Read Sea Breeze 01 - Breathe for Free Online Page A

play chess out in the gazebo when our workday ended. He beat me each time, but I was learning the game and promised him that my skills would improve and one day I would beat him.
    I saw Marcus in the evenings when we all sat around the table and enjoyed a bowl of soup and salad. Ms. Mary always sent a plate of food home for Jessica, and I suspected she sent it for my sake. Somehow, without my telling her, she seemed to understand how my life at home functioned. After Marcus got off work, he always drove me and my bike home. William was back at work to help Marcus serve, and things seemed to run smoothly with the staff and family.
    Sunday morning arrived before I knew it. I lay in bed, covering my face from the bright sunlight streaming in the windows. It was good not to have to jump up and get ready. I enjoyed my job, but I also enjoyed sleeping late. I yawned and stretched. Today I would be going out with a friend. I was more excited than the normal person would be, but I couldn’t help it. I sat up and rubbed my face, trying to wake up enough to go eat breakfast. It was still really quiet in the house, but Jessica normally slept till eleven every day. I went to the kitchen and fixed myself a bowl of Peanut Butter Crunch, then went to sit on the piece of slab outside our back door. The sun glistened off the water, and it warmed me as I enjoyed my bowl of cereal. Today felt like my first real day of summer. Today I would be able to go do something a seventeen-year-old would do.
    “What are you eating?” Jessica asked as she walked out the door—or more like waddled out the door.
    “Peanut Butter Crunch cereal,” I replied, and took another bite.
    She sank down in the lawn chair beside me and sighed. “Do you love me?”
    I rolled my eyes, knowing what words would be next. “Yes,” I replied, and took another bite.
    “Then will you have pity on me and my enormous stomach and go fix me a bowl when you’re done?”
    This was an old game. She thought it cute to ask if I loved her before she asked me to go get her something. I ate the rest of my cereal and drank all my milk before I stood up.
    “Going to get your cereal,” I said as I walked back in the door.
    “Thanks, honey,” she replied, not opening her eyes.
    I fixed her a large bowl so I wouldn’t have to fix her a second one, and took it to her. I needed to tell her about Marcus before he got here. I gave her the bowl, and she sat back up from her reclined position in a chair that did not recline and took the bowl from me.
    “Thanks a bunch,” she said, smiling.
    I sat back down. “I have made a friend at work, and he is coming to get me today to show me around and hang out.”
    Jessica put the spoon full of cereal back down. “A boy! You?”
    “He isn’t a boy I am dating. He is just a friend. He is from around here and wants to hang out today.”
    She smiled and took a bite of cereal. She’d barely swallowed when she said, “I can’t believe you talked to someone enough to make a friend. Or is he a recluse too?”
    I stood up, not in the mood for my mom’s teasing. She loved to remind me how I lacked social skills.
    I started back inside, and she laughed. “I’m just teasing, Sadie. Don’t get so upset. I’m glad you’ve got a friend. Just don’t forget about me and stay gone all day. It gets lonely around here.”
    I hated it when she laid on a guilt trip. “You have a car. Go somewhere and do something.”
    She gave a melodramatic sigh. “I do need to go get a pedicure since I can’t see my toes anymore.
    I shook my head. “No, something where no money is required. Like go for a walk down the beach.”
    She rolled her eyes this time, and I went inside. I made a beeline for the stashed money I’d saved for bills and hid it somewhere else. I didn’t need to come home and find she’d spent all our money. After the cash was secured, I went to get ready for my day with Marcus. I needed to wash my hair and coat myself with sunblock. The