“I’m pretty new to the domestic life. As evidenced by me trying to cook shrimp.”
I laughed. “Hey, from what I hear of the story, it was delicious in the end.”
“Because Daniela stepped in and fixed the meal in my own kitchen,” she said. “And I fear now I will never live down the humiliation. But my abject embarrassment aside, how are things going? Getting settled in?”
“Mm. I’ve been focused on tracking down job openings and finding out what I’m qualified for, but it’s a bit… it’s a competitive labor market, let’s say.” And I’d been talking to Jade almost nonstop, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to broach the subject of Jade with her. It sounded a little more… personal than with most, for Charlie and Linda. I texted Jade enough that I couldn’tcount the conversations, because we basically had a running conversation all the time, our chats only pausing when I saw her in person.
We had our dinner party at Daniela’s planned for tomorrow, and apparently the two of them had been back to texting regularly, too. Daniela had been ecstatic. I’d been happy for her, genuinely, but it was… lonely, too, kind of. I wasn’t a very good matchmaker, if I was feeling left out as soon as the two started talking.
“What field are you looking in?” Linda said, and I pulled my thoughts back to the present.
“Anything, honestly,” I said. “I’d wait tables if I could make it work. I did my degree in communications and marketing, and I had a marketing internship for a creative agency that I really loved, but I’ve just been working part-time in customer service the past few years, so my resume doesn’t look very good.”
“I can probably put out some feelers, have a look around. Admin is always looking for good people.”
“Oh.” I felt myself blush. “I wasn’t… I don’t know how well that’d work.”
She furrowed her brow. “You wouldn’t want to get work in Vermont?”
“No—I mean, it’s not that. Well, I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it.” I’d only really been looking at positions back in Boston—it hadn’t even crossed my mind to stay in Vermont. Could I? I mean, it was beautiful here, but… “I just mean, you know, I’ve been out of the white-collar workforce for a minute. Jumping right into administration or something…”
“Just because it’s administration doesn’t mean you’d be president of the school,” she said in a surprised half-laugh. “You’d do fine. Mostly it just needs to be someone organized who can communicate well.”
I shrank into myself, my face hot. I guess… I got where she was coming from, and I knew entry-level jobs were a thing, but I just… didn’t… deserve it? I was being pathetic, I knew, but I knew I didn’t have the record behind me to measure up for a real job. “I guess… I’d be grateful if you let me know anything that was open.”
“I’d be happy to vouch for you. I could arrange for you to meet my manager Susanne and make a good impression… she’s friendly with me and would probably be open to getting lunch together.”
“You—don’t need to do all that.” I was being stupid. Why was I turning down something like this? Other than just—I was terrified I’d embarrass myself. Or maybe scared I’d get a job I didn’t deserve and couldn’t do right. “I mean, that’s really sweet you’d even offer.”
“It’s hardly out of the goodness of my heart. I’d gladly take a coworker who knew what she was doing, for a change.”
“Ah, well…” I scratched my head. “I guess I can’t argue with that. Maybe just let me know if there are any openings? And we can go from there.”
“Hm. Well, will do.” She sipped her coffee, and I followed suit, which meant I choked on it a little when she said, “So, pretty close with Jade, huh?”
Oh, Jesus. Right. Jade had insulted her relationship on top of everything else going on. Which meant my chance of getting a good job through her was probably at risk if I talked up my friendship with Jade. But… even if I were inclined to hide it for my benefit, I wasn’t cut out for lying. “Yeah,” I said, setting my mug back down. “She’s coming over for dinner with me and Daniela tomorrow. Cat, too.” I should definitely have left that last part out.
She looked away. “Do I even want to know what she’s said about me?”
“Jade?”
“Anything especially patronizing I should be aware of?”
“Patronizing? Jade?” I frowned. “No… I don’t think she’s said anything about you. Not to me, at least.”
“Huh.” She sighed. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to go off.”
“No, it’s good, just… was she patronizing to you?”
She laughed dryly. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want to sully your new friendship by talking shit behind her back, if she wasn’t talking shit behind mine.”
I folded my hands together on the table, sitting anxiously with the thought for a second before I said, “You’re my friend, too… or at least, I consider us friends. You can tell me things without me going all scorched-earth on the situation.”
She frowned sharply, but not at me, just to herself, looking down at her drink, and she shifted uncomfortably in her dress. “Well, don’t go telling everybody I said so,” she said, “but she just treats me like I’m a little kid even though I’m older than she is. Just because I have an older partner, apparently I’m eighteen fucking years old and a victim of creepy age-gap grooming. I’m almost thirty-five, I can decide for myself what I want.”
I smiled softly at her. “I heard about you and Charlie. Through Daniela, I mean. She was really invested in you two since you first met, and I heard the whole story, too. I’ve been rooting for you for longer than you’ve known me.”
She laughed suddenly, taking herself by surprise, as she gave me an odd look. “I feel like I should be concerned,” she said. “Daniela’s probably been talking shit.”
