Nobody ever said leaving the country where you were born and raised was easy, especially not when you’re just a young woman barely out of her shell, brimming with aspirations and dreams.
Alexa wanted to grab the world by the horns.
Instead, the world grabbed her by the horns.
She had so many ambitions for her life, even keeping a little notebook since she was a kid where she’d meticulously planned everything out.
No boyfriends in high school or college.
Graduate with the highest GPA.
Be the most skilled professional in my field.
Design my own apartment and live happily for the rest of my days.
Maybe a boyfriend would cross her path, maybe not. That was always the least of her concerns.
She never closed the door on pure, unconditional love, but it wasn’t on her priority list when she had to focus on not ending up homeless and sleeping under a bridge.
Life made sure to teach her—in the harshest way possible—that nothing was certain. One day, she could be in the comfort of her home, imagining herself as a talented civil engineer working for a big company, and the next, she could be mixing cement with a shovel, unable to bear the blisters on her hands.
“Hey, kid, you done over there?!”
She jammed the shovel into the small pile of mixed cement, wiped the sweat from her brow, and nodded, breathing heavily.
“It’s all mixed!”
“Good, start bringing it over here! Hurry up! I wanna get to the bar already!”
A small chuckle escaped her lips as she heard her foreman. A few months ago, she would’ve cursed her own existence at such a request, but now, carrying buckets of cement didn’t feel so daunting.
“I’m on it, boss!”
By three in the afternoon, they’d finished the framework for the second floor of the building. Alexa wanted to wrap up the project as soon as possible to see the final design. She hadn’t seen the blueprints, but what they’d built so far had her thrilled. It was going to be a seaside restaurant with a small shopping center upstairs.
“Alex, move it, you’re daydreaming.”
“Oh, right—” She stepped forward in line. She rolled her shoulders a bit to ease the tension from hauling cement buckets back and forth.
She glanced at her hands, rough and covered in blisters. She couldn’t believe these same hands had received a summa cum laude degree just a year and a half ago. She didn’t mind the hard work and effort, but it felt like she’d thrown all her previous achievements in the trash.
What good was a summa cum laude in a country where she barely had temporary papers? She didn’t have enough money to validate her credentials or get a visa. Everything she’d brought with her was stolen by a con artist the moment she stepped off the plane. He’d promised to get her everything she needed to practice her profession, only to leave her with nothing but a few bucks for the bus. The jerk didn’t even leave her suitcase.
Obviously, her first day in this country had been the worst of all, but precisely because it was her first day, she couldn’t throw in the towel so quickly and go back.
“Alex Martinelli!” She took a step forward to face her boss. He handed her an envelope with a kind smile. “You did good today, kid.”
She smiled and clutched the envelope, a flicker of hope in her eyes. It was the only incentive she had to keep going. This job had fallen into her lap like a gift from above, literally. She’d been sitting on the curb in clothes she’d gotten from a shelter when a meter stick fell on her head, and she heard a “I quit!” shouted from the second floor.
“Thanks, boss.”
“You’ve worked hard, kid,” the man complimented her. She smiled, trying not to look embarrassed. Her boss was a good man. “That deserves a few drinks!”
Her smile wavered at his words. He was a good man, but he had the flaw of blowing his money on booze.
“Let’s go grab some drinks!” the rest of the crew shouted in unison.
No kidding about my coworkers.
Refusing wasn’t a luxury she could afford. As a small-time contractor, she needed to stay on everyone’s good side to keep getting hired as a temporary construction worker.
There was a bar near the construction site. It was cozy, and they served grilled meat. Alexa hadn’t had grilled meat in ages; she was careful with her spending and didn’t splurge on what she considered unnecessary luxuries. Besides saving up for her papers, she needed to send money to her family.
Ever since developers set foot in the small town of Atlas for its pristine, turquoise beaches, most local spots had become expensive. All except for Mrs. Celeste’s place, a close friend of Alexa’s boss. Rounds at her bar were always affordable, and there wasn’t a weekend they didn’t show up.
“Remember when this kid could barely lift a bag of sand? First day, he tore through two of ‘em! I don’t know how many times the boss fired you, and you just kept coming back!” Everyone laughed as Kali shared the story.
Alexa downed her drink in one gulp, set the glass on the table, and gave a tight-lipped smile.
“Now I carry more bags than you do,” she shot back, and the whole crew burst into laughter as Kali mirrored her, chugging his drink.
“Good comeback, kid, good comeback.”
Her boss slapped her on the back, proud of her response. His eyes were already glassy and droopy from the considerable amount of alcohol he’d consumed.
Alexa’s smile faded as she watched him sway from side to side. When the old man raised his beer, she stopped him.
“Better not spend all your pay this weekend. We’ve got the electric bill on Monday.”
“Just one more, relax,” he said, taking a long swig and letting out a satisfied grunt.
“Just one more, huh?” she muttered, her breath ragged from the effort of dragging her boss from the bar all the way to his house.
It was the part of weekends she hated most. Besides hauling buckets, she had to haul her drunk boss through the woods to his beachfront home. Luckily, she lived with the old man.
She’d fallen in love with the little house the moment she saw it. It was in near-deplorable condition, but in its heyday, it must’ve been a beautiful, secluded spot. It was like two houses in one, and her boss had been kind enough to rent her a part of it at an affordable rate, given its state and how far it was from town.
