CHAPTER 26 #2
“You spent most of the money you had saved just to move there because they only gave you a little to relocate to another country. Then, they terminated you after only a couple of months. Your mother is asking around, and I’ve also been looking for you.
There are tech companies over here, too, Eline.
Amsterdam specifically is growing with those businesses.
Yes, you’d have to live outside of the city and commute, but I found five roles for you that could work just this morning.
You know you’d get one of them, given your experience.
I understand that you want to stay, but you might have to begin thinking about what you need to do.
We can send you a little money to get you through, but it might be better for you to come back here, even if it is temporary.
You can start a new job, and if you end up deciding to go back, you’ll go back.
I’ll even buy your plane ticket then if you decide to do that. ”
Eline didn’t want to admit it to her father, but money would become an issue, and soon.
She hadn’t admitted it to Arlowe, either.
She’d paid her rent for the month before getting fired, and her last check would help her pay it for the upcoming month, but that would be about all that it would cover, with only a little leftover for some food for the month.
She knew that Arlowe was trying to help her out in that department without actually saying what she was doing because she’d gone to the store and brought groceries, trying to convince Eline that she was only doing it because she had been staying over and eating more of Eline’s food than her own, but Eline knew it wasn’t just that, or even that at all.
Arlowe knew how expensive things were around here, and she was trying to help.
Her main concern at this moment wasn’t actually getting an extension on her visa, which the lawyer was helping her with, or even trying to find a new employer.
It was the fact that she didn’t have enough money to stay for longer than a month, and Eline didn’t like credit cards.
She supposed that she could get one, but she didn’t want to go into debt just to stay here for a little while, only to have to leave anyway.
“I’ll be fine, but I see your point,” she replied because she couldn’t not acknowledge that what her father was saying was true.
“I know I have to make a decision soon. I’m working on something right now that might turn out.
I… made a connection here… through work, so maybe they can hire me where they work.
I don’t know. We’ll see, but I am keeping this in mind. ”
“Will you at least talk to him? Maybe you will like the concept so much that you’ll want to move back.”
“Yes, I’ll talk to him,” she replied, knowing that it was the right thing to do.
“Good. I’ll send you his information when we get off the phone, and I’ll also send you the links I found for jobs I think you might be right for.
Eline, you are a smart woman. You know that your best option is to come home.
I looked it up. Normally, you can’t get another work visa there after an extension unless it’s been at least one year between them.
I’ll send you that link, too, so that you have it. ”
“I know that. I’ve done my own research.”
“But it’s different if you’re terminated. You don’t have to wait that year.”
“I’m sure that a termination won’t look great to the US government, so isn’t it better for me to stay here and try to find something else instead of going home and hoping they’ll let me back in?”
“Either way, if you don’t have a job there and you can’t get one here, you and I both know what the right decision is there. It is your decision; I’m aware of that, but you are a practical person, Eline. You know that if you get a job here, you’ll be much better off in the end.”
“I know,” she said.
After they exchanged goodbyes, she hung up the phone, flopped down on her sofa, and sighed.
Her brain was once again muddled and foggy, and she was so confused.
Logically, the right decision was to move back home.
She could find a new place after she found a new job.
She could live with her parents until then, which wasn’t ideal, but she did miss them, and they’d leave her alone, understanding that she was an adult in her mid-thirties.
She’d probably make more money at this new company her dad knew of, too, and she’d be in charge of engineering, which wasn’t exactly something she wanted, despite what her father believed.
Eline loved QE. She wanted to be in charge of that, not all of engineering for an entire company.
She’d also never mentioned wanting to start something from scratch, so she wasn’t sure where he was getting that from, but she could do it and probably enjoy it.
Eline was also embarrassed. She didn’t want to have to rely on her parents to send her money so that she could stay.
She didn’t want Arlowe to have to buy her groceries or even offer her to move into her house.
Eline didn’t want them to take those steps until they wanted to.
She wanted to be able to celebrate moving in with Arlowe, or Arlowe moving in with her, and not feel like she was accepting defeat when they were finally a couple living together.
She had a lot to think about, and she needed to talk to Arlowe about all of it.