Sophia’s Point of View
It didn’t take up to an hour before I realized that I shouldn’t have been so quick to tear up that check.
My savings were just a little over four thousand bucks which was a lot of money considering I had saved it up doing odd jobs in my later teen years just before getting married.
But in LA, that money wouldn’t be enough for me to survive a month on.
I needed a job but I had zero qualifications save from my high school certificate and my experience in working as a part-time maid for the Baxters.
And with the way I had been thrown out of that house, I doubted they would give me a referral.
I was tired, broke, homeless, heartbroken and slightly hung over. I desperately needed a cup of coffee.
Lugging my box, I walked towards the first coffee shop I spotted.
I was about to step in when I heard a voice call out from behind me.
“Mrs Baxter?”
I froze and then I made the biggest mistake that I could. I glanced back.
The man was on the shorter side with unremarkable brown hair and brown eyes but the pack he carried over his shoulder could only be a camera.
He was a reporter. Damn.
I turned away from him, stepping away from the coffee shop before walking away from him as fast as my legs could carry me.
I wasn’t fast enough.
“Mrs Baxter, please just a comment on your divorce.” His voice was closer than before so I struggled with my box, trying to walk even faster.
“Mrs Baxter-” The reporter said, reaching out to me as he closed the distance between us.
But before he could touch me, a woman smacked away his arm moving to stand between us effectively blocking me from the man’s line of sight.
“Stop harassing my friend,” The woman said curtly with more than a hint of annoyance. “She isn’t Mrs Baxter.”
“What?” The reporter seemed slightly confused. “But that’s definitely the modern Cinderella and-”
“She isn’t,” The woman cut him off again aggressively. “Now scram before I get you arrested for harassment.”
“But-” The reporter said, trying to look around her to see me but the woman wasn’t having it.
She took a threatening step towards him, her index finger jabbing into his chest.
“I said scram.”
The reporter seemed like he wanted to retaliate or even argue but he glanced around at the people starting to stare at us and seemed to reconsider his decision choosing to back away instead.
The woman turned to face me and upon seeing her face, a shocked gasp ripped through me.
“Tina?”
Her hair was now a muted red instead of her natural blond and she was a far cry from the chubby teen that she had been but that was no doubt my childhood best friend.
She nodded, taking my hand in hers, her gaze looking over me in concern.
“Are you alright?”
I opened my mouth to say I was fine. To lie reflexively but looking at my childhood friend who just protected me without a second thought, I found myself saying the entire opposite of what I meant.
“No,” I met Tina’s gaze, my body trembling uncontrollably. “I’m not fine.”
Her features softened as she looked from my face to my luggage.
Then Tina smiled and hooked her arm firmly in mine.
“Come, I live nearby.”
I should have protested. I had no right to accept help from her, not when I had cut her and Rhoda off because of the Baxters. But I found that I couldn’t protest.
Tina walked into an apartment building that had me gaping. It wasn’t luxurious by any means but it was nice and anything nice in LA cost a bit of money.
“I moved here after I got my job at Preston Corporation.” Tina smiled at me as the elevator came to a stop at her floor.
Preston Corporation. A finance branch of Preston Enterprise, a relatively new conglomerate giant that was currently leading the entire North and South American market in terms of tech, construction, and clothing and I even heard their medical line among others was in the works.
Despite its relatively young age and the fact that the majority shareholder and owner of the company remained largely unknown, there was no disputing the fact that Preston was well on its way to becoming a staple household name.
“Congratulations, Tina,” I smiled back at her. “You deserve it.”
“Thank you.” Tina beamed as she put in her security code and the door of her apartment beeped open.
As I stepped into the apartment, I tried to gather my words.
“Thank you for this and for earlier on.”
Tina shrugged. “You don’t need to thank me. It’s nothing.”
“It isn’t nothing,” I felt so ashamed that I could barely look her in the eye as I spoke. “I don’t deserve it. Not after the way I cut you and Rhoda off because of the Baxters.”
“Look at me,” Tina said softly as she cupped my cheeks with her hands. “I’ve known you since elementary school, Sophia, I know you wouldn’t have done something like that if you had a choice.”
I met her gaze and in her kind brown eyes, I could see that she had really forgiven me. And for some reason that was all it took to break the dam of tears building within me.
I began to cry.
Tina didn’t say anything. She just held me through the worst of my sobs.
I cried for our friendship I had almost lost, for the five years I had wasted in a marriage that slowly suffocated me, for the girl that I had been who had lost the chance to follow her dreams by getting married at eighteen.
When the tears finally stopped, I felt slightly embarrassed.
“I’m sorry, I should leave.” I said pulling away from the hug.
Tina sighed before speaking to me as carefully as possible.
“Do you have anywhere else to go to?”
Maybe it was the hangover or just the general emotional turmoil but it was at that moment I put the dots together.
The way she defended me from that reporter, the way she had brought me to her house with my luggage with no questions asked and now the way she was speaking to me softly like if she spoke too quickly I would fracture.
“You know.” I breathed.
Tina winced softly, her face scrunching up prettily but she didn’t deny it.
“It’s Jerry Baxter’s divorce, the biggest news of the year,” She said. “Every news, blog and gossip column is talking about it.”
Closing my eyes, I rocked back slightly from the shock of the information and the subsequent stab of pain I felt.
It wasn’t that I cared all that much about people’s opinion of me but it just hurt that I had barely come to terms with what the Baxters had done to me and my dirty laundry was already being aired to strangers who didn’t even know me.
Tina took my hand, her tone contrite and remorseful.
“I’m sorry, Sophia. I shouldn’t have blurted that out like that.”
I shook my head.
“It’s fine. It’s not your fault. It was an arranged marriage and we both know he is a terrible person.”
Tina was silent for some seconds, those dark brown eyes of hers searching mine before she spoke finally.
“Sophia. Regardless of how it happened, Jerry was your husband for five years, it’s okay for you to feel hurt by his betrayal.”
At her words, I felt more tears building in my eyes but this time I refused to let them fall.
Jerry wasn’t worth my tears.
“I don’t want to talk about him. Please.” My voice cracked over the words.
Tina didn’t push me further on the topic. “Fine. But in the meantime, you can crash here till you get your feet under you.”
I was stunned silent for a second then I shook my head.
“I can’t do that. I can’t inconvenience you like this.”
But Tina wasn’t having it and when she spoke this time it was with the backbone of steel she’d always had. The backbone that put the fear of Tina into whoever she was speaking to and the one she’d shown that reporter.
“I’m your friend, Sophia and I know you can handle this on your own but I want to help you out. Let me.”
And I let her.