Of course, the man didn’t know she was a woman. Partly because she rarely went out except for work, and he was usually too drunk to notice most of the time.
She opened the front door and laid him down on the couch. She adjusted his legs so they weren’t dangling and propped his head on a cushion. She went to the kitchen to make him some chamomile tea. When she returned, the man was sitting up on the couch, sipping from a small steel flask she had no idea where he’d gotten. She sighed. Sitting beside him, she took the flask away, and he didn’t protest—he was always docile when drunk. The old man gave a weary smile.
“You hate that I drink, don’t you? I hate it too, but it helps me forget.”
She looked at him with compassion. Her boss wasn’t a bad man, but he was too consumed by his past. The state of this house and his own condition were clear proof of that. She handed him the cup of tea.
“Drink this, it’ll do you good.”
“Thanks, Alex. You’re a good kid,” he said, patting her cheek. “Definitely the weakest worker I’ve ever had. But also the strongest.”
“You’re contradicting yourself, boss.”
“Bah,” he muttered, taking a sip of his tea and spitting it out. Alexa smiled. “Nonsense, you’re weak and strong because you’ve got willpower. I lost mine a long time ago.”
“Thanks, boss.”
“Don’t thank me. You’ve done well, real well. Nobody lays tiles like you do, and you tackle every job with a perfectionism that sometimes gives me a headache. Even worse than my morning hangovers.” She couldn’t help but laugh at that.
“Thanks to you, boss, for giving me the chance to work even though, at first... it was tough for me.”
The man gave her a dazed smile, his eyes glassy not just from the excessive drinking but from unshed tears. He patted her cheek again, a paternal gesture on his part.
“I won’t deny I hired you because you reminded me of someone... My... son,” he said with a melancholic smile. “He’s just as much of a perfectionist and stubborn as you are...”
“I thought I was persistent.”
“The right words are stubborn and hardheaded. He got that from his mother... My beloved Jessie...” He opened his mouth to take a deep breath, holding back tears. He looked at her, smiling. “I’m real proud of him, you know? He’s famous, rich, successful. Half the town belongs to him,” he murmured. Alexa shook her head, amused. “He’ll be coming around one of these days. You’ll meet him.”
“I’m looking forward to it. I keep hearing amazing things about him, though I don’t quite believe you.”
“I know you don’t believe me,” he said, tugging her ear and making her laugh, “but I’m serious, kid.”
“Sure, sure.”
The old man huffed, annoyed. Alexa laughed. She enjoyed getting under his skin.
“You should head to bed. And take that pill I recommended if you wanna get out of bed tomorrow.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Oh, and grab me the bottle of whiskey from the fridge, will ya?”
“Tomorrow’s another day. Better not drink too much. I’ll wake you up to go look for mussels in the morning.”
“Bah!”
“Rest up, boss!”
“Whatever.”
He watched her head down the hallway connecting the two parts of the house, lost in thought. As soon as she closed the door, he reached for the face-down picture frame on the table. He caressed the frame. Thick tears fell onto the cracked glass. He hugged it to his chest and closed his eyes. He wouldn’t rest in peace as long as he breathed and remembered.
Alexa dragged herself out of bed against her will. She scratched her head and let out a long yawn. She winced at the ache in her muscles, though it wasn’t as bad thanks to the pills she’d taken. The space was small, but it was the kind of design she would’ve loved to create herself someday. The floors were wooden, and there was a huge circular tempered glass skylight in the ceiling. What she loved most about the place was the stunning view of the ocean and the two little hummingbirds she always saw perched on the hibiscus flowers in the mornings. That particular day, something unusual happened. There weren’t just two hummingbirds, but three.
She smiled, enchanted. That view was what gave her hope at night before bed and in the mornings when she woke up.
Stepping out of her room, there was a small living area with a kitchen, a narrow space but with shelves lining the walls and a few drawers built into them as well. The kitchen door connected to the larger part of the house.
She got up to head to the kitchen. The sun hadn’t risen yet; she needed to get ready for work that day. She cooked something for herself and a soup—one of those her mom used to make to ward off bad spirits—for her boss. She yawned and started humming a tune.
There was something strange about that house, but it was a strangeness she liked. Her boss had told her he’d built it long ago for his beloved Jessie. After hearing their love story, she saw the rundown place with new eyes. She could feel the sadness, but also the love and longing in every corner of the house and in every breeze from the forest.
When she finished making breakfast, she opened the door, balancing the tray with the soup, pills, and a glass of water. As she entered the living room where she’d left her boss the night before, she frowned when she didn’t see him.
She searched the whole place and couldn’t find him. She stepped outside. There was a garden separating the two parts of the house, connected by a tempered glass roof that let sunlight in so the plants wouldn’t wither. She smiled when she saw him sitting in the wooden chair, facing the beach. He always sat there when he wanted to remember his Jessie, as he’d put it.
“Boss, I made you a killer soup for that hangover,” she said, approaching him and looking at his face. She dropped the tray. “Boss!” His eyes were open, staring toward the ocean, his skin purple and lifeless. She crouched down, refusing to accept what her eyes saw. “Mr. Vitali!” She tried to move him, but he was stiff. She gasped and covered her mouth, horrified. Tears and desperation quickly overwhelmed her. “Abel...”