“Do you know what time the service is?”
“Nine.” I’d done the research, just never motivated to actually go.
“And it’s about an hour and a half till we get back and all.”
“Yeah, I figure it’ll be just enough time.” We were both scheduled at eleven to prep for the service.
“Okay,” he agreed, smiling. “Yeah, great.”
Chapter 11
After much deliberation, Liv decided to focus her job search on Addison, the town center closest to her house. She stopped by The Diner, but without experience they’d only hire her to bus tables for minimum wage. Not quite what she’d hoped for. There were a few restaurants in Addison and a strip of stores, so it made sense to keep looking and was better than going to the mall, though there’d still be too many people for my liking. It was hard to imagine where she could apply that there wouldn’t be too many people. Other than Ludwig & Wilton, of course.
“Did you tell your parents?” I asked as we sped down Chestnut Street, away from school. I checked my seat belt to be sure it was tight.
“Yeah,” Liv said. “They didn’t say I couldn’t.”
“But …?”
She shrugged. “My mom was like, ‘You don’t need to do that, we have plenty of money’ and ‘you should focus on school, there’ll be plenty of time to work later.’ ”
“Right. Well, you expected that.”
“She wasn’t as unreasonable as usual,” Liv said. “Which makes me think that maybe the ‘we have plenty of money’ part wasn’t totally true.” She sighed. “I wish they’d just tell me the whole story instead of protecting me, you know?”
“Yup. I sure do.”
“Either way, it can’t hurt for me to earn my own spending money,” Liv continued, barely pausing at an intersection. Stoptional, she’d told me. They’d put up a traffic light if they really wanted you to stop. “I just don’t feel right about asking them for it now. Plus, I think I just kind of want a job.” She turned the corner, glancing over. “Does that make me weird?”
“You’re asking me if you’re weird?”
“Right.” Liv crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “What am I thinking?”
“I don’t think it’s weird at all,” I said, smiling. “I really like working.”
“And considering I’ll be working with people who are actually alive, I should love it.”
“Exactly,” I said. “It’s kind of nice to have that something else that’s not school and not home.” And not Nick or his dad or death, I thought. I felt a little guilty, like I was taking an unapproved day off, going job hunting with Liv instead of concentrating on my “gift.” But now that I was here, talking about normal things, I realized how much I needed a break.
“Did you work before you came here?” she asked.
“Just over the summer, when I lived in Kansas.”
Liv turned into the parking lot behind the town’s strip of stores. “At a funeral parlor?”
“Nope. Coffee shop.”
“Uh-huh.” She zipped up the row of spaces so fast I closed my eyes, afraid to watch the pedestrian sure to become like windshield bug splat. The car swung hard right and jerked to a stop. We were in a spot. Liv killed the engine and asked, “So what on earth made you decide to work where you do now?”
I bit my lip, my mind racing for an answer. “The customers are a lot less cranky?” I said finally.
Liv snorted. “Maybe you should have made stronger coffee instead.”
We went to the three restaurants first and all of them gave her the same spiel. No experience, no job.
“The stores are going to say the same thing,” she said, disappointed.
“Maybe. But let’s check it out. Persistence, Liv.”
She trailed behind me, enthusiasm waning as we picked up an application and lukewarm reception at Carey’s, Zapatos, and Ever After. And then I had a brainstorm. “What about TREND?” I asked. “We should totally go there. You love that place.”
“They will never hire me, Cassie,” she said. “Are you kidding? I’m sure their people have been doing it for, like, years.”
“But you’re a complete natural for them. Not like these places.” I waved toward Ever After’s flowery purple storefront.
“Maybe …,” she said, totally unconvinced.
We got back in the car and I talked her into going to TREND anyway. It’d be a longer drive, maybe another ten miles from her house, nestled between a yogurt shop and dry cleaner near the highway entrance, but it was so perfect for Liv that she couldn’t not try. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it earlier. It was one of her favorite stores, with a quirky and expensive vintage vibe. She might be right about the experience thing, but I hoped they’d look past that because Liv had an amazing eye for style. She’d completely reorganized my closet one day when we were hanging out, hiding all the orange stuff in the back. “You should not wear that color,” she said. “It makes you look jaundiced. And also, I’ve been meaning to tell you that this skirt”—she held up my favorite kilt—“would look way better with something like this”—tight black T-shirt—“than that baggy sweater you always wear it with.”
“Don’t hold back, Liv. Tell me what you really think.”
She shrugged, grinning. “If you’d rather look like a sack of potatoes …”
“No, no,” I said. “Honesty is welcome here. Even if I love that sweater. And orange.” But I knew she was right.
We parked just to the left of TREND’s front window so she wouldn’t feel like I was staring at her through the plate glass. I waited in the car after a “hold your head high, be confident, you look awesome” pep talk, crossing my fingers that I hadn’t just sent her to have her last bit of job confidence shredded. She came out ten minutes later grinning.
“They don’t usually hire without experience, but the manager was totally cool. She dug my glasses and remembered me shopping there. I have an interview Monday!”
“That’s awesome, Liv!” I said, breathing a huge internal sigh of relief. “I’ve got a good feeling about this.”
“Me too. Ice cream to celebrate?”
“Absolutely!”