Page 17 of The System

“Even after a workout, when I’m all sweaty and gross?” Tinley asked, clearly fishing for the compliment.

“Tinley, how’s the apartment hunt going? Any prospects?” Carina asked back impatiently.

She’d tried to be understanding and patient, but it had been three months, so while she and Jessa had their affair, if it could be called that, Carina was ready to date again and bring a woman home should they both want that. With Tinley around, she’d tried to be respectful and not do that, and so, as time went on, it was starting to wear on. Tinley had gone from being a second-year law student when they’d met, to dropping out of law school completely to pursue a Pilates instructor certification. That hadn’t panned out, so now, she worked odd hours as a personal trainer and had an inconsistent paycheck since she took clients freelance and didn’t work for a gym with regular hours. That had been Tinley’s more recent excuse for having a hard time moving out: apartments needed security deposits or proof of employment with consistent funds coming in, and she didn’t have that right now.

“I’m trying, Carina. But I lost my old place when you asked me to move in here. I didn’t know we’d be breaking up before I even unpacked my boxes.”

“Tinley, your lease there was up. That was the main reason we moved in together. When you asked whether you should renew or not, I told you that you could if you wanted to. You said you were over here mostly, anyway, and it was also closer to campus. Then, you dropped out of law school when you only had a year left to go, and now, you’re just wandering around my house most of the day until you decide to get a new client or have a regular appointment, and those don’t seem all that regular.”

“You’re still on about me dropping out?” Tinley said and sat down at the table with her juice. “I was a middle-of-the-road student in only a decent program. What kind of job was I going to get out of school, anyway? Besides, I wasn’t passionate about the law, how you are. I know what I want now. I’m just starting out. It takes time to build a business.”

“Work for a gym,” Carina stated, repeating the same words she’d said over and over. “It’s a job that pays every two weeks, and you can still take clients on the side. You’ll get an apartment faster that way.”

“You really hate having me here, huh?”

“I don’t hate it, Tinley, but it’s wrong. We broke up for a reason. Still, you’re just down the hall, acting like it never happened, asking if I want to join you in my shower, and not paying rent or utilities when you’re the one who uses them the most.”

“And you’re ready to move on? I get it,” Tinley said. “I just need a little more time, Carina. I’m trying here. I’m just a little aimless at the moment, okay? My parents always wanted me to amount to something, so when I didn’t get into a fancy law school like the one you went to, they were disappointed, but after I dropped out, they stopped helping me altogether.”

“You were twenty-four years old, Tin,” Carina argued. “That’s more than an adult.”

“Fine. But I also changed my career path, so now I’m starting from scratch. A little patience would be nice.”

“Three months post breakup isn’t enough for you?”

“One more month; that’s all I’m asking. And I’ll start paying you something. I can’t pay a lot, but if you need rent money or something for the water bill, I’ll help, okay? How’s three hundred a month?”

Carina wanted to scoff at that because that wouldn’t even cover Tinley’s grocery bill, but it was something, and at least Tinley was showing some kind of effort.

“Fine. But it’s just three hundred for one more month because you’re moving out in a month. If you want to back pay me, that’s fine, though.”

Tinley smiled and shook her head. She’d been caught, and she knew it. She probably would’ve made a good lawyer, too, because she had a way with words that generally got people, including Carina, to do or give her what she wanted.

“Three hundred, and I’ll get it to you tomorrow, okay?”

“Tomorrow,” Carina replied.

While being from an upper-middle-class family, Carina had still been raised to work for everything, including the scholarship that had gotten her through undergrad and law school. She’d even managed to hold down a part-time job during all of it and lived in the law school dorms, despite wishing for an apartment of her own. She’d done all of that knowing that when she got out, she would, hopefully, join the DA’s office and make a pittance, so she needed to save as much as she could while she could. Then, after years of one-room-with-a-shared-bathroom living, Carina had really wanted to own her own house, so she’d just continued to save up until she could afford a down payment in the town she’d moved to, and by thirty, she had this place.

She hadn’t thought she’d be living here still at forty. The plan had been to be here for three to five years, find a wife, and either build or buy their dream home together. She’d sell this place for that down payment and live happily ever after. Instead, she had three failed relationships in that time, including Tinley, whom she considered her biggest mistake yet. It didn’t matter, though; Carina would wait for the right woman to take those next steps with. Moving in with Tinley had been more a practical and logical decision than one based on love and wanting to fall asleep next to her every night, but she knew better now.

Tinley, on the other hand, had been raised with the proverbial silver spoon shoved comfortably into her mouth. Her parents had been born to a wealthy family, so they’d grown up spoiled themselves and knew no other way but to spoil their only child. Tinley hadn’t had to work for much, but she hadn’t been able to get out of her low LSAT scores and Cs throughout her undergrad at a very good school, so that had meant her family’s dream of her attending an Ivy for law school had been lost, and Tinley had ended up at a small-town university, where Carina sometimes gave guest lectures. That was how they met, and Carina still felt like a cliché.

“I’m going to the office. Will you be here later?” she asked as she closed her laptop.

“I don’t know. I’m supposed to have two clients today, but one is a little flakey. She seems like the kind of person who wants to tell people that she has a personal trainer but doesn’t actually want to put in the work.”

“Tinley, the gym would give you at least eight hours of work a day and probably on a regular schedule. Maybe think about it?”

“I don’t want to go that route,” Tinley protested. “I want to do this on my own.”

“And how do you think people do that?” Carina asked rhetorically as she shoved her computer into her bag. “They meet clients through the gym, and when they’re ready to go out on their own, they just take some with them. Think about it.”

“Fine. I’ll think about it,” Tinley told her reluctantly and proceeded to sip her grapefruit juice. “I’m going to take that shower now.”

“In the guest bathroom. Don’t think I didn’t notice that my handheld showerhead was hanging when I took my shower yesterday.”

Tinley laughed and said, “You know how much I love that showerhead.”

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