Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 49968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 250(@200wpm)___ 200(@250wpm)___ 167(@300wpm)
She nodded. “Everything at the Maple is classy. The event is at three, so it’ll be a long day for you, but you can have your meal if you want.”
“My meal?”
“You get a meal and a snack with every full shift. A snack with a half.”
I was impressed. “I met Mr. Ricci earlier.”
She nodded. “He is Mr. Costas’s right hand. The senior manager of the whole place. You won’t have much to do with them, but they do this after every set of hires. Meet the new staff.”
“I’ll be there.”
She smiled. “Welcome to the Maple, Violet.”
I left, clutching the bag with my uniforms. Outside, I slid on my sunglasses and walked to my car. I had parked a long way away since it was cheaper. I used my phone GPS and located the apartment building Mr. Ricci had instructed me to check out. It was a small structure—only four stories high, but the neighborhood was decent and the building was well-kept. Brian Ferris and his wife Fran showed me the studio apartment on the second floor. It was small but clean. One room with a tiny kitchen in the corner, a counter separating it from the rest of the living area. A compact bathroom was on the opposite side, along with the only closet.
“They left the sofa. We’ll get rid of it unless you want it?” Fran asked. “It’s pretty new and clean.”
“That would be great.”
“When can you move in?”
“Now.” I only had two suitcases and two boxes. My jerk of an ex had sold or stolen everything else. And I never left a thing at the hotel. It was safer in the back of my car than in the room. I was certain someone was in there every day when I left to job search. And they weren’t cleaning. It gave me the creeps, but it was all I could afford.
Brian looked surprised, but Fran nodded. “Where have you been staying?”
“Kelly’s Kourt.”
Fran grimaced. “You need help moving in?”
“No, I just have a few things.”
She handed me the key. “Brian will bring the papers to you.”
I closed my hand around the cold metal. “Thank you.”
I carried up my suitcases and the boxes, setting them on the floor. I checked out the small kitchen. Everything had been cleaned, which I was grateful for. The bathroom was tiny, but it was fine. It wasn’t forever. I walked a few blocks up and had a burger at a fast-food place, then stopped at the grocery store and bought some items. It would be a couple of weeks until I got a paycheck, so when I got back to the apartment, I sat on the surprisingly comfortable sofa and counted my money. That bastard Barry had figured out my passcode and emptied my modest savings account and cleared my apartment of anything valuable.
In hindsight, I should have known better. Barry was too charming, too good-looking. He was, as it turned out, also lazy, a liar, and a thief. We hadn’t been dating long when his apartment was “flooded” and he asked to stay with me for a few days. A few days became a few weeks. Then he was gone. With my money, my stuff, and my backstabbing friend. I went to the building he had told me he lived in, only to find they had never heard of him.
I had been conned. I hoped Marie got dumped somewhere and left stranded.
Luckily, he never touched the two boxes in the bedroom closet or my clothes. Probably because he ran out of time and Marie was a different size, or I was sure they would have taken them too. Thank God, because I had eight hundred dollars in the pocket of my winter coat in one of the boxes. It was my emergency money, and I had saved and added to it for three years.
And this was the emergency I had been saving for.
I had less than four hundred left, but if I was careful, it would do me until my first check. I could eat a meal with every shift, which would save me money. Maybe I could bring the snack home. Ramen was cheap. The hotel was only about a twenty-minute walk. I could save on gas on nice days, although the thought of walking at two in the morning seemed a bit scary.
But again, it wasn’t forever. I could make do.
I leaned back on the sofa with a sigh, suddenly overcome. I hadn’t been able to relax once since this had happened. I was so glad I hadn’t let Barry drive me to work that day—I would have lost my car as well. He had wanted to, but something made me say no and lie, telling him I had errands.
When it first happened, I didn’t know what to do. I rented month-to-month and rent was coming due, and my landlord had zero problem kicking people out for nonpayment of rent.