Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59713 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Whether I said goodbye or not, the phone call ended with next steps in place, and I could hardly believe it. When I first saw the position, it felt like such a long shot. But it was what I wanted so much. It was what I went to school for and was still working hard to achieve. And now it was finally happening for me.
As I sat there, still gripping my phone, I realized this meant something else amazing. I could quit the soul-crushing temping work I had been doing that was barely keeping me afloat.
Confidence started creeping into me, and a smile came to my lips. I could do this. I really could. Hopping up from the floor, I threw open the cabinet and dug out the rest of the bottle of whiskey Fiona brought over along with one of the cups. Pouring myself a healthy amount, I set my phone on the counter and called Fiona on speakerphone.
“Hey,” she said as she answered on the second ring. “Is everything alright?”
It was how she had taken to answering my calls in recent months, cutting right to the chase and checking on my basic well-being before getting to any conversation.
“Do you remember that job I applied for a while ago that I didn’t think I had any chance of getting?” I asked.
“The computer science teacher position?” she asked. “The one I told you that you should absolutely go for because you would be perfect for it and are going to be an amazing teacher?”
“That would be the one,” I said.
“Yeah…?” Her voice drew out the word in anticipation.
“I just got a call from the principal at the high school. They accepted my application, and he wants me to come meet everybody.”
“So, you got it?” she asked excitedly.
“Tentatively,” I said. “I still have to get my certificate, obviously, and the principal wants me to meet the other teachers and spend some time shadowing the teacher who is retiring to make sure I’m actually the right fit. But if all that goes well, then, yes. I got it.”
There was a second of silence before both of us broke into excited screams. I felt silly jumping up and down squealing all alone in my kitchen, but if there was ever a moment in my adult life when it was totally appropriate to throw all decorum out the window and celebrate, now was it.
It took several seconds for us to calm down, but we finally got a hold of ourselves again.
“Congratulations, V,” Fiona said. “I am so happy for you. I knew you could do it.”
“I know you did,” I said. “And I can’t tell you how much that means to me. You always believed in me and could see so much more in me than I could ever see in myself. Thank you for sticking with me all these years and dealing with everything.”
“You’re my best friend. I would stand by your side through anything. I am just so happy and so proud. So, what’s next? What happens now? I know you said he wasn’t retiring until the end of the school year.”
“That’s right. In a few days, I have an appointment to go in and talk to the principal again. Then it will go from there,” I said.
“Woo-hoo!” Fiona exclaimed, making me laugh. “What about the temp agency? Are you going to quit? Have you quit already?”
She giggled. Fiona was well aware of how much I disliked my temp work. She had listened to many a grumbling complaint session after an onerous placement or when I felt like I was about to be hired on permanently but was dropped.
“Not quite yet,” I said. “As much as I want to just tell them off and never have to accept another placement from them again, I’m not at that place yet. It’s still going to be a while until I take over the teaching position, so I have to keep working. And I still have to finish my online courses.”
“Those should be no big deal though,” Fiona said. “You’ll breeze through the last of it.”
For the first time in a while, I actually agreed with her. Getting that phone call and knowing the opportunity that was sitting in front of me was just the boost I’d needed to push through and finally accomplish my goal.
CHAPTER 4
ALEX
The bar was hopping by the time I got there Friday night. Usually, it didn’t get that loud or crowded until much later in the evening, but a band had come in, and Junebug’s Bar was lit up with patrons from all over the tri-cities.
Junebug’s wasn’t the normal bar my brothers and I hung out at until recently. Aside from the bar in our own restaurant, that was. But Junebug’s had a very lively atmosphere, was only about ten minutes’ drive away, and most importantly, was usually packed with single women who were looking for a night on the town and someone to have fun with.