Snippet

Kate shielded her eyes from the noon sun and pressed her nose to the big picture window at Maddy's. It was cool and refreshing against her face, breaking her skin out into goose bumps and taking some of the edge off of the oppressive summer heat in the city.

She admired the women inside the store, watching them talk with each other and laugh. They seemed so happy to be standing around folding clothes, making minimum wage and dealing with the snobbish types who came in to buy winter apparel at full price in summer. Kate wondered what it would be like to make all of her money standing around with other women, instead of on her back with other men. Thinking like that, however, would mean going back to school or simply getting away from Marcus and Karl. She cringed instinctively, wrinkling her nose against the glass and furrowing her eyebrows at the thought of having to leave the busy east coast for the slowly paced west.

Kate pictured herself gagging on all the farms and fields, choking on church and the ever present push to steer clear of damnation. She could stand to stay a trick for a little while longer, she thought, as long as it meant not going back to church this Sunday. Or any Sunday.

She waved goodbye to the women inside, who didn't notice, and started walking again to the little section of street where she kept a corner office.