Willa & the Extraordinary Internship

CH. 26

When you were unemployed, time seemed to stretch out vastly in front of you, like an hourglass whose first grain of sand hadn't yet fallen. It seemed infinite and filled with possibilities. A weekend no longer existed; every day was the weekend. Willa could sleep at 3 a.m. and wake up at noon the next morning without panic flooding her mind - oh my god I'm late for work!

Sunday mornings lazing in bed with her legs tangled in the sheets became Willa's every morning. She bingewatched Netflix until her contacts wouldn't come off her eyeball, they were that dry. Carrie Bradshaw and Caroline Forbes became her spirit animals, her soul sisters.

Life for the unemployed was good.

Until that first bill came. And then another, followed by another, until Willa felt like the scene in the first Harry Potter movie when envelopes were flooding the Dursley's home at Number 4, Privet Drive. Unlike Harry, she wasn't eagerly grabbing for them; instead, she eyeballed them with deep-rooted suspicion and let them stack up on her dining room table until her mother caught sight of them during one of their FaceTime chats and launched into a sermon about paying her bills on time before she racked up late fees.

Life wasn't so good after that. By the time the final check was written, Willa's wallet was bleeding profusely. As she balanced her checkbook, she realized that all she had left in her bank account was four-thousand dollars. That would only cover the next two month's expenses, she thought numbly. Oh my god, I'm poor.

Of course, that wasn't strictly true. There was always the Bank of Grainger. Her parents had bought the condo for her when she had started the MBA program in order to kick her out of the house and be happily secure in the knowledge that she wouldn't be room-sharing with a stranger in a sketch neighborhood. Not having to pay rent was a blessing, but there were still insurance premiums to meet and household expenses for those necessary things called electricity and water. And Willa would be damned if she had to ask her parents for money. Being unemployed was one thing; being a mooch was another, entirely.

After she paid off everything and reconciled her checkbook, Willa got down to the brass tacks: Operation Make Some Moolah. It was the kind of operation code name that would have made Cyn roll her eyeballs into the next dimension. But Maryam would have laughed and jumped right in to help. A stabbing grief still seemed to knock the breath right out of her lungs, creeping up on Willa during those quiet moments when her heart forgot she and Maryam weren't friends anymore.

It had been almost two weeks since Paige had fired her, so nothing surprised Willa more than seeing her phone light up and emit a soft, vibrating buzz as Jackie Sinclair flashed across the screen. Paige's agent? Willa's brow furrowed as she picked up, bracing herself to let Jackie know that she was no longer working for Paige.

"Willa? Hi."

"Hey, Jackie," Willa began cautiously, about to let the older woman know that she was no longer playing middleman, but she was cut off.

"Do you have a minute to chat with me?" Jackie's voice was unusually serious.

"Yeah," Willa affirmed, drawing her legs under her as she curled up in the corner of her sofa, setting her laptop to the side. On the screen was Barnes and Noble's website for employment opportunities. "What's up, Jackie?"

"I don't know if you're aware," Jackie said haltingly, "but my contract with Paige is over and the publisher is cancelling the contract they have with her for the final Simeon Lee book."

Willa was silent. Had Nate contacted them?

"She's being sued for the advance we gave her," Jackie continued. "This is probably horrible timing, but Paige passed your manuscript along to me before...well, before everything. I was going to just pass it to someone else at my agency, since I'd been so swamped dealing with Simeon stuff, like that movie deal, did she tell you about that? Well, anyway, now that it's all fallen through, I was wondering whether you had given any thought to getting your book published?"

Willa's throat was so dry that she almost choked. "Sorry...what?" Information overload! She felt like the spinning wheel of death on her Mac when the screen froze.

"Would you be interested in me representing you?" Jackie rephrased, her serious tone fading into newfound excitement. "Your story has so much promise and it's unlike anything I've read before. It's a unique look at friendship among modern day women - not an angle that's touched upon much. It's all vampire this, boy band that! And don't get me started on all the true love claptrap. Give me something real any day."

"I don't even know what to say. I didn't even know Paige...I didn't know she gave it to you," Willa fessed up, blinking rapidly.

"Probably the only good thing she ever did," Jackie said bitterly. "I don't need an answer now, Willa, but I will need it soon. I'll be honest, this is as much for me as it is for you. I've had a good working relationship with you, and right now I would really like to work with someone I can trust."

"Thank you, Jackie. I'll take some time to think about it and get back to you in a week or so, if that's okay?"

"Sounds perfect. All the best, Willa. I look forward to hearing from you."

"Same to you. Bye, Jackie."

"Bye, Willa."

In stunned silence, Willa ended the call. What. just. happened?!

Excitement bubbled over until it spewed out of her in a cacophonous shriek. It was more of a Rachel-esque squeal, circa Friends season one, actually, but it didn't stop until Willa had exhausted herself in her crazy happy dance and finally stilled her flailing limbs.

She had to call someone. And for once, her go-to wasn't Maryam. Her finger pushed the little green telephone icon. "Nate? You wouldn't believe what just happened."

Willa could see his grin even though the phone as he exuberantly whooped. "I bet it's not as good as the news I got!"

"Our good news seems to be related," Willa teased. Then her smile faltered. Yes, Nate was the first person she wanted to call when her dream came true...but was she not his? How long had he known and kept it from her? "I can't believe you got her contract cancelled," she said quickly to mask the sudden lull, keeping her voice bright and cheerful.

"And it's all thanks to you, Willa," Nate said with his infectiously happy voice.

An unwelcome thought popped into her brain with all the weight of a sledgehammer - what if for Nate, the line between attraction and gratitude had gotten a little bit blurred?

Author's Note: This is part 1 of Chapter 26! Expect CH. 26.5 on Friday! :) Don't forget to vote if you enjoyed the chapter!