Logically, I don’t think Jaeger is getting back together with Kate, but not hearing from him… It’s difficult not to think the worst.A part of me hangs on to the hope that this will all turn out to be some ginormous mistake.
In the meantime, I’ve scoured online job listings for South Lake Tahoe, and have sent out résumés and online applications.Job-hunting is helping keep me distracted.
My art classes don’t start for a few more days.If I work at least thirty hours as a waitress or a dealer at another casino, I can swing living expenses plus costs for community college.The student fees aren’t astronomical like they are at Harvard and other programs.With new classes, a new job—basically a new life—I might survive getting my heart crushed.
Maybe.
Okay, I’m not sure.Jaeger snuck up on me and now I have all these feelings I’ve never experienced before.It’s going to break my heart if he ends our relationship.Oddly, running off to a law program far, far away would be easier than sticking around to watch the guy I’ve fallen in love with torn from my arms.
In love?Okay, that’s enough introspection for one morning.
I walk inside the chalet from the patio where I’ve been sketching for the last hour.The patio has become my office and art sanctuary.“Where’s Gen?”I ask my brother, who’s sitting at the kitchen table, typing on his computer.
“Said she was going out.”
“Did she say where?”Our talk helped heal some of the distance between us, but we haven’t had time to catch up on everything.These past few weeks, I figured Gen was hanging out with Nessa, but now I wonder.
Tyler pauses and takes a gulp from his coffee mug, the words World’s Best Cat Mom scrawled across the front.Either Tyler is less choosy about his mugs than Gen and me, or he’s being ironic.
“Nope.Hey, what do you think of that Nessa girl?She available?”
Okay, that came out of left field.
I walk into the kitchen and pull out ingredients for a sandwich.I have an interview this afternoon with the casino across from Blue.It’s a smaller establishment, and at this place, I’m being interviewed by the head of Gaming.I have anxiety over this, considering the last head of Gaming fired me, but this casino doesn’t seem to put on the same airs that the management at Blue did.Maybe talking to an upper manager at their casino is a good sign.
“I don’t know if Nessa’s available.What happened to Gen setting you up with a Blue waitress?”
Tyler’s face contorts.“Shit, Cali.That girl was crazy.She got hammered and crawled on my lap.In the restaurant.I felt like a virgin preserving my virtue.”
“You have virtue?”
“I guess I do,” he says proudly.
I chuckle, inadvertently inhaling a piece of bread I had popped in my mouth.I hack until it comes back up.
“Easy there, girl.Don’t kill yourself.It wasn’t that funny.”
“I wish I could have been there.”
“No, you don’t.She was a damned piranha.”
“A man-eater?Are you serious?”
“She tried to unbutton my pants!”Astonishment fills his voice.
“You’re such a hot babe, Tyler.How do you manage?”
“Don’t mock, Calzone.You can’t see it because you’re my sister, but Iama commodity.”
Complaining about that horrific nickname results in increased usage, so I bite my lip.“If that’s the case, why did you need to be set up?”
He shrugs.“Gen offered, and I thought I’d give it a try.”He wags his head slowly.“Never again, Cali.Never.Again.”
I laugh and walk into the bedroom to change and get ready for my first casino interview.Having Tyler around keeps my spirits up.No matter what, I’m lucky to have my friends and family.I just wish Jaeger would call.
ChapterTwenty-Five
Paul something-or-other, the head of Gaming at the casino across from Blue, looks at his notes, his mouth pinched.“Ah, yes, Cali.”He drums his fingers on the desk and stops when he realizes he’s doing it.“My assistant just reached your previous employer.I apologize for having you come down, but it seems—well, it seems we can’t offer you a position.”
