Embittered Ruby Read Free

home—whether she liked it or not. But she didn’t like it one bit. “Why can’t I at least commute to my old school from here? I mean, I could take the bus. Nate and I Googled it.”
    Mom pressed her fingers into her temples until her knuckles turned white. “You Googled
what
exactly?” She thrust out each word with what seemed a huge effort.
    Oh no. Mom appeared done in. Why hadn’t Carmen waited to bring this up after dinner? Too late, though. “Um, the bus schedule. All I’d have to do is catch the one-sixty-five a block away at State Street. Then hop on the number seven subway at Times Square. A quick ride to Grand Central, and then I’d get on the Metro-North Hudson Line to Ossining, and then I’m basically there.”
    “Right. And what time is the first bus at State Street? Four a.m.?” Mom shook her head. “You’re talking to a native New Yorker. I know full well what you just described is at least two hours’ traveling time each way.”
    Two and a half actually. But admitting the actual travel times to Mom sure wouldn’t help Carmen’s cause at all. Besides, Carmen didn’t pick Hackensack. They could have moved closer to home if only Dr. Miller from Mom’s church hadn’t offered her a receptionist job in his Hacker location. “I don’t mind the travel. Really. I can do homework, read, or even nap.”
    “No way, Carmen. Walking around outside this apartment while it’s still dark in the morning and then not getting home until after dark? I don’t think so. It’s just not safe to have you traipsing all over two states twice a day.”
    It had to be safer than going to school in Hackensack. But Mom wouldn’t like to hear that at all.
    “Plus what about your sisters—how are they supposed to get to school, and who will be here for them after? I’ll be working at the dentist office during the day and hopefully doing Mary Kay facials at night.”
    But why was it Carmen’s responsibility to be the parent?
    Mom slapped her hands on her thighs and pulled herself up, her knees creaking the whole way. “I have an idea, though. If you and Nate want to be together so much, why doesn’t he do the daily bus pilgrimage and transfer to college in New Jersey to be with you? How about trying the chivalrous thing for once, rather than expecting you to do all the work.”
    “Right, like his parents are going to let Nate McConnell, heir to the throne of their political empire, slum it in Hackensack, New Jersey.” Carmen wrinkled her nose and gazed out the tiny window at the billboards and barred store windows below them. He wouldn’t do it anyway. No way. “Just forget about it. Besides, it’s a lot harder to transfer colleges, and he’s been in classes for a month now. And since I already started the year at my old school, I could skip the whole transfer process completely and just keep going to my school.”
    Mom ignored her. She grunted and leaned back at her hips, rotating her upper body. “I’m getting too old for this,” she muttered.
    “You’re thirty-three. That’s so not old.” They’d had the same discussion before. Mom, still young and pretty, could lose a few pounds, sure, but who couldn’t really? Maybe if she did, maybe if she bought some new clothes and got a trendy haircut, then maybe Dad would want her back and they could all go home.
    And makeup. Hopefully Mom’s new Mary Kay venture would add a little color to her own face. Maybe they’d teach her to get rid of those dark circles and bags under her eyes. She’d never be as young and, um, perky, as Tiffany…but she could be a better version of herself without even trying very hard. Mom had better step it up if she wanted Dad back. But how could Carmen convince her without hurting her feelings? Especially when she didn’t seem to want him back.
    “Hey guys, what’s up?” A tiny blur of flowing black hair bounded across the room and rolled onto the bottom bunk. Harper rested her elbows on the bare mattress and propped