Sea Breeze 01 - Breathe

on television. Jessica watched
Entertainment Daily
during our meal. Teen rocker and heartthrob Jax Stone was one of their favorite topics. Last night he’d had on his arm a girl rumored to be in his new music video. Fran stopped behind me. I turned to her, and she seemed focused on the portrait.
    “This is his summer home. He will be arriving with his parents and brother tomorrow. Can you handle this?”
    I simply nodded, unable to form words from the shock of seeing Jax Stone’s face on the wall.
    Fran moved again, and I followed her into the library. “He’s the reason teenagers are not hired. This is a private escape for him. When he was younger, his parents insisted he take a break each summer and spend time with them away from the bright lights of Hollywood. Now he’s older and still comes here for the summer. He leaves now and then to go to different events, but for the most part, this is his getaway. He brings his family with him since they don’t see each other much during the year.” Fran paused dramatically and then continued. “If you can’t handle it, you will be fired immediately. His privacy is of the utmost importance. It’s why this is such a high-paying job.”
    I straightened and grabbed the bucket I’d been using. “I can handle anything. This job is more important to me than a teenage rock star.”
    Fran nodded, but from her frown, I could see she didn’t believe me.
    I focused more energy into my work. At the end of a long day, I listened while the quiet, frowning Fran reported to Ms. Mary. She believed I would be a good worker and I should be given a chance. I thanked her and Ms. Mary. I figured I should be able to save enough money for the fall, when my mom would have the baby and not work, and I would be back in school. I could do this.
    Yes, Jax Stone was famous, had incredible steel-blue eyes, and happened to be one of the most beautiful creations known to man. I made myself admit that much. However, everyone knows beauty is only skin deep. I assumed the shallowness radiating off of him would be so revolting I wouldn’t care that I cleaned his house and passed him in the halls.
    Besides, guys were a species I knew nothing about. I never took the time to talk to one even when they did their best to talk to me. I’ve always had bigger problems in life, like making sure we ate and my mom remembered to pay our bills.
    When I thought of all the money I’d wasted on the condoms I’d shoved into Jessica’s hands and purse before she went out with the countless men who flocked to her, I really had a hard time not getting angry with her. Even in thrift-store clothing, she looked gorgeous. One of her many disgusting men told me I’d inherited the cursed looks. From her curly blond hair to her clear blue eyes and heavy black lashes, I somehow managed to get it all. However, I had the one thing I knew would save me from certain disaster: My personality came across as rather dull. It was something my mother loved to remind me of, yet instead of being upset by it, I held on to it for dear life. What she thought of as a character defect, I liked to think of as my lifeline. I didn’t want to be like her. If having a dull personality kept me from following in her footsteps, then I would embrace it.
    The apartment we lived in for almost five hundred a month sat underneath a huge old house. I walked in after my first day of work to find that Jessica wasn’t inside. With only four rooms, she couldn’t have gotten far.
    “Mom?” I got no answer.
    The sun was setting, so I stepped out onto what Jessica referred to as a patio. If you ask me, it was really more like a small piece of slab. She loved coming out here to look out over the water. She stood out in the yard with her increasing stomach on view for all to see, in a bikini I’d bought at a thrift store a few weeks ago. She turned and smiled. The facade of sickness from this morning no longer appeared on her face. Instead, she seemed to be glowing.
    “Sadie, how did it go? Did ol’ Ms. Mary give you a hard time? If she did, I sure hope you were nice. We need this job, and you can be so rude and unsociable.”
    I listened to her blabber on about my lack of social skills and waited until she finished before I spoke. “I got the job for the summer if I want it.”
    Jessica sighed dramatically in relief. “Wonderful. I really need to rest these next few months. The baby is taking so much out of me. You just don’t understand how