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Excerpt
The Proposal
By Jaden Sinclair
Chapter One
Danielle Hughes sat at
the break table at the back of her fast food job, frowning over the
little book she held in her hand. Going over the figures in her savings
account book, she tried to think of a way she could pay for her first
semester of college. Half of her paycheck always went to her family,
mostly toward her brother’s medical bills. Paul Hughes, her older
brother, and the light in her father’s eyes, was dying. He needed a new
liver and they didn’t have the money to pay for the operation, even if a
donor could be found.
Ever since Paul got
sick, it was up to Danielle to work and help with the bills. Her
father’s first and only concern was for Paul. Even her mother acted like
she was just a small bank they could withdraw money from at will.
Another thing starting to take its toll on Danielle was her hidden
college funds. Balances were starting to go down instead of up. Then to
put the icing on the cake, her hours were going to be cut.
Danielle Hughes stood
at only five three. Her build wasn’t that of a slim super model, but a
nice size fourteen. Her soft, wavy dirty blonde hair she kept cut to her
shoulders in layers around her face. Her soft, pouty lips seemed to
scream, ‘kiss me!’ But her green eyes that once reflected the carefree
life of youth, now showed the burden of family.
At one time, Danielle
even thought of herself as pretty, before she started to look older than
her young twenty-two years. She had only been seventeen when Paul became
sick, and as far as she was concerned, her youth was gone. The one and
only boyfriend that she ever had broke up with her after her father’s
demands became too much. Then after high school, all of her friends
stopped coming around when they kept getting turned down because of the
duties her father inflicted upon her. All in all, when Paul got sick,
Danielle disappeared.
“Thought your shift was
up,” her boss said, walking back with some books in her hands.
“It is. Just thinking
how I’m going to explain to my father why we’re cutting back on hours.”
“I’m sure he’ll
understand.”
Danielle put her book
back in her purse and stood up. “I don’t think so.”
Instead of heading home
and facing her father, Danielle changed her clothes in the back of her
beat up Tempo and headed for the hospital. Paul took a turn for the
worse the other day and she needed to talk to the staff about the
payments. There was no way she was going to be able to make the same
amount now. Not until she found another job.
Instead of finding a
way to lift a small burden from her shoulders, Danielle now had more.
The hospital couldn’t work with her anymore than what they’d already
done, and her father was causing more problems. He wanted Paul looked at
by a specialist…again…and moved to a private room. Both things
cost too much, and her father gave the hospital staff a hard time for
not doing what he wanted.
As usual, it always
came down to what her father wanted, and what he thought Paul deserved.
Always the best, but never worry about the cost.
Danielle was tired of
this; tired of being the one to fix the family problems; tired of having
to deal with it all. But mostly she was tired of how her father held her
back from her own goals in life. She wanted out! Plain and simple.
“Ms. Hughes!”
Danielle stopped and
tried to put on a smile as the lady she had just spoken with about the
costs rushed up to her. Even listening seemed hard when she felt like
the world was crashing down on her and she couldn’t stop it.
“Ms. Hughes. I’m sorry,
but Mr. Remington would like to speak with you tomorrow. He told me it’s
very urgent.”
Danielle suppressed a
groan. She knew how the Remington’s were. Cold, heartless pricks. The
only thing they ever cared about was money. Making it and taking it away
from others. The only one that was somewhat decent was their son, Nate,
but still he thought about appearances. She remembered him from school,
always dating the prettiest girls, the ones that had money also. To
Danielle, Nate was nothing but a spoiled brat with a golden spoon in his
mouth.
“What time?” she asked
on a sigh.
The lady gave her a
sympathetic smile. “Three. He’s flying in tonight for other business in
the hospital.”
“I bet he is,” she said
under her breath, “Fine. I’ll be here.”
Danielle walked to her
brother’s room. She didn’t go in, but stood in the hall looking at him
through the glass. Paul was getting worse and there wasn’t anything she
could do to help. All of her ideas and resources were tapped out,
something she needed her father to understand.
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