Page 70 of The Boyfriend List
Because of your interest in "nonprofit legal jobs", we have found the following listings for you.
I skim the list of jobs; most of them are volunteer positions or part-time work at places like animal shelters, but I find one that looks interesting to me.
Healing Hearts Children's Home. It’s a group home for children, often orphans, who have experienced some kind of trauma or loss, and they need a legal expert to help them with applying for government grants, administration, and ensuring legal compliance with local child protection laws.
It looks like the kind of work that would be demanding, but meaningful. More meaningful than what I do right now, even if the pay is lower than mycurrent salary. I have been putting away some of my salary in investments in a retirement plan, so I wouldn’t betoostrapped for cash.
Without thinking, I hit the apply button and start working on my application, drafting a cover letter. After typing out a brief missive, I stop second guessing my wording and submit the application.
Then, I head out to call Paulo and my mom.
Eddie's cheerful face greets me when the FaceTime call connects to my mom's phone. "Gloria!"
"Eddie! I’ve missed you. But why are you answering my mom's phone?"
"She's cooking dinner right now, so she told me to answer it," he says. "Do you want to talk to her?"
"Actually, I wanted to talk to her and Paulo. Is Paulo around?"
Eddie makes a pretend-grumpy face. "So you don't want to talk to me?"
"Of course I want to talk to you," I say with a laugh. I've missed him so much. It's hard to see how much older he looks because when I left, he was still a kid. Now he's a teenager. "I actually wanted to tell you all that I'm coming home for a visit on Halloween."
His face lights up. "Really?"
"Yes. I'm also bringing my boyfriend, London."
He crows in a sing-song tune, "Gloria has a boyfriend, Gloria has a boyfriend!"
I laugh, even though there's no way out of this now that he's declared it that loudly. "Eddie!"
As if on cue, my mom comes into frame and dismisses Eddie, telling him to go help her chop vegetables. He sighs loudly but does as he's told. "What's this? Gloria, you have a boyfriend and you didn't even tell me?"
"Mom, it's not like I meant to exclude you from the conversation. I haven’t even told Paulo yet."
She sighs, as if that doesn’t make it any better. "When did this happen? Who is he?"
"His name is London—"
"Your coworker? The boy you've been friends with since college?"
"That's him. And this only happened a few weeks ago."
"I'm happy for you, sweetheart." Her smile is genuine. "I can't wait to meet him. Youarebringing him when you come visit, right?"
"Yes, I'm bringing him in a few weeks. I was thinking he could stay with Paulo at the beach house?"
"Of course," she says. "Make sure to let Paulo know."
We catch up for a few more minutes before she has to finish making dinner and I have to go eat my lunch before heading back to work.
After finishing mypancit—my favourite stir-fried noodle dish—I head back to my cubicle, only to find London sitting on my desk.
"You know, I thought we were trying to keep our relationship on the down-low." A smile plays across my lips anyway.
"Maybe I accidentally spilled glue on your desk and now my pants are stuck," he says.
I burst out laughing and sit down. "Did you actually?"
