2. Paige
I jump at his voice, effectively banging my head into the bottom side of the table, making it wobble on its sole leg and Maxon puts a steadying hand on its top to keep it from tipping over.
Maxon.
My gaze darts to his big brown eyes as they watch me, the usual hint of amusement still laced within the chocolatey coloring.
“Uh,” I so elegantly say, gulping the lump that’s taken up formal residence in my throat. “I dropped an earring.” I say, as I begin to crawl out from the table, ignoring his outstretched hand to help me as I stand from the floor.
I know what taking that hand feels like, and I’m not about to fall down that spiral again.
The amusement in his look doesn’t go away though. That was something about Maxon, he always found something funny, like I was the butt of every joke every second we were together. “You don’t wear earrings.” He says.
I suddenly get the joke.
“Uh…” I start, my brain resembling that of when you drive out of range of your favorite radio station and it gets all fuzzy and you can’t make out what anyone is saying anymore.
“It was my earring.” Laney’s voice draws both of our attention. She’s standing, looking equally as anxious as I feel and holding both of our coffees. “See?” She turns her head, and I realize she, at some point, had snuck off one of her bohemian looking dangly earrings.
The amusement hasn’t left Maxon’s face though, but he nods as if it was an acceptable answer. “Did you find it?” He asks me.
I shake my head. “No such luck. Sorry Laney.”
She shrugs. “No worries, I hate these things anyway.” She laughs, then holds my coffee out for me. “Did you want to go hit up those stores we’d talked about?”
I think I just found my new best friend.
“Yes!” I practically jump at her and the means of escape from the disaster this morning turned out to be. I am never, ever, leaving my house again without showering first.
“Awesome.” She laughs as I take my cup from her, her eyes cutting towards Maxon for a second. “It was nice seeing you Maxon.”
A lazy smile is still settled across Max’s expression as he nods. “It was a pleasure.” He says and I can feel his gaze fixed on us the entire way out of the coffee shop.
Once outside I let out a relieved sigh, leaning against the front of the building as all the tension evacuates my body. Laney chances a glance inside before her focus drifts back to me. “Oh, girl, you have so much explaining to do.” She laughs, the adrenaline from our little charade obvious in her eyes.
I let out a dry laugh. “Yeah. Well, it’s complicated.”
She nods like she completely understands the sentiment. “Do you need a ride back to your place?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m good, I parked around the corner.” I say with a slight smile. “Thank you, for everything inside.”
She shrugs. “We girls got to stick together.” She winks. “I’ll see you around, I still want that coffee, and a whole boatload of explanations.” She adds before starting off down the street.
I straighten, stealing a dangerous glance back inside the café before starting down the sidewalk towards my own car. The old yellow, Volkswagen Beetle sits next to a line of newer, nicer cars. It may not be anything exceptionally special, and it’s in the shop almost as much as it’s not in the shop… but I absolutely love the bug. I’ve had it basically since I got my license and I couldn’t imagine driving anything else. Despite the fact that it makes noises that it shouldn’t and that I still haven’t found a replacement for the rear passenger tire.
I climb into the Beetle, slipping my coffee into the cup holder before starting the short drive back to my place. On any other day I probably would have just chosen to walk to the coffee shop instead of wasting the time getting in and out of my car. Not to mention flirting with the possibility of losing my beloved parking spot, but this morning had already gone so catastrophically wrong I didn’t feel like walking anywhere.
It’s not long before I’m pulling up along the curb to my building, luckily nobody has taken my spot so maybe the morning was looking up. I climb out of my car and glance up at my building in front of me, from the outside it doesn’t look like much with its shops on the ground floor and condos above. Especially not when you compare it to the houses that the people I surround myself with live in.
There were six different units above the shops, and my small condominium looks out on the back alley of the old brick building. It’s nothing extravagant by far, actually, it was the cheapest place I could find while I poured all of my money and savings into starting Events By Paige. Even with living on pennies, I’d still had to ask Theo to cosign for an office space downtown Buffalo to run the business from, as well as store my party supplies.
But the office space was perfect, and this was what I wanted more than anything. Once I get through the first couple of years, gain a few customers, and my name gets out there more I’ll be able to indulge in a nicer place on my own. For now, I’ll be renting this one bedroom and enjoying my few coffee splurges. A splurge I was very much regretting this morning. I at least regretted going out the way I looked compared to the way everyone else looked.
Specifically, the way Maxon looked. Dressed in slacks and a button up that was undone at the top couple buttons, revealing a sliver of his chest that caused way more butterflies to take flight in my stomach than it should.
I need to pesticide those buggers.
Climbing out of my car, I start towards the door that leads up to my condo next to the storefront door of a little mom-and-pop secondhand store, a place I’ve found about two-thirds of my furniture from. Hey, can’t pass on a deal when you see one, plus… free delivery.
