Chapter 1 - The Dress in the Fire
The white graduation dress caught fire before Simone could reach it.
"MIA! STOP!"
Eighteen-year-old Simone Walker burst through the front door, still wearing the black graduation cap she had been trying on in her bedroom.
Across the stone courtyard, her twenty-year-old stepsister stood beside the outdoor fireplace, watching orange flames climb the delicate white fabric.
Mia was smiling.
Simone stumbled down the porch steps.
"No! Please!"
She reached toward the fireplace, but the heat forced her backward.
The dress had already collapsed into the burning logs.
Simone covered her mouth.
"Oh, my God."
Her knees buckled.
She had worked eight months of weekend shifts at a neighborhood bookstore to afford that dress.
It wasn't from a famous designer.
It wasn't covered in diamonds.
It was a simple white satin dress with a fitted waist and tiny pearl buttons down the back.
But it was the first beautiful thing Simone had ever bought entirely with money she earned herself.
And now it was disappearing into the fire.
"Why would you do that?" she cried.
Mia folded her arms.
"Girl, relax."
"That was my graduation dress!"
"And?"
"I saved for months!"
Mia rolled her eyes.
"Honestly, I did you a favor. That thing was ugly."
Simone stared at her.
"You knew how much it meant to me."
Mia shrugged.
"Then you should've kept it somewhere safe."
Simone had left the dress hanging beneath the covered porch while she prepared for the following day's graduation photographs.
She'd gone inside for only a few minutes.
When she returned, Mia had already taken it from the hanger.
"You're sick," Simone whispered.
Mia laughed.
"Don't be so dramatic."
The front door opened again.
Celeste Walker, Simone's stepmother, stepped outside carrying her phone.
"What is all this screaming?"
Simone pointed toward the fireplace.
"She burned my dress!"
Celeste glanced at the flames.
Then she looked back at Simone.
"Why are you making such a scene?"
Simone blinked.
"Are you serious?"
"It's just a dress, Simone."
Mia smiled wider.
"Exactly what I said."
Celeste sighed.
"We can find something else. You're acting like somebody died."
Simone looked at the two women standing together.
Neither appeared concerned about what she'd lost.
For five years, she had tried to make peace with the family her father had built after marrying Celeste.
She had shared her bedroom with Mia's belongings when Mia visited from college.
She had ignored jokes about her clothes.
She had swallowed countless comments about being too sensitive.
But this was different.
Tomorrow she would graduate from high school.
She had imagined wearing that dress while her father took pictures beside the flowering tree in their yard.
Now she could barely breathe.
"That dress mattered to me," she whispered.
Celeste waved a hand.
"Enough. You're embarrassing yourself."
A deeper voice interrupted.
"What's going on out here?"
James Walker stepped through the front door.
He was still wearing his work clothes from the auto repair shop where he managed the service department.
His eyes moved from Simone's tearstained face to the burning fabric.
Then to Mia.
"What happened?"
Nobody answered.
James walked closer.
"Who did this?"
Mia raised her chin.
"I did."
Celeste stepped forward.
"James, before you get upset—"
He lifted one hand.
She stopped speaking.
James looked at the fireplace.
Only a few pieces of the white fabric remained visible beneath the flames.
He had watched Simone save for that dress.
He remembered her coming home from work with sore feet, counting the money she'd earned.
He remembered how proud she'd looked when the package finally arrived.
Now that pride had been replaced by tears.
Without saying a word, James turned toward the wicker chair near the porch.
Mia's Louis Vuitton handbag rested on its cushion.
It was the expensive bag Celeste had given her for her birthday.
James picked it up.
Mia's smile disappeared.
"What are you doing?"
He examined the brown leather and gold hardware.
Then he walked toward the fireplace.
Mia hurried after him.
"James, don't you dare!"
He didn't answer.
"That's my bag!"
James stopped beside the flames.
Mia's voice rose into a scream.
"PLEASE! THAT COST THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS!"
James looked directly at her.
Then he dropped the handbag into the fire.
Mia shrieked.
Celeste stumbled backward.
"JAMES!"
The leather darkened as flames curled around the handles.
Mia rushed forward, but James stepped between her and the fireplace.
"Don't touch it. You'll burn yourself."
She stared at him in disbelief.
"YOU JUST DESTROYED MY BAG!"
James turned toward Celeste.
His expression was terribly calm.
"Relax," he said.
Celeste froze.
"It's just a bag."
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then James looked at his wife.
"And you," he said quietly, "need to get out of my house."
Celeste's mouth fell open.
Simone stood beside the porch steps, still crying.
May you like
She had seen her father angry before.
But she had never seen him make a decision that sounded so final.
