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Sure, you can either email me or send it in Google Docs. Either one works for me
I hit send. I wouldn’t be getting to it today, but I always got around to reading what she wrote. I wanted to give her my honest feedback and hopefully help her in some way. I didn’t know how much help I would actually be, but it was worth a try.
Thanks. You’re the best. How’s your other assignment going? You ready to be a publisher yet? They give you your own pen name? Give me the deets!
I rolled my eyes. I knew she meant well, but she knew where I was at in my career. Or, should I say, where I was with my lack of career. The reality was, I had moved back home with my dad. I hadn’t been able to find a job in the publishing industry, and as such I hadn’t been able to make it on my own. I’d wanted to move to Nashville to live with Krissy when I graduated, but I couldn’t do that if I couldn’t pay the bills.
My dad was happy to have me home. My mom had passed away from cancer six years ago after I’d graduated high school, and though he was getting on okay without her, I knew he was happy to have some company. For a while at least.
For my own part, I was grateful to him for opening up the house to me once again, but the fact of the matter was I wanted to get out on my own.
I submitted the final document today, but I’ve not heard from my client yet. I’m sure they’re going to take their time getting back to me. Crossing my fingers that they’re going to have another project.
I hit send, but Krissy stopped replying. I knew she was busy, and she would get back to me when she had the chance, but there was really no telling what she was doing right now. For all I knew, she could be out at some bar asking me if I would take a look at her latest work. It was just like her to work on the run, after all.
But I was okay with the silence.
I wanted to enjoy the peaceful evening and clear my mind. Internally, I didn’t think I would be getting another project from this same client. At least, not anytime soon. They had already said they didn’t have a lot to give me, and I was shocked when they were able to give me the copywriting assignment they already had. It had felt more like a favor to me than actually needing the work done, but I’d taken it.
Now, I knew I was going to have to start looking for another job. But I didn’t know how long it would be, and I didn’t even really know where to look. I had my online venue I tried my luck with every now and then, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted to do with my life. I could scrape by here and there, but it wasn’t enough to allow me to live on my own, and scraping by was more discouraging than not making any money at all.
“Hey sweetie, there you are.” The door opened, and my dad stepped outside. “I thought you were working.”
“I finished,” I said. “Submitted it a little while ago. Just have to wait now for them to get back to me.”
“Can I join you?” he asked. “I saw how nice it was out here, and figured I’d have a glass of iced tea. I see I’m not alone in my idea.”
He nodded to the glass in my own hand, and I grinned.
“Great minds think alike,” I told him. “Where do you think I learned how awesome it is to have a glass of iced tea while enjoying the evening?”
“You did grow up in the South,” he reminded me. “It’s in your blood even more than what you see me do.”
“Fair enough,” I said. “But still. I have a feeling if you had some other habit that you did every night, I would have picked up on that one soon enough, too.”
“Thank God I quit my cigarette habit before you were born,” he said.
I laughed. “I’ve had plenty of opportunities to pick up smoking. It’s gross though. I don’t like the smell.”
“Good,” he said. “I don’t like the idea of you getting lung cancer. You know how bad it is for you, the last thing you need is to pick up on that habit.”
“Oh, come on, Dad, you know everything kills you eventually. There’s not a thing on this planet that’s going to keep you alive forever. You don’t have to always worry about what can cause what.”
“Sure, we all have our expiration date, but you know you can have a much better life while you’re here if you take care of yourself and don’t pick up those bad habits. But then, I’m just an old SEAL. What do I know?”
“You know the joy of sharing a glass of iced tea with your daughter,” I told him.
“Spending time with you is something I’m never going to take for granted,” he promised. “I know it’s only a matter of time until you’re back out there, spreading your wings and flying on your own again.”
“From the way my job is looking, I might wind up living with you forever,” I teased. “You should probably get used to the idea my room is going to forever be my room.”
“Not a chance,” he said. “You know I love you, but I’m ready to have my house for my own. Not that you can’t come visit, but you know what I mean.”
“First you tell me you’re happy to spend all the time you can with me, then you’re telling me to move out. You’re going to give me a complex if you’re not careful.”
“Parenthood comes with a lot of conflicting emotions,” he said.
I laughed. “Wow. That is not the direction I thought you were going with that. Anyway, I know what you mean. I’m ready to get out and start making my own way in this world, but I’m going to have to have money to do that, and it appears as though I need a job before I can get that.”
