Page 2 of Roar & Lizzy: A Forever Kind of Love

Lizzy looked over at the two-story warehouse. Mr. Reeves stood in the doorway looking inside.

She nudged Coco with her elbow and motioned with her hand, not wanting to run into their boss—their old boss, and hear anything more about the news. Coco walked faster. Lizzy hurried to keep up.

In front of the bistro, she stood on the curb, waited for two cars to pass, and then hurried across the two-lane street to the other side. One of the reasons why she enjoyed working at the Burger Bistro was because she and Coco had been able to rent the house across the street.

The twenty-four hour a day traffic never bothered her because walking out the door and being at work a minute later was convenient. She no longer needed a car and had sold her ten-year-old beater with a heater four months ago, using the profit to knock down the debt she owed the hospital.

Coco opened the door of the older two-story brick house and threw her belongings on the floor. Lizzy aimed for the couch and kicked her shoes off. Pulling the hair tie out of her hair, she used both hands to scratch her scalp, letting her long hair fall to her shoulders.

"I can't even think about what to do now. How do other people job hunt? Do employers still post ads in the paper?" She sighed. "It's going to be hard getting around town without a car. I'll have to learn the bus schedule and figure out how long it will take me to get to the job interviews."

"People search online for jobs now." Coco opened the fridge. "Do you want a pop?"

"Sure." She crossed her legs on the couch. "Okay, I'm going to give myself twenty-four hours to let this sink in that I don't have a job and feel sorry for myself, and then I'll worry about what I'm going to do."

Coco handed her a can and sat down. "No matter what, we'll be okay. Remember when we both started at the Bistro? It was hard to afford more than Top Roman and hot dogs in our diet. We can do this."

"Yeah," she whispered. "We'll be fine."

They both fell silent. Lizzy stared at the flat screen. Usually one of them turned it on to see if Netflix had anything good playing after work.

In two weeks, they probably wouldn't even have access to their television shows to watch. Her throat closed. She hated hot dogs.

"This sucks so bad," she whispered.

"I can't even remember the last time I sucked," said Coco.

Lizzy turned her head and looked at her friend. Coco stared across the living room, a small twitch near her mouth broke her solemn expression. Lizzy slapped Coco's thigh, and they both broke out in laughter, easing the worry of losing their job.

"What would I do without you?" She leaned against Coco and inhaled deeply. "It'll be okay. We're both going to survive."

"Damn straight." Coco leaned her head back on the couch. "We'll find a better place to work."

"One that pays us more money," said Lizzy.

"Yes, and gives us vacation days."

Lizzy sat up straighter. "It'll be weird not working with you."

Coco said, "Did you hear Mr. Reeves pass on the message that the new owner needs waitresses?"

"Yeah, but he also hinted at it being a bar. Neither one of us has ever served drinks."

Coco stood. "How hard could it be? Burgers...drinks, same thing. If we both got hired, we'd be together, and it's right across the street."

"The tips would have to be bigger, don't you think?" She tapped her foot on the floor. "The hours would be different. Mr. Reeves catered to the lunch crowd."

"We'd have our days free." Coco hooked her short hair behind her ears. "That'd be weird."

"But good." When Coco frowned, Lizzy said, "Think of all the things that are hard to do when you work days during the week. Just going inside the bank is impossible unless you take a dock in hours, which means less money on payday. We always have to deposit our checks through the ATM."

"Doctor appointments," mumbled Coco.

Lizzy nodded. "Online shopping."

"Oh, yeah," whispered Coco, smiling.

Even though they could see the house from the front of the Bistro, the area where they lived made it impossible for packages to be dropped off outside. Someone would steal the delivery before they could cross the street.

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