Where There's Light | ✔

09. Ugly Crying

Taylor and I took the bus to the Grice's market when I got out of school the next day. That got me a lot of judgmental looks from some of the older riders, being a teen with a baby in all.

The market was in a small shopping plaza, wedged between a nail salon and a smoke shop. Inside they had everything from food to clothes to toys. I also noticed the help wanted sign that was still in the window.

"Hello!" A cheery voice said from the register.

I turned to find a woman with the same tanned skin as Farrah and Nick. That must be their mother. She didn't look like a bitch.

"Hi," I said, shifting Taylor on my hip.

She glanced over at help wanted sign, the thing I had been staring at since walking in. "You looking for work?"

Yes! Taylor squirmed in my arms pointing and saying "down", reminding me that after school she was my job.

"Oh, no. Just juice," I said the first thing that came to mind, knowing that the only money I had on me was bus fare.

"Aisle four," she said, looking a little disappointed.

I set Taylor down and we walked through the aisles. She touched everything we passed, pointing at stuff a babbling, mostly, nonsense.

"You know, if you were older then you could stay at an after school program. Then I could have a job I got paid for," I told her, but she was too busy trying to take a bag of chips off the shelf. "God, how do single mothers do this?"

When I turned down the juice aisle I almost ran into someone. The only reason I didn't was because the person reached out and stopped me before I did.

I looked up, meeting a familiar pair of light brown eyes. He seemed to be popping up everywhere. There had to be a term for it. Like when you learned a new word and suddenly you started seeing it everywhere. Whatever the phenomenon was called it was happening with Nolan Chambers.

Like me, and most people in this town, Nolan had lived in Bellcreek his entire life. I had vague memories of him back in elementary school. He was always there in my classes, walking around campus. But these past few weeks were the most I'd interacted with him or ever really noticed him.

He had a basket full of snacks; crackers, candy, juice. I expected him to be his usual self, to glare and walk away. Instead his eyes flitted from me to my sister and back to me. His brow raised. "Single mom?"

"No!" The answer came out fast, probably too fast for him to believe me. After the shock of his question wore off explained. "First, she's my sister. Second, last I checked we're not in woodshop, so why are you even talking to me?"

I tugged Taylor down a different aisle to get away from Nolan, the sting of what happened in shop was still there. Rejection hurt in any capacity.

The sound of glass breaking pulled me out of my thoughts. Taking a toddler down a candle aisle probably wasn't the smartest thing. The noise spooked Taylor and she started to cry. I scooped her up to comfort her.

Heat filled my cheeks when Nolan appeared at the end of the aisle, followed by Mrs. Grice.

"What happened?" I could tell she was trying to stay level headed by the way her voice was strained.

"I—It was an accident," I told her.

"You break it, you buy it!"

This was embarrassing. Taylor crying, Mrs. Grice scolding me. All while Nolan watched. Tears sprung to my own eyes as I tried to get Taylor to calm down.