Shameless

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The young woman’s head jerked up and fear flashed in her eyes as she wiped frantically at her face. “Um, hi. I—I was just…” The words faded in a frantic shake of her head. “What difference does it make?” She met Deb’s gaze. “You might as well know, I’m a loser. My life sucks, my car used to suck only now it’s dead, and I’ll completely understand if you want to fire me.”

“Fire you?”

She sighed. “Like my last boss. He said, leave your problems at home, Miss Cassidy. I tried, but my problem—my ex-husband, Woodrow—kept showing up at my work, and when Woodrow was upset, he didn’t care who heard him. I tried to do everything right. I’d leave his breakfast for him, his clothes laid out, but I didn’t cook good enough or iron good enough or do anything good enough.” Her shoulders shook with a deep sob. “It’s no wonder he left, and it’s no wonder this stupid thing died.” She kicked the tire. “I can’t change the oil and I never learned a thing about fan belts, and I don’t know how to fill the radiator with water, and I’ll totally understand if you tell me to take a hike. I mean, here I am, sitting in front of the office carrying on and such…. It’s shameful.”

Deb dug a tissue out of her purse, leaned down and gave the young woman a smile. “Honey, there’s no such thing.”

Paige took the tissue and cast hopeful eyes on Deb. “You mean, I’m not fired?”

“Do you like working for me?”

“Very much. I loved working on the paper back in high school, which is why I applied in the first place. I love to write and while I’m not actually writing a book or anything—”

“—this is the next best thing,” Deb finished for her. Paige nodded and Deb gave her a wink. “You’re not fired. That is, unless you don’t stop crying right now. Then it’s adios.”

Paige sniffled and wiped frantically at her eyes. “I’m embarrassing you.”

“Me? Girlfriend, you are new to town.” She indicated the tissue. “Dry up. You’re much too pretty to be sitting around moping over some man. Come on. I’ll give you a lift home. Tomorrow, we’ll have Wally take a look at your Impala.”

“That’s awful nice, but I couldn’t put you out. I live clear on the other side of Mulligan’s Creek.”

“It’s no trouble at all.”

“You’re really nice, Miss Strickland.”

The words sent warmth spurting through Deb. She frowned before the feeling could get the best of her. “It’s Deb, and don’t mistake kindness for purely self-motivated reasons. I’ve got a newspaper to run. You’re my employee and it’s my duty to look out for your welfare.”

“Whatever you say, Miss—um, Deb.”

They climbed into Deb’s fire-engine red Miata and pulled out onto the main strip through town. “So where is Mr. Wonderful now?”

Silence ticked by for several long seconds, as if Paige were trying to work up her courage. “Jail,” she finally declared. “He’s doing one to two for a dozen counts of check fraud.”

“Good. Let’s hope they give him some sensitivity training while he’s there. That, or a great big horny roommate named Bubba.” That drew a smile out of the young woman and Deb patted her hand. “Forget about him. Forget everything he did and everything he said. From what I’ve seen, you’re good at quite a few things. You’re a great copy editor, your writing skills are wonderful and you’re good at organizing things.”

“You think?”

“I’ve seen firsthand. Not only that, but you’re pretty, too. If this Woodrow wasn’t smart enough to realize what a big catch you were, then good riddance. There are plenty of cow patties in the pasture.”

“I keep telling myself that.”