How To Find Your Future

13 - A Forgotten Phone Number

Charlie

I plop down into one of dad's chairs. The seat is still warm from whoever his last client had been.

"So you've gone through the list with her?" dad asks. He doesn't waste any time before holding his hand out for the papers. I pull my bag up onto my lap and shuffle around in it for the folder. I pull it out, open it and take the list out and place it in his outstretched hand. He takes the list and looks through it. "She chose some good ones." He nods.

"Do you think we'll be able to book appointments for them?"

He nods. "For some of them, definitely. For others it could be tight. You might have to skip them or see if job fairs will be showing them off."

I nod.

Dad flips over to his computer and starts to type. He glances over at me. "Bring a chair over here so you can see the screen."

I pick the chair up by its arms and waddle over to the other side of the desk. I plop the chair behind and to the side of dad before sitting down in it. I lean forward and place my elbows on my knees.

He points at the screen. "These are all the local job opportunities we have. These ones over here," he moves his hand to the other side of the screen. "Are the ones that are just in the cities around us."

"We shouldn't need to go out of town, right?"

He shrugs. "Depends on which jobs she'll really want to take a peek at."

I nod. "So we should start with the jobs in town?"

Dad nods. "You got it. Do you want to read me off some of the careers?" He holds the list out to me.

I shrug. "Sure."

"Make sure to start with the ones that sounded the most interesting to her."

I nod. I figured that's what I would do so why would he tell me to do that? "Investigator."

He moves the mouse around for a few minutes before typing something out. "Next."

I scan through the list looking for one that I know she was super excited about. "Vet."

"Is she an animal lover?"

I shrug. "Not sure. I would think so since she seemed excited by the idea of being one."

Dad nods. "Keep them coming."

We spend another hour going through the list. Each time dad hears a particularly interesting or different career he comments on it.

He spins around in his chair and clasps his hands together in his lap. "Alright bud, we've gotten through the list, or as much of it as we could. Now we wait to hear back about the appointments."

Sadly for some of the other careers there weren't any bookings we could make. All of them had different reasons. So we'll have to go to a job fair and see if they're there by any chance.

"What should we do in the meantime?" I ask. I pick the chair up, that I had been sitting in and put it back in front of dad's desk.

"In the meantime there's a job fair tomorrow after school the two of you could go to. It might give her more insight into other jobs that she might want to explore more of."

"Alright, I'll shoot her a text and-"

Dad quirks his head to the side. "And what?"

I blink as realization dawns on me. "I don't have her number."

Dad stares at me long and hard. "You don't have her number?" he repeats slowly.

I gulp and nod. "I don't have her number."

We stare at each other for what feels like forever. As I'm watching him a smile starts to grow on his face and before long the smile breaks out into laughter. He doubles over in his seat.

"It's not funny!" I exclaim.

"It's a little funny," he says through his laughter.

I groan. "I can't believe I forgot to grab her phone number!"

Dad sits back in his chair. Still chuckling but not as much as he had been. He wipes tears from his eyes. "At least it's only her phone number you forgot. It could have been something worse."

"Like what? A phone number is important! I need to tell her about the job fair tomorrow and when we have a showing to get to!"

"Calm down. Just take some deep breaths."

I roll my eyes. "Easy for you to say."

He points a finger at me. "Don't start with that."

I slouch deeper in my chair. "Sorry."

He shakes his head. "You have a problem and an easy answer to the problem."

"Really?" I raise an eyebrow.

He nods. "Firstly, when is the next time you'll see her?"

"Probably tomorrow at school."

"Then you'll ask her then."

"But I don't have any classes with her. I only ever pass her in the halls and by the time I realize it's her she's gone already."

"Then let's think of something else. Do you know anyone who would have her number?"

I rub my chin. "There's Naomi. Those two are best friends and she's in my math class, but there's no guarantee that she would give me Olivia's number."

"Well there you go. Just ask Naomi and if she doesn't give it to you then you can ask her to take you to Olivia and you can ask her in person."

I groan. "I guess I can do that. I just can't believe I forgot to ask her for it."

Dad leans forward and places his elbows on his desk. "It's okay. We all make mistakes sometimes."

I nod. I place my head in my hands. "I think I'm going to go home."

"Okay. I'll see you in about an hour then?"

I pick up my bag and stand up. "Sure."

Then I leave before I can drown in my pity.