The Girlfriend Contract by Lucy Lambert Page B
Authors: Lucy Lambert
Tags: Romance, Contemporary
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someone about late rent."
The secretary put her through to gravelly-voiced guy named Gabe. Gwen associated voices like that with those new Batman movies, and so her mind supplied her with the ridiculous picture of Batman sat at a desk in a boring office, licking his finger to flip through some paperwork as he squinted beneath the fluorescent lights.
Gwen explained the situation as best she could, feeling proud of herself that she managed to keep so much of the panic burbling in her stomach out of her voice.
"Look, Ms. Browning... Gwen, can I call you Gwen? Good. Anyway, look, you're already three months behind. Patterson Holdings knows that sometimes people have difficulties, and we do give a grace period. However, you've already used your grace period up. This was all outlined in the letters we've been sending..."
"Letters? What letters?" Gwen said. The panic swirling in her stomach mixed with cold apprehension.
"We normally begin sending out letters reminding you of your obligation one week after failure to pay your rent... Yeah, it says right here that we've given you twelve letters over the last three months," Gabe said, his fingers tapping softly at a keyboard in the background.
"Janice..." Gwen said. She always got the mail. Insisted on it, even. And no wonder, Gwen knew, she'd been stealing the rent for the last three months and covering her tracks.
Gwen bit back a few choice words doing their best to push their way out through her lips. The way she felt, nothing she could say had any chance of truly expressing her feelings at that moment. Betrayal, rage, frustration, terror. Those came close, but still missed the mark.
"So what am I supposed to do?" Gwen said, addressing the question to both the ceiling and to Gabe.
Gabe answered first. "I'm sorry, really, I am. I'd get in touch with the police as soon as possible. They'll start searching for your roommate. Who knows, maybe she'll even still have your money if they find her in time."
"In time for what?" Gwen said, the twisting in her stomach telling her she already knew the answer.
"In time to pay your back rent. And I see your next rent check is due the end of next week."
Gwen pushed herself off the chair. More like peeled, really, with the way her skin, still dripping with rainwater, clung to the vinyl covering. The pain made her grimace, but she quickly forgot about it in light of other issues.
"You can't give me any more time? How am I supposed to come up with that kind of money?" Gwen said. She tried to run her fingers through her hair. It helped to calm her down normally. This time, her fingers tugged at knots created by the wetness.
"I'm sorry, really I am..." He tapped some more at his keyboard, "The best I can do is push it back to the end of next week. You can have until then for the back rent, and next month's rent.
That pushed the total up to more than $5000.
Gwen wanted to get mad. She wanted to scream at Gabe, to tell him how ridiculous this whole thing was, to tell him that she would be homeless. But she also recognized that Gabe really was trying to be nice and understanding. He wasn't the one who'd stolen her rent money. And Patterson had already given her three months to come up with it. Not that she had known about it. And he had just given her an extra week, not that it would make much of a difference.
No, that, too, was Janice's fault.
So Gwen swallowed her anger, forcing the lump back down her throat. She thanked Gabe for his advice, and the extension. He wished her luck.
Right after that call ended, Gwen found the number for the police non-emergency line and called, her cell starting to get hot against her ear.
She told the constable what had happened, and the constable told her that they'd open an investigation into the matter. However, he also said that in cases like this, the suspect usually skipped town, and that all the missing belongings made a strong case that Janice had done exactly that. The constable said they might
The secretary put her through to gravelly-voiced guy named Gabe. Gwen associated voices like that with those new Batman movies, and so her mind supplied her with the ridiculous picture of Batman sat at a desk in a boring office, licking his finger to flip through some paperwork as he squinted beneath the fluorescent lights.
Gwen explained the situation as best she could, feeling proud of herself that she managed to keep so much of the panic burbling in her stomach out of her voice.
"Look, Ms. Browning... Gwen, can I call you Gwen? Good. Anyway, look, you're already three months behind. Patterson Holdings knows that sometimes people have difficulties, and we do give a grace period. However, you've already used your grace period up. This was all outlined in the letters we've been sending..."
"Letters? What letters?" Gwen said. The panic swirling in her stomach mixed with cold apprehension.
"We normally begin sending out letters reminding you of your obligation one week after failure to pay your rent... Yeah, it says right here that we've given you twelve letters over the last three months," Gabe said, his fingers tapping softly at a keyboard in the background.
"Janice..." Gwen said. She always got the mail. Insisted on it, even. And no wonder, Gwen knew, she'd been stealing the rent for the last three months and covering her tracks.
Gwen bit back a few choice words doing their best to push their way out through her lips. The way she felt, nothing she could say had any chance of truly expressing her feelings at that moment. Betrayal, rage, frustration, terror. Those came close, but still missed the mark.
"So what am I supposed to do?" Gwen said, addressing the question to both the ceiling and to Gabe.
Gabe answered first. "I'm sorry, really, I am. I'd get in touch with the police as soon as possible. They'll start searching for your roommate. Who knows, maybe she'll even still have your money if they find her in time."
"In time for what?" Gwen said, the twisting in her stomach telling her she already knew the answer.
"In time to pay your back rent. And I see your next rent check is due the end of next week."
Gwen pushed herself off the chair. More like peeled, really, with the way her skin, still dripping with rainwater, clung to the vinyl covering. The pain made her grimace, but she quickly forgot about it in light of other issues.
"You can't give me any more time? How am I supposed to come up with that kind of money?" Gwen said. She tried to run her fingers through her hair. It helped to calm her down normally. This time, her fingers tugged at knots created by the wetness.
"I'm sorry, really I am..." He tapped some more at his keyboard, "The best I can do is push it back to the end of next week. You can have until then for the back rent, and next month's rent.
That pushed the total up to more than $5000.
Gwen wanted to get mad. She wanted to scream at Gabe, to tell him how ridiculous this whole thing was, to tell him that she would be homeless. But she also recognized that Gabe really was trying to be nice and understanding. He wasn't the one who'd stolen her rent money. And Patterson had already given her three months to come up with it. Not that she had known about it. And he had just given her an extra week, not that it would make much of a difference.
No, that, too, was Janice's fault.
So Gwen swallowed her anger, forcing the lump back down her throat. She thanked Gabe for his advice, and the extension. He wished her luck.
Right after that call ended, Gwen found the number for the police non-emergency line and called, her cell starting to get hot against her ear.
She told the constable what had happened, and the constable told her that they'd open an investigation into the matter. However, he also said that in cases like this, the suspect usually skipped town, and that all the missing belongings made a strong case that Janice had done exactly that. The constable said they might
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