Four Fun (Four)

“I’ll figure something out,” I say, though no ideas are coming to mind.

“Listen, I have to leave for work,” Jade says. “Let me know if we’re able to get in, and I’ll come by as soon as I can.”

“Will do.”

I sit in my car for a while, watching not much happen. Men occasionally go in and out of the building. The apartment manager hovers outside, talking on her phone a lot. Eventually my stomach growls with hunger, so I drive to a convenience store and grab a handful of various snack items.

Back at the apartment complex, things look much the same. I park in a different spot where I have a view of both the front entrance and the fallen tree, and the more I survey the situation as I munch on a granola bar, the more hopeless I feel.

I’m definitely going to need a place to stay. My mother’s house is even less of an option than Justin’s. Christine, the bartender at Rusty’s, would’ve been a possibility in the past, but she’s currently loved up with her ex and his three friends. There’s no way I’m intruding on that situation.

Same goes for my friend Caz. Unfortunately, she lives with the men who own Rusty’s, and it would be much too weird to stay with my bosses. Plus, even though Caz has been with the Stone brothers for a while now, it’s obvious that they’re still in an extended honeymoon phase, and I don’t want to interrupt their happiness with my troubles.

Even though I’m no longer hungry after the granola bar, I open a pouch of peanuts and eat them very slowly, one at a time, mostly for something to do. Half an hour later, when I’m nearing my last nut, two important-looking hard-hatted workers come out of the building and huddle with the apartment manager. After a couple of minutes of nodding and gesturing, the men step aside and residents who’d been waiting nearby gather closer to the manager. I quickly crumple my wrapper, shove it back in the shop bag, and go join them.

Several people are talking at once when I reach the group. After waiting patiently and listening in, I get the news that we are not going to be allowed inside, but that workers will bring out essential belongings to the residents.

A woman with a baby is talking to one of the workers, presumably telling him what she needs from her unit. Others line up behind her, and as we’re standing there, more residents pull into the lot and join the line. I assume the manager has phoned them.

I text Jade to give her the update, and she responds with her list of requests. I settle in for what turns out to be both an exhausting and boring day, and finally, by mid-afternoon, I’m loading two giant black trash bags into the backseat of my car, each filled with a jumble of my and Jade’s belongings. Everything is in such disarray that I want to scream — or cry.

With the storm having moved out, the sun has been shining down through a cloudless sky and I’m sweaty. Sweaty, and still in the rumpled yellow sundress that I’ve been wearing for a day and a half. My hair is up in a messy bun to keep it from sticking to my neck, and I can only imagine what my makeup looks like. I’ve purposely been avoiding the mirror.

I have enough money to get a motel room for the night, but that’s not a long-term solution. You’d think, having lived on Four Points my entire life, that I’d have more people to call on, but a few of my good friends moved away, and now there’s just Jade and my coworkers. Aside from Christine and Caz, who’s actually a former coworker, the other people I work with are men, and I don’t want to ask to stay with any of them, for various reasons.

Tonight, I’ll go to a motel, and hopefully I can find another apartment tomorrow, one with a kind and understanding manager who will take pity on my situation and waive the security deposit, because it will be at least two weeks or more before I’ll have enough money for that.

After arranging for Jade to meet me later to get her stuff, I drive over to Rusty’s, where I plan to go inside early, wash up, and change clothes in the restroom before my shift starts.

What I fail to plan for is running into Shane, Khalil, Marcos, and Devin as I’m going in the door.

14

Couldn’t stay away

“Becca, are you okay?” Devin asks.

All four men stop in their tracks just inside the side door at Rusty’s, effectively forming a wall between me and my destination. They must have been meeting with my boss, Barrett.

I hug my stack of clothing, shoes, and deodorant to my chest. Khalil’s eyes go to my yellow dress and the bundle I’m holding before searching my face. “What happened?”