A Reason to Stay (30 page)
1
I
'm sorry. We really need someone a bit more qualified. All of the positions we currently have available require a college degreeâat a minimum.”
Leta Breckenridge fixed her eyes on the woman standing behind the table lined with job application forms. “Ohâokay. Well, thank you for your time anyway.” She placed the glossy brochure back in its spot on the table, taking special care to line up the edges with the dozens just like it. Her fingers lingered for just a moment before she gave the lady in the suit a weak smile and moved on.
With a sigh, Leta pulled a pen and a notebook from her bag and marked off another company name from the list.
Taking time off work to attend the job fair this afternoon was turning out to be a waste of time. She couldn't even get her foot in the door at most of the companies she was interested in, even at an entry-level position. Not without having finished her degree.
Same story as always.
Determined not to let the situation get her down, Leta quickly glanced down at her watch. She'd stay another half hour before getting ready to head back to the store. Maybe she could talk Mike into letting her make up the hoursâand the lost earnings.
“Leta?”
She turned in the direction of a vaguely familiar voice just as Cassie Manning broke through the crowd, a wide smile planted on her face. “Leta, I thought that was you. Long time no see.”
She quickly tucked the notebook back in her bag before letting herself get drawn into an embrace. “Hey, how are you?” Her friend smelled . . . expensive. Like the little samples she'd collected from the Macy's counter last week while in the mall with Katie.
Her former classmate gave her a puzzled look. “What are you doing at the job fair?”
“I'mâuhâI'm here with a friend.” She couldn't believe how easily the lie slipped from her tongue.
“Oh? What is your friend looking for? Maybe I can help.” Cassie pulled a small gold case engraved with her initials from the pocket of her suit jacket. “I'm the human resources director for Greater Austin Enterprises. Have your friend stop by our booth. We're looking for candidates for our new division in Dallas, if she's willing to relocate.”
Leta took the business card without bothering to look at it. “Uh, thanks. I'll let her know.”
Her stylish former classmate, dressed in an impeccable plum-colored suit with matching heels, slipped the case back in her pocket. “What about you? Where did you land after graduating?”
Leta rubbed her sweaty palms against the fabric of her own skirt, one she'd been lucky to find in her generous roommate's closet. How was she supposed to explain she'd relinquished her dream of becoming a landscape architect and instead settled for working in the floral department at Central Market? Or that she'd taken on a second job at a dive bar just to make ends meet?
Yeah, let's tell her that
.
In a stroke of pure luck, her friend's phone rang, giving Leta a reprieve. “Sorry, I have to get this.” Cassie turned and buried herself in a conversation, leaving Leta to ponder the best way to extricate herself before being put on the spot again.
In a quick move, Leta pulled her own phone up and pointed to the screen as if she'd just received a text. She whispered, “Gotta go. Catch you later.”
Cassie nodded. “Hold on,” she said into her phone. Looking at Leta, she said, “You've got my card. Call me for lunch sometime, okay?”
Leta nodded a little too enthusiastically. “Sure thing.” She blew a kiss and scurried off down the aisle, past all the well-dressed job seekers pitching their hard-won credentials to waiting personnel directors like Cassie.
Outside, Leta slipped on her sunglasses and scurried to the other end of the parking lot where her car was parked. Despite the late fall day, the temperature lingered in the eighties. She couldn't wait to get out of this skirt and back into crop pants and flip-flops, and to enjoy the nice weather while it lasted.
An Austin winter didn't exactly replicate a Currier and Ives photograph, but despite the lack of snow, it had been known to turn cold and freeze on occasion. Sometimes without much warning. Given that, these temperatures were a treat.
She pushed the key into the ignition and started the engine with a relieved sigh, never knowing when her fourteen-year-old Chevy Blazer would give up the ghost. Her mother had bought the used vehicle nearly ten years ago, bragging that it had been a one-owner car with low miles. Now, with the odometer close to 150,000, one never knew when the ole gal would take her final breath.
Leta headed north and twenty minutes later pulled onto Burnet just south of 45th, then slowed in front of a small ranch-style house. Like many of the homes in the modest Brentwood neighborhood, the house she lived in had been built in the sixties. Her mother had rented it from Ben Kimey, a gray-haired widower who lived two doors away, when Leta was still in grade school.
She used to know everyone up and down the street, often delivering her mother's infamous chocolate meringue pies to their
neighbors on birthdays and holidays. Now, most of the residents were strangers and the houses had fallen into various stages of disrepair.
Recently, Mr. Kimey agreed to pay for the paint and Leta had done her best to remodel and upgrade the outside of the house a bit, painting the front door a brick red, which offset the tiny covered porch nicely. She'd also splurged and lined the steps with ceramic pots filled with white azaleas. She longed to do more but simply couldn't afford the expense.
She parked in the narrow driveway alongside the house, gathered her rather large file of leftover résumés, and headed for the front door. She climbed the steps and went for her keys. Suddenly, the door swung open.
“It's about time you got home.” Her roommate pulled her inside. “Where have you been, anyway? Come in and sit. I met this new guy andâ” Katie stopped midsentence. “Hey, why are you home so early?” She slapped her forehead. “Ohâthe job fair. I nearly forgot. How'd it go?”
Leta tossed her bag on the sofa and slumped down beside it. “Oh, just dandy.”
Katie sank to the floor and sat crossed-legged. “What happened?”
She let out a heavy sigh. “Nothing happened. That's the problem. Once these companies learn I don't have my degree, they won't even look at my résumé.”
“It's not like you never attended college. You finished three years. Doesn't that count for something?”
Leta shook her head. “Not much. I mean, even the credits I do have don't exactly have broad application in the current job market.”
Katie gave her a sympathetic look. “C'mon, it can't be that bad.”
“It's like a merry-go-round. I can't afford to quit working so I can return to school, and I can't get a better job until I finish school. At this juncture, I'm just going in circles and getting nowhere.”
Her friend leaned forward and patted her knee. “Leta, I know you. You're smart and innovative. There's little doubt you'll figure all this out. I promise.”
“Maybeâif I can get a lucky break somewhere along the line.” She knotted her long brown hair at the back of her neck. “Enough about all that. Now tell me about the new guy. Let me live vicariously through you.”
“You're twenty-six. You might want to make time to date.”
Leta held up her palms. “I know, I know. Now spill.”
Katie's eyes brightened, the way they always did when a new guy came onto the scene. Leta tried not to feel jealous. Her roommate was blonde and cute and had a personality that drew everyone to her, especially men.
Not like her. Leta tended to stand back and evaluate a social setting before engaging, a trait that didn't necessarily translate into a bounty of dating opportunities.
That and her schedule pretty much squelched any kind of social life.
Katie drew a big breath. “Well, his name is Bart. That's his nickname. His real name is Rubart Nelson. Who names their kid Rubart?” She popped up and darted for the kitchen. “Want some sweet tea?”
Leta shook her head and watched as her roommate withdrew a glass from the cupboard and moved for the refrigerator. “He said his grandmother used to call him Ruby.” Katie visibly shuddered. “How lame is that? Anyway, I met him at Halcyon over in the Warehouse District. He was behind me in line to get coffee and we just started talking. He was so easy to talk to. We ended up sharing a table and sat there for nearly three hours.”
“What does he do? For a living, I mean?” Katie had a tendency to date men in dead-end situations, and who often lacked the monogamy needle in their moral compass.
Her friend stopped mid-pour. “That's the best part. He's in
commercial real estate. Leases retail space in shopping centers.” Her voice raised several octaves. “Andâget this partâhe locates building sites for Walgreens and Office Depot. He drives a BMW and wears khakis, polo shirts, and leather loafers.”
Leta lifted her eyebrows. “Well, that is an improvement.” The last one had a wardrobe of holey jeans and Hooters T-shirts and was a drummer in a band that played on weekdays out at the Broken Spoke on South Lamar. The loser had broken her best friend's heart and nearly drained her bank account dry.
Katie returned to the living room and Leta stood and hugged her. “I'm glad. Really, I am.” She slipped the glass from her friend's hand and took a deep swig.
“Hey, I asked if you wanted some.”
She handed the glass back, now half empty. “Sorry,” she said, grinning. “Sorry to cut this short too, but I've got to get going. I have to be at the store in less than an hour and I want to shower first.”
“Someday
your
great guy will show up. You just wait and see,” her roommate called after her as she made her way down the hall.
Leta laughed and hollered over her shoulder, “HaâI guess my mom isn't the only one who lives in a fairy tale.”
A former legal investigator and trial paralegal,
Kellie Coates Gilbert
writes with a sympathetic, intimate knowledge of how people react under pressure. She tells emotionally poignant stories about messy lives and eternal hope.
Find out more about Kellie and her books atÂ
www.kelliecoatesgilbert.com
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T
EXAS
G
OLD
C
OLLECTION
A Woman of Fortune
Where Rivers Part
A Reason to Stay
