Total pages in book: 181
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 171979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 860(@200wpm)___ 688(@250wpm)___ 573(@300wpm)
When she arrived back at the cleaning company, she made a beeline to the locker room to change out of the clothes she was wearing and bagged the small black skirt to be laundered. She had never felt such relief at wearing her normal clothes again.
She was sliding the thin coat back into the garment bag when she remembered the money. Taking the bills out of the pocket, she had to sit down in one of the chairs at the amount she counted.
The money in her hand had cost her every scrap of her pride. When April had told her how much she received in tips from Matthias Luciano, she expected to receive a quarter of what April had been given. Yet, he had tipped her the same amount, plus an extra two hundred fifty dollars. All the hundred-dollar bills were in sequential order, except the extra two hundred fifty dollars. They were almost the same amount she had been duped into paying for lunch the other day, meaning there was no doubt Kent Bryant had recognized her.
It was too late to get her pride back, but the money meant she was back on her feet. She could breathe again. She could buy groceries, pay the rent, buy the girls what they needed. She would have enough time to regain her strength to take the next punch coming her way …
Fighters could sense when the fights weren’t over. Right now … this second … or however long it lasted … this was just a timeout.
ELEVEN
Dread filled her with every step she took as she walked into the office. Today, she was going to find out if she would be hired permanently or be sent back to the temp agency. So far, none of the temporary workers had been hired, and she didn’t have high hopes she was going to be the first.
She had tossed and turned in bed last night about coming in today after the humiliation of Kent Bryant seeing her mostly naked. There were two reasons which had given her enough courage to walk through the front doors. One, she couldn’t be totally sure he had recognized her. The extra money could’ve been a coincidence. At least that’s what she told herself. The other reason … well, three others, were Glory, Colby, and Tinsley. They were worth any sacrifice to her pride. She had proven that when she cleaned Matthias Luciano’s house.
There was no one to blame but herself for putting herself in that humiliating position. She had told April she would think about it but had given in just a few hours later when April twisted her ankle and begged her to go to Matthias’ house that afternoon. She would have had to call and tell Ivo she wouldn’t be able to work that afternoon, and he would have given it to someone else. Faced with being short for the rent and not sure if Livvy would pay the money she was owed back, she had caved, telling April she would cover for her. The experience was awful, but she had recouped her rent money.
If she could clean a stranger’s house with a thong up her ass, she could walk into an office fully clothed with her head held up high.
After placing her purse into the bottom drawer of her desk, she logged onto the computer, then slid the cursor to a work folder that had been set up for her. A message at the top of the file drew her attention. An appointment had been scheduled for one p.m. with Human Resources. Her fingertips quivered on the computer keys before checking that she had seen the message.
As she started on the tasks in the work folder, she had to force herself to concentrate on the list needed to be finished before the meeting rather than give in to the fear she wasn’t going to be hired permanently.
She kept a watchful eye on the time and finished with an hour to spare. She was about to leave, when she saw a new email in her inbox. It was Livvy’s evaluation of her. She must have meant to add it to an email sent to Bree but accidently sent it to her instead. Or callously, Livvy had wanted to make sure she knew what she thought of her work.
She opened her desk drawers and methodically removed the few personal items she kept there, placing mints, a novel she would read during her breaks, and her favorite pen in her purse. She wanted to make sure she wouldn’t have to return to her desk for the items and give Livvy the pleasure of watching. Logging off the computer, she then made her way to Livvy’s office, holding on to her nerves as she knocked on the closed door.
“Come in.”
Upon hearing Livvy’s muted voice, she opened the door, finding her standing by a filing cabinet. Livvy eyed her before going through files in a drawer.