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“Sweetheart…” Clarice said. “I’ve been keeping you here for way too long, and that’s my fault. You’re the kindest, most pure person I’ve ever met, and I think of you as my own daughter. But I can’t keep you here forever. You need to start making friends with people your own age.”
The woman put down her knife and fork as if she were getting ready to say something.
“After you left that night, I realised how much I’ve been smothering you. You’re 18 and that was the first time you left the house by yourself.” She took a deep breath before finishing, “I’ve had the week to think about it, and I’ve decided that you need to start living your life, and to do that, you need a job. You’ve excelled in all of your homeschooling courses and because of that you were able to graduate early.
“I’ve already spoken with Mrs. Langford, who owns the town’s small bakery. You are a great cook and an even better baker. It shouldn’t be too hard because you already know her, and you won’t have to deal with too many people at once because you’ll be baking in the back for most of the day.
Clarice’s eyes softened as she looked at Isla’s frazzled body. “I’m sorry to throw this at you out of the blue, but you have to believe me that this is for your own good.” I’m sorry for taking away this simple freedom for so long. You should have been making these trips years ago.
Isla could only look at Clarice after she was done with her speech. The younger kids at the table kept talking, though, because they didn’t understand or care about the news that was announced.
Isla was torn about being an employee.
She mouthed the word and it felt strange on her tongue. She was nervous about talking to people outside of her usual group at the orphanage, but the thought of making new friends and maybe even running into the handsome stranger named Kade at the store made her heart race. After a few moments of thought, Isla smiled nervously at Clarice and spoke.
“Okay. I’ll…I’ll do it.
The next morning, Isla was the last person to finish her breakfast. She was still thinking about her new job at the bakery in town. She played with the milk in her bowl, and as she did, she started to feel anxious about having to talk to people.
Getting together with people.
For many people, it was a normal thing to do, but for Isla, it was new. She knew she wasn’t very good at making friends because she didn’t have many sleepovers or late-night phone calls. She didn’t think of herself as socially inept, but she had to admit that she had a case of social anxiety.
After Isla finished watching the milk drip from her spoon, she got up and went to the kitchen to get two more empty plates.
Every morning, Isla had to clean up after the kids when they were done eating breakfast. This made sense because she was the oldest child in the house and the only one who could be trusted not to break the fragile china. She made several trips to the dining room to collect the dirty dishes, and it took her almost an hour to finish washing them.
When she thought about her new job as a “baker,” her heart sank again. Isla chewed her lip in worry, and her fingers shook as tears filled her eyes, ready to spill over. She whispered a mantra to herself over and over again.
“Isla, stop it. You’re a big girl.” You can do this.
It seemed like her words of encouragement worked because the tears that had been in her eyes dried up and the lump in her throat went away. She took a few deep breaths and then walked to Clarice’s office at the end of the hall, which was across from her room. She knocked twice before hearing the invitation to come in.
“How are you, Isla?”Why?” Clarice asked.
She could tell right away that Isla was uncomfortable. It helped that the girl was very honest about how she felt.
Isla said, “I’m fine.” Her words sounded strange on her tongue as if it knew they weren’t true.
Clarice looked at Isla with eyes full of guilt. She started to doubt her choice to throw Isla to the sharks, which was supposed to be like ripping off a Band-Aid. But then she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind and remembered that this was for Isla’s own good, even though the way it was done was upsetting. She decided to ease some of her own stress by taking away a task she had given Isla earlier.
“Don’t worry about getting clothes for Toby anymore. I can take care of that.
Isla nodded, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, but there was still one more.
“I-I,” Isla said, clearing her throat. “I just wanted to know when I would be starting…when my first day would be.”
Clarice answered carefully, keeping her eyes on the nervous girl to see how she would react.
“I told her you could start today at 3.”
Isla’s eyes got bigger, and her bottom lip found its way back to her teeth as anxiety took hold of her nerves. She whispered her answer, which was almost lost in her breath.
“Okay.”
Isla looked down as she spoke, and tears came to her eyes. She turned and walked out of the room, this time not being able to hold back the salty liquid that fell to the floor behind her.
*********
Kade rolled around in bed, still wrapped up in the sheets, despite it approaching one o’clock. He couldn’t find it in himself to get up, knowing that his usual routine of negotiating payments and contracts with dealers awaited him. Eventually he got out of bed, standing to his full height of 6’3 as he stretched his muscled body. Kade made his way to his closet and threw on a white long sleeve with ripped black jeans, completing his look with timberlands. He brushed his fingers through his hair messily and pushed the sleeves up to his elbows, not bothering to glance in the mirror before exiting his bedroom.
Kade decided to change his routine today just because he could. He wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, so he ignored everyone who said good morning and other things like that as he walked out the door.
Kade opened the door to his car violently and slipped inside. The black Range Rover made him feel better because it kept him away from his annoying employees. He took his phone out of his pocket and typed a quick good morning text to the blonde. Work had kept him busy for the past week, but he still thought about the blonde nymphette all the time. He couldn’t stop thinking about her sweet face, and it made his eyes soften at times. He hated that he couldn’t reach out to her.
“Good morning, beautiful girl.”
Kade smiled and threw his phone into the passenger seat after sending the text. He knew that Isla would blush a lot when she read it. He also knew that she would have trouble accepting a compliment because she was so humble and kind.
He thought back to the first time they met that day; his blackened heart seemed to beat when he thought about her and when he was around her, which made him curious. He liked teasing her until her face and neck were hot. He liked how innocent and excited she was. For once, he was the one doing the pursuing, and it felt good.
He had never been so in love with someone—no, infatuated was a better word. He had only had a taste of the sweet girl, just a nibble, but the brute wanted more.
***********
Isla looked at her phone with interest. She had just finished getting ready for her new job at the bakery and was reading a book when it rang. It was strange, to say the least. Isla never got text messages unless she was out of town with a volunteer and Clarice wanted to know when they would be back.
She smiled with excitement when she saw that the message was from Kade.
“Good morning, beautiful girl.”
She let out a small squeal as she read the text, and then she threw her phone on the bed in shock.
“Is this real?”She mumbled into her hand. The poor girl had begun to think he had forgotten about her.
Isla pressed her hands against her cheeks to try to cool off the heat. She reached for her phone again and bit her lip as she tried to think of a good text.
What should I say? “Good morning?”Not that boring. “Nice to hear from you?”That makes me sound like I don’t have any friends, which I don’t, but he doesn’t need to know that…”
Isla groaned in frustration as she typed and deleted words and emojis. She couldn’t bring herself to write a response because she was too insecure. But in the end, she just did it. She quickly wrote a message and hit send without thinking about it too much.