“Okay,” I say as I dress in an oversized t-shirt and slip some yoga pants on. He’s right, I do smell like him, and I don’t like anyone knowing that Trent and I are having sex, let alone his mom. I’m so embarrassed when Trent talks to his dad so openly about what I do with him. But I suppose, this is what a normal family does. They talk candidly about everything, with no secrets.
Once I’ve showered, I get dressed and go out to find where Mrs. Hackly is. She hasn’t changed much since I’ve moved in, and Mr. Hackly tends to ignore me, only saying things in passing to me. He’s cordial, but there’s never really any conversation.
“Stacey called, said there’s a shift available if you want it,” Mr. Hackly says.
“Yeah that’ll be good. Thank you, I’ll ask Trent if he can take me.”
“I’ll take you, I have a few things to get from there,” Mr. Hackly replies.
“Thank you,” I answer, and go to find Trent to tell him I’ll be working.
He’s up in his room, he’s lying on his bed talking in a hushed voice on the phone. “Yeah, I’ll see you later,” he says louder when he sees me walk in the room. “Hey, babe. You alright?”
“Stacey called, said there’s a shift available. Is it okay if I go?”
Trent jumps off the bed quite enthusiastically. “Yeah, of course. Good idea. I’ll call Jason back and let him know I’ll go out tonight then. If you want to get ready I’ll take you in.”
“Your dad said he can take me.”
“Even better. Have a good night at work, text me what time you’re finishing and I’ll be there to pick you up,” he says as he leads me out of his room and closes the door, before I can say anything.
I go downstairs to my room, put on my uniform and go find Mr. Hackly. “I’m ready, sir,” I say, once I find him in the family room on his tablet.
“Go wait in the car, I’ll be there in a moment.”
“I’ll just ask Mrs. Hackly if there’s anything she needs, then I’ll go wait in the car.” I haven’t seen her today, I heard her in the kitchen and when I went to see if she needed help, she was already gone.
“She’s laying down; she has a headache. You can go to the car.” He takes his phone out of his pocket and thumbs through it.
“Yes, sir.” I take myself outside and wait in the car until Mr. Hackly comes. I’m not left waiting long, but when he gets in the car he’s wearing cologne. “Thank you for taking me.”
“That’s fine, Lily.” The rest of the ride is quiet. Mr. Hackly barely speaks to me as it is, so it’s no surprise when he puts the music on and doesn’t look once at me.
When we get to the store, I jump out, thank Mr. Hackly again and go put my bag away. But first I need to find Stacey and ask her what time I’m finishing, so I can let Trent know. I go up to her office and she’s not there, I go down on the floor and ask the girls working, but no one’s seen her. I’ve been here for ten minutes already and I can’t find her, so I decide to duck to the ladies room before my shift starts and I’ll ask Stacey when I’m on my break.
I go into the bathroom and pull my pants down to sit on the toilet when I hear murmuring. The sound is very familiar. Someone’s having sex in the cubicle at the end of the stall. Gross. I quickly finish and pull my pants up when I hear Stacey say, “Shhh, someone’s in here.”
The response from the other person is, “Then you best be fucking quiet, whore.” And the voice is one I know all too well. He brought me here.
I don’t even wash my hands, I just flush the toilet and run as fast as I can, fleeing what I just heard. I duck into the men’s room to wash my hands in there. No one else is in here, so I put my ear to the door and wait until I can’t hear anything.
Creaking the door open, I look down the hall and notice it’s completely isolated. I run down to the front and ask what register I’m going to be on. As soon as I’m ready, my conveyor belt is already laden with a customer’s groceries and another two are waiting in line.
The shift is going by quickly, but my head is swimming with what I heard in the bathroom. I have to keep this to myself until I speak to Trent, because I don’t know what to do. The queue at my register is three deep, and all the other registers are the same. Tonight’s really busy and it doesn’t seem to ease up. But Mr. Hackly’s gruff voice as he was having sex just won’t leave my mind.
“You okay there, Lily?” I look up to see Mr. Hackly standing in front of me. I startle at his presence and I can’t help but look down, embarrassed and unsure of where to look.