Chapter IV

The Arrangement

Some time had passed since Juliette’s mother’s wake and she hadn’t heard from April. Juliette would ask about her to Glenn, her father, who would always casually reply “she’s doing fine.” Juliette knew that night at the wake was not the only time their paths would cross, the attraction, both mental and physical, was too strong; it had to be more than just a blink in the dark.

It was a cold day in March, 4 months after the wake, when the phone rang in a slightly unusual way, Juliette sensed this was the call she had been waiting for.

She answered:

“Hello?”

“Hi, Juliette, it’s Glenn. Sorry to call you so late, I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“Oh! Glenn. No, no. Not at all.”

“Good, I was hoping just to talk for a few minutes on behalf of my daughter.”

“Oh? Sure, what’s up?”

“Well, April has wanted to get a job, but I keep saying that she should go to school and get a degree. Naturally, we differ on this issue, when I say ‘black’ she says ‘white’, you know how it is.”

“Ah, teenagers gotta love ‘em.”

 “Yea, exactly. She actually suggested that in the meantime between figuring out what to do for school and finding a job she could work as an assistant. Maybe it would put her head in the right place if she was under the guidance of someone else who agrees with me; that is that school is most important at this point. Do you think she could shadow you for a few weeks until the start of the fall semester?”

“That sounds like a great idea, Glenn. I’d be more than happy to.”

“Great. I’ll have her come to work on Monday and you can show her around and have her help you with any odd jobs or whatever you see fit.”

“Sounds perfect, I look forward to working with her.”

“Excellent. I’ll see you on Monday morning with a big cup of coffee and an everything bagel, like you like.”

“Thank you, Glenn. Haha. Good night.”

“No, thank you, Juliette. Good night.”

“no, thank you” she whispered into the ominously buzzing receiver.