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“Don’t remind me. I’m going to just…concentrate on working and trying to move out of my parent’s house for now.”
I knew all about that. I’d just barely gotten out, and only because I was renting my family’s cabin by the lake. This trip was going to be a huge help. I needed a couch. I was paying rent, but I also didn’t want to stay there too long and mooch off family. I wanted my own place, and to do that, I needed cash.
Right now, the majority of my money went to pay back my loans from college, the degree I wasn’t using, and a bunch of credit card debt I’d collected when I was younger and foolish. My parents didn’t know about that part.
Hopefully Natalie would get lucky and wouldn’t get in as much debt as I was.
“Do you have any ideas of what you want to do?” I asked.
“Well, Gretchen asked me if I wanted to be her nanny after the baby comes and I politely declined, but that did give me an idea. I listed myself on a website, so I’m hoping I’ll get some momentum from that. Otherwise I guess I’ll just have to start asking around.”
In the rest of the world, you’d get on a jobs website and submit your resume and cover letter via email.
In Castleton, you were more likely to get a job from a guy your parents knew and have an interview on the spot in the grocery store, or drop off an actual resume somewhere. It depended so much on who you knew.
Natalie was lucky that her family had lived in Castleton for generations, so she had lots of connections.
“I can ask Esme if they need any help at the bar, or maybe the restaurant needs a hostess.” You could make bank in the summer and fall with tipping jobs. The winter not so much.
“Yeah, I’ll take pretty much anything. I’m not picky. I just have to figure out what I want to do.”
I’d never seen Natalie seem lost before, but I was seeing it now. She’d always been the one who seemed confident in her choices. But breakups could do that to you. I mean, I couldn’t talk. I’d gotten my ex’s car impounded on purpose.
“You’ll figure it out,” I said.
“I hope so.”
* * *
I was the first one up the next morning. My body was a little sore from the rides the previous day, but we were heading into the home stretch of the trip. We’d start making our way back up to the East Coast. I wondered if Natalie had more detours planned today. I almost hoped she did.
* * *
This time we went downstairs for breakfast before we left.
“So, where are you dragging me today?” I asked.
“I’m not telling. I’ll let you know.”
She seemed very pleased with herself.
I couldn’t stop glancing at her as we ate. She’d done her hair in a loose braid today, and it made her look like a fairy that escaped from another world. When we were kids, she’d let me play with her hair for hours, wrapping the curls around my fingers and tugging on them until they sprang back, or trying elaborate hairstyles. I hadn’t even needed a doll. I’d had Natalie.
I had to refill the truck again, and Natalie ran into the gas station to get us some snacks.
When she came back, she passed my snacks and drinks to me, but then gave me something else.
It was a cheap beaded friendship bracelet.
I looked down at it and then back at her. She held up her wrist that had an identical bracelet.
“Truce?” she asked.
“I’ll think about it,” I said, putting it in my pocket. I wasn’t ready for friendship bracelets.
“Okay,” she said, but I could tell she was disappointed.
* * *
