Games of Power and Prowess

Chapter 15: We Have to Work

God damn my hands are freezing. I dunk them in the warm water Bill keeps behind the counter for this problem exactly. My gloves stick to my hand and I peel them away, washing them a little in the water to look like I'm doing more than just standing here with my hands in a bucket of water. Sighing as the little bell above the door jingles, I dry my hands on a towel and put on fresh gloves.

"Welcome to Ice Cream Scream, what can I get started for—"

"Sonni, relax. It's only me coming in." Bill's voice interrupts my own and his laugh soon follows. I smile at him as he rounds the corner to come help me behind the counter. "At least I know you're ready to help people as soon as they come in the door." He teases, patting my back before putting on gloves of his own.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I'm having a bit of an off day." I admit, watching him pick up a rag and clean the marble counter in front of us. He looks at me, concern swimming through his bright blue eyes as his eyebrows raise in sympathy.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asks, becoming more of a father figure than my boss. It's a characteristic of his that I actually enjoy, I doubt other bosses would be this understanding; especially towards their teenage employees. He stands and tosses the rag aside so he can give me his undivided attention.

I look around at the empty shop and resolve to tell him, but only bits and pieces. The more people that know about Natalie and I, the more dangerous our relationship is. And I'd say it's already pretty damn dangerous considering she is married to a sociopath.

"I'm in this kind of relationship with a girl and it's, well, it's complicated." I look up at him to see his understanding eyes and then look down at the rag between us. "She's got this‒ this... dad. He doesn't really approve of our relationship so he made us split up and it really sucks because I actually care about this girl, Bill, and she's just stunning and she's smart and she's funny but this fucking man won't just let go of her and realise that she never loved him." I take a deep breath, worried that I'm saying too much. Bill rests his hand on my shoulder and sighs, though his eyes are bright.

"You remember my wife, right? Evangeline?" I nod, trying to distract myself from my pain and pay attention to Bill. "When she and I were growing up, it was looked down upon for women like her to be with a man like me. Sure, slaves were freed but folks like me still thought coloured people were savage and bestial. When Eva and I announced our relationship, plenty of people tried to split us apart; even threatening to put her in jail." He pauses to let me think and absorb what he's telling me.

"What did you guys do? I mean obviously you're still together but how did you get past that?" I am genuinely curious about this because, yeah Nat is white but she could probably still be thrown in jail for our relationship— even more so if Simon does something to screw us over. He has every right to, of course, Nat is cheating on him but that's only because she doesn't really love him.

"Well Eva was always talking about fate and God's path and that it's out of our hands. If we're meant to be together we'll be together and blah blah blah." He motions with his hand, a habit of his that happens when he doesn't know how to elaborate on something he's saying.

"And what did you think?" I ask, trying to get him to move on to what actually helped him since it sounds like he didn't really believe in what she was saying.

"You see, Sonni, when you really want something you're going to have to put in some effort. The world doesn't just hand you things on a silver platter when you ask for it." He starts out, smiling gently at me. "I sat down with my family and explained to them just how much I love this woman and I told them that if they didn't accept us then, pfft. I didn't need them anyway; as long as I had my love."