CHAPTER 22
“Hey, babe,” Arlowe said when Eline walked out into the living room.
“Hi,” she replied, rubbing her eyes. “What are you doing up?”
“It’s eight o’clock. I have to…”
“Right. You have to go to work,” she said, walking into the kitchen, where Arlowe was pouring a cup of coffee.
“I’ve got a nine o’clock meeting, but I’ll come back as soon as I can,” Arlowe told her. “I just have to be there in person this morning. We’re meeting with some school districts that are interested in piloting the glasses, and they’re local.”
“It’s okay,” Eline replied. “Can I have a good morning kiss, though?”
Arlowe smiled at her, leaned in, and kissed her, but it was a quick one and not one meant to be savored.
“Sorry, I have to go home first. Enya put her car in the shop yesterday, and I offered to take her in this morning. I’ll be able to change into my own clothes that I didn’t wear yesterday, too.” Arlowe cupped her cheek. “I’ll come by around lunch, if that’s okay.”
“You don’t have to, Arlowe. I know you have work.”
She rubbed Arlowe’s stomach over the shirt that she’d borrowed.
“I can work from here, and we can talk.”
“Babe, just come over after you’re done, if you want,” Eline told her and kissed Arlowe once more.
“I need to talk to that employment attorney who they gave me ten hours with over the next thirty days to see if he can help me extend my existing visa. I don’t know how long for, but I think that’s the best thing for him to prioritize, and I’ll just be trying to find companies with jobs that might sponsor me.
At least, I’m already here, so they wouldn’t have to wait for me to start working or pay for me to relocate here. ”
“Right. Yeah, that’s good. I’ll pick up dinner and bring it over,” Arlowe offered. “We can eat and talk then.”
“Talk?”
“Yes. We didn’t do that last night.” Arlowe rubbed her arm and lowered her hand to meet Eline’s, entwining their fingers as their hands dangled between them.
“I want to talk about what to do if or when something happens; plan for all the possibilities. Like, do you need to move in with me for now? I don’t know if you have anything saved up to keep paying rent on this place. ”
“I don’t need to move in with you, Arlowe.”
“I don’t mean move in, move in. I meant that you could stay with me while we sort this out, and you wouldn’t have to pay rent at the house. That’s all I was saying. But we can talk about it later. I just want to make a plan for us. I made you coffee.”
“Thank you,” Eline replied. “Now, go. Get to work. I’ll be all right today. I think I just needed you here because I was in shock and worried that I was going to lose you again.”
“You’re not. And I want to be here whenever you need me, Eline. That’s what this is.”
“I know. I’m going to drink that coffee you made and take a shower. I think I need it to wake me up, and then, I’ll get to work trying to figure this out.”
“I’ll text you, and I’ll leave no later than five, okay?”
“Okay,” Eline replied and kissed her again. “I’ll see you later.”
Arlowe gave her another kiss, and within a few minutes, Eline was alone again, and she felt it even more acutely than she had on Sunday when she hadn’t known what to do without Arlowe after only one date.
She took a sip of the coffee that Arlowe had made her and smiled because, of course, it was perfect.
Arlowe was perfect for her. Eline carried the cup into her bathroom, where she started the shower and got out of her clothes, and it was still strange to her that she didn’t need to get ready for work.
Even stranger was that her alarm hadn’t gone off.
Then, it dawned on her that Arlowe had likely turned it off for her because it wouldn’t have taken much for her to have guessed the password – it was her birthday.
Eline had Arlowe’s birthday as her password since they’d become a couple, and her own birthday was probably still Arlowe’s password, too.
As she took her shower, she thought about how best to handle the conversation with the employment attorney.
She wasn’t sure if talking to him was included in her ten hours of his time, but she imagined that it was, so she decided to send an email with all of her information and questions in it, hoping that would take less time or not be considered part of a billable hour at all.
When she got out, Eline carried her half-finished coffee into the bedroom, dressed in sweats and a T-shirt since she had nowhere to go, pulled out her laptop, and sat with it on her sofa.
Then, she wrote and rewrote that email before hitting send and went to job websites where she could look for one company, any company that might hire her.
She didn’t care what they did or even how they did it.
She just needed a job because she needed to stay in the country.
After searching for an hour and finding only jobs that mentioned no sponsorships or work visas, she realized that she needed to update her resume and cover letter, and it took her another hour to do that because she wanted them both to be perfect.
Stopping with zero results around lunchtime, she made herself something to eat and sat back down with her food, deciding to switch gears.
This would be her life for the foreseeable future.
She would be making a sandwich for lunch, searching for newly posted jobs, reworking her resume to try to get someone interested, and updating her budget because while she’d already paid rent this month, she didn’t have much saved up now that she’d moved here.
Everything she was doing today depressed her, but she had no choice because she had no time.
After checking her email for a response from the attorney and finding nothing, Eline decided that since she was already upset, she might as well call her parents and give them the news since neither of them would likely be asleep yet.
“Hello?” her mom said.
“Hi, Mom,” she replied.
“Your father still wants us to speak English, even though you can practice every day over there now, I see?” her mom chuckled.
“He’s your husband,” she replied with a laugh, instantly feeling slightly better just by hearing her mother’s voice.
“And he’s right: it’s good for us, too. We both use English at work. We should practice as well. How are you?”
“Actually, I’m not doing very well,” she shared, leaning back on the sofa.
“What happened? What’s wrong?”
“I lost my job.”
“What?”
“I was made redundant yesterday. They did the same with other employees, but none of them were on work visas like me.”
“I need to get your father. Hold on. You’ll tell us both at the same time.”
Eline had figured this might happen, so she waited somewhat patiently for them but wished she didn’t have to. She wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.
“All right. He’s here. You’re on the speakerphone.”
“What’s wrong, Eline?” her dad asked.
“I lost my job yesterday. They let me go with some of the other employees, but none of them were on work visas like I am.”
“What? You just got there.”
“I know. I got a little severance money, but not much, and–”
“We’ll send you money. How much do you need?” her mom asked.
“I’m all right for the moment. It’s not the money. I am more worried about staying here. My visa expires in sixty days. Well, less than that now, and I have ten days after that as some grace period before I’d get in trouble for not leaving.”
“I just don’t understand… You haven’t been there that long. Why would they terminate your employment?” her dad asked.
“They had a pretty big issue that wasn’t my fault, but it cost them a lot of money, and they were already going to let go of some people before that. They’re restructuring, and my old boss is going to lead my team now that I’m gone, so they told me they couldn’t keep me on.”
“Oh, Eline… I’m sorry,” her mom said.
“Me too. I feel like I was starting to like it there a little more recently, but it doesn’t matter now. I have to focus on what to do next.”
“Well, you can come home,” her mom suggested.
“I just got here.”
“I know that, but you went there for work, and you don’t have that work any longer, so you can come home now.”
“I don’t want to come home, mom. That’s the problem.”
“Why not? You can find a job here. Your father and I can even help if we need to, but you have far more connections here than there.”
Eline cleared her throat and said, “I like it here. I want to stay.”
“But why? Your friends and family are all here. Truthfully, I didn’t understand why you wanted to move there in the first place.”
“I thought it would be a fresh start, and I wanted that for myself.”
“You can have another one of those here.”
“Let’s talk about what she needs now if she does want to stay,” her father suggested. “We need to respect her wishes, even if we don’t understand them.”
“Thank you,” Eline said with a little smile. “If I do end up having to come or move home, I might have to stay with you while I look for a new job and place to live. I just–”
“Of course, you can stay here,” her mom interrupted. “I’ll make sure your old room is ready for you. Just say when.”
“I hope I won’t need it, but just in case I do, I wanted to know that it was all right.”
“What if you stay? You only have sixty days?” her dad asked.
“Yes, plus the ten extra days. I don’t want to use them if I don’t have to, though. If I get to the airport to fly home on an expired visa, they might have questions for me, or it could be an issue, and I don’t want that.”
“We’ll work with the sixty days, then,” her mom said.
“I suppose it’s really more like fifty-eight or fifty-nine.
I don’t know if it starts yesterday or today because, technically, I was still employed as of yesterday.
I’m just going to plan for fifty-eight. They gave me access to an attorney for a few hours, and I’ve emailed him already to see if he can help me file for an extension.
If that’s granted, I could stay a little longer, but I can’t count on that, so I’m also looking for new jobs.
I’ve been at it all morning, and I haven’t found anything yet that explicitly states that they’d hire someone they would have to sponsor, and when you fill out the applications, they specifically ask if you would require that, so I know if I check that box, I’m not likely to get an interview. ”
“Your best bet sounds like that extension and to work on applying for a green card if you can,” her dad said.
“I have to see if I’m eligible, and it could take months. I didn’t look into it before because I wasn’t sure whether I’d stay, and my work visa was for three years. I thought I’d apply before it was up.”
“Well, the extension for your work visa, then. I’m sure they’ll grant it, given what happened,” her dad replied.
“I hope so, but even if they do, I don’t know how long they’ll extend it for, so I might still have to come home.”
“You see about that, and we’ll take the necessary steps after that,” her dad said as if he’d be the one doing any of this.
“Yeah, you’re right. I should get going. I need to look for every single job that I’m qualified for and just start applying, even if there’s no hope.”
“Why are you so insistent on staying there?” her mom asked. “I don’t understand.”
“I told you, I like it here.”
“Fine. Fine. I’ll leave it alone.”
Her father knew about Arlowe being here, which meant that he’d already told her mother, so Eline was surprised that neither of them had asked if Arlowe was the reason why she wanted to stay.
She didn’t want them to think that because they wouldn’t understand, but she was grateful that neither of them had suggested it.
“I should get back to it now, but I wanted you both to know.”
“Please keep us updated. We’ll get your room ready just in case,” her mom said.
Eline knew better than to tell her mom not to do that because it wouldn’t change anything. Her mom was probably carrying her phone to her old bedroom to strip the bed and wash the sheets as they spoke.
“I will. And thank you,” she replied. “I love you both.”
“We love you, too,” her father said.
“Yes,” her mother added.
Eline hung up the phone then and went to set it down, but before she could, she got a text message.
Arlowe Romano: Hey. How are you doing?
She smiled because, of course, Arlowe would check on her.
Eline Claasen: I just told my parents the news. They’re a little worried. No jobs applied for yet, but I’ve updated my resume, so that’s good.
Arlowe Romano: Babe, I just wanted to know how you were doing. I’m glad you updated your resume, but I want to know if you’re okay.
Eline Claasen: I’m okay. I’m a little lost because I’ve always had a job, but I’m okay.
Arlowe Romano: I’ll be there as soon as I can. Italian or Chinese? Honestly, you can ask me to bring whatever you want, and I will, but I thought I’d throw those options out there.
Eline Claasen: Whatever you want is fine with me, but if you get Italian, can you get extra garlic bread?
Arlowe Romano: No problem. I’ll see you soon.
Eline set her phone down and got back to work, applying for three jobs over the next hour and adding a few more to apply to later.
Then, she finally got a response from the attorney, and he told her that he would need some more information to help her with the extension application, but that he was happy to help.
He gave her a link to schedule an appointment, and she clicked it immediately and set a meeting for the next day.
If she could get even a six-month extension, that would be a big help.
A year would be better, she knew, but she’d settle for anything that was longer than fifty-eight days.