But apparently none of that mattered because she couldn’t get a job. She’d spoken to twelve employers today, and every conversation ended up the same way.
What have you been doing since high school?
College, really? Where?
Who was your last employer?
Oh (and the look)—the prison library.
I’m sorry, the position had been filled … You’re too young … I’ll let you know …
One excuse after another. The hell of it was, she couldn’t blame them. Who wanted to hire a twenty-four-year-old ex-con?
And if that weren’t bad enough, after her useless job interviews, she’d checked out housing on the island.
There were only three apartment complexes, and one thing was sure: she couldn’t afford to live in any of them. The smallest of the available units rented for nine hundred fifty dollars per month. Plus, the landlord required first and last month’s rent and a security deposit in advance. Twenty-four hundred dollars, due on the day she signed the lease agreement.
It might as well be a million dollars.
A few phone calls confirmed that Port George was no better.
There were more rentals available on the other side of the bridge, but they were still way too expensive.
The whole day defeated Lexi. By the time she gave up, it was seven o’clock at night and she just wanted to be alone. She rode her bike through the quiet summer night and parked outside Scot’s office. Using her key, she walked inside. All she wanted to do was sleep. Or scream.
“Lexi? Is that you?”
She sighed and forced a smile. She owed Scot everything; it wasn’t his fault she was such a pathetic loser. “Hey, Scot,” she said, heading into his office. “You’re working late.”
“I was waiting for you. I have a surprise. Come here.”
He took her by the hand and led her to the conference room. On the long wooden table, a laptop was open. “Here,” he said, “sit down.”
Lexi did as she was told.
Scot left the room for a few moments and then returned. “Okay, we’re ready.” He pushed a button on the laptop and Aunt Eva’s worried face filled the screen. “I don’t know, Babs. How can you tell if it’s working?”
The sight of her aunt’s face was like a tonic. Lexi felt a loosening in her chest. For the first time in hours, she smiled. She wasn’t as alone as she’d thought. “Hey, Aunt Eva,” she said, scooting forward.
“She’s here, Barbara!” Eva’s face broke into a bright smile. “Come look! This is my Lexi.”
My Lexi.
A heavyset woman with a head of steel gray curls bent at the waist and peered into the camera, smiling. “Hello, Alexa. My sister never stops talking about you.”
“Hey, Barbara,” Lexi said softly, overcome with emotion.
Barbara’s face moved out of view and Eva scooted closer to her computer. She looked different, older; her cheeks were deeply tanned and lined and her hair had gone completely white. “So, tell me everything, Lexi.”
Scot left the room and shut the door behind him.
“I met Gracie,” Lexi said. It was the first thing that came to mind.
“How is she?”
“Sad. Beautiful. Lonely.”
“Oh. That must be hard to see.”
“It’s all hard, Aunt Eva. I didn’t want to come here, because I knew it would be hard, but now I’m here and everything is a mess.”
“I suppose you’ve seen your young man?”
“Yeah.”
“And?”
Lexi shrugged. “It’s been a long time.”
“You look tired, Lexi.”
“It’s been a bad day. It’s going to be hard for me to get a job and hard to afford a place to live. Impossible, maybe.”
“You just got out, Lexi. Maybe you need to come home and get taken care of. Barb and me got a hide-a-bed just waiting for you. You could get a job down here and save up your money. Floyd at the Tilt-a-Curl says he’d be happy to hire you to answer phones and clean up. Without rent to pay, you’ll have a nice little nest egg in no time.”
Home.