Chapter 30
October 22, 2023
Mully and Dad: Dating the daycare girl
Mulligan fell in love with a girl from his doggy daycare recently.
She’s a wide-eyed new arrival, fresh from the land down under and ready to tackle New York’s literary scene from the comfort of Mulligan’s doggy daycare.
Whenever I dropped off Mully and she was there, he’d put on this whole performance. He’s an old, lazy Westie who barely lifts his tail for breakfast these days and yet as soon as he sees this Australian girl, his entire body language changed. Carrot tail straight up, ears pricked, legs dancing.
One night I was picking up a bottle of red from the bodega down the road and ran into Mully’s love on the street. She saw me, burst into tears and then explained she’d been pet-sitting a local eccentric’s literal zoo of animals and lost the dog. What I walked into was a lost dog, escaped rabbits, and a kid who got bit by a (non-venomous) snake. Safe to say this was the first time working in the publishing industry where I got to teach a young, inexperienced Native Australian girl about the world of prestige literary journals ...
‘Well, this meeting of the “Get revenge on people who’ve jerked Brynn around” club is now in session,’ Corey says as I settle on the floor facing her and Sienna. I arrived home to pizza, beer and hugs from both of them, though the hug from Sienna had been electric with all the things we haven’t said.
‘Wait, you’re thinking actual revenge?’ I say, setting the slice I was about to bite into back onto my plate. ‘I was thinking that this was more along the lines of “Let’s cry with Brynn about how she’s never gonna get a job at the Review now because she’s a fucking idiot.”’
‘Do you have any idea what you’re really going to do about Doug and the daycare?’ Sienna asks.
‘Well, I did send Michael a text,’ I tell them. ‘I asked him to look at our contracts to see if Doug’s dismissing people illegally.’
‘Oh right, you had a thing with him,’ Sienna says, picking at her plate. My heart lurches. What is she thinking? How is she feeling?
‘And do you have a case for unfair dismissal?’ Corey asks around a bite of pepperoni.
‘I don’t think so. Cruz and that front-desk girl who started giardia-gate might have cases. But the one thing I do know is that the contract stipulates I can’t work any non-Dogue’s pet service jobs. He can’t really get me on volunteering for the parade committee, but he’s definitely got me on the pet-sitting job.’
‘Okay, so what about getting revenge on Lucas?’ Corey says. ‘It’s a pity he didn’t give you the keys to his apartment—I would have said go clean his toilet with his toothbrush.’
I snort at the joke, covering my mouth so no food escapes.
‘Oh Corey, that’s so gross,’ Sienna says, but she’s grinning as she says it.
‘Well, at least I didn’t say she should bake him some poop brownies.’
Sienna and I make eye contact as we make disgusted noises, and for a second it feels normal to be hanging out with her. But then that look flashes across her face, and my heart sinks as I’ve lost her again. I need to find a way to make things right between us.
‘I guess there’s not much we can do that isn’t gross until we know whether or not Brynn has an interview,’ Corey says once we’ve calmed down. I draw breath so quickly that a piece of mushroom lodges itself in my throat and I start choking. Sienna is the first to her feet and she delivers a swift thump to my back and the mushroom sails across the room, hits the wall opposite and slides down behind the TV.
All three of us pause in silence for a beat. And then crack up into loud laughter.
‘And you think I’m gross,’ Corey says, wiping a tear away from her eyes.
I take a huge sip of my beer and cough out a thank you to Sienna, who gives me another one of her weird looks and takes her seat back on Jenny.
‘What were you going to say that had you nearly choking to death?’ Corey asks.
‘Ahh, yeah. I haven’t submitted my application yet. It doesn’t close until the fifteenth of next month and I want to make sure it’s perfect.’
She tuts. ‘Brynn, don’t wait until the day it’s due. You want to show them you’re the keenest bean of them all.’
‘I mean, I was, but is there even a point in sending the application now that Lucas has written about me?’
‘He doesn’t name you,’ Sienna says.
‘Yes, and I bet New York is full of “Native” Australian girls who want to take the literary world by storm from their job at doggy daycare,’ I say, doing finger quotes around the word ‘Native’.
‘Argh, I just want to fucking punch that guy,’ Corey says.
‘You and me both,’ Sienna agrees. ‘Can we look at your application, Brynn? Maybe we should read it, then you send it off and then we’ll deal with any fall-out.’
‘But what if she doesn’t get an interview because of him?’ Corey asks.
Sienna’s face crumples into a frown. It’s so cute that I want to run my fingers over her face. I hold onto my slice of pizza a little tighter instead.
‘If the rejection comes and there’s no feedback,’ Sienna says, ‘Brynn could call and ask for it, and if she’s feeling brave enough she could mention Lucas. Like I said, she’s not named in the blog post, so it would be a big leap for her not to get an interview specifically because of that. He would have had to say something to his bosses, and what he did isn’t exactly ethical. He knew you were looking for work there, right?’
‘Not until after we’d slept together,’ I say, feeling my cheeks heat. ‘I’m the one who doesn’t look very ethical in this equation. But I swear I didn’t sleep with him because of the job, I did really like him.’ I start to cry then because as much as I had liked him, I’d also joked about stalking him when I’d found out where he worked.
It’s humiliating. Sitting in a room with my new best friend, a girl I’ve kissed, talking about the silliest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Not just talking about it, fucking dissecting it. Fat, hot tears slide down my face as I keep trying to chew my pizza so the others won’t notice.
‘Oh Brynn,’ Sienna says, her blue eyes wide with concern.
‘It’s fine,’ I say, tossing the slice back on the plate and getting to my feet before she can come over. ‘Thanks for your help. I’ll text Robert about the Dogue’s stuff.’
For a moment I contemplate going to my room, but I can’t bear the thought of them whispering about me while I hide a few metres away in my not-at-all soundproof bedroom before one of them comes to give me sympathy. I also don’t know if I can take it if I go to my room and neither of them comes to comfort me—or, if I’m being honest, if Sienna doesn’t comfort me. So after a second’s hesitation, I grab my backpack and boots from beside the door and leave the apartment.