Free Stormy Weather by Marie Rochelle

attitude seemed to be the downfall of her personal life. Most of her past boyfriends thought she was too independent and self-contained for their liking.
    They believed she was so hard to please. None of them could find in her life where she needed their help. She couldn’t help it that she liked doing things for herself, but her independence led to problems with men who wanted an equal part in their relationship.
    Rachelle had tried to change her personality more than once, but it was hard to do after so many years. Then why, after only knowing Cash for a few short hours, did she want to become a different woman?
    He made her want to find the spontaneous and adventurous side of her, that she never thought existed. Rachelle was drawn to how he just seemed to live for today. Maybe he could teach her to do the same thing.
    She would never admit this to her sisters or parents, but she always thought her sisters got away with a lot more stuff than she had. They used being triplets to their advantage and nobody ever said anything about it. They may not be identical, but people still found them cute and adorable. Sasha, Genise, and Akisha constantly got special treatment from everyone in town.
    She had to remain the “good daughter” and do everything her parents told her to do—she couldn’t set a bad example for her little sisters. If she didn’t know how to follow directions and listen to the rules, why would the triplets do it?
    She was their role model to be a good girl and not get into any trouble.
    It wasn’t until years later when Rachelle got accepted to an out-of-state college that she finally felt like she was her own person. She was able to do anything she wanted without worrying if her actions would hurt her precious sisters.
    Now, she hadn’t wanted anyone to ever believe that she hated Sasha, Akisha, or Genise, because she didn’t. She loved them. Yet, she disliked being the one who constantly had to keep them out of trouble. Half of her life had been spent doing things for them, when she could have gone out with her friends—having fun, dating boys, and sneaking into the house after curfew. All the cool stuff a teenage girl loved doing.
    She couldn’t keep living in the past. She could do anything she wanted with her life. She knew that Sasha meant well, but she was going to take her own advice and see where things could go with Cash. All of her sisters would agree that a little harmless flirting with Cash wasn’t going to hurt her.
    Just as Rachelle was about look for Cash, the lights suddenly came back on. She had never been happier in her life.
    “Yes!” Rachelle screamed. She was overjoyed Cash fixed the breaker problem. “I’ll make sure to give him a proper thank you when he gets back up here,” she said to herself. She wasn’t in the mood to deal with those hellish lights anymore tonight.
    Leaning back on her hands, she relaxed in front of the fireplace while waiting for Cash to come back upstairs and join her. She hoped he was in the mood to finish what they had started earlier before she made the mistake of pushing him away. It was way past time for her to start living for herself, and not anyone else.
    “Hi, beautiful. As you can tell I fixed the lights,” Cash said, coming back up to her with the flashlight in his hand.
    “Yes, I noticed that you did,” she answered. “Thank you very much. I don’t know what I would have done if you weren’t here.”
    “I guess I’m more of a handyman than I first thought, which is a good thing for you,” he joked, falling down next to her on the floor.
    Rachelle liked how good it felt having Cash sitting so close to her. She was still taken aback at how she was drawn to a man that she barely knew. “I want to thank you again for going downstairs and taking care of the problem. You really didn’t have to do it. I could have called the electrician to come and take a look at it.”
    “No, I like the challenge of doing things with my hands.