Chapter 5

After I finished eating my toast, I put on a pair of brown heels. They have a little bow near the toes, and I found them to be adorable as soon as my eyes landed on them at a store called Marshall's. They were even on sale for twenty dollars; they were normally fifty. It was a steal.

And of course, my grandmother's pearl necklace she left me. I always wear it on important days. when my grandmother first passed away and those beautiful shiny pearls were set onto my palms, I had never wanted to take them off. Until I was at school and a boy named Jake tried pulling on them. I was so terrified that they would break. I took them off and never wore them to school again.

Now, they stay safely in my jewelry box until I need my grandmother's good luck and today's that day. It was my first day out into my new town. It may not be a big deal for some, but for me, it was a huge deal. I wanted people to like me, smile, and wave at me in the stores.

I never had problems making friends before. My personality from what I have been told is flowery. My smile blossoms, and apparently, when it blossoms, it forces others too as well. I give off happy energy when on the days I was sad. I guess it's just who I am.

I even smiled a few times at my grandmother's funeral. it was because people were crying, and I was trying to cheer them up even though I was sadly mourning my own grandmother, I still wanted to make sure everyone around me was okay.

I wanted a happy life here.

I grabbed my bag and headed to the front door. I spent a few minutes digging around in my purse to make certain I had not forgotten my new house keys. Once my fingered touched them, I yanked the key ring out and quickly hooked it onto my car keys.

Problem solved.

As soon as I had reached the door handle and swung open the door, my face was sprayed with water. At first, I thought someone had just played a prank on me, but I slowly realized that it was storming outside. The wind harshly pushed the rainfall through my door frame and already soaked my clothes, face, and hair. I slammed the door shut quickly, struggling against the wind and rain.

It's raining outside. The day isn't turning out to be as good as I was hoping my first time out in my new town would turn be.

I stupidly forgot to pack an umbrella.

I have done that too many times. I should know better.

I hurried and dug out an older pair of teenie shoes from my closet and changed out of my heels. I had wanted so badly to wear them today, but today was not the day to show them pretty things. One reason I would ruin them, and well, the second reason was I in no way, shape or form, could walk in that weather in those heels. They were too skinny to balance myself against that harsh wind.

I had no choice but to grab a towel out of my bathroom to use that as a way to cover my head. I sucked in a deep breath to prepare myself for the dash to my car that I was about to have to do.

I am woman enough to admit that I am not exactly in good shape. I bake too much, therefore I eat too much sugary goodness. Meaning, I'm a little on the thick side, another reason my asshole of an ex probably went to my ex bitch of a best friend.

I didn't hate my body, in fact I embraced it. I couldn't exactly wear the type of clothing that some women can, but I make do. I'm not overly overweight, just a little thick in my thighs and stomach.

I quickly opened my front door, holding the towel over my head with one hand as best as I could with the rain and wind pushing down on me, and slammed my door shut and making sure the door was locked before turning on my heels and dashed to my car.

I hope my new neighbors didn't see me like this.

I opened my car door in such a hurry that I nearly dropped my car keys in the rush to jump inside, but I kept a tight hold of them and basically did a baseball slide into my car and slammed the door shut a little harder than necessary.

This wasn't a good start to my day at all.

Reaching my right hand up, I pulled down my sun visor and popped the mirror open to inspect my appearance. My curly hair is now soaked and has me looking like a wet poodle. The mascara that I had put on is smeared around my eyes. I look around my car in search for a napkin.

I really should clean this car out soon. I have been on the road and my car is definitely showing it. My plan was to get all this trash out as soon as I was done unpacking yesterday, but I had been too tired and to be honest, I completely forgot. I'm glad that I didn't, however. The sonic bag still laying across my seat allowed me to find an unused napkin.

I rolled down my window a tiny bit and let the rain drip onto the brown napkin to make it easier to clean up my eyes.

Once I was finished whipping the area around my eyes, making sure that no blackness was left, I turned my attention to my hair. I pulled my hair from the ponytail and used the rest of the napkins to dry my hair the best that I could, at least before pulling it back up.

I'm not the type of girl that keeps makeup in her purse, so I won't be able to fix up my face, but at least I could redo my hair. It's not the prettiest, but it's okay. I'm sure whoever is taking my interview will understand that I look the way I do because of the weather.

That's my hope, at least.

Definitely don't want him or her to think I wasn't concerned about my work appearance because I definitely am.

With an annoyed sigh, I pressed the button that started my car and turned my windshield wipers on. Pulling up the address to the 911 center on my phone, I type in the address into my GPS.

It's a small town. It shouldn't be that hard to find, but I had twenty minutes to get to my interview and I wanted to avoid being even a minute late.

This job was something I wanted.

I really wanted this job.

I hooked up my phone to Bluetooth to my car and went to my YouTube app on my phone and scrolled through my music playlist and found one of my favorite songs.

Curve by Somo.

I don't think I have yet to listen to a song made by that artist that I have not liked. I truly enjoy every one of his songs and I won't even lie, some of them I would like to have sex to.

I toss my phone on my passenger seat and head turn left out of my driveway, following the route my GPS is taking me.

The weather is horrible. I can barely see the road. I won't lie, I normally play on my phone while I drive but not today. The weather is too bad, and I definitely do not want to be pulled over by another asshole cop and given another ticket.

Two tickets in two days?

No, thanks.

Extra hard pass on that.

That reminds me, I will have to also swing by the police station and pay this damn ticket. I don't need that anywhere near my record and if they do a background check after my interview, I do not want that ticket to be the reason I do not get this job.

I know it's just a speeding ticket, but they prefer the employees to have a spotless record and I wanted to maintain mine.

I drive slowly through town, this time making sure that I was indeed going to correct speed limit. I'm not surprised to see that the roads are not very active. The weather is crazy and came out of nowhere.

I had checked the forecast before moving, and it was actually supposed to be sunny all week, but sadly that was not correct at all. I pass a bar it's called Sleepy Sheep. It looked like it was a little hole in the wall joint, but it was surprisingly busy on a Monday morning.

Maybe it was the type of bar that also served food during the day. I'll have to check it out. A night out would be a great way to meet new people, perhaps make a new friend.

A girl could hope.

That's what I loved most about this town. Lines of family-owned businesses filled up the streets and I love the idea of shopping local than spending my hard-earned cash at big box chained stores that don't even need the money.

A woman was outside a flower boutique called Luscious Stems and was rushing to bring in flowers inside the shop from the harsh wind. A man was just flipping the open sign on a door of a hardware store called The Dream Toolshed.

I truly like seeing that.

I see the police station coming into view, and I can't stop my mind from wondering on Officer Chandler. Why did such a good-looking male need to be such a complete asshole? He could have at least let me go away with a warning.

It wasn't like I