Page 60 of Through the Water

“You ready?” Tsega asked, her forehead creasing. I couldn’t decide whether it was in concern or disappointment. I imagined everyone in the building was aware of my failed attempt at dress-up.

She squeezed my hand when I nodded and began returning the gardening tools to a small wagon nearby. I handed her a shovel, spotting the headline on one of the old newspapers lining the table.

MVP Candidate Killian Reed’s Future Questionable.

Killian.

At first, I was convinced I imagined his name. After reading the headline twice, I began to realize what a fool I’d been to think that he and I could have worked. It was almost laughable.

The baseball star and the martyr.

We may as well have resided on different planets.

In my haste to learn as much as I could of his injury and what it meant for the Hurricanes, I’d temporarily forgotten I wasn’t alone.

“Not such a catch now, is he?” Helen taunted, clicking her tongue against her teeth. “You know, in my day, we had a no-nonsense approach to dating that you young girls seem to be missing. We accepted nothing less than everything, while your lot is hung up on money and status. It’s pathetic.”

In twenty-four hours, I’d gone from being clueless to completely indiscriminate when it came to the opposite sex. This, from a woman who’d been married four times.

“She didn’t know who he was,” Tsega contended, branding a gardening fork like a weapon.

Her smirk faded. “Wait—you didn’t know who he was?”

I touched the inked words again and shook my head.

“Oh, I bet you thought you were special,” she cackled, her face twisting into a hideous sneer. “You know, I called it the day you arrived. I told Margaret and the girls that you were going to latch onto the baseball player and bring trouble. You’re just lucky you went after him and not Arthur, or things would have been much worse for you, missy.”

The rules might have been a little different, but this world was no different than my own. It seemed ugly people existed just about anywhere. The Helens of the world were always going to be there, judging and finding me lacking.

It only hurts if you let it…

I released a breath through my nostrils, my molars cracking audibly as they came together.For a moment, I forgot to be Ariana James. Instead, I imagined myself as Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables, fully capable of breaking a slate over Gilbert Blythe’s head to stop his teasing.

While I didn’t have a slate lying around, I did have a pot of mums that would do nicely for what I had in mind. Because, for the first time ever, the adrenaline coursing through my body and tightening my muscles wasn’t in response to fear.

It was because I was pissed off and not in the mood to be bullied.

Not by Helen.

Not by Brad.

Not anymore.

“That’s enough,” Tsega said coldly. “You oughta be ashamed of yourself”—

Helen shook her head in disgust. “For what? I did her a favor, really. Men like Killian only want one thing. Sex. He’s surrounded by gorgeous women all the time and a weak little thing like her—you know as well as I do, she’d be eaten alive. I doubt he’d even have to pay her off to keep quiet after, because who would ever believe her?”

Who would believe me?

It was a question that had kept me in chains most of my life. What this woman thought of me should have been none of my concern, but I was struck with an overwhelming urge to defend myself. I wanted to watch her choke on the hateful words as I told her the things I’d endured at the hands of Tristan and Brad.

Because I was not a weak person.

And she wouldn’t have lasted a day in my shoes.

“We’re leaving.” Tsega tossed the remainder of the tools in the wagon before turning back to Helen with a scowl. “Ariana is one of the sweetest people you’ll ever meet, but instead of taking the time to get to know her, you tricked—”

The old woman rolled her eyes. “Blah, blah, blah. Shouldn’t you be off, I don’t know, worshiping a cow or something? Isn’t that what you people—” Her words cut off in a sudden shriek as the clod of dirt connected with her cheek.

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