“Hello?”
“Angela? It’s Lia.” I hold my breath. What if she’s calling to say something happened to Justin? “I need to ask you for a favor.”
I exhale slowly. “Sure. Ask.”
“My assistant had to take time off for a family emergency. And I desperately need one this week for the roll-out of my new tutorials. Is there any way you can start on Monday? I will pay for your ticket out here and then back again next week for you to finalize things there.”
“You’re offering me a job?” I’m a little shell shocked. I expected to be looking for an entry level position somewhere for months. Now I have two temp jobs lined up one after the other. “What exactly will I be doing?”
“Cataloguing mostly. I used so many different products on so many different people, I need someone to help me keep things straight as I add the audio and edit the videos.”
That I could do. It’s not exactly my dream job but it’s something. And who knows what doors it could open? At the very least I’d be able to keep myself fed and clothed instead of mooching off my parents. But she wants me to start Monday. “I will need to be back here next weekend to make sure my landlord doesn’t screw me out of my deposit.”
“I can arrange that.” Amelia sounds excited as she runs through some quick details about the job. “Also, I don’t have a big payroll, but it is automated. I will need you loaded on Monday to make sure you get paid on time. I will send you the forms now. Get them printed, filled out and sent back to me.”
“I will do that.” We say our goodbyes and I hang up. I turn to my friends. “Guys, I have a job starting on Monday in Seattle.”
They both look around my apartment and see the immediate problem. Cassie speaks up, though. “What can we do to help?”
Chapter 8
Justin
It’s been a long time since I’ve had Sunday dinner with my grandfather. It’s just the two of us though. According to him everyone else had to work. If you ask me, everyone’s avoiding me because they’re pissed. Which is both childish and typical. I know they have my back, and that none of them will want to see me get hurt. But that also means that they will tell me off when they think it’s necessary. Or in this case, give me the cold shoulder. Never did I think that I would miss them telling me off. But that would be preferable to the radio silence they’re all currently dishing out.
“After lunch, we’re going to the York’s for dessert.” My grandfather looks at me as if he’s waiting for a reaction. I just don’t know what that is.
I swallow the food in my mouth and look over at him. “Why can’t we have dessert here. I can go out and buy us something sweet if you want.”
He looks at me as if I’ve grown a second head. “I go to the York’s for dessert every week. They’re kind enough to invite me. It’s a tradition. I’ve already told Darren he doesn’t have to pick me up because you’ll drive me.”
My grandfather stopped driving two years ago when he suffered a stroke. He was left slightly impaired on his right side.
I nod. “Sure. I can drop you off on my way home.”
I’m in no mood to deal with the hostility from Angela’s siblings. No doubt they would be there. Their mother made a big deal of gathering all of them that were in town for a meal once a week. She wasn’t above using guilt and manipulation, either. She was a great woman, but she knew exactly which buttons to push.
“You can’t be rude.” My grandfather pushed his plate forward and leaned back in his chair. “Iris specifically said it would be lovely to see you. She’s expecting you. I cannot believe you haven’t visited them since you moved back to town.”
“Grandpa, I’ve only been back two weeks, and last Sunday I was off to Vegas.”
My grandfather grunted, but a smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “You know, their house is open every day of the week, right? You don’t just have to show up for dessert.”
“You’re right. I’ll make more of an effort. So, how have you been this week?” I change the subject not wanting to dwell on the possibility of seeing Angela after she moves back when I visit her parents. “Andi says you’ve been spending a lot of time at the Palm View lately.”
Palm View was a retirement village on the outskirts of the city. My cousin drives him there most mornings and either my brother or younger cousin picks him up in the late afternoon. I know they don’t mind driving him around. And I will pitch in too, now that I’m in town. Still, I have considered having a driver on hand so that he doesn’t always have to wait around for one of us.
“I was thinking I want to move in there.” He gets up and starts clearing the table. “I spend most of my time there anyway and one of the units is about to become available.”
I don’t want to think about the fact that a unit was about to become available. “Grandpa, if you’re not happy here, I said you can move in with me.”
He still lived in the same two-bedroom apartment he raised my cousins, my brother and I in. It was cramped and we were dirt poor, but it was a happy home. My grandfather always put us kids first and I will do anything to make
