Aunt T laughed lightly. “I’m sure the girls would love it.”
“Good.” They stayed there for another hour until Lando pried herself up and went to bed. She stripped naked and fell onto the blankets she hadn’t made up before she left. As soon as her eyes were shut, she was out.
* * *
Morning came sooner than she’d anticipated, and Aunt T had woken her early to tell her she was leaving for work, a fresh pair of scrubs already on. Lando couldn’t figure out where she’d gotten them from, but then dismissed the thought because it didn’t matter.
It took Lando longer than she wanted to admit to pry herself out of the bed and down the stairs. She got to the couch and flopped on it, curling her legs under her body as she grabbed her phone she’d forgotten down there the night before. Unlocking it, she stared curiously and anxiously at a text message from Violet.
“I’m so sorry.”
That was all it said. Simply put, firing her hadn’t made a bit of a difference. Violet was at least guilty about it. Lando nearly typed out an answer but stopped herself. There was nothing to say. Violet had agreed to fire her but let Diane do the dirty work. Now she felt guilty about it. Deleting the message, Lando closed her eyes.
Job and coffee were the two pervading thoughts in her mind, and not in that order. She was going to have to get back on her feet as soon as possible, and she was going to have to call in a favor she hadn’t wanted to. She’d almost done it before she left, but now she was desperate.
Lando stayed put for another five minutes before convincing herself to get up. She couldn’t call Bryce that early in the morning. He would flat-out kill her. But she could at least get prepared to beg for her old job back. When she got to the kitchen, she frowned as she stared at her empty cupboards.
She’d gotten rid of just about everything, including the coffee grounds. She’d given those to Aunt T so they would be put to use instead of waste. Groaning, Lando dragged her heavy feet upstairs to her bedroom. She pulled on a fresh pair of cargo pants and a sports bra before tugging a T-shirt over her head. Taking the gel out of her duffel, she went to the bathroom to make herself look at least mostly presentable.
It didn’t take long. She was in her grandmother’s old Buick, trying to ignore the nearly empty gas tank. Aunt T had gone to get the car for her shortly after she left when she’d had time, storing it at her house until she could get back to it. Lando wasn’t sure what she would do without her family around, and in some ways, she’d wondered why she’d been stupid enough to think she could manage without them.
Her first stop was to a drive-through coffee joint. Her second stop was in the parking lot of the big box hardware store she’d worked at most of the summers she had off in high school and college. She’d only taken a leave when her grandmother hadn’t been able to take care of herself anymore and needed hospice, then they’d parted ways when the grievance time hadn’t been long enough. Lando hadn’t wanted to miss a minute of the time they had left.
With a quarter of her coffee warming her insides, Lando dialed Bryce’s number and hoped it was late enough in the morning for him. “Lando?”
“What’s up?” She put a lot of false enthusiasm into that voice.
“Just waking up for work. Aren’t you supposed to be storm chasing?”
Lando frowned. Word had gotten around their small town, and Bryce no doubt had heard that one from Aunt T. “I was. It didn’t work out.”
He paused, silence echoing. “Are you calling to see if you can have your old job back?”
“Yeah.”
Bryce sighed. “Give me a second.”
Lando waited patiently, turning her car off so she didn’t waste any gas that she might need for something else. She sipped her coffee, letting the caffeine seep into her bones until she felt a little more alive.
“Okay.” He came back on the line. “Did you know I never took you off payroll?”
“What?” Lando furrowed her brow.
“I kind of hoped you wouldn’t find a team to go out with, honestly, and that you’d always come back after your grandmother…” he trailed off.
“Yeah.” That had been her intention, but also the thought of going back there, where they all knew what had happened, was overwhelming. Not to mention, she hadn’t been desperate enough just yet. Since then, she’d spent through what little savings she had, and she officially hit desperation.
“I can get you on the schedule for today if you’re in town. The hours will be light until I can fully put you back in.”
“Can you really?”
“Anything for you, Lando. You’re a hard worker. I was sad to see you take a different path, as happy as I was for you.”
Lando’s eyes teared up. She was finding kindness everywhere she hadn’t thought to look. “Thanks.”
“Really, I mean it. I’ll be in to work in about an hour. Meet me there?”
“Absolutely.”