Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28259 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 141(@200wpm)___ 113(@250wpm)___ 94(@300wpm)
“Okay, but is he like an actual plumber or is this someone trying their best to be useful?”
“Actually, I own Lay Pipe Plumbing off Reading Road,” Roy says from behind me and I instantly want to crawl back into bed. He hands me a business card, licking his lips, and tells me, “You can come by the shop and check it out any time. I actually stay in the back apartment if you want to check that out too.”
“Roy, leave that girl alone. She’s only 19-”
“Lucille,” I call her name to stop her from volunteering any more personal information about me than he needs to know.
“Freshly legal,” he chuckles. “You must taste delicious.”
Please hurry up and leave. I wish Hendrix were here, but no, he has to work all day.
“I’m rotten on the inside,” I reply, with disgust piercing through every syllable.
“Well, if you need me to clean your rotten pipes, feel free to come by the shop.” Roy gives me another creepy grin before he moves under my sink and comes back up a few minutes later. He claims to have fixed everything and leaves with Lucille.
Once they’re gone, I check my phone to see the reply from my manager:
No need to come in. Please understand this is your fifth lateness, which violates your employee contract. Your employment is terminated effective immediately. Check will be mailed.
Wow.
Whatever.
I delete the phone number and message, thankful to have a brother who pays the rent, but what about the rest of my bills?
I’ll figure something out and look down at the trousers and dress shirt I had to buy just to work in that place. It takes me less than a minute to strip out of them, tossing them onto the doorknob of my bedroom door.
There’s a closet directly across from my bedroom that holds a stacked washer and dryer. Instead of leaving the clothes, I grab them to put them into the washer instead. I might as well do laundry to have fresh clothes for the interviews I now need to go on.
That’s going to be annoying.
The sound of the shower head dripping brings me into the bathroom where I look around to see what sleazy Roy did in here since the shower is still leaking. My eyes scan the room and stop on the empty soap dish above the sink. Reaching up to clutch my bare neck, a gold necklace I normally wear isn’t on me or in the dish.
My mind races to retrace everything I did this morning—from my shower to lying in my bed dreading the long day at a job I no longer have. Lucille and Roy were here for all 15 minutes, and now, my necklace is gone.
It’s possible that Roy’s slimy energy makes me want to accuse him, so instead of letting my mind run off the rails, I turn my place inside out looking for the only gift I have from my parents.
My arrival was a surprise to everyone in my family with my brother, Brody, being 17 years older than me. He’s always there for me like a father, but the necklace is from one of the few times I remember us being a whole family.
I have to find it.
My apartment is a mess when I leave to find Lucille. I don’t want to talk to Roy. After rushing downstairs to her apartment on the first floor and knocking on her door, I see her coming into the building’s lobby.
“Hey, Lucille, that guy Roy, the plumber… Uhm, I think he may have taken something from my apartment,” I tell her frantically.
“Was it money?” she asks immediately.
“No, a necklace. It was in the bathroom, and now it’s gone.”
She shrugs, telling me, “Van, let it go. Roy isn’t the kind of guy you accuse of things. I’m only doing him this favor because it was strongly suggested to me. The only alternative is to grab Brody and have a conversation with Roy. Make sure he’s carrying.”
Lucille ends the conversation there, leaving me alone to figure out how to get my necklace back. Her advice is great because Brody does carry, especially since he does security jobs. He’s the perfect person to confront Roy, but he’s also traveling the country as the personal security guard for some movie actress.
I’m not going to bother him with this. It’s a million things running through my mind as I make my way back to my apartment. It takes me about an hour to go through the entire place again, throw my clothes in the dryer, and spot the card Roy gave me that morning.
Maybe I can swing by his shop and ask. He likes me and this is going to be a funny story that we can laugh at after he makes a bunch of disgusting jokes that make me want to gag.