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Chapter 3

Author: Eternity
After the toy store's three-day promotion ended, I used the two hundred dollars I had earned to buy a secondhand folding table, two drink dispensers, a cooler, and supplies for making lemonade.

Every evening, I carried everything to the neighborhood summer market, put up a handwritten sign, and sold fresh lemonade.

The heat helped. Business was better than I had expected.

One evening, as I was pouring a drink for a customer, I saw Mom approaching with Chloe, who had just finished her piano lesson.

Several of Chloe's friends and their mothers were with them.

The moment Chloe spotted my stand, she ran over.

"Sophie, I want one!"

She tugged at my shirt. Her friends crowded around the table and asked for lemonade too.

One of the mothers reached for her phone to scan my Venmo code, but Mom stopped her.

"You don't need to pay. This is my older daughter's stand."

She smiled as if the decision were hers to make.

"It's only a few cups of lemonade. Sophie can treat the kids."

I watched them take the drinks without saying anything.

The woman gave me a thumbs-up.

"This is impressive. How old are you? Are you starting college this year?"

I kept slicing lemons.

"I'm eighteen. I start in the fall."

"Where are you going?"

"Penn State."

It was the first school that came to mind.

I didn't want Mom to know I was really going to New York University.

"That's wonderful."

The woman turned to Mom with an admiring smile.

"Chloe is sweet and talented, and Sophie is so independent. How did you raise two girls like that?"

Mom beamed.

"It took a lot of work."

"I started teaching Sophie financial responsibility when she was little. I even kept a separate ledger for her expenses so she would understand the value of money."

She looked at me.

"Sophie was already selling roses on Valentine's Day when she was seven. Weren't you?"

My hand stopped over the lemonade pitcher.

So she remembered.

When I was seven, Mom bought a batch of discounted roses and sent me to sell them outside a grocery store by myself.

I was too young to know who might want one. I simply approached everyone who walked past.

One drunk man snatched the flowers from my hands, threw them on the ground, and crushed them beneath his shoes. Then he screamed at me until I ran home crying.

I had nightmares for days.

Mom only told me that doing business meant learning to handle rejection.

"Sophie?"

Her voice pulled me back.

I looked at Chloe playing with her friends nearby.

"Chloe is eight."

Mom frowned.

"What?"

"I was seven when you made me sell those roses."

I met her eyes.

"Why have you never made Chloe earn her own money?"

The smile vanished from Mom's face.

She lowered her voice.

"Are you really going to embarrass me in front of everyone?"

"I'm only stating a fact."

I didn't look away.

"If the truth embarrasses you, maybe it's because you know you've never treated us equally."

"Enough."

Mom's voice rose, drawing several people's attention.

"You're eighteen. She's eight. Why do you insist on competing with your little sister?"

"You expected me to earn money when I was seven."

My voice began to shake.

"Why doesn't Chloe have to pay half her own expenses? Why does the fifty-fifty rule only apply to—"

Mom grabbed the lemonade pitcher from my hand and slammed it onto the table.

The lid came loose. Lemonade splashed across my shirt, soaked the stack of paper cups, and ran over the bills beside my cash box.

Before I could react, she seized my wrist.

"That is enough, Sophie."

Her fingers tightened until they hurt.

One of the other mothers immediately stepped between us.

"Let go of her."

Mom released me.

The women who had been praising her moments earlier quickly gathered their children and walked away without meeting her eyes.

I stood behind the table in my soaked, sticky shirt. My wrist burned where Mom had gripped it.

Several customers were watching from a distance.

I lowered the brim of my baseball cap, turned away long enough to wipe my eyes, and picked up a clean cup.

"Fresh lemonade. Four dollars."

Then I went back to work.

I was still barely halfway to paying off my debt.
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