Olivia tried her best to build a rhythm during the week that followed. She attended her classes at Data Centre College as usual, walking through the school building with the quiet hope that her life might still hold something familiar. Yet every time she reached for her phone to check her schedule at Mart One, she remembered Simon’s voice from the night before.
“You will not work there anymore. It does not align with who you are now.”
There had been no room for debate. His tone had been final. She had swallowed the protest that rose in her throat, because deep down she knew he was right. A Jimenez working in a grocery store would only attract whispers she did not want to face. Still, the loss of that small piece of normalcy left an ache she carried in silence.
By Friday, her world chang
