basket¸ all of her hopes and dreams and plans for a future on Trevor. She got it now, why her mom played the Willie Nelson albums and drank herself into oblivion after breakups.
Because this is what it feels like to have nothing.
“T wo hundred is the most I can do, lady. It’s a good cut, nice clarity, but I base my loans on weight.”
Fate swallowed the last tiny ounce of pride, which had formed into a sharp-edged lump the size of the diamond engagement ring she was pawning at Big Phil’s Pawn and Pay. After a week of living on orange chicken and smelling like it twenty-four-seven, she was ready to do whatever it took to get her own place. Her wedding dress was on Craigslist and she was still kicking herself for tossing several hundred dollars worth of footwear into the ocean.
“Is there any other type of loan we can work out? I start new job in a week and I’m good for it, I swear.”
She was begging. In a pawnshop.
The heavy-set man with several shiny, gold rings on his fingers gave her a sympathetic smile. His hair was thinning and gray around the temples.
“I wish I could help you. I do. Best I can do is two fifty today. Bring me a check stub showing what you make and I could probably give you a payday loan for a little more.”
Fate sighed. Once she had a check stub, she wouldn’t need a loan. Not until the next month’s bill for her mother’s rehab stay was due anyway.
“Here,” Fate said, sliding the ring across the counter. “I’ll take the two fifty please.”
“Okay, so that’s two fifty and it’ll cost you that plus twenty percent to get it back. You have thirty days.”
She had no intention of ever getting it back but Big Phil didn’t need to know that. He did need her driver’s license though, so she handed it over and signed the papers. Once she’d signed, he placed several fifty-dollar bills on the counter.
“Don’t spend it all in one place now.”
“Right,” Fate said, disheartened that she hadn’t even come close to getting the kind of money she needed to put a security deposit down on an apartment.
At least she could eat something other than leftovers for dinner tonight.
T he morning of new-employee orientation felt a great deal like the first day of school. Fate was so riddled with anxiety that she hadn’t slept and she’d ironed her navy-blue dress slacks twice. She tucked her white blouse into them and slid on matching navy heels. Melissa had told her to wear her red heels with them and that had been the plan. But she was no longer doing anything her former best friend had ever suggested.
“You can do this,” she said to her reflection in the mirror of the cramped hotel bathroom.
According to the Human Resources lady she’d spoken with, orientation would mostly be about reviewing company policies and the mission statement. She’d fill out her tax, insurance, and direct deposit paperwork and that would be it.
If payday didn’t come within the first week, she was going to have to downgrade from her current living situation to an even more affordable one. So either the YMCA or the street.
The journey to work ended up being a nightmare. Two wrong trains later, she ended up having to walk more blocks than she could count in heels to the giant skyscraper that housed Maxwell Medical. She was sweaty and her makeup was melting off her face, but once she entered the heavily air-conditioned marble-and-sandstone lobby, she felt as if she could finally breathe. It was all going to be okay. She had a job, she had hope, and soon, she would have a steady income.
She could survive without Trevor Harris. She could and she would.
Once she’d reached the main desk, where two attractive women and one handsome man sat, all three of them wearing headsets, she stepped around to the brunette who didn’t seem to be currently on a call. “Um, excuse me. Can you tell me which floor the new-employee orientation for Maxwell Medical employees is on?”
Upon closer
Because this is what it feels like to have nothing.
“T wo hundred is the most I can do, lady. It’s a good cut, nice clarity, but I base my loans on weight.”
Fate swallowed the last tiny ounce of pride, which had formed into a sharp-edged lump the size of the diamond engagement ring she was pawning at Big Phil’s Pawn and Pay. After a week of living on orange chicken and smelling like it twenty-four-seven, she was ready to do whatever it took to get her own place. Her wedding dress was on Craigslist and she was still kicking herself for tossing several hundred dollars worth of footwear into the ocean.
“Is there any other type of loan we can work out? I start new job in a week and I’m good for it, I swear.”
She was begging. In a pawnshop.
The heavy-set man with several shiny, gold rings on his fingers gave her a sympathetic smile. His hair was thinning and gray around the temples.
“I wish I could help you. I do. Best I can do is two fifty today. Bring me a check stub showing what you make and I could probably give you a payday loan for a little more.”
Fate sighed. Once she had a check stub, she wouldn’t need a loan. Not until the next month’s bill for her mother’s rehab stay was due anyway.
“Here,” Fate said, sliding the ring across the counter. “I’ll take the two fifty please.”
“Okay, so that’s two fifty and it’ll cost you that plus twenty percent to get it back. You have thirty days.”
She had no intention of ever getting it back but Big Phil didn’t need to know that. He did need her driver’s license though, so she handed it over and signed the papers. Once she’d signed, he placed several fifty-dollar bills on the counter.
“Don’t spend it all in one place now.”
“Right,” Fate said, disheartened that she hadn’t even come close to getting the kind of money she needed to put a security deposit down on an apartment.
At least she could eat something other than leftovers for dinner tonight.
T he morning of new-employee orientation felt a great deal like the first day of school. Fate was so riddled with anxiety that she hadn’t slept and she’d ironed her navy-blue dress slacks twice. She tucked her white blouse into them and slid on matching navy heels. Melissa had told her to wear her red heels with them and that had been the plan. But she was no longer doing anything her former best friend had ever suggested.
“You can do this,” she said to her reflection in the mirror of the cramped hotel bathroom.
According to the Human Resources lady she’d spoken with, orientation would mostly be about reviewing company policies and the mission statement. She’d fill out her tax, insurance, and direct deposit paperwork and that would be it.
If payday didn’t come within the first week, she was going to have to downgrade from her current living situation to an even more affordable one. So either the YMCA or the street.
The journey to work ended up being a nightmare. Two wrong trains later, she ended up having to walk more blocks than she could count in heels to the giant skyscraper that housed Maxwell Medical. She was sweaty and her makeup was melting off her face, but once she entered the heavily air-conditioned marble-and-sandstone lobby, she felt as if she could finally breathe. It was all going to be okay. She had a job, she had hope, and soon, she would have a steady income.
She could survive without Trevor Harris. She could and she would.
Once she’d reached the main desk, where two attractive women and one handsome man sat, all three of them wearing headsets, she stepped around to the brunette who didn’t seem to be currently on a call. “Um, excuse me. Can you tell me which floor the new-employee orientation for Maxwell Medical employees is on?”
Upon closer
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