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“Yep! That’s the plan.” I glanced at my watch. “Okay, let’s turn all the lights off in the living room, and when she comes in, I’ll tell you when and you turn on the tree. What do you think?”
“Yes!” He pumped a hand into the air. We turned all the lights off, and I went back to the kitchen to get drinks ready while he waited by the front window. I found another bottle of wine and poured two glasses.
“She’s here!” Luke yelled.
“Okay, get near the light switch. Can you find it in the dark?”
“Yeah. I have it in my hand.”
“Good, don’t turn it on until I tell you to, okay?”
“Okay.” He sounded so excited, and I smiled into the darkness.
I could see her through the window, walking up to the door, frowning at the dark window. Her key rattled in the door, and then it opened. Luke giggled next to me as she called out.
“Luke! Peter! I’m home!” Hearing her say she was home made my chest tighten. I wanted this to remain her home; I wanted to be her home.
The door closed, and she flipped the light switch on in the hallway. “Why is it dark in here?”
“Now, Luke,” I said softly as she stepped forward and glanced toward the living room.
Luke flipped the switch and began to jump up and down. “Surprise!”
Faith was noticeably shocked and stared at the tree for a long moment before she glanced at her son, the coffee table, and then me. As her eyes hit mine, I saw the emotion fill them, and she put her hands over her face and began to cry.
Luke sounded dejected as he spoke from my side. “Oh, boy, we made her cry again.”
Chapter Nine
Faith
After breakfast, I made a few lists. One list was to put the items on the to-be-fixed list into an order of importance after speaking with Peter. The second list was what I needed to do before Christmas. The third list were other ideas on where to find a job.
As I sipped the last of my coffee, I took out a fresh piece of paper and drew a line down the center and wrote NYC on one side and Merryland on the other. What were the pros and cons of going back to the city?
I could find a new job; I just wasn’t sure how long it would take. My friends were there, although I didn’t have too many of them. I loved the city, but it was sometimes exhausting. I would need to find a new nanny for Luke. I couldn’t afford the private school that he had been in before, so he would have to go to a public school—a very large public school.
There were a few more that I added to the column and added plus or minus off to the side. Then I stared at the Merryland column; the first thing that came to mind was Peter. Was that a pro or con? I put a question mark. I had a house, but it needed a lot of work. I winced; it would need a lot of work, whether I left or stayed. I needed to find a job but probably wouldn’t make anywhere near what I was making. It was cheaper to live here, and I probably wouldn’t need a nanny, but maybe just some after-school care. I didn’t know anyone here, but I wasn’t shy, and I did know Peter. I tapped my pen on the paper as I thought about him. Was I really adding him to my list?
I glanced at my watch and shuffled my papers together. I needed to get dressed and then finish doing some research on the company I was interviewing with today. The only reason they had been willing to do a video interview was that Carl Hundsberg was out of the office for the holiday. He had suggested it, and I had jumped right on.
I got myself ready, found the best place in the house to sit so that my background wouldn’t be too busy, and then made Luke promise he would go to his room as soon as I got the email that he was ready. As I waited, I read more about the company. It was an up-and-coming engineering company in the city and had been steadily gaining both revenue and employees over the last two years.
I kept glancing at the clock, refreshing my email to see if I had missed the notification for the meeting link. Fifteen minutes after the scheduled time, I checked my calendar and my email that listed the time. Another fifteen minutes and I picked up the phone and called.
“Carl Hundsberg’s office,” a woman answered.
“Hi, my name is Faith McMillian. I had a video interview scheduled with Mr. Hundsberg today at eleven, and I never received a link to the meeting room.”
“What position?”
“The comptroller position.”
“Oh, that position was filled yesterday. Sorry for the inconvenience.” She hung up before I could say another word.
I stared at my phone as I pulled it away from my ear. What a bitch! I couldn’t believe that I didn’t even get an email to cancel the interview. I dropped the cellphone to the table and rubbed my temples. Back to the drawing board.
Luke popped his head into the kitchen. “Are you done now, Mom? I’m hungry.”
