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Chapter 13 ~ The - not-so- good things

last update Last Updated: 2024-10-18 14:00:59

~~~~

Before I knew it, time flew by. By the end of my two-year stay in London, which was November 10, 2009, I had close to Twenty-Five thousand dollars sitting in my bank account.

Can you imagine the joy? And no, I didn’t spend a single dime of it! Who would’ve thought that the same Mary Johnson, who left Chicago in early 2007 with nothing to her name, would have that kind of money saved up?

"Well, Mary, good job," I said, giving myself a mental pat on the back.

With Rachael out of town for her studies, I became something of a new daughter in the Berry household. It was strange but also nice.

James and I grew closer, too—so much so that they even let me drive Rachael’s car. Now, don’t ask how I learned to drive. Trust me, you don’t want to know. Let’s just say, the less said about my early driving adventures, the better! But hey, I didn’t crash anything, so that’s a win, right?

Rachael wa

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