Another bang had me once again opening the door, still buck naked, and rounding the corner to investigate further when…
“Stacy, I’m naked! You need to leave!” I cried out, keeping as much of my body as I could hidden behind the hallway wall.
Stacy looked up, seemingly interested, and said, “What?”
“I’m naked!” I cried out. “What are you doing here?”
“Just doing some improvements,” he said, holding up his toolbox.
I gritted my teeth, trying to hold back the anger that was set on exploding out of me.
“Get out!” I cried.
Stacy held his hands up. “I’m just doing improvements. Which you know is part of the lease, Birdee.”
“Get. Out!” I screamed.
Stacy sighed. “You’re being ridiculous. Just go get dressed.”
I gritted my teeth and said, “All of my clothes are literally in the laundry room behind you.”
Short of putting on my fanciest pair of lingerie, I literally had nothing in my room other than a dirty t-shirt that I’d spilled candle wax on last night.
I slept naked, so last night I hadn’t given much thought to being clothes-less this morning.
But now…
I would never, not ever, be without an outfit again.
“Jesus.” Stacy gathered up his toolbox. “I’ll come another day.”
He left with a slam of the door, and I wondered if he was the earlier bang I’d heard when I’d headed into the bathroom.
Picking up the closest thing I could to a cover-up, I wrapped the blanket from the couch around me and wrinkled my nose at the smell.
The cloying scent of my stepfather’s aftershave nearly bowled me over.
What was wrong with this blanket?
Stomping angrily into the laundry room, I threw the blanket into the hamper and snatched some clothes out of the dryer.
I didn’t have many clothes because I’d been desperate to move out of the pool house in a hurry when Mable had asked us to vacate her property.
I hadn’t argued and had honestly left most of my wardrobe behind because I wouldn’t be needing fancy clothes anymore. I didn’t have to impress my mother with my dress, and she couldn’t control me by bribing me anymore.
So I’d left mostly everything behind.
I had four pairs of jeans, eight T-shirts, and enough sweatshirts to get me through until I had a hefty bank account to help pay for such frivolities. I had one large winter jacket that I’d gotten from Shade for Christmas last year, enough bras and underwear from Walmart to last me a year, and that was it.
Once I was dressed, I started a new load of laundry, then got boots on my feet before gathering my lunch I’d made the night before and stomping out of my house.
I was a few minutes early, which worked out well because my sometimes ride wasn’t there.
So I started walking, thinking about the shit Stacy had just pulled.
What was he even doing there at seven in the morning? He could’ve come any time, and he waited until I was getting ready for the day?
I forced myself to get my anger under control. Anger was a useless emotion. Nothing ever came of the act, and inevitably, it would only make my day worse than it needed to be
