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“Ava, did you know that I own my own construction company?”
I blinked. “Uh, yeah, I knew that.”
“Ever since I found out you design websites, I’ve been thinking about mine. It was made ages ago by someone who probably didn’t even know what they were doing, you understand. I’d be interested in hiring you for a site makeover, if that would be something you’re interested in.” Mr. Manning raised his eyebrows. “What do you say?”
It felt like I was walking along a war-torn desert, and suddenly—click. I stepped on a landmine. There was no reversing off it. If I could, I’d have packed up my laptop an hour early. I never would’ve come to Expresso’s at all. I never would’ve let myself get into this predicament.
I bit down on the inside of my cheek. “Mr. Manning, I don’t… I don’t know—”
“I’d pay you well,” he hurried to add. “I’m sure a bright teenager like yourself has something she’s saving up for, right? A car? College tuition?”
I pictured the envelope on the front entryway stand in the house.Shutoff—Final Notice.The whole reason I’d begun scrambling for more website gigs these past few weeks, why I’d been building templates and tweaking HTML. All for a paycheck that would take some of the weight off my mother.
As soon as Mr. Manning mentioned money, my throat closed up.
“You know, if you were to work with me—and do a good job—I can recommend you to a few friends of mine. Have you heard of Pilar Start-Ups? It’s a company based in Bismarck solely dedicated to helping small entrepreneurs start their business ventures. A buddy of mine is one of the CEOs. I could pass your name along to him, and he can promote you to a whole slew of people who need sites designed.” He sat back in his seat and smiled broadly, the plastic replaced with something much more genuine. Maybe it was because he felt more comfortable with me now, the stiffness of striking a conversation gone. Maybe it was because he knew he was dangling a carrot in front of me. “With companies like these in your portfolio, you wouldn’t have to do projects for cheap anymore. It’d be the best of experience, with the best kind of references. I don’t have to tell you it would look fantastic on scholarships and college applications, right?”
My eyes fell once more to my closed laptop. One of the biggest things with web design was getting my name out there. With hundreds of thousands of other people designing websites out there, as soon as people realized how old I was, clients ran for the hills. Experience was hard to garner. Sure, when the occasional YMCA-goer asked for their baby announcement site done, I was over the moon, but otherwise clients were few and far between.
And here Mr. Manning was, offering to give me the experience I needed. More than that. Offering a way to help Mom keep her head afloat. With Dad’s loss of income, and not many houses to sell, it was clear money was tighter. This could keep her from taking on another job to pay the bills, or doing the unthinkable, selling the house.
Even working with him alone would be enough. In Brentwood—heck, in the entire county—Manning Construction was one of the biggest construction companies. Whenever anyone had remodeling done, the business would stick a sign in their yard. Signs were all across Brentwood and Jefferson, proudly displaying their social proof.
“I appreciate the offer,” I said slowly, speaking to my computer. “But I’m not sure it’d be a good idea.”
“Why don’t you sleep on it?” Mr. Manning leaned forward and withdrew his wallet, slipping out a white and beige business card. “My email is on the back. Talk to your parents, think it over, and email me.”
I shouldn’t have taken the card. I’d like to say it was the respect that my parents instilled in me that had me accepting the matte thing, but really, it was something else. Something…selfish. What if I worked with him, just this once? I’d design the website, he’d recommend me to his friends, and it could help me gain more popularity. The money would help Mom pay her car bill. Rachel wouldn’t even have to know. It wasn’t like she checked my personal webpage, anyway—if I listed Manning Construction as a client, she’d never even know to look.
Mr. Manning rose from the table, offering me one last nod before he took his coffee and departed. I turned the card over, studying the email. The longer that I sat there, the stronger the sinking feeling got that it wasn’t a carrot he’d dangled in front of me. Instead, it was a worm on a hook, and I was a fish stupid—desperate—enough to take the bait.
* * *
The uneasiness followed me the entire night. I couldn’t settle my nerves down enough to lie down, so I worked on the finishing touches on my website template. Around eleven-thirty, nearly an hour past my usual bedtime on a school night, and an hour after Mom had gone to bed, I started my routine.
What was nearly as stressful as thinking about Mr. Manning was thinking about his son. As I brushed my teeth and changed into my pjs, I couldn’t get what had happened twenty-three hours earlier out of my head. “You kissed him,” I told myself, and that was the first sign I was losing it. I was starting to talk to myself. “You kissed him. It happened, so move on. It was nice, sure, but that’s only because kissesarenice. It wasn’t nice because it wasReed. That would be…”Weird, weird, weird.
As I stepped out into the hallway, I heard Mom’s voice filter from her bedroom down the hallway. At first, I thought she was talking to me. I stepped further down the dark corridor, and the closer I got, the more I realized shewasn’ttalking to me. However, it was what she said next that had me listening, anyway.
“We split the bills evenly, and they’restillthis high.” Mom sighed, and it sounded shaky. “Yeah, I know. It’s my credit card payments, the mortgage, and my car payment. I don’t know how I’m going to pay it all, Lindsey. I know, I know. When he…left, the last thing I was thinking of was how I’d pay for all this.”
A sickening flutter took root behind my rib cage, buzzing like I was about to throw up. I hugged my arms to my chest, knowing I needed to walk away but was unable to get my feet to move. The need to hear the conversation to completion was overwhelming.
“I can’t. Iwon’t.” Mom’s voice became fierce. “He hasn’t even seen Ava since he left—I can’t ask him to help me.”
For some reason, the day I came home to Dad’s packed suitcase came into mind. Dad, resting one hand on the handle, touching my cheek with the other. “I’ll see you soon,” he’d said. “I love you, kiddo. You know that, right?”
“And maybe…maybe it is time. Maybe you’re right.” I heard Mom sniffle. “I mean, I’m sure I’d get enough for it if we sold now. We could move into a smaller house, pay off some of the debt. Ava will be off to college next year, and I can’t imagine living in this house alone, you know?”
Boom. That was the bomb my body instinctually knew to wait for, and it exploded through me. The dark hallway seemed to sway like I was in a funhouse, and if I hadn’t been leaning against the wall, I would’ve stumbled. She couldn’t mean… Of course, she couldn’t mean—
Mom danced around the words, but in the end, she added, “Yeah, I don’t think it’d be hard to sell this house. But I don’t know. I just don’t know.”
No. It was the one word ringing in my head, a clear denial that refused to negotiate. Just—no. Selling this house, the house I’d lived in my entire life? The house right across the street from my best friend? Absolutely not. I wanted nothing more than to barge in there and tell Mom exactly that, but my feet refused to move.
Rationale crept in slowly. Mom was only wanting to sell the house because she couldn’t afford all of her bills. The shutoff notices were just pressuring her. I knew things were tough, that was why I had been trying to scrounge up extra client work. But the few and far between projects weren’t enough.
Mr. Manning’s offer. The money he’d pay me to work on his site, and the recommendation to others who needed a website. That would be enough. I’d just have to compromise my morals to do it.
