Page 11 of Tell Me It’s Right

“Liam,” says Keava. “Chinese or pizza?”

“Chinese.”

He’sstaying?

“I’ll order it.” Leo slides his cell from his pocket and disappears into the hall.

Keava sips her wine, her attention swinging back to me. “How’s the job search going?”

I grimace, my face hot as I feel Liam look at me. Maybe I should’ve taken Keava up on that drink offer. “Nothing yet,” I say, trying to keep my voice light. “But I sent out a bunch of new applications today.”

“Well, fingers crossed.” Keava smiles.

I have a feeling this question is going to be a daily occurrence.

I’ve been here twenty-four hours and it’s already twice as humiliating as I’d feared. It’s not like I need the reminder with my student loans looming over my head.

“You know,” Keava continues, “I could ask around for you. See if anyone knows of any openings.”

The burning in my face spreads down to my neck. “Oh really, that’s okay?—”

“The school has a daycare for the teachers, did you know that? I think they’re looking for someone.”

Daycare?Not that I have anything against it, but it’s not at all related to anything I’m good at.

“And you could always keep taking your little pictures on the side,” she adds.

Now the heat in my face turns into something else.My little pictures.My jaw clenches, but I don’t bother correcting her. Yeah, I tacked on photography as a minor for fun, but all the jobs I’ve been applying for have been for graphic design or social media management.

But even if Iwaspursuing photography, that’s a perfectly legitimate career too. I guess her attitude makes more sense now. She thinks I’m some artist with my head in the clouds and no intention of getting a job.

I pull in a slow, deep breath through my nose before responding. Maybe she didn’t mean it that way. I don’t want to piss her off, but I don’t want to keep having this conversation more.

Liam beats me to the punch.

“Actually, Gracie and I were talking about bringing her on at the shop. That is, if she agrees to it.” He turns and meets my eyes, expression entirely innocent.

“Oh?” says Keava.

I stare at him.The shop?I have no idea what that means. And judging by the way he’s leaving the floor open for me to fill in the blanks, he has no idea what I do either.

I don’t know why, and I don’t care, but he’s throwing me a life raft.

“Riiiiight,” I say. “The website does look like it needs some work.”

He nods seriously, though his lips are pinched together like he’s holding back a laugh. “It does.”

“Oh,” Keava repeats as Leo rounds the corner, phone held proudly in the air.

“Chinese will be here in thirty. Mom and Dad texted and are gonna swing by too.”

The grin overtakes Liam’s face, his eyes glued to mine. “Plenty of time to hammer out all of those new job details.”

“Pass the lo mein over here in case Gracie wants some more!”

“Mom, I don’t need any more?—”

“Well, you might get hungry again!”

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