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JADE
“You’regoingtohaveto do something, Jadey,” Hannah said. “You know I love you, and I want to help. I really do, but I can’t keep letting things slide––it’s not fair to my other employees.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “I know. I’m trying. I’ll try harder.”
Aunt Hannah was my mom’s younger sister, and she’d always been more of a cousin or a friend than an aunt. After I’d decided a modeling career wasn’t for me, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. Bills wouldn’t wait for me to make up my mind, though, and after I’d paid my own way for a couple of years after college, there was no way in hell I was moving back home. My mom and I hadn’t gotten along when I was a teenager and forced to live by her rules. Things would be so much worse now that I was used to living an independent life.
Hannah had been kind enough to give me a job…one that I kept screwing up.
“You just need to get your act together,” Hannah said, and tucked her light brown hair behind her ear. She pushed her glasses up her nose a little more.
“I know.” I nodded.
“I’m not going to talk to you about this again, so consider it your final warning.”
I sighed. “Got it.”
When Hannah had offered me the job, I’d thought working for my family would besomuch fun. Hannah and I had always been close––she’d been the cool aunt when I’d grown up, the one I could talk to about boys, getting in trouble at school, fashion, or whatever my mom just didn’t seem to get. I hadn’t considered the downside of working for family––I couldn’t escape my boss because we were still family after hours. I saw her at family gatherings, and work had become the only topic of conversation.
Not to mention theuncool part where my aunt, my friend, could give me a tongue-lashing and tell me that I had to get my shit together if I wanted to make something of myself one day.
It hurt a hell of a lot more when someone close to me told me that what I had now just wouldn’t cut it––not that I didn’t know that already.
“Let’s get serious, Jade,” Hannah said. Wasn’t telling me how I had failed serious enough? “This isn’t the kind of job you want to do for the rest of your life.”
She was right. I sucked at doing administration––paperwork was the bane of my existence. I was an administrative assistant at Hannah’s company,Placement,an au pair placement agency. Paperwork was all I did.
And I screwed it up…a lot. Not because I didn’t care or didn’t know how to do my job. I just didn’t always remember where I put things. I was a dreamer, but apparently, that wasn’t always a good thing.
“It’s teaching me a lot about responsibility and sticking it out when the going gets tough,” I said.
“You’re waffling to avoid the topic,” Hannah said sharply. “I know you mean well, and I know you’re trying. You’re just…not very good at this job. You need something creative where you canaffordto color outside the lines.” Hannah sighed and added under her breath, “whereIcan afford you coloring outside the lines.”
I couldn’t deny it, so I nodded. “I really need the cash, though, and you needed the help. It seemed like a great fit at the time…” I let my words trail off because I kept screwing up, which was a clear sign that maybe it wasn’t a great fit at all. “Don’t kick me out, okay?” I added.
Hannah’s face softened. “I won’t just dump you on the sidewalk, but I can’t keep giving you chances. It’s not fair to everyone else I employ. This is a business. What do you really want to do with your life? We both know this isn’t the job you’re cut out for. Do you have any idea where you’re going?”
I shook my head. “I know what Idon’twant. Modeling…and this. It’s just not that easy to find a niche.”
“You’re twenty-eight, Jade. At some point, you’ll have to figure out where you’re headed in life. You’re not fresh out of school anymore. You’re headed toward thirty.”
I groaned inwardly. When did my cool friend go? Why did my aunt now sound so much more like my mom?
“You majored in business in college,” Hannah pointed out.
I nodded. “I want to start my own company.”
“Doing what?”
I shrugged. That was the part I was still hazy on.
“Think about it. Figure out what you’re doing. Start putting money away so that this…” she waved her hand around her, “…doesn’t have to happen again.”
Right. She just had to throw that in there, reminding me that I was here because I’d burned through my savings from my modeling career at a crazy rate, and then I’d decided that direction wasn’t for me.
So, financial management wasn’t my strong suit––many people struggle with that. If I hadn’t been stupid with my money, I might have been able to take the time and think about what I needed, but there was no use looking back and crying about my mistakes. This was where I was now, and I had to figure out how to make it work. People could work on their weaknesses, right?
