Chapter 7
CHAPTER 7
“Peanut, stop crossing the streams,” Haleigh hissed at the little white-and-tan Chihuahua with large spotted ears currently weaving her way between the leashes of the two other dogs Haleigh was walking.
It was her fault for not waiting until she reached the dog park to take out her phone. But her car payment was due today, and if she didn’t pay it immediately, she’d forget, and it would be late for the third month in a row. She’d been hoping the invoice from her last round of editing would get closed last night, but her client had emailed begging for an extra week because of some appliance nightmare. And of course, Haleigh’s incapacitating empathy for money troubles had her insisting it was no problem. Even though it was.
A Godzilla-sized one.
The sixty dollars she’d earn from this walk were not going to cover her car, so she’d have to move money around without dipping below the thresholds of her checking and savings accounts. There needed to be some tournament for this level of fiscal Tetris, like they had for spreadsheets. Haleigh would win every one.
Or maybe she could get hired for one of those heists like in the movies, where the hackers had to transfer money from account to account with minutes to spare. She’d be a natural.
Peanut spun around at the sound of her name and gave Haleigh one of those devious stares only a Chihuahua could muster. Then with a yap, she intertwined herself once more between Murray and Phil, the two Jack Russells who Peanut barely acknowledged were her housemates. With her leash now too short for her liking, Peanut commenced biting at anything within reach, forcing Haleigh to slip her phone back in her pocket and unravel the dogs.
When they reached the park, she released the pups from their harnesses and sat on an empty bench. Splitting her attention between the dogs and her phone screen, she revisited her calculations.
Her heart thundered against her ribs, and she could feel her mind begin to reach for all the things that might happen if her client didn’t come through next week.
Money was one of her worst triggers. Just thinking about how quickly everything could crumble if she didn’t have enough was like a trapdoor popping open below her. It didn’t matter that she had safety nets—that her mom, Stanton, Jack, Pépère, even Joey, would help her if things became dire. Nor that, in the two years she’d been doing this, she’d never reached a point where she couldn’t catch up on her bills. Everything still felt precarious. All the time. Seconds from snapping apart.
She had to chase the thoughts from her head before they got too loud. Otherwise, she’d be in panic attack territory. Brushing her fingers over her key necklace, she practiced the grounding exercises she’d learned in therapy: I see gray rocks below the bench. I feel the cold metal of my necklace in my hand. I hear dogs barking. I smell bread from the bakery across the street. I taste my watermelon lip gloss.
It took a minute or two for her breathing and heart rate to slow. By then, Peanut had dived into Haleigh’s lap and was licking her cheeks. She ran her hands over the Chihuahua’s soft ears.
This was what Haleigh wanted from life. To spend her days hanging out with animals and editing and reading books and to get paid for it.
Where was that job?
When she’d started college, Haleigh had set her heart on a career in publishing. But her miserable copyediting job and her anxiety had knocked that dream off track. Maybe it was time to reach for it again.
Her phone buzzed in her hand, making her and Peanut jump. She brought it to her ear without looking at the number. Jack always said she was a bona fide daredevil for not screening her calls.
“Hello?”
“Haleigh.”
“Mom.”
“It is okay to give your phone number out? For your date?”
“Already?” It had only been five days since Haleigh had proposed this date-pocalypse. Shouldn’t she get a two-week cleansing period or something to prepare herself for going out with people she hadn’t even chosen?
“I’ve been racking my brain for a good one, and today, when his brother was mowing my lawn, it hit me. You and Pete could be a great match.”
“Pete who?” Haleigh knew not of this mysterious Pete.
“Pete… the landscaper.”
She swallowed back a pained moan. “So you’re setting me up with someone whose last name you don’t know? What if I disappear? How will you find me?”
Her mother tsked. “Why you never tried out for drama club is beyond me.”
“They couldn’t handle me.”
“He’s a nice boy, honey. Always so sweet when I call the office with questions.”
“Fine, but please find out his last name before you give him my number, okay?” Haleigh did not want to end up on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries because her mother didn’t understand the internet.
They hung up a moment later, and Haleigh stared down at Peanut. “What am I getting myself into?”
The Chihuahua apparently didn’t have an answer. Instead, she climbed onto Haleigh’s chest and nestled under her neck, curling up like a bagel. Across from them, Murray and Phil were involved in an elaborate game of who-is-chasing-whom with two Labs and a Pekingese.
Haleigh composed a text to Jack.
Haleigh Berkshire: And so it begins…
Hoping for those stuttering ellipses that signaled a response, she stared down at her screen, even though she knew it was wishful thinking. Jack never texted during work hours except in emergencies. His job was too hectic.
With a sigh, she gathered up the dogs’ leashes. If she was going to slip her business card under the doors of the other tenants in Peanut’s apartment complex, she’d better do it now, while everyone was at work.
Plus, their owner only paid her for two hours, no matter how much time she spent with the dogs.
She was trying to catch Murray to secure his harness when her phone buzzed with a new text.
Her heart skipped. Jack?
Unknown Number: Hey. This is Pete. Your mom gave me your number.
Unknown Number: Oh. And my last name is Winslow. She said it was important you know that.
Well, that was something at least. No missing person’s poster for her.
She was committing to these dates, no matter what befell her. Not only to win a break from her family’s opinions about her life, but also, hopefully, to stop her heart from dancing a rumba every time she thought about Jack.
The apartment was blissfully empty when Haleigh got home.