I start up the stairs, passing the noise that comes from Beth’s place. Her kids are loud with joyful screeches that don’t bother me nearly as much as it does the other tenants. I actually kind of enjoy the happy squeals that I can hear through our shared wall. They bring a life to my otherwise dull condo that I would miss if I didn’t have them floating around.
I pull my keys from my sweatshirt pocket as I step up to my door, fumbling with the right one amidst the mess.
“Paige,” Beth’s voice draws my attention and I smile at her.
“Hey.” I say catching a glance of her four-year-old, Josie, peeking out from behind her mother’s legs.
Concern crosses Beth’s expression though, her brow drawn into a wrinkled frown. “Is everything okay?” She asks.
I nod, then glance down to myself. I look like a mess. Not the put together professional that usually walks through this hallway. I really wish I could be that woman constantly sometimes, but the professional fa?ade was not something that I was a natural at despite the way I slip it on like a second skin. My natural tastes and desire to fit into a world I just don’t belong to are at constant war within me, my work wardrobe completely dependent on whatever Pinterest tells me looks good together and not my own intuition or style.
“Oh, yeah, my coffee pot just broke this morning.” I say, holding up my Danika’s cup. “I can take on the world now.” I laugh but Beth just gives me an even more confused look.
“Oh, honey, no.” She motions to my door and my attention is drawn back to it, looking up at a piece of paper taped to my door that I’d completely missed while fumbling with my keys.
“FORECLOSURE - FINAL NOTICE” is written in large red letters and I pull the paper from the door, my heart clawing its way into my throat and suffocating me.
“I… I…” I stumble, blinking at the piece of paper, trying to make sense of the legal jargon that’s written under the large letterhead. None of it makes sense though.
Nothing makes sense.
My head is spinning.
I pay my bills.
Every month on the 20th so that it’s definitely there before the first of the following month.
I’m vigilant.
Obsessiveeven.
Even if the rest of my life is a mess the only thing that keeps me from completely falling apart is the fact that I pay my bills.
“Someone came by this morning while you were out.” Beth says, sadness in her gaze. “Honey, if you need any help…” She starts but I hold up a hand to stop her. She was basically a single mom with how much her husband works, juggling four kids in their own tiny space.
“No, there’s some kind of mix up, I’ll figure this out. Thank you.” I say, shoving my keys into my lock and stepping inside quickly, slamming the door shut behind me.
I need to call Shannon. She would know what was going on. This was her condo after all, I was only renting from her. She owned this place, she wouldn’t want this happening any more than I did. Darting toward the living room I pull my laptop out from its hiding spot beneath the couch. Plopping down and bringing up my online banking portal. Did the check go through? Did I do my math wrong this month?
My fingers fly across the keyboard as I type my login and password in and wait impatiently as the screen loads and once it does I’m met with the disappointing number that I already knew my bank account was at. Furnishing Events By Paige and buying supplies for the business turned out to cost a lot more than I’d anticipated but I’d made sure to still have money to pay my bills. I scroll through the list of checks that I’d written for the last month and am even more confused when I find the one that I had written for Shannon was processed already.
I paid my rent.
So why was this happening?
I grab my phone, bringing up my contacts and I freeze.
I don’t know what to do. What to say.
An engulfing, helpless feeling takes hold in my chest as I cradle my phone to my chest. Who do you call in a situation like this? If I call and confront Shannon, what do I even say? “Hey, did you not use my rent to pay the mortgage? Could you please fix this so that I’m not homeless? Thanks.”
I hit a contact in my phone and hold it up to my ear. “Hey, can you talk for a minute?”
“Yeah, what’s up?” Aspen’s voice is a welcome sound.
Trying my best to not hyperventilate, I go into what’s happened. He’s silent through it all, from my obsessive bill paying to the deposited checks to the eviction notice. By the time I’m done my chest hurts and tears are on the brink of falling from my eyes.
“I don’t know what to do.” I finally confess.
There’s silence for a bit and I can tell he’s trying to find the right words that won’t completely crush me. What he doesn’t know is that I’m already in pieces on the floor. “Read me the thing on your door again.”
I look back down to the foreclosure notice and read him the legal jargon for the fourth time. I’m on the third paragraph when he finally stops me. “Okay, that’s enough.” He sighs into the phone. “Honestly, the banks not going to foreclose on someone just because they missed one payment, this has been going on for a while.” He says, and I place my head into my palm, rubbing at my eyes. “You need a lawyer.”
I close my eyes. “I can’t afford a lawyer right now Aspen…”
Not to mention I was mainly concerned about being homeless in two weeks.
There’s another moment of silence. “I happen to know a lawyer who I’m pretty sure will look at this for you for free.”