So Close by Emma McLaughlin Read Free Book Online Page B

for a class-action lawyer.”  He smiled.
    “I was—refilling the water pitchers.”  I didn’t want Lindsay to think, standing here in this dress, I was trying to be anything I wasn’t—or that I was trying to sleep my way to being Cricket. 
    “Well, thank you.  I get a very dry mouth when I’m nervous so you helped a great deal.”  As Tom spoke Pax actually squeezed my hand.  “Well, thanks again for having us, Pax.  Great to meet you, Amanda.  You two kids enjoy yourselves tonight.”  Oh God, I wanted to, but instead I just felt a vibrating sense of urgency.  In seven months my mother’s dependency on me would expand exponentially—again.  I had to find a life preserver before she scrambled on my back. 
    We walked to the periphery of the dance floor.  “So this company you’re being groomed to run.  Do they need anyone to make coffee?”
    “I think they have those pod machines now.”
    “Seriously, I can type faster than a water moccasin.  I know Excel and QuickBooks.  My Mom had a job at a dealership for a bit and the other assistant taught me.”
    He put his finger on his chin.  “I actually might know the right people.”  He seemed delighted.  “Let’s look for the man with the bowtie.”  We wended our way through the crowd while I tried to swipe something off every passing tray.  Tomorrow it would be back to bologna sandwiches.  I observed the crowd observing us.  Even though Pax seemed to deliberately tune it out, like the celebrities at the hotel, I knew he had to be aware of how the girls—and even women—were looking at him.  Hungrily.  And wondering who he was escorting around the party. 
    “Roger.”
    “Pax.”  The older gentleman with the bowtie slapped him on the back, sloshing Pax’s champagne onto my bare toes.  “Your mother looks lovely, as always.”
                  “Amanda, this is Roger Barkingdale.  He runs our Palm Beach branch,” he said proudly.  “Roger, this is Amanda Luker.  She’s looking for a job and I thought we might have an opening in admin.”
                  “Any relation to Elizabeth?” he asked me.
                  “No—I’m from Tallyville,” I answered, assuming that clarified that he had not passed me on the polo grounds.  “But I’d be happy to relocate for the right job.”
                  “Where are you working now?”
                  “I’m—”
                  “She’s between things,” Pax jumped in.
                  “Well, have your resume and college transcript faxed to my office and I’ll see what we can do.”
                  “I’ve actually been working in the hospitality industry until recently, but I’ve completed a semester at our community—”  
                  “She’s hardworking,” Pax jumped in.  “I think we could at least give her a trial.  And I vouch for her. ”
                  Roger looked me up and down, his wattles covering more of his collar as his face bowed.  He leaned in to Pax and lowered his voice ineffectively.  “Without your step-father reluctantly covering your ass I’d have fired you ten times over, so I hardly think you’re in a position to ‘vouch’ for anyone.  I don’t know what you get up to when you roll in late and leave early, but I don’t think you should bring it here, to your mother’s doorstep, do you?”  He moved away slowly, favoring one hip.
                  Pax didn’t turn to me—or apologize for Roger.  I thought of another party—eleventh grade—Matt Dwyer and Bobbie Pittford wanted to get one of the dance squad girl’s attention, so they picked up the cooler to fling its contents in her direction—only they stumbled under the weight of the beer-sodden ice and doused me.
                  “Come on.”  Pax grabbed my arm, his affability suddenly gone like a retriever