and experience. “And why would a therapist want to sort towels and run a cash register? Trying to get inside the mind of one of your patients?”
Sarcasm always started an interview right. “I need the job.”
“Might as well tell me why you’re slumming.”
“Slumming?” His attitude sucked. “Is that how you think of your employees?”
“Of course not, but a doctor who can make your kind of salary doesn’t wake up one day with a yen to do retail.”
“I’m suspended right now,” she said.
“Suspended?” He sat back, a smile curving his mouth as if he thought she was pulling his leg. “Like in school?”
She swallowed. The man heated his office like a sauna. And his amusement would turn to contempt if she explained everything. At first, she tried to couch the facts to present her side of the story, something she hadn’t been good at in court.
But game playing still wasn’t second nature to her, so she started bluntly. “Have you heard of Griff Butler?”
“That kid,” he said. “The one who went to trial, but his doctor…”
He pieced the puzzle together in front of her eyes. As he leaned forward, his good-natured smirk faded. “You’re that doctor?”
“So I should go?”
“You’re in trouble because of what that kid said?”
“I’m being investigated.”
“And my wife says you were making out with that judge guy at the library fundraiser. Not that we were invited. She just heard.” Mr. Herbert stared in silence, but he didn’t hesitate long. He set her application back on his desk then pushed it toward her with the tip of his finger. “I’m sorry, Miss Keaton. I lose enough business to those fancy new places over in Old Honesty. I can’t afford to hire someone who’s in trouble with the law.”
“Not the law,” she said.
“I don’t care where the gossip comes from. Maybe I didn’t know your name, but even I knew about you. My customers are more interested in the daily whispers than I am.”
“Maybe you’d get new customers who’d come in just to look me over.”
His smile actually held regret, which was a nice improvement on suspicion. “I hate to make your problems worse.”
It was only the latest of three similar interviews. Trying to explain further seemed pointless. “Thanks for seeing me.”
“Hope it works out.”
“I KNOW YOU,” the stocking manager at the grocery store said. “I can’t believe you’d think I’d hire you.”
No need to explain this time. “I can’t make much trouble setting canned goods on shelves.”
“Not here, you won’t be. I’m sorry I don’t have time to be more P.C., but tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. This is one of our busiest days.”
He crumpled her application and sailed it into a big dirty waste can. Then he looked her up and down. Ah. He’d heard about the fundraiser, too. She might consider the consequences the next time she decided to writhe on a stranger in front of a roomful of people who considered her a harlot.
This guy might not look like a pervert, but he didn’t mind eyeing her as if he could have her right there on the oversize produce scale.
“I always heard people like you beat it out of town when they got caught. You’d find a better hunting ground in a different place.”
Running the bastard down with a shopping cart wouldn’t change his mind about hiring her. She marched into the front of the store, trying to remember she’d once had some dignity.
She almost skipped her appointment at the Honesty Sentinel. But she’d begged for the time on this Wednesday of all Wednesdays, and they had a delivery route open. According to the ad and the man who’d finally taken her name and assigned her a time to come in, all they needed from her was a car and a valid driver’s license.
She approached the Sentinel building fighting her fair share of shame and doubt. She couldn’t affordpride. Her savings had begun a disappearing act. The only way out was a job. Or ten.
She found the
Sarcasm always started an interview right. “I need the job.”
“Might as well tell me why you’re slumming.”
“Slumming?” His attitude sucked. “Is that how you think of your employees?”
“Of course not, but a doctor who can make your kind of salary doesn’t wake up one day with a yen to do retail.”
“I’m suspended right now,” she said.
“Suspended?” He sat back, a smile curving his mouth as if he thought she was pulling his leg. “Like in school?”
She swallowed. The man heated his office like a sauna. And his amusement would turn to contempt if she explained everything. At first, she tried to couch the facts to present her side of the story, something she hadn’t been good at in court.
But game playing still wasn’t second nature to her, so she started bluntly. “Have you heard of Griff Butler?”
“That kid,” he said. “The one who went to trial, but his doctor…”
He pieced the puzzle together in front of her eyes. As he leaned forward, his good-natured smirk faded. “You’re that doctor?”
“So I should go?”
“You’re in trouble because of what that kid said?”
“I’m being investigated.”
“And my wife says you were making out with that judge guy at the library fundraiser. Not that we were invited. She just heard.” Mr. Herbert stared in silence, but he didn’t hesitate long. He set her application back on his desk then pushed it toward her with the tip of his finger. “I’m sorry, Miss Keaton. I lose enough business to those fancy new places over in Old Honesty. I can’t afford to hire someone who’s in trouble with the law.”
“Not the law,” she said.
“I don’t care where the gossip comes from. Maybe I didn’t know your name, but even I knew about you. My customers are more interested in the daily whispers than I am.”
“Maybe you’d get new customers who’d come in just to look me over.”
His smile actually held regret, which was a nice improvement on suspicion. “I hate to make your problems worse.”
It was only the latest of three similar interviews. Trying to explain further seemed pointless. “Thanks for seeing me.”
“Hope it works out.”
“I KNOW YOU,” the stocking manager at the grocery store said. “I can’t believe you’d think I’d hire you.”
No need to explain this time. “I can’t make much trouble setting canned goods on shelves.”
“Not here, you won’t be. I’m sorry I don’t have time to be more P.C., but tomorrow’s Thanksgiving. This is one of our busiest days.”
He crumpled her application and sailed it into a big dirty waste can. Then he looked her up and down. Ah. He’d heard about the fundraiser, too. She might consider the consequences the next time she decided to writhe on a stranger in front of a roomful of people who considered her a harlot.
This guy might not look like a pervert, but he didn’t mind eyeing her as if he could have her right there on the oversize produce scale.
“I always heard people like you beat it out of town when they got caught. You’d find a better hunting ground in a different place.”
Running the bastard down with a shopping cart wouldn’t change his mind about hiring her. She marched into the front of the store, trying to remember she’d once had some dignity.
She almost skipped her appointment at the Honesty Sentinel. But she’d begged for the time on this Wednesday of all Wednesdays, and they had a delivery route open. According to the ad and the man who’d finally taken her name and assigned her a time to come in, all they needed from her was a car and a valid driver’s license.
She approached the Sentinel building fighting her fair share of shame and doubt. She couldn’t affordpride. Her savings had begun a disappearing act. The only way out was a job. Or ten.
She found the
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