“No one saidyoucouldn’t go,” I pointed out with a sigh. As much as I loved the girl, I had not missed her hairbrained schemes during my time at ODI. “I really can’t take the time away right now,” I sighed. “I’ve been out on medical leave for weeks and I have to report back to classes after break, lesson plans in place. There’s no way for me to do that realistically if I take another trip right now.”
Julie shook her head. “But your contract with the district is up this year and they’re planning on cutting the music program budget,” she reminded me. “There’s no guarantee that you’ll be going back in the fall and there will be a recruitment seminar as part of the continuing education program. Schools and organizations from all over theworldare going to be there looking for teachers and tutors. You’re always saying that nobody is hiring, right? This is the perfect way to take out multiple birds with one stone.”
I nodded reluctantly; she did have a point no matter how much I hated to validate it.
“Well, this is a chance to find out what’s really out there,” she finished with a toss of her hair.
“Fine,” I groaned. “Where’s the information?”
“You’ll come?” Julie asked, her eyes hopeful.
“I’ll come,” I agreed, “but I better not regret it.”
Julie laughed. “You won’t and you don’t need to do anything but pack, because I already sent in your enrollment paperwork and resume.”
“Meddling busybody,” I teased, tugging on one of her perfect curls. “When do we leave?”
“Thursday morning,” she chirped cheerfully. “It’s a two-hour flight and there will be a bus waiting to take us to the hotel. Then there’s an introductory lunch and we’re free until the next morning when we sign up for classes. Okay?”
“Okay,” I agreed, pulling the suitcase I’d just put away back out of the closet. “I guess I better get packed.
~*~
As usual when we were traveling together, Julie and I made it to the curb to catch our Uber to the airport by the skin of our teeth. Seriously, I wasn’t sure the girl had been on time for anything in her life. The flight was uneventful, the shuttle to the hotel was on time and pleasant, and the lunch waiting for us when we arrived was delightful and I was actually glad that my bestie had talked me into the trip.
Julie and I were sitting at the bar with a couple of house margaritas the first night, reading over the list of posted positions that the recruiters needed to fill on our phones when I started to think it was wasted time.
“Shit,” I groaned, taking a large swallow of icy goodness. “None of these are even close to us,” I pointed out. “The closest listing to us is in Ohio.”
“Well, you’ve said a bunch of times that you don’t really like living in Pennsylvania,” Julie pointed out. “So, is it really a bad idea to consider options in other states?”
“What about you?” I asked. “I mean, your family is here. And you have your ties to the community theater, so you aren’t considering relocating, are you?”
“No,” she agreed quickly. “I love it here.”
“You hate looking for new roommates,” I reminded her. “Wouldn’t you be upset if I stuck you with the apartment?”
“Jules?” Julie was chewing nervously on her lip. “I, uh, need to tell you something.”
“Okay.” I licked a swath of salt from the rim of my glass and took a swallow of tequila goodness. “What?”
“You remember me telling you about Darren?”
“The guy you hooked up with over Christmas? Yeah. Why?”
Julie looked like she was going to cry. “He, ah, really likes me.”
“Okay. Why is that making you sad?” I asked after another swallow of my drink.
“He wants me to move in with him,” she said quickly, like getting the words out fast was going to keep them from stinging.
Oh.
Shit.
As much as I hated our crappy apartment, I couldn’t afford it alone and the thought of having to find one I could afford on my music teacher salary wasn’t promising. Especially since that salary wasn’t even guaranteed. Suddenly Julie’s insistence on attending the recruitment seminar made sense.
“Do you hate me?” Julie was sniffling. “I can tell him no.”
