“You might be able to sell it.”
Her eyes flew open.
“What?” she stammered.
“There was someone who came in yesterday who was pretty interested in it. He asked what kind of problems it had, what it would cost for us to fix it. So yeah, maybe you can sell it for what it’s worth right now.”
“Did he—did he leave a name?”
Not that he would give his real name.
“My associate dealt with him, so I’m pretty sure he’s got the contact details. Should I tell him you’re interested?”
“No!” she blurted out, and several heads turned towards her in Rika’s office. She lowered her voice and forced herself to speak calmly. “I mean, I’d like to think about it before you talk to him. But thank you for letting me know.”
“Sure, sure.” The mechanic said. “Don’t sit too long on it, though.”
“I won’t,” Lily responded. She set the phone down on the receiver, and waved at Rika on her way out of the office, making a big show that everything was cool, everything was fine. Nothing to look at here, folks.
Except utter disaster.
Her thoughts churned as she walked back towards Staff Childcare.
Did Rey track her down?
But how did he find her at Rosa’s, if that was even Rey who had broken in and trashed the trailer?
That was so unlike Rey, if it was in fact him, to just sit back and stalk her. He had a quick temper, even quicker fists, and was always thirsty for confrontation. Lily’s bruises might have faded, but the memories of them were still evidence of Rey’s tendencies.
Could she risk taking the chance that it wasn’t him?
But even if it was him, she couldn’t take off now, assuming she were to get an advance from Rika. Not with the twins. She certainly wasn’t going to doom the two kids to being taken away from their mom, just because someone was asking about her car. Someone who might not even be Rey, not be connected with breaking into the trailer.
She didn’t know what to do, her thoughts were in turmoil as each step took her closer to the Staff Childcare Center.
But as she approached, she could see Brady and Clover through the glass, tormenting TraceyAnn in Lily’s absence. The two were running around the older woman, and TraceyAnn did not look happy about it. It was a sure bet that TraceyAnn was going to complain about how long Lily’s errand too, especially as she was the only one who was able to manage the two preschoolers.
Lily sighed. She didn’t have a choice. She had to stay for the twins.
She was trapped.
* * *
Simon pushed the glasses up past the bridge of his nose. “She just left?”
Rika nodded. “You missed her by a few minutes, no more than ten or fifteen.”
“Did she say why she needed the advance so urgently?” He had already given the HR Director the ok to expedite Katie’s request, although he was still reeling inside. He had thought they had built enough of a rapport that she could ask him directly if she needed help. He would have been more than happy to, and that was even without the little crush that he was still nursing in secret.
“She didn’t say, and I didn’t ask.” Rika said.
Simon nodded. That’s what Rika would say regardless. But if in fact Rika did know what was going on with Katie, she’d alert him immediately if it was something he needed to be concerned about.
Then again, maybe it was some mysterious chick thing. Something that hot chicks did that might be too embarrassing to talk about. Or it might be embarrassing for him thathedidn’t know about it, because of his zilch experience with hot chicks.
But either way, he’d make a point of dropping by the Staff Childcare Center after this meeting, and letting Katie know that she should feel free to ask him for help at any time. She had made himself an important part of his group, with all the progress that she had made. Speaking of, he wanted to hear from her directly how her dinner date with Col went, especially since Col had hijacked it from Aylwyn. If there were any problems with that, he would want to smooth it over. And maybe work himself into having a practice date too.
Lord knows, he needed it. He was getting awkward just thinking about it.
