beyond that, she was thoughtful and kind. I could see exactly where Jack's personality came from.

When I finally mustered up the courage to go downstairs, all I had to do was follow my nose to the kitchen, where an array of breakfast food was laid out on the counter. Ash and Jack both sat at the breakfast nook on the far side of the kitchen, devouring their full plates.

"Oh, darling, there you are." The woman graced me with another of her warm smiles as she handed me a plate and nodded to the food on the counter, like it was normal for strange girls to wake up in her house and eat meals with her sons. "My middle son, Will, is studying abroad for the semester, so it's nice to have another mouth to feed. Jack, will you go get your sister? She's sulking in her room."

Jack shoveled a couple more forkfuls into his mouth before he finally jumped to his feet and bounced away to do his mother's bidding. As soon as he was gone, and I sat down with a plateful of eggs, hash browns, and sausage, the boys' mother took the open seat across from me. I'd barely eaten a bite before she stuck her hand out for me to shake, which I did after almost choking.

"I'm Marcia Pleasant. I'm terribly sorry about what happened to you."

"Oh, uhm, I'm Juliet. And it's okay, really."

Marcia shook her head, a frown adorning her dainty face that looked an awful lot like Ash's go-to expression. "No. It's really not. Do you have family close by or any means of getting yourself and your cat back home?"

I took another bite, chewing and swallowing before I responded. "No, I'm alone out here." Lie. "But I have enough money saved to rent a car or take a couple busses back. Don't worry, ma'am, I'll be okay."

Again, Marcia shook her head. "Don't be silly. I have a car out in the garage that I've been trying to sell for about two years. It runs just fine, but it's ugly. How much cash can you get?"

I cringed a little. "About $300 or so." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I felt the sting of disappointment to have to dig into my measly savings.

"Give me $100 and work here, helping the groundskeeper out back in the town's cemetery for a week and we'll call it even." I must've made a face of some kind, because Ash barked out a laugh at my expense.

"The cemetery has been in our family for almost a hundred years," he explained, like that would ease the racing of my heart.

"Don't fret, sweetheart. I won't make you dig graves like my kids do when they get into trouble. You'll work with our groundskeeper, making everything nice and presentable. We have two burials this week, and the extra hands will be really helpful."

"Okay." I shrugged absently. I hadn't really had a plan when King and I left, so sticking around didn't put a huge damper on my trip at all. Plus, I could potentially get a lot more story ideas from working in a cemetery.

Marcia's entire face lit up just as Jack bounded back into the room, trailed by a sullen girl with darker skin, hair, and eyes than those of her two brothers. She didn't say a word to anyone, but she shot me a bitter scowl as she silently sat down and nibbled on the food Marcia had placed in front of her.

"Marley, sweet girl. This is Juliet. She's going to stay with us for a few days. Okay?"

The girl, who couldn't have been older than eleven or twelve, glanced up at me again, openly appraising me as she judged me from my feet to my hair. "Great. Another charity case." Marcia gasped and scolded her lightly, but I just smiled back and said nothing. If she wanted to be obnoxious and bratty, she had every right. I was intruding on her family after all.