Chapter 2
(Lisa)
Three years after college, Lisa had written fifteen short stories and two full-length novels that had been published. She had worked as a CNA part-time to support herself. But a publishing house in New York had finally noticed her writing. They had asked her to sign a three-book contract for her next series.
Living in North Carolina, and being strapped for money most of the time, she didn’t know how she would be able to afford the required face-to-face meetings with her editorial team, though. Pacing the floor of her small apartment, a mixture of excitement and fear roiling in her chest, Lisa bounced between hysterical laughter and being close to tears.
It was her chance. Her one opportunity to really make her mark in the publishing industry, and it could all go down the drain so quickly, so easily. Knowing that she could never write to her capacity while working at the hospital, Lisa decided to check her options and talk to the proposing editor the next day before making any big decisions about moving or taking out a personal loan to finance her while she wrote. There were royalties and advances to think about, too.
Lisa didn’t sleep a single minute of the night.
***
Three weeks later, Lisa was finishing with packing up her small apartment in North Carolina. The elation of seeing the amount of her advance on the first book overwhelmed her and she had decided the same day that she would move to New York.
For two weeks, she closed down her life in Charlotte and searched for apartments in New York that wouldn’t eat up her advance money too quickly. There was a little in her savings account, not enough to live on very long in the big city, but enough to do for a while—long enough to get the advance into her account.
She had found a tiny apartment, smaller even than her current one, in New York, and thought it would suffice. The rent was astronomical compared to the one in Charlotte, but Charlotte wasn’t New York and the big city had always been her dream. Being a successful writer, hunched over her computer creating unique universes and populating them with worlds and people seemed like the penultimate realization of her career goals.
Lisa had remained best friends with Toni since college. They lived in the same neighborhood. Lisa had not been on a real date with a man in almost a year. Even the men Toni fixed her up with had serious flaws; sometimes those men didn’t even make it through the first date before Lisa broke it off with them.
Toni helped with the last of the packing, alternating between tears and laughter. “I’m so happy for you, Lisa. No one deserves the chance more. But I’m going to miss you so much! Who am I going to have movie night with? Who’s going to go out adventuring with me when you’re gone?”
Lisa laughed and hugged Toni. “You have other friends, silly.” She stepped back and toed the floor, thinking for a moment. “You know, you could come with me as I go up; stay with me for the first week, if you wanted to.”
Toni grimaced. “I don’t know. You’re driving up, right?”
“Yeah. I’m hauling the stuff I don’t trust the movers with. It would be fun. It would be an adventure.” Lisa grinned and crossed her fingers, hoping to persuade her friend.
“I’d have to make a ton of calls and make sure they knew at work. I can work remotely, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” She flopped on one of the three plastic chairs that were left and crossed her legs. “How would I get back? Plane or would you drive me back, too?”
“Either one. Your choice. Come on, two friends, big city for a week, no deadlines looming, and money, let’s not forget the money! The first part of my advance will be in the bank on Monday morning.” Every time she thought about the money, Lisa’s smile widened, and her heart skipped a beat.
“God! I cannot believe you finally got it. Finally, that big break you’ve been chasing all these years.” She bounced up and hugged Lisa again. “I’m so happy and so proud!” She backed up a step. “I’ll go with you. It sounds fun and a little scary but I’m up for it. You know I’ve never been out of the state, but what the hell? No better time to spread my wings, broaden my horizons, than now, with you, my big successful novelist friend.”
They both laughed. Lisa was reminded of the few times in college when they had fallen to giggling about something and couldn’t stop. They would laugh until tears streamed down their faces as if they had no cares in the world.
Lisa had thought those times were long gone since graduation. She had been working a job and paying her own way while still persistently chasing her dream. Physical and emotional exhaustion had set her on auto-pilot months ago and she hadn’t even realized it until getting the letter in the mail from KR Publishing, one of the largest publishing houses in the industry.
***
The final day in Charlotte came. Lisa and Toni loaded into Lisa’s Chevy Blazer, old but nice, and she had owned it outright since her third year of college, and set out, following the new GPS navigator set up on the dash.
“I’m glad you bought this little jewel. I feel safer already.” Toni shifted in her seat, adjusted her big sunglasses, and smiled out the window at a group of male joggers. “I wonder if they have any of those in New York?”
“Joggers? I’m sure they do, Toni.” Lisa shook her head, laughing at Toni’s consistent interest in the scantily-clad male form.
There was no shortage of them in Charlotte, or the outlying communities. Especially not in the college towns, where sports were a big deal.
Lisa drove, watching the landscape change slightly as they traveled on their northerly course. The mountains became smaller until they were only hills, those gave way in Pennsylvania to large tracts of flatland. Already, Lisa missed her mountains. Though she hadn’t lived extremely close to them, they were always within sight and if she had decided to go for a hike, or a nature walk, a short drive deposited her in the forested mountains.
“Guess I’ll have to adjust to being away from the mountains.”
“You’ll soon have enough money banked that you can come visit whenever you want. It won’t be that bad.” Toni patted Lisa’s shoulder reassuringly.
The next day, they arrived at Lisa’s new apartment. It was not impressive from the outside. The building was rundown and in need of some maintenance. Nothing terrible, mostly superficial, but it still saddened her to see it. She had hoped for a slightly better building.
Eyeing the many boxes stacked around her furniture inside, Lisa sighed. The movers had set the boxes in each room according to their labels. “That looks like a lot of manual labor.” She pushed the door shut.
Toni turned and gawked at the line of six locks on the door. “Oh, my God! Did you happen to check the crime rates in the area? Look at all those locks.”
“Wow, I hope I never have to get out of here in a hurry.” Lisa flipped each lock.
Laughing, Toni said, “Maybe that’s why there’s a fire escape on the other side of that window.” She pointed to the living room window.
The fire escape looked old and rusty, not to mention it sliced up the only view from any window in the place. “At least the view won’t distract me while I’m writing.”
“That’s for sure.” Toni helped Lisa unpack the necessities and set up the bed.