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“We do two work-from-office days here,” he said. “Two from home. Four days, from nine to one, without a lunch break. You get one, thirty-minute break, almost always at eleven-thirty. This isn’t a full-time position.”
She’d known that going in. In fact, it was part of Lauren’s strategy to only work part-time. She wanted time to rest, to relax, to recline on the beach for hours if she so chose.
“That’s wonderful,” she said, her professional marketer voice clipped in place. “I’m assuming I can get in touch with anyone on the team during regular business hours, home or office?”
“Yes,” he said. “I think I’m going to put you on the…” Papers shuffled or a keyboard clicked or something on his end of the line. He didn’t speak, and horror filled Lauren as she thought they might have been disconnected. “Creative Licensing team,” he finally said. “They make sure we can use fonts, photos, images, that kind of thing, in our work.”
She knew what the Creative Licensing team did, and it was a far cry from her previous job. “Great,” she said brightly. “That sounds great.”
She still had some money in savings, but she’d been out of work for a month. The pay wasn’t great either, but it was enough to keep Lauren in her current lifestyle, if she leaned on her savings for major purchases.
“Wonderful,” Kenneth said, the K part of the KM Marketing firm. “Can you come in…Thursday to do some paperwork?”
“Yes,” she said, though she didn’t have her calendar open in front of her. They agreed on a time, and Lauren ended the call. She sagged back into her office chair, her mind whirring and her heart sprinting and every muscle relaxing.
Then she sprang right back out of her chair and burst out of her bedroom. “Joy!” she yelled. She jogged down the hall to find her best friend standing in the kitchen, eating the reddest, ripest tomato Lauren had ever seen.
Joy looked up as juices dripped down her face. At least she was leaning over the sink. Her eyes widened, and she looked as caught as a child sneaking cookies before dinner.
“What are you doing?” Lauren asked as she continued into the kitchen. She grinned the closer she got, because she knew about Joy’s nightshade obsession.
“This is the most incredible tomato I’ve ever had.” Joy sprinkled a little salt and a little pepper on the flesh and went in for another big bite. She groaned like it was the best thing she’d ever put in her mouth, and Lauren laughed.
“Well, I’m glad.” She sat on a barstool and cradled her face in her hands. “You’re looking at an employed woman.”
Joy made a yelping sound and lifted the half-eaten tomato into the air. “I knew it! Congratulations, Lauren.”
Lauren bowed her head as if accepting a royal award from the queen. “Thank you, thank you.”
“Which department?” She took another squelching bite, and Lauren didn’t like the wet sound of it.
She winced and made a face. “Admittedly, the Licensing.”
“Oh, the one you didn’t want.”
“It’s okay,” Lauren said. “It’s a job, and I only have to drive to Charleston twice a week. I work here two days, and I have three days off every week.” It almost sounded too good to be true.
Part of her strategy here on Hilton Head was to find more joy in the simple things. Sleep in at least twice a week—yes, she’d actually put that on her Seaside Strategy. Sleep was important, especially as she aged.
She jogged on the beach a few times each week, but if she didn’t feel like it, she skipped a day. Her Seaside Strategy was to find joy and purpose in her life, not punish herself and exist on four hours of sleep.
Lauren had lived that life, and she didn’t want to go back to it. She wouldn’t. Already, she was happier than she’d been in Sweet Water Falls, and so much had changed that she couldn’t pinpoint the exact thing that had increased her mood.
“Have you told Blake?” Joy asked.
“I just got the job,” Lauren said. “Two minutes ago.”
“So I was first to know.” Joy grinned at her, and the doorbell rang in the next moment. “Oh, shoot. That’s Chester.” She shoved the last of the tomato into her mouth. “I wemd fah mimts,” she said around the fruit.
Lauren laughed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t get that at all.”
Joy’s eyes turned fierce, and she held up five fingers. “Fahv. Miuhtes.”
“Five minutes.” Lauren slid from the stool. “You got it.”
Joy dashed up the steps, still chewing her tomato, while Lauren went to get the door. She’d been out with Blake a lot in the past few weeks since Joy had started dating Chester, and she hadn’t met him yet. When she opened the door, she could only stare.
The man standing there had to be a professional basketball player. Maybe volleyball. Both. He was so tall, he’d have to duck to get through the door. Lauren gaped at him, taking in the neat, trim beard and the bright brown eyes.
