Page 2 of Aydin

“Yeah, this area can get pretty rough if you’re not paying attention,” Nasir responded, but Aydin glared at me like I’d said something wrong.

“Surprisingly, this was the first time I’ve been held at knife point.” I shut the door and slid the key in the ignition.

“Try to pay attention next time,” Aydin quipped, and I felt like a little girl getting chastised.

“I mean I didn’t expect to have a deranged man at my throat when I came out of a bar.”

We had a stare off for a few minutes.

“Yo, Aydin! Nasir!” A loud voice called their names and broke her stare off.

“Nicco is probably cheating. We need to get back,” Nasir announced, and I put the turn signal on and watched them head back to the bar I’d just come out of. I passed the three of them standing in front talking and shook my head at what almost happened.

Thirty minutes later, I arrived home and took the elevator to my place on the second floor. The apartment I might lose if none of the interviews I went to call me back. After removing my jacket and kicking off my heels, I went to the kitchen and saw my leftover ravioli was still in the fridge. Often, my best friend would come over and eat me out of house and home even though she lived just upstairs. I removed the plastic and placed the food in the microwave, set to the highest temperature. At thirty-five, I shouldn’t be in this predicament. I’d always prided myself on being responsible. But the past year had shown me even the best intentions weren’t always the safest. Being that my ex up and left me to marry his ex and stuck me with all the bills, I had to come to terms with Bradley not putting forth an effort the way I thought he did. I wasn’t naive, but when I loved, I loved hard. All my life, it’d been that way. I had my parents to thank for showing me that a real marriage was possible. They’d been together for over thirty years, raised me in a three-bedroom home with my two sisters, put me through college, and taught me to love myself. But the men I’d come across seemed to take me for a fool. The bell on the microwave chimed and after grabbing the fork to eat at the table, I noticed the red light on my voicemail blinking. Dismissing the food for a second, I angled over to the wall that held the cordless phone and hit play.

“Hello, Amelia, this is Molly from TN Security. We’d love to have you come aboard. Please come tomorrow to fill out your paperwork.”

“I got the job,” I muttered to myself, checked my watch, and saw it was going on ten at night.

“Shit! I need to find the best outfit for tomorrow.” I grabbed my food and ran out of the kitchen to my bedroom to rummage my closet.

“Office attire. I need something sharp.” I picked through the rack of pantsuits I’d compiled over the years and decided to go with a black jumpsuit with a high waist and belt attached.

I laid the outfit on the chair in my bedroom and bent down to grab a pair of my favorite high-heeled shoes. TN Security was the last place I interviewed with after a long week of not hearing anything back. I lost my job a month ago because my car broke down, and my boss was an asshole who somehow thought the world revolved around him. During this time, I was still dealing with the breakup, and everything that could go wrong went wrong from a bad pregnancy scare, cheating boyfriend, my bank account getting withdrawn to zero, then a car breakdown. Now, starting over fresh, I needed to figure out my next moves if I wanted to show my sisters that I didn’t need to rely on them for help. I pinned my hair up into a bun, threw on my scarf to protect my braids, and headed to the bathroom to shower and brush my teeth.

Ring!

“Ughhh, who could that be?” I marched back into the living room to remove my cell from my purse and saw Dani’s name scroll across.

“Hello,” I answered, dropping my purse on the couch and checking to make sure I locked the door, and went back to my bedroom.

“How did the interviews go?”

“Terrible,” I slid the shower curtain back, turned the knob, and checked to make sure I had the right temperature.

“You can always come work with me.”

Dani worked as a bottle girl at a local bar, and I refused to work for that sleazeball of a boss she had. The money was good, but I’d have to be subjected to a host of egomaniacs who thought they could talk to me in any kind of way.

“I appreciate the offer, but I got a call back tonight.”

“Really, where?”

I placed the call on speaker, put it down on the counter, and removed my clothes.

“Secretary job at a security firm.”

“Oh, well, that sounds nice.”

“Yeah, it’s the only place that called back.”

“You have to stay positive, Amelia.”

“You’re right. Until I can replenish my savings account, I have to do what I can.”

“Have you heard from him?”

“No, and I hope I never hear from him again.”

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