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“This is just so…” Kady began, and then shook her head with irritation. The back of her head hit some piece of paper that was pinned to the bulletin board, and she turned to look at it just for something to do that might distract her from her woes.
It said: ‘Do you have what it takes to be a surrogate mother? Unwed but wealthy man seeks young, reasonably attractive woman to birth his child. Room, board, and medical expenses will be provided during the pregnancy for the lady who fits the bill. All inquiries please report at the indicated date and time to the address listed below.’
Kady stared at the flyer for a few minutes, contemplating. Pregnancy took practically a year, didn’t it? Sure, it might be a bit ironic to get the job and have a kid when she’d never even done 'the thing' one did to get a kid. She’d been far too busy trying to establish herself to worry about dating, and she’d been a part of the modeling circuit since she was fifteen, so that meant she hadn’t even had a high school crush to speak of. The only guy she’d ever kissed was a fellow model in some cutesy ad campaign six years ago.
However, there were still so many people in this room that she despaired at having even the smallest chance of landing this job. At least if she had room and board for nine months, she could save up a bunch of money for a place and be able to get a good job lined up until it was time for her maternity leave, and then she’d be all set once the deed was done.
Of course, it would probably hurt like hell to give up a child she had carried inside her for nine months, but from where she was sitting right now, it seemed like a far better choice than finding a bench in Central Park to sleep on tomorrow night. She hadn’t been looking forward to that at all. When she looked at her options, they were depressingly few.
Biting at her lower lip, and without allowing herself a second to doubt, she tore one of the slips with the address written on it from the flyer and grabbed her belongings, bolting for the door. Kady wasn’t sure what to expect from the interview as she read the little slip of paper for the third time, memorizing the words. Maybe he was crazy, and she knew she was definitely crazy for considering it, but it just might be the opportunity she needed to keep her head above water. It couldn’t hurt just to go talk to him, right?
The refined, older woman she’d been speaking to stepped out of the back room soon afterwards and looked around the room.
“Damn it, I don’t see her anywhere,” she said tersely. “Will you pull the files of all the black girls in their twenties? I’d like to start with them and see if I might find her again.”
“Yes, Ms. Caldwell,” the secretary at her side replied. “And if I do see her again, I’ll be sure to send her your way.”
“And what is this thing doing on my bulletin board?” she complained, as she pulled the billionaire ad down. “You know I don’t allow trash to be posted on my walls!”
“Yes, ma’am,” said the secretary. “It won’t happen again.”
Chapter 3
When she returned to the apartment to finish up the packing and had tossed all of Melina’s things into her bedroom, Kady was in no mood to talk to anyone. She yanked the house phone cord out of the wall and packed the cat-shaped phone itself into one of the boxes. Since she hadn’t paid for her cell phone in a month either, and the service had been cut off a week ago, she knew that she could now pack in total, blissful solitude.
She decided to drag her own bed down the stairs and load it into the back of her friend’s pick-up truck while it was still available, since Ben had only agreed to help her move a couple of loads of the big stuff this afternoon. He had also told her he would have loved to take her in if he could, except he lived in one of the other apartments here and he doubted that Mrs. Knotts would let him.
“It’s all right, Ben,” sighed Kady. “You really don’t need to worry about me. I’m gonna pull myself right back onto my feet, and this time I’m gonna find a worthwhile roommate if possible; and if not, I just won’t have another roommate at all.”
“Still, I can’t believe your best friend for years would do you like that,” he grumbled. “That was real ghetto.”
“We did grow up in the ghetto, so it shouldn’t be such a surprise, but it really is,” Kady admitted. “I should have known as soon as I returned from college that she and I were worlds apart. I don’t know, maybe going to school on a scholarship isn’t as helpful as I thought it would be. I mean, here I am right back to square one, no closer to my dreams than I’ve ever been.”
“Oh no, Miss Kady, I don’t wanna hear that defeat in your tone,” Ben argued. “You’re lovely and talented and you’ve got that degree in computers. That’s gonna take you real far in life. I just know it.”
“Thank you, Ben,” she said, giving him a hug. “I really mean that. Maybe I’ll see you around sometime, eh?”
“You have my number once you get your phone back on. You be sure to give me a call.”
“I’ll do that,” she agreed. “Have fun at work tonight, okay?”
“I wonder how many people I’ll have to bounce tonight,” he said with a chuckle. “What do you think, Kady? Will my big, burly black ass be enough to keep all the drunks in line this time?”
Kady laughed. “It never does seem to, does it?”
“No,” he agreed. “It never does. Well, here you go, kid. I’m afraid the last of the boxes you’ll have to get another person to take over there.”
“Oh, I already got all my boxes stashed, thanks. The stuff that’s still in there either belongs to Melina or I’m not interested in bringing it. That couch, for example. We dove it out of a dumpster, so it can go right back where it came from.”
“Great, then, you have a good night, and remember that I’m pulling for you,” he said. “And don’t forget to call the shelters another time. You might get lucky.”
“Yeah, thanks,” she replied. She sighed as she watched him drive away, wondering if she was ever going to see him again. He had been a good and kind neighbor, and she would miss him and his silly jokes. She turned abruptly and headed back up the stairs.
As she looked around the place that had been her home for the last seven months, she couldn’t help but sigh in regret. Kady had worked so hard to build something stable in her life, to help launch her career and hopefully become a space to funnel her creativity into fashion designs. That definitely wasn’t going to happen now, and the uncertainty of her future ate at her. As well, she was deeply upset about the feelings of betrayal that still simmered hotly at Melina’s actions.
She’d been planning to sleep here tonight on Melina’s bed, but she was still so mad at her that she couldn’t stand to be around her belongings anymore, so she took her last eighty dollars and the key to the apartment. The key she dropped off in the landlady’s box. The eighty dollars she used to find a really cheap motel room where she could sleep until they threw her out.
Maybe she’d go tomorrow to see that guy. It seemed like a rather desperate idea, having a baby just so you could get on your own two feet. It was depressing, really, and it almost made her angry as well. She had spent four years at school and even more years than that taking odd modeling jobs, and yet here