As much as she loved Stanton, his presence was not conducive to a productive work environment, and that was exactly what she needed right now. With a few hours of focus, she could finish her current edit, throw some ads up on her socials, and try to find a few new editing sites to add her services to. She’d also been meaning to email the doggy daycares in town to see if they might be interested in hiring a dog-walker. Anything to help boost the numbers in her bank account.
An hour and three chapters later, she needed some water, and maybe a twenty-minute TV break. But as she removed her headphones and stood up, the sound of voices gave Haleigh pause.
“I’m not putting my Pottery Barn sofa out on the curb.” Ryan’s soft baritone barely penetrated the particleboard of her door. “Dorothy deserves better than that. You were there when I brought her home.”
“Yes. From her spot on a different curb.” Stanton sounded on the edge of losing his calm. “She’s returning to her natural habitat.”
“What about Blanche and Rose?”
“Where would we put those chairs in here? They make an elephant seem tiny.”
Haleigh’s pulse hammered in her ears, and she dropped back down on the corner of her bed. Here? Why would Ryan bring his furniture here?
Unless…
Were they moving in together?
Her chest was tight and heavy, as if she were being mashed between two rocks. She fingered her necklace and tried to take a deep breath.
Somehow it had never crossed Haleigh’s mind that she and Stanton wouldn’t be roommates forever. They got along so well. They had so much fun. But she should have seen this coming. He and Ryan had been serious for a while now. Of course they’d want to live together.
Would they expect her to move out? Where would she go? Would Stanton give her time to figure that out?
Haleigh always tried to make herself extra scarce when Ryan was over so the two of them could have alone time. She could keep doing that as long as they needed. And Ryan seemed to like her. Besides, Stanton spent a good half the year traveling around New England with On the Plus Side. Ryan would probably go with him. He was a journalist. He could write from anywhere.
She wouldn’t have to move immediately, right? There’d be time for her to prepare. To be okay.
As if he could sense her panic, Pete decided this was the opportune moment to send another text.
Unknown Number: I was thinking we could meet for brunch Tuesday?
Unknown Number: I’m a vegan.
Unknown Number: Is that okay?
Haleigh flopped forward, planting her face into the mattress. She couldn’t deal with this right now. How was she supposed to think about dates when she might not have somewhere to live soon?
Stanton and Ryan had gone quiet. They’d probably disappeared into Stanton’s spacious bedroom for one of his renowned afternoon siestas (his words, not Haleigh’s). But in her head, she imagined them in the living room, rearranging the furniture, putting her few pieces of Tupperware, her “easily distracted by grammar” mug, and her three chipped dinner plates into a box. What would they turn her room into? A larger closet for Stanton? A gym?
Haleigh’s stomach sloshed like the ocean on a windy day. She was going to be homeless. With no money.
She practically jumped out of her skin when someone knocked on her door. Stanton’s head poked through the crack as he opened it.
“Do you have a second for a grammar question?” he asked.
“Huh?” Haleigh leaned forward like she was tying her shoe so she could wipe her burning eyes against her shoulder. Too bad she was only wearing socks.
Today was not her day.
She sat back up, hoping her face wasn’t too splotchy.
Stanton swung the door fully open. “I need my grammar police.”
Behind him stood a vaguely familiar-looking East Asian guy with thick black hair and dark eyes. He was clean-shaven, revealing cheekbones and a jaw sharp enough to cut metal.
Haleigh raised an eyebrow, suddenly acutely aware of how messy she looked. If Stanton was trying to set her up on one of his dates right now, with no warning, she might have to toss his designer clothes out the window the next time he wasn’t home. Between Mom and Pete the landscaper Winslow, and hearing Stanton and Ryan plotting furniture layouts, she’d already had too much on her plate today.
“You remember Brian Lee, right?”
Recognition flashed through her. “Oh right. Logan’s less grumpy half at Sundae’s Sanctuary.”
“That’s a low bar,” Brian quipped. He had a nice smile that warmed his whole face.
Haleigh grinned back. “It’s true. Ebenezer Scrooge is cheerier.”
Brian full-on laughed at that.
As she rose from her bed, Haleigh attempted to kick some clothes and books under it. “So what’s the grammar emergency?”
“Brian came by to drop off these adoption event flyers for me to hand out, but I think something’s wrong here.” Stanton thrust a piece of paper into her hands.
Haleigh scanned the text and images. The event was being held at one of the big-box hardware stores so they’d made a lot of cute building and tool puns. At the bottom, above a triangle ruler next to a picture of a dog’s wagging tail, it read Don’t forget, dogs are cute from every angel!
“Uhhh.…” She shot Brian a sympathetic look. “Something tells me you didn’t mean for this to say ‘angel’?”
“What?” He took the flyer from Haleigh’s hands. His eyes scoured it for a second before his whole body deflated. “Shit. I can’t believe I didn’t see this.”
“Autocorrect is an asshole. It happens to the best of us.”
Brian’s eyes found her face. “Want a job?” he joked.
Haleigh snorted. “Read your stuff out loud before you print it. That always helps me catch mistakes.” She crossed the room to slip into her desk chair. “That tip’s free. You’ll actually have to hire me for any more.”
Brian tapped his temple. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Then he winked. And it wasn’t even dorky. Just kind of hot.
Haleigh wasn’t sure what to do with that realization, but she didn’t have time right now to figure it out. Their interruption had been enough to stymie her panic spiral, but she hadn’t forgotten what she’d overheard between Stanton and Ryan.
They were moving in together. Which meant Haleigh was going to need to find a new place.
She spun toward her computer monitor. It was time to do the thing she’d been putting off for far too long.
She needed to find a full-time job.