Page 108 of Save Me

It didn’t take long for her to clear out her office; she never brought much in to truly make it her own. There were just a couple of framed photos on her desk, along with a wilting plant, her mug, laptop, and daily planner journal.

I’m pathetic…

Making the office a more personalized space had been on her agenda, but everything was fine the way it was, so she never made it a priority.

“And good thing I didn’t, otherwise this would be even more depressing than it already is,” she mumbled and she put her stuff in her satchel and picked up her plant.

Again, as she walked down the hall toward the exit, no one made eye contact with her.

No one wished her well.

No one cared.

This was starting to become a pattern, and she knew exactly what she needed to snap herself out of this funk before she spiraled.

In her car, she quickly took out her phone and placed it in its cup holder and dialed her mother’s number.

“Fallon! Hey, Sweetie! How are you?” her mother said cheerily.

“Um…not great,” she said miserably, her voice catching on the last word as the first tear fell.

“Oh, no! What’s going on?”

There were other people talking in the background, and that’s when she noticed that it sounded like her mother was in a car. “Mom? Where are you? Are you driving?”

Laughing softly, Caroline Murphy shushed the people around her. “I’m not driving, but I’m in the car with your father and the Donovans. We’re on day three of our trip across the country! We had the best time yesterday in Atlanta! So much fun!”

Fallon gently cleared her throat.

“Oh, right. You sound upset,” her mother quickly said, changing gears. “What happened?”

“I got fired. Again,” she said miserably, and she heard all four of them gasp.

“Oh, no! Oh, Fallon, sweetheart, I’m so sorry! What are you going to do?”

“I honestly don’t know. It just happened.” Pausing for a moment to compose herself, she knew what she wanted to do, but now that wasn’t going to happen either. “I forgot about your trip and I was going to see about coming home to visit. But now…”

“Nonsense,” her mother quickly interrupted. “Your father and I might not be there, but I think going home for a little while is the best thing for you.”

“Why? No one’s there.”

“Maybe not at the house, but you still have a lot of friends in Laurel Bay, and your sisters are only an hour or two away. You can always reach out and maybe go stay with one of them if you don’t want to be alone.”

That didn’t sound appealing. Both of her sisters were married and had very successful careers in their fields. Her oldest sister, Margaret, worked in hospitality management, and her middle sister, Shannon, was a dental hygienist. Fallon was the only one who furthered her education and kept chasing after higher degrees because she felt it was important to learn everything she could about early childhood development.

Which was a big fat lie.

As the youngest, she had always felt the need to prove that she was just as smart as her sisters. Now all she had to show for it was a degree and diploma hanging on her wall—or…sitting in a box on her backseat—and no job.

“I don’t know…”

“Just know that you are always welcome to stay at the house, Fallon. You know the door is always open for you. Well…it’s locked right now and we got a new smart lock for the front door, so I’ll have to send you the code…”

“Mom…”

Caroline paused for a moment. “Look at the bright side.”

The snort was out before she could stop it. “Bright side? What bright side?”

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