Jasmine adjusted the rearview mirror of her run-down car with her right hand and deftly dabbed concealer to cover the dark circles under her eyes with her left. After turning her head left and right to check that her disheveled hair had stayed reasonably within the confines of her makeshift bun, she sighed and slumped forward, resting her head on the scratched-leather steering wheel. Southern California traffic could really get to a commuting driver after a few months.
She’d signed a contract to be a photographer for a modeling agency in Los Angeles when she’d moved from Kansas, but because she’d yet to make a name for herself, she’d had to lease what the real estate agent had called a “quaint little abode” in Santa Ana -- if someone could consider a tiny, cramped shack with cracks in the walls quaint. She wouldn’t be in that place long, though; things might not be perfect right now, but they would eventually get better. She’d make a name for herself, and her family members would be proud of her when they saw her name credited in Elle and Vogue.
A loud honk roused her from her desolate daydream, and she groaned before wearily wrenching herself upright and stepping on the accelerator. Jasmine looked into the rearview mirror again, but this time instead of fixing her sloppy appearance, she observed the driver behind her. It was a balding, middle-aged man in cheap sunglasses who was munching on an English muffin. Looking to the sedan in front of her, Jasmine saw the silhouette of a curly-haired woman with a few smaller replicas of herself bouncing around rapidly in the back of the vehicle. One in a booster seat vigorously waved a sippy cup as if it were a winning lottery ticket. Jasmine chuckled, but her smile faded away when, for the umpteenth time, she thought of Jaxon.
Jasmine had left Jaxon behind with her aunt in Kansas because she’d thought that her aunt could do a better job taking care of him, at least until Jasmine had saved up a decent sum of money and could afford to dine on something other than ramen noodles every night. She’d thought it would only take several weeks before her work was noticed and she would land a shot in a magazine, even if it were near the end of an issue. But those few weeks had turned into a few months, and she was still unsuccessful. Unwanted tears pooled in her eyes as she remembered her farewell with her six-year-old treasure.
“When will you be back, Mommy?” He’d peered up at her, his auburn curls bouncing around, framing his curiously bright baby blue eyes.
“Soon, honey. I’ll be back, and I’ll bring you to California.”
When he stayed silent, Jasmine had added, “There will be lots of fun things to do in California. We’ll live in a big house, and it will always be warm outside. The sun shines every day in California.” Then she’d smiled, but her lips had wobbled because she felt as if she were dying a little bit inside.
She blinked the wetness away from her eyes and looked outside the car’s grimy windows. It was considerably cloudy today, and the sun was nowhere to be found. She desperately hoped that the clouds would clear away soon, and that the sun would shine through so she could fly back to Kansas and whisk Jaxon away to a bright, warm, happy California.