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Chapter One
Lindsay Maxwell
“It’s coming down so hard it feels like boulders,” I said to my bestie, Samantha, who was probably growing tired of hearing me complain about what was obviously pea-sized hail. But I needed someone to talk to and she was the only one who’d answered the phone. And she might not take my calls for a while after this.
“Lindsay, it’s not like this wasn’t expected. You saw the weather report. They predicted hail, and you got hail,” she said.
“And yesterday they predicted rain and we had sunshine. I was hoping they’d be wrong again,” I sighed, shivering. “I’m freezing and I’m out of hot chocolate.”
Samantha snickered. “Well, I’m all snuggled up in my fleece pajamas and I’m not going out there to bring you any.”
“I thought we were friends through thick and thin?” I teased.
“Yup. But this is hail. And besides, you’re the one getting paid to stand in a line, not me. I’m happy sitting behind a desk looking at a computer all day to earn my paycheck,” she replied.
“You complain about it all the time! At least I’m out and not stuck in a cubicle somewhere,” I said honestly. I’d been a customer service representative in a call center before. After a week in that job, I started coming home from work with a blaring headache. My current gig - standing in line for people who didn’t want to - was asinine, but it paid the bills and I got lots of fresh air. And at the moment, cold breezes.
It was time to call in the big guns–a guilt trip. “If you recall, I did bring you lunch last week.”
Samantha sighed. “You did.”
“I’m not asking you to wait with me for hours. Just drop me off something hot to drink.” I pleaded, “Please.” I hated to admit it, but I’d taken this gig last minute and hadn’t planned appropriately. I always arrived at least six hours before anyone else, if not more, just so I could be first the in line.
With a huff, Samantha said, “I have work in a few hours. No way am I traipsing around in this crap just to bring you a drink. But I’m willing to call in a favor for you but it’s going to cost you big time.”
I was afraid to ask, but I couldn’t leave my spot. I needed those front row seats. Anything less and I wouldn’t get paid my full fee and only earn fifty bucks. “Fine. Whatever it is, I’ll do it.” Knowing Samantha, it would be some chore around the house that she hated doing. I usually cleaned up after her “cleaning.” Samantha might be a great friend, but God, she’s a slob. Even her car looked like it belonged in a junkyard instead of on the road.
“Jay is up and I’m sure I can talk him into bringing you something.”
“Jay? Who’s that?” I asked.
“The guy I’m seeing. I told you about him two days ago,” she explained.
“The one who works at the donut shop or the one who is a mechanic?”
“Lindsay, you never listen to me. It’s the one who works at the gym,” she answered, sounding frustrated. It wasn’t my fault she went through boyfriends faster than I could finish a bag of chips. At this rate, there wouldn’t be anyone left for her to date in Massachusetts, never mind in Boston. But if Jay was willing to drop something off to me, I’d take it.
“Sorry, Samantha. I need to work on that. And I really appreciate you asking your…friend to bring something to me. I don’t care what it is, as long as it is hot.”
“I’ll text him now. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
When we had time, I needed to have a sit-down chat with my friend. I loved her dearly, but her lifestyle was risky. She was smarter than that. How was she ever going to find the right one, if she only hooked up with guys who were after one thing? It was hard to butt into someone’s life when you didn’t want them doing the same to you.
Samantha was a firm believer that my job would get me killed someday. But I wasn’t standing alone in back alleys, I was out on the sidewalk or in a parking lot by the door of whichever venue my customers needed tickets for. The worst that could happen to me was that I could catch a cold.
I glanced at my phone. It was almost five in the morning. The doors were scheduled to open at ten. It made no sense that I was still the only person in line. But it would be just my luck that if I left for a few minutes, someone would decide to show up and take my spot. I’m not freezing my tatas off for nothing.
I sat back down in my portable lounge chair and wrapped up in my blanket as best I could. Hail was better than freezing rain, but this was still no walk in the park.
Closing my eyes, I pulled my knees to my chest and tried to think of anything other than the weather. Like what I was going to do with the money I earned today. Half of it went to bills, of course, but the other half went straight to my vacation fund, the one that I’d been working on for two years.
Why can’t I be like the people who hire me? They have more money than God.
I knew exactly what I’d do if I had extra cash to play with. I’d travel the world and go see and do all the things I stood in line for others to do. No more living my life reading about everyone else’s good time.
I could almost feel the warm sun on my face and the breeze coming off the ocean. I’d be sipping a fruity frozen piña colada without a care in the world. Hell, I might even go to one of those nude beaches so I wouldn’t have to worry about tan lines. I wasn’t famous so I didn’t have to worry about paparazzi snapping my photo landing me in some skanky tabloid. And even if that happened, I wouldn’t care as long as they split the money with me. I couldn’t help but laugh at myself.
“There’s nothing funny about being homeless,” a deep, husky voice said from nearby.
