Wearing a cute tennis skirt and wielding a racket, Sophie stands inside her apartment with one ear pressed to the front door. After a while, she glances at her watch. Ten minutes late and she hasn’t even left yet. Reggie’s going to kill her.
At last she hears footsteps in the hallway and breathes a sigh of relief. “Finally!”
The footsteps grow louder. They pause outside Sophie’s door. Then they start again, and fade away. There is the faint scrape of a key fitting into a lock. A door opens with a soft creak, and then closes with a loud one.
After another minute, Sophie unlocks her own door and steps out.
“You’re late.”
Sophie jumps. A short woman with an angry mop of hair is glaring at her. “Yes, actually, I am. So I’ll talk to you later, bye!”
The woman grabs her arm. “Nice try. Where’s your rent?”
“Eh heh… I thought I paid this month. No?”
“No. Not this month, not last month, and not the month before.” The landlady crosses her arms across her generous, bathrobe-covered bosom. “Which means that, if you don’t pay me in the next 15 days, I can — and will — evict you.” Her menacing smile reveals crooked teeth. “Got it?”
Sophie swallows. “Got it.”
###
Without Theresa’s animosity dogging them like a shadow, MJ and Felix’s relationship can finally breathe. They take long walks on the cobbled European streets. They get tea and toast for breakfast. They sneak into each other’s dorms to spend the night.
They become the sweethearts of their graduate program, to the point that everyone is rooting for them to “go the distance.” In a matter of weeks they already face questions about marriage and kids. Even Theresa warms up enough to ask what side of the ocean they plan to live on.
Though they both rebuff these comments and inquiries, MJ gets a secret thrill from them. For the first time in her life, she feels fulfilled both personally and professionally. Her research at the lab is going well, as are her classes, and she’s already in touch with a number of medical and scientific institutions about possible employment in the fall. Felix is the icing — and maybe the cherry too — on top of her very delicious cake.
A pair of lips presses gently against her silky hair, interrupting her thoughts. She smiles. When a latte floats into view, she smiles wider.
Definitely the cherry too.
“Good morning,” Felix says.
“It is now,” MJ agrees, taking a sip. She gets up from the stairs of her dorm, and they walk to the lab.
The day is much like any other — split this DNA, mutate that virus — until their supervisor Dr. Storm walks in with a giant grin on his Ken doll face.
“Ladies and gents,” he announces. “I have a wonderful surprise.”
All the graduate researchers, including MJ and Felix, pause their work and gather close to listen.
“First, Dr. Abrams, for whom I have been standing in, will return to his post here next term.” There is polite applause from the older students. “Second, I have been offered a position at a certain prestigious university in Boston. I think you all know which one.”
MJ rolls her eyes and Felix nods.
“And last but not quite least, I have been given the authority to bring one key researcher with me. I plan to bring one of you.”
There is silence as the room’s collective jaw drops. They all recognize this opportunity for what it is: rare and precious.
“Which one of us are you taking?” some brave soul in the back asks.
“That’s a good question. I don’t know yet. I suppose that depends on who impresses me the most.”
The look on Dr. Storm’s face does not escape MJ’s attention. “Is this a competition?”
“Yes.” He glances pointedly from her to Felix. “Which means it’s every man and woman for themself.”
###
At 4:30 pm, Claudia feeds her hyperactive puppy Max and takes him out for his dinnertime walk. They wave to a family of three playing by the pool. They smile at an old couple sitting on a bench and holding hands. They revel in the sunshine, in the neighborly atmosphere, in the general and irresistible joie de vivre.
By the time they return home, Claudia is punch drunk on the beauty of the ordinary. She can’t wait to see Eli — for no reason at all. Today is not a special day for them, but then again, every day they’re together is special.
“Oh, you’re already here!” She hurries over to give Eli a kiss. Max can be heard slurping loudly in the background. “And you smell like… tacos?” She wrinkles her nose.
“Yeah. I had a meeting downtown and afterward the boss invited me and a couple guys to this Mexican place for drinks.”
“But you don’t drink.”
“Hence the tacos.”
“So… you already ate?”
“Yeah, sorry.” Eli notices the disappointment on her face. “But I’ll still go somewhere with you. There’s room left in here.” He pats his abs.
Claudia appreciates the offer, but it’s not the same. For a minute she debates whether she should just scrounge in their kitchen for something. Eli watches intently.
“Pick a place yet?”
“Actually I’m thinking maybe I’ll just grab some fast food and bring it back.”
“No, no, let’s go somewhere.”
“Where?”
“You decide.”
But you’re the one who wants to go out, and who has to be able to order light, she thinks. Instead of saying it, though, she chews on her lip and thinks.
After another minute, Eli asks, “Figured it out yet?”
“No. Give me some options.”
Eli rattles off a list of nearby restaurants, but nothing quite hits the spot for Claudia. Would she rather get a mango smoothie at Panera, or blackberry tea at Ruby Tuesday? Would Eli have more snack choices at Applebee’s or Chipotle?
“Come on, Claudia.”
She frowns. “It’s been three minutes, geez. I hate when you pressure me this way.”
“Pressure you?” That was the wrong thing to say. Eli snorts. “It’s dinner, not a new car.”
Claudia instinctively turns defensive. “Yeah, well, you’re the one that made this difficult.”
“Oh, am I? Here, let me simplify it for you. I’m not going.”
“Fine.”
“Fine!”
Claudia grabs her keys and storms out the door. Five minutes later she’s sitting alone at a booth for four, reminding herself that she ate by herself all the time in college. And liked it. So there!
Ten minutes later, she’s resisting the urge to check her cell phone. He won’t call.
After she orders, Claudia can’t help thinking that, if this were a movie, Eli would show up to apologize. He’d have gone to every restaurant on the block until he found her. And when she still didn’t want to talk to him, he’d sit down and keep her company anyway.
But this isn’t a movie, and Claudia finishes her meal alone.
###
After beating Reggie at tennis, Sophie runs the errands she’s been saving all week in her failed attempt to avoid the landlady. And she tries not to panic. She has 15 days to come up with 3 months’ rent.
She’s been hesitant to ask her parents for money — wanting to prove that she’s a mature, responsible adult who can take care of herself and face the consequences of her decisions — but maybe now is the time to suck up her pride and take a loan from the Family Bank.
This thought is further reinforced at the supermarket, where she realizes she has switched entirely to store brands, cut back on everything but essentials, and uses at least 10 coupons per visit.
I’ll make the call tonight, she decides. Better to get it over with. The only question left is how much to ask them for…
She debates numbers in her head on the way to the post office. When she opens her PO box, Sophie is surprised to see two slim envelopes with her name printed neatly in the windows. Curious, she opens both right there, using her car keys to slice them open.
The first is an overage bill from her webspace provider. Capital S had gone over its monthly bandwidth allotment. By a lot. Sophie sighs.
The second envelope looks all too familiar. Above the return address, embossed in gold letters, is “Arden Advertising.” Wary, Sophie unfolds the letter. A check falls to the floor. The first check from her partnership with her former employer. She blogs about their client, Forward Fashions, and they pay her based on how many people click through to their website from hers.
When Sophie picks up the check, and sees the comma and the zeroes, her eyes widen in shock.
“Well that covers the overage bill,” she whispers.
