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“Really, Rosie? I don’t mind?—”
“No, it’s fine, Sera. Thank you for calling to check up on me.” My tone is firmer now, more confident. Sera has three kids to worry about on her own. I don’t need her stressing about me, too. “We’ll go for a drink this weekend or something, okay?”
“If you’re sure…” Relief laces her tone, but she’s trying to hide it.
“I’m sure. You’re a good friend, but I’ll be fine. I always land on my feet—like a drunk cat.”
Sera snorts. “I’m going to miss you around the office. You sure did balance the testosterone out around there.”
Thinking about Sera trying to stick up for herself just gives me one more thing to worry about. “Don’t let the suits get away with any of their crap, okay?”
“I’ll try, but you leave big shoes to fill.”
She’s trying to make me feel better, but somehow, it only makes me feel worse. My shoes can’t be that big if I am so easily replaceable, but I don’t say any of this aloud.
“Good night, Sera.”
“Good night—make sure you stay in touch. I’m holding you to that drink.”
“I will.”
I disconnect the call and stare at the phone for a long time, willing it to ring again, but it doesn’t.
Gritting my teeth, I toss it aside.
If he wants to go, let him go,I decide, the mixture of stubbornness and desolation vying for center place inside me.
I don’t want to need Tony, his hurtful words, his pent-up resentment toward me still burning from the night before, but without a job, what am I expected to do?
I tried begging for my job at Galor Industries, but the truth is that I’d barely been more than a gofer secretary, anyway: dispensable, despite my title as designer. The male owners viewed the other female designer and me the same way they had seen the receptionist—walking vaginas who drew them pictures sometimes.
They’d done me a favor, probably. I must look at it like that. This drive into instant poverty is a blessing somehow. There’s a silver lining somewhere; I just need to find it.
Shoving myself off the couch, I amble to the fridge and pull out the almost empty bottle of rosé, the last one in the apartment. I consider running to the corner store for another, but I decide against it. I have to start counting every penny now, don’t I? I can’t afford to be frivolous, because I have no idea where next month’s rent is coming from.
Pouring the last of the pink liquid into a cheap wine glass, I make my way back to the financed sofas and tuck my toes under my buttocks, reaching for my computer perched on the seat cushion.
Might as well start the job search now.
Outside, the pinks of the spring sky turn indigo, then periwinkle, a few stars appearing through the city lights as the blasting horns diminish. It’s never quiet, not entirely, but a peace washes over the neighborhood, the odd bark of a dog, a baby wailing in protest against the injustice of sleep.
I want to howl and shriek with them but for different reasons, my search for employment leading me exactly nowhere. Every minute that passes disheartens me more, until the sky is as dark as the interior of my apartment.
The only light is the glow of my computer screen, and I rub my eyes, my retinas burning. Rage from the past days of events circles in my chest, and I move to slam the laptop closed in frustration.
As I do, a notification at the lower right of my screen indicates an incoming email.
The unfamiliar sender causes me to cock my head.
Family Tree Discovery.
The tickle at the back of my mind tells me Idoknow this company, and I spread the computer open again, switching screens to my emails as I try to recall why the name is so recognizable. The wine is long gone, and I eye my empty glass forlornly, wishing I’d ignored my good sense and gone out for that other bottle after all.
Swallowing hard, I shift my attention back toward the blue glow and remember what I’m doing.
Family Tree Discovery is the third email on the list of my unread emails, the termination letter from Galor first in queue.
They didn’t waste any time, did they?I think grimly, and my stomach tightens. Ignoring the formal correspondence from human resources, I open the Family Tree Discovery correspondence.
