Chapter 1; I Loathe My Birthday

Coraline's POV

I'd always disliked my birthday, it had never been my favorite day but now two years in, I loathed it. I never expected that I would be spending the day at the cemetery, talking to my husband's gravestone, commemorating his death anniversary.

I laid the bouquet of tulips on the ground beside the stone and used my hand to brush away dead leaves and withered flowers. 

"Hey, Vince, it's Cora and Becca, we came to say hi. I know it's been a while since we came to visit but we're here today. Becca, come on, say hi to Daddy." 

I stretched out my hand and Becca placed hers on mine, " Hi Daddy, how are you? How's heaven? Are you having a good time there? I miss you." Becca's small sad voice sent a sharp pang to my heart. My eyes filled with tears and I quickly wiped my face with my palm.

"Becca, tell Daddy about daycare. Tell him about your friends." My voice came out hoarse.

Becca beamed, she was always up to talk about daycare, " Daddy, I really like daycare and all my friends there. My bestest friend is Lily, she has a Barbie mermaid doll and she lets me play with her. Jayjay is also my friend, she just had a baby sister, how cool is that! I don't like Steve, he's mean, he likes to take my things and pull my hair. Mommy says I should avoid him and tell my teacher but if he doesn't change, I should hit him where the sun doesn't shine. I still don't know what that means though, do you?" 

I let out a small laugh, My baby girl was so cute, I was willing to bet that wherever Vince was, he was laughing as well.

"Thanks, baby, I think Daddy knows what it means. So Vince, as you can see, we're doing well, you don't have to worry about us. I'm still working with Mei, she's a sweetheart, she's married to Tyler now, yep, they got married last year. Mei has been a big help with Becca, and she pays me good money." 

A chill went through me and I dragged my jacket closer, then placed Becca in front of me to shield her from the cold. It was towards the end of summer so I had expected it. My cell phone beeped, indicating that my time was up and I needed to get to work.

"Come on, baby, say goodbye to Daddy." Becca let go of my hand and walked over to the headstone. She touched the writings on the stone and patted it.

"Goodbye Daddy, see you s…" 

"Hey, what are you doing there? Get your hands off my brother's headstone, little girl." A shrill voice said. 

My spine stiffened, I knew that voice, if I heard that voice in my sleep, I would recognize it. God, why now, why today of all days? I didn't have the energy to deal with her.

"Oh, Cora, it's you. What the hell are you doing here, you bitch?!" She screeched, Becca's eyes widened and she hurried back into the safety of my arms, hiding her face.

I turned slowly, taking in as many deep breaths as I could.

Blossom Baxter, Vince's younger sister, stood barely a foot away from me looking glamorous in her Pink Gucci off-shoulder midlength dress, pink Jimmy Choos ankle-length boots, pink Chanel purse, and Tiffany jewelry, her makeup was perfect and her blonde hair styled. She looked like she had come right off the runway or at least from a toy box because she looked like Barbie unlike I, who was dressed in a ratty t-shirt, that hadn't been washed in two weeks, with a pair of faded blue jeans, my good old vans, no jewelry and my hair up in a messy bun.

Blossom had been away for years, touring the world on her father's money, the last time I heard about her, she had been in Brazil. She didn't even come to Vince's funeral so why was she here now? Why had she returned now?

"Cora, how dare you show yourself here, after what you did to my brother?" She eyed me from head to toe and grimaced. Yes, I knew I looked terrible, she didn't need to make it obvious.

"Blossom, please can we not do this here? Especially not around Becca, today is Vince's anniversary and we came to pay our respects. Let's leave this conversation for another day." I looked down at Becca, "Come on baby, let's go, we've talked to Daddy enough." 

We walked past Blossom but she stretched her hand out and dragged me back then glared at me.

 "Where the hell do you think you're going to? Do you think I'm just going to let you live a happy life while my brother is dead? You killed him, you're the reason he's dead!" She screamed, attracting the attention of some people in the cemetery.

Oh God, with the way she was going off, people are going to think that I shot Vince or stabbed him. I needed to clear things up before someone called the police.

"Blossom, listen up, I didn't kill Vince, I know I'm partly to blame for his death but I wasn't the driver that rammed into him while he driving!" I smacked her hand away. 

" He wouldn't have died if he hadn't been in a hurry to pick up your birthday cake!" 

" Well, I'm sorry that I was born, maybe if I hadn't been born Vince would still be alive." I couldn't hold the tears in anymore, tears rolled down my cheeks, and I wiped my face furiously.

"Yes, maybe you should just kill yourself." She spat out with hatred.

" I'm sorry to disappoint you but I'm not going to do that. I have Becca and I love her, I won't do that to my child." 

" I'm going to take everything away from you. I'm going to take everything that my brother owns and leave you with nothing. I leave you the way he met you, like trash." She pointed her index finger at the trash bin in the corner.

I rolled my eyes, bitch, please. " Good luck with that. If you'll excuse me, I have to get to work. You know some of us don't have to rely on our daddy's money." I kissed my teeth and walked away with Becca.

*******

"Oh, you're here already? Happy birthday!" Mei walked out of the kitchen with a cupcake that had a candle on it, her flowery sundress making her seem more angelic.

My smile fell when I saw the cake, " Mei, come on, I thought we'd been over this so many times."

" I know, I know, but I can't help myself. That's why I didn't bake you a special cake, I just took one from the bakery's own and placed a candle on it. I can't stand knowing the fact that it's your birthday and we aren't doing anything about it. So just humor me and blow out the candle." My dark-haired friend pushed the plate forward, I sighed, blew out the candle and she cheered. I removed the candle, lifted the cupcake, and shoved it down my throat, yup, cookie dough flavor. 

"Thanks, Mei." My words came out muffled but she understood and smiled.

"You look like a lady but you sure eat like a pig." A cool buttery voice said, my hands turned icy. I whipped my head around and made eye contact with the bane of my existence, Elijah Warren, dressed to the nines, in his Armani grey suit with a white inner shirt, that enhanced his grey eyes, his usually styled hair was ruffled as if he had ran his hand through it continuously.

"What can I do for you, young man? Do you need some warm milk in a sippy cup?" I gave him a polite smile.

" Oh, I'm not getting in the middle of this." Mei shook her head and walked away. Elijah was Mei's husband's, Tyler, best friend. I was friends with Mei and Tyler. Elijah was friends with Mei and Tyler, naturally, you would assume we would be friends but we weren't, we couldn't even stand each other. 

Elijah's eyes darkened and he pressed his lips together. He always hated when I referred to the fact that I was older than him. Four years was a lot to be proud of and I made sure to shove it in his face every chance I got.

"Where's your walker, old miss? Are you sure you should be moving around without it or can you not afford one?" He looked down at his Swiss watch as he said the words nonchalantly.

I made fun of his age, he made fun of my age and lack of money in return. 

I rolled my eyes and prepared his coffee, espresso black with a dash of sugar.

"Here you go!" I slid it across the counter and he paid. 

"How does it feel to be one year closer to your grave, Coraline? You must be ecstatic." He tipped his cup at me and took a large swig. This was his way of wishing me a happy birthday.

Before I could respond with my snide comment, my phone rang, and the caller ID showed my neighbor's name. I quickly picked up.

"Oh, hi, what! Oh, my God, thank you, I'm on my way!" I hung up the phone and pulled off my smock.

Elijah raised an eyebrow, " Something wrong?" 

"My things are being thrown out of my house!"