Working Girl

Chapter 4

“Sutton? Sweetheart? I’m leaving for work, are you getting up today?” I opened one eye and glared at Braden. “It’s been three weeks since you got fired. I’m not trying to start a fight, I just think it might be a good idea if you got up, maybe went out and dropped off some resumes?” he was standing in the doorway with an expectant half smile on his face.

“Leave me alone.” I grumbled and rolled over to face the wall.

“This is getting ridiculous. You can’t spend every day in bed. It’s been three weeks!” Braden said, clearly exasperated.

“I know how long it’s been Brae. You don’t need to keep saying it over, and over, and over.” I rolled my eyes, pulling the blankets up farther around my chin.

“Fine, I’m going to work. But you can’t stay in that bed forever. We need money Sutton, we need you to have a job. I love you, but I don’t know what else to do to help you.” With that, Braden turned and walked out of the bedroom, leaving for work.

Groaning, I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. It had been three weeks since my showdown with Liz, and I was no closer to gainful employment than I was on my tearful drive home. All that I had to show for the past three weeks was a slightly larger waistline owing to all of the chocolate I was using to drown my sorrows.

Two and a half weeks ago, I had broken the news to Braden that I did not, in fact, have any jobs lined up teaching dance. That had been hard for him to take, and had caused a long and drawn out fight where he accused me of lying to him, and I accused him of not really listening. We got past it as we always did, and I reassured Braden I was confident I would be employed shortly. I was putting out resumes every day, and at that point had applied to eight jobs I was perfectly qualified for.

Unfortunately, I did not receive a call for any of the eight jobs. What I did receive, was a brand new Clover Canyon dress, delivered to our door on a day that Braden decided to take off to spend at home cheering me up. That caused another large fight, and had left us not speaking to each other. The next morning when Braden had opened the door to go to work, he had found my scarf sitting on the front doorstop. I had texted Liz to ask what the hell she was thinking, and asking when she had even come by to leave it there, but had gotten no reply. I was so embarrassed and upset that I didn’t get out of bed that day.

Despite my growing fears, I had kept up a brave front for Braden’s sake and continued my job hunt. My references had agreed to give me a glowing referral to whichever company I managed to land a spot with, but had no leads for me to follow. After two more weeks of applying to jobs online and not hearing anything back, our house was in constant tension. Luckily my listed purses had sold and had covered the cost of the dress, as well as a few other small household bills.

Throwing my legs over the side of the bed, I decided that today was the day. Today I would find a job. My unemployment insurance was only enough to cover my car and insurance payments, and with no savings to fall back on I couldn’t just wait for the perfect job to come up. I would take whatever job was available and continue my perfect job search from there.

**

It’s amazing what a bath can do for your perspective. I had filled the bathtub with three different kinds of bubble bath and poured myself a glass of wine, and twenty minutes later felt incredibly relaxed. I got out and wrapped myself in a plush towel, and walked into our home office. I turned on the computer and loaded Craigslist.com.

The employment section loomed in front of me, with a section for Other Jobs. Looking in marketing, management and finance had gotten me nowhere fast, so I decided it was time to branch out and take whatever is available to me. I clicked on the first job ad that came up.