Wishing for Wonderful (Serendipity #3)(11)

“I suppose I could go back to Florida and stay with my sister,” she said despondently. “Maybe I can get a job waitressing.”

~

Every human on earth has to endure Life Management events. It’s not the event that destroys a human, it’s the way they react to it. I know Lindsay is miserable right now, and I’m not insensitive to the situation. But if she hadn’t flown off the handle and walked out of the store, she would have been standing at the register when the engineer I had lined up walked in. He would have asked for a book on the construction of the Lincoln Tunnel; then she would have taken him to the research section and spent twenty minutes helping him find the book. If things went according to plan, they would have both reacted to the spark. Later that evening over dinner and a bottle of Pinot Grigio—POW!

Of course, with Lindsay, things seldom go as planned. That’s the problem.

~

For the next three weeks Lindsay spent every waking hour searching for a job. At the end of that time the only thing she had was a notepad of scratched off listings and the knowledge that her resume was pitifully inadequate. She’d moved to New York with thoughts of becoming a journalist and then one day a novelist, but she’d done none of that.

Instead she’d taken a job at a magazine where there was no reporting; there was only making coffee and answering phones. Several times she’d asked to write an article, but a bulbous-nosed editor peered across the rim of his glasses and said, “Sweetie, we only use professional stuff.” After six months she’d moved on to become an administrative assistant to one of the many vice presidents at a marine insurance firm. There she had little to do but answer an occasional telephone call and make up excuses about her boss being tied up at a meeting. Her boss, a man who often returned from lunch smelling of whiskey, was eventually fired, and Lindsay’s job disappeared along with his. From there she’d gone to the Big Book Barn, and, well, you already know how that ended.





For five days straight there were no new job listings. That’s when Lindsay grew frantic and began telephoning her friends. Amanda knew of no openings in her store or anywhere else.

“But, Amanda, you work for Saks,” Lindsay said. “Don’t they hire extra help for the holidays?”

“Those temps were hired a month ago,” Amanda replied. “The training class is over.”

“Training? I don’t need training. I’ve worked in retail for two years. I know how to work with customers. I’m ready to—”

“Oh, Saks would never hire anyone who hasn’t gone through our training program. I mean, it is Saks Fifth Avenue.”

Lindsay suddenly found herself disliking her best friend. First it was Christopher, now this thing with Saks.

“Thanks anyway,” she said sharply and hung up the telephone.

Her next call was to Sara. Hopefully she’d had better luck in finding a job and could suggest something. Lindsay dialed Sara’s home number.

“The number you have called is no longer in service,” a recording said.

“No longer in service?” Lindsay echoed. “That’s impossible.” She dialed again and got the same recording. Reasoning that maybe it was a move to economize, she dialed Sara’s cell phone. A girl could go without eating, do without new shoes and even be cold in the wintertime, but she had to have a phone. It was a well-known fact of life.

The phone rang several times before someone finally answered, and it was with a cheerful voice that was unfamiliar. “This is Sara.”

Taken aback, Lindsay stuttered for a moment then said, “Sara? Sara McClusky?”

Sara laughed. “Yes, of course it’s me.”

The loud music, the laughter in her voice—this wasn’t the Sara Lindsay knew. “Are you drinking?” she asked. “What’s going on? Are you at a party?”

“You bet I am!” Sara shouted. “This is definitely a par-tee.”

“Sara? Are you okay? Is something wrong?”

“Everything’s fine.” Sara laughed again. “Actually it’s great. I’m at my sister’s in Tampa.”

“Florida?”

“Unh-hunh, that’s where Tampa is.”

“You left New York? What about your job?”

Sara chuckled. “In case you’ve forgotten, there was no job, remember? You quit for both of us.”

“But I thought you’d find…” The truth was Lindsay didn’t know what she thought.

Sara stepped away from the music, found a quiet spot and then they talked.

Lindsay told of the trouble she’d had finding a job and apologized again for dragging Sara away from the Big Book Barn. “I had no idea it was this hard,” she sighed.

Sara reassured Lindsay she had no second thoughts about leaving as she had.

“It was the best thing that could have happened,” she said. “The truth is I had no life in New York. I was a guppy swimming with sharks. The best I could ever hope for was to avoid being eaten alive.”

“I never really saw it that way,” Lindsay replied.

“Neither did I. But once I got past the no-job thing, I learned to move on, get some fun out of life.”

“Move on?” Lindsay echoed.

“Yeah, can you believe it’s me saying this?”