Page 19 of The Present

10

Wednesday afternoon Tessa sat at her kitchen table completing her fourth employment application. She’d done the math and concluded she could make ends meet if she could find a job that paid even fifteen or sixteen dollars an hour if she worked at least thirty hours a week. She was still covered under her Cobra extension so a benefits package would be nice but wasn’t imperative. The application she’d just finished was for the coffee shop down the street. She’d never worked as a barista, but she certainly could learn. In addition, she’d applied for jobs as an assistant manager of an auto parts store, a sales associate at Target, and a secretary at a middle school. This morning she’d gone on Indeed and sent in resumes for seven newly posted Human Resource jobs, so she tried to be hopeful something would come of all her efforts.

Yesterday she’d taken the fifteen hundred dollars to Mr. Garrett, who seemed surprised but pleased she’d brought her account current. She’d gotten two thousand from the pawn shop for the earrings Hal had given her, and that extra five hundred would just allow her to make January’s rent when she renewed the lease. Seeing those earrings disappear had been hard, but she’d pawned them, rather than selling them outright, so they weren’t gone completely. If she could get any one of these jobs, she could pay the interest on the loan and eventually save enough money to get them back. She just hoped Hal didn’t wonder why she wasn’t wearing them.

He’d called her Monday night, just after she’d returned from the pawn shop. She’d thanked him for arranging the Uber to take her home and fortunately he was too jet lagged for much conversation. Yesterday he’d been in meetings all day and so they only texted a few times. He seemed genuinely interested in her, which was wonderfully flattering, but her guilt over the earrings made her feel as though she were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Her phone buzzed and she picked it up. Hal. Think of the devil and he’ll appear, except Hal wasn’t a devil by any stretch of the imagination, other than a handsome one. She punched the button.

“Hi.”

“Hi, Tess. I had a few minutes between meetings, so I wanted to see what you were up to.”

“Applying for jobs.” That was something positive she could talk about. “Eleven so far today.”

“Impressive.” He did sound impressed. “Who lit a fire under you?”

Crap. How could she field this? “Well, since I no longer have Janice as a source of income, I’m determined to get back into the job market. No more slacking, waiting for the perfect job to come along.” That at least was true.

“Good for you. I’d been meaning to ask, can you send me your resume? My company has openings all the time. Maybe you’ll be a fit.”

“Absolutely.” How fabulous of him. “You want me to email or text it?”

“Email is better. I’m texting that address to you now.”

“It’ll be on its was as soon as we hang up.” That would be a fantasy come true, to work for the same company as her boyfriend did. Crap! She didn’t want to jinx it by evening thinking the B word at this point.

“Are you getting ready for New Year’s Eve?” His voice dropped to a lower, sexier tone and her face flushed.

“I’m not sure how you want me to prepare.” She tried to infuse her words with a sultry feeling.

“What are you going to wear?”

Oh, what an opening. “Do you mean my dress, or what’s underneath it?”

There was dead silence on the other end, then a low growl that sent a thrill through her. “Both.”

“Maybe I should make you wait to see.” God, he was fun to flirt with. “Anticipation is good for the appetite.”

“Mine is already ravenous, but you’re a thousand miles away.” He sighed, then faintly, as though he’d turned away from the phone said, “I’ll be right there. Tess?”

“Yes?”

“I’ve got to run. They’re keeping me busier than hell here. I guess I’ll have to imagine what you’re going to look like for now.” He lowered his voice again. “When I’m in bed, I like to think of you naked against the window of my apartment.”

Tess’s core contracted, hunger surging through her at the mere mention of that moment. She sighed heavily into the phone. “I like to think of that too.”

“After you pick me up at the airport, maybe we can remember it together.”

Tingles shot down Tess’s spine. “Even better if we re-enact it.”

“I’d hoped you say that. It’s a date.” The phone went silent, then he came back on the line. “Sorry, Tess, but I’ve really got to go. Talk to you soon. Bye.”

“Bye.” But he’d already hung up.

That conversation had gone better than she’d hoped. She’d been so busy getting aroused—and hopefully arousing him—that she’d completely forgotten about the earrings. If only Hal would too, this New Year’s Eve date promised to be one incredibly hot night.

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