“You need to leave, immediately.” My own voice sounds distant and strangely emotionless.
Bess stands up slowly, water dripping along her body and onto the floor. Even now, I can’t help but admire those lush curves, rosy and slick from the bath. But she won’t meet our eyes. Instead, she steps out of the tub, her head hanging low and grabs a towel, wrapping the white terry securely around her breasts. Finally, she looks at us and speaks again.
“If you give me a chance, I can explain everything.”
My brother and I merely shrug.
“I think it’s a little late, don’t you think? How can we trust anything you say?” Brandon asks, his tone casual as if this is an everyday conversation.
“Please,” Bess pleads, “just let me try.”
I look at the woman, knowing she’s a witch. But witch or not, my love wants to give her one last chance.
“Speak,” I say tersely, body vibrating with tension.
Bess nods quickly. “That website isn’t the full story. But it’s part of it.”
Brandon and I merely stare at her, waiting.
Bess continues, her voice shaking slightly as she relays her saga.
“Remember how I told you I spent time in New York, trying to get my acting career off the ground? And how I failed? Well, it wasn’t just bad. It was awful.”
“Go on,” I say. She blinks, her voice trembling.
“Right after I graduated high school, my parents gave me what seemed at the time like a really amazing gift at the time – they offered to pay for an apartment for me in in New York City. They said they’d give me one summer to try out life in the big city and to snag those big Broadway gigs I was always mooning over. I was so excited because my dreams were finally coming true.”
Bess wipes at an errant tear, her bottom lip trembling. Meanwhile, I listen intently, my body coiled as if ready to strike.
“Anyways, it was a shot in the dark, but my luck was incredible – I had a ton of auditions lined up at lots of different theaters. It was mostly for ensemble pieces but in one, I was even trying out for the lead female role.” Bess looks down at her toes, sorrow washing over her. “I really thought I was going to make it big.”
Brandon and I exchange a quick sideways glance, grimacing as we anticipate what comes next. She didn’t make it on stage, so she turned to prostitution. How many times have we heard this tale?
But Bess starts talking again, her voice hitching as she relays her experience.
“The deal was that my parents would pay for my apartment for about three months. We’re from Lake Puckett, as you know, and my parents are naïve. They gave me the money in cash, and I already had a rental set up. This was before the days of Airbnb, so we thought cash was easiest. But the problem is that I was mugged upon setting foot in the city. Literally, when I got off the bus at Penn Station, someone snagged my backpack while I wasn’t looking, and that was it. I felt so stupid. There I was, new to the city, and already reduced to nothing.”
Another tear slides down her cheek.
“My dreams were blown to smithereens in that minute. I literally had nothing but ten bucks in my pocket. No apartment. No savings. No nothing, and I couldn’t ask my parents for anything else. They had done so much already.” A single, fat tear slides down Bess’s pale cheek. I resist the urge to wipe it away because I still don’t know where she’s going with this long tale, but my heart’s beginning to soften.
“I couldn’t buy groceries,” she manages between sniffles. “Do you have any idea what it’s like not to know where your next meal is coming from?”
Bess shakes her head, not waiting for an answer. “So I stayed in a shelter that night, and another resident there told me about City Girls. I was hesitant at first, but that first night at the shelter was awful. It’s not safe, and women are often assaulted inside. I knew I had to get out of there.”
She continues in a quiet voice, the words coming more easily now.
“I had to survive, don’t you see? So I signed up with City Girls. It wasn’t my first choice, but by then, I had no options left. The agency put me up in a shared apartment with a bunch of other girls, and I was grateful for that. There was food, electricity, and a small mattress, even if it was used and dirty.”
“Okay,” my brother growls. “So what did you do as part of City Girls? And Don’t. Lie. To. Us.”
Bess takes a deep breath, but then something passes behind her eyes. Her chin goes up and her back straightens before she meets our gazes.