Eternally Yours by Jennifer Malin

could pay her property taxes. She’d been putting off the huge bill until the last minute, and now she would have to stop at Town Hall in person in order to pay before the deadline. Of course, the taxes were virtually going to wipe out her checking account.
    She frowned. Maybe she would have to get a summer job just to make ends meet. Forget trying to renovate the house. The thought depressed her. Sometimes she felt like she needed a decent studio just to keep herself sane.
    Twenty minutes later she was waiting for a receipt at the appropriate window in Town Hall when she noticed something on the felt board behind the clerk. This office also handled building-permit applications. Applying for hers seemed precipitous since she had no money for the renovations, but a stubborn streak in her swore she was going to get it. She had to. Maybe she’d play the lottery or appear on a game show and win the top prize. Maybe she’d borrow part of the cost from her parents. In any case, she’d find a way.
    “Can I have an application for a building permit, too?” she asked the clerk.
    “Sure,” the woman said. She went to a file cabinet and came back with several sheets of paper, along with a clipboard and pen. “You can sit over in the waiting area to fill these out. Then return them to me.”
    Lara sat down and trudged her way through the mercilessly long form. Near the end of the application she came to an oddly worded question she didn’t understand. She went back to ask the clerk, but now another woman stood at the window chatting away with her, obviously a personal friend.
    After a few interminable moments, the clerk looked past her friend’s shoulder to Lara. “Are you ready to turn that in?”
    “Actually, I have a question.” With the other woman beside her practically breathing down her neck, Lara pointed out the section she didn’t understand.
    “Oh, you don’t have to answer that,” the clerk told her. “That’s for office use. It looks like you’re finished. Let me check for you.”
    Lara handed her the forms. While she waited for the clerk to look them over, she could feel the other woman’s gaze on her. Uncomfortable, she avoided looking in that direction.
    “Don’t I know you from somewhere?” the woman finally asked her.
    Lara turned to face her. Tall, slim and attractive, she had stylishly short red hair and wore a sleek, dark-green business suit with a short skirt. Her catlike green eyes looked vaguely familiar. “Yes, I think so...but I’m not sure where we could have met.”
    “She’s Lara Peale,” the clerk interrupted. “She was married to Liz Sulley’s cousin, Ron. You know Liz--my old high-school friend.”
    Surprised, Lara looked back at the clerk, who didn’t appear familiar at all. Sometimes the town of Falls Borough could be too small for comfort.
    “You’re right, Paula,” said the redhead and turned toward Lara again. “Paula and I went to a New Year’s party at Liz’s a couple of years ago, and you and your husband were there. Do you remember us? I was wearing a long black dress.”
    “Oh, y-yes,” she said, recalling the party but not her or the clerk specifically. “You’re right. That’s it.”
    “So you’re divorced now? That’s too bad.”
    “It happens,” she said, not eager to discuss her personal life with a stranger.
    “I see you got the house in the divorce,” the clerk noted, still looking at the permit application. “I remember Ron had a big old Victorian. Lucky you. But why would you want to build an addition on that big place?”
    “I have a room I want to expand,” she said through clenched teeth. She got her checkbook back out of her purse. “I’m sorry, but I’m in a hurry. How much do I owe you?”
    “Just the twenty-five dollar application fee for now. You’ll be billed for the rest if they approve your request.”
    “Is everything else in order?” Lara asked as she scribbled out a check.
    “Ye-es...” she said, still reading the