Wife for Hire

Chapter 2

(Karmen)

"Hey Karmen, you here to see your mom again?" The nurse at the front desk asked. I nodded and signed in on the guest sheet and went on back to my mom's room, waving at a couple of people on the way back. When I got to her door she was sitting up staring at the wall, she looked so tired and I could understand why. I took a deep breath and put on a smile before opening the door and walking into the room.

"Karmen, what are you doing here?" She asked, I always told her not to talk much because it seemed like she was gasping for air at the end of her sentences. It had almost been a year since she'd been diagnosed with lung cancer. It didn't seem like she was going to make it much longer, but I didn't like thinking about those things.

"I came to see you momma." I said as I sat down in the chair next to her bed.

"What about work?" I shook my head.

"Don't worry about that momma, I'm here to see you, we can watch something if you want." She grabbed my hand and smiled and turned the tv onto one of her favorite shows.

*

"Momma, I can't believe she just said that to him." I said with a laugh, I looked over at my mom and saw that she was sleeping. I pulled the covers up to her chin and kissed her forehead before turning the tv off and leaving the room. I turned on my heel and began rushing to the exit before I bumped into someone I wasn't exactly expecting to see.

"Hey Karmen." I looked up at my ex-boyfriend and smiled a polite smile.

"Hey Eric, I can't talk right now, I'm late for work." He nodded and let me go.

"Call me if you need anything." I nodded and tried to shake the guilt that I had for breaking up with him. He had done nothing wrong in the relationship, I just had too much emotional baggage and didn't want to bring him down.

I made it to my car and sped over to my cousin's place so we could carpool to work.

"Bitch, what took you so long?" My cousin Joe says as he climbs into the car. I looked him over, he was wearing his fake eyelashes and eyeliner and his eyes were covered in blue eyeshadow to match his blue cargo pants.

"I was with momma." He didn't say much after that, just turned the radio up and let me do my usual speeding to work.

*

(Jason)

"Do you see anyone you like?" I flipped through the powerpoint of the list of girls that Derek put together for me. Each girl seemed more and more dull until he stopped at one in particular.

"Who is she?" I asked looking her over, the picture was only of her face and from what I could see on any other day she wouldn't have caught my attention with her messy hair swept back into a ponytail or a bun and smooth chocolate skin that melted into her caramel eyes.

"Her name is Karmen Winston, she works at the Danny's Diner on the other side of town, from the information that Tony gave me, it seems like it's just her and her mom and she doesn't have much."

I nodded and looked at the picture again and took in everything that Derek had just told me.

"I'm choosing her." I said. I had no idea what drew me to her, knowing another day she would blend into the crowd for me. She looked tired like she grew up faster mentally than physically, something that I knew nothing about.

"Fine. I'll set up a meeting for you."

*

(Karmen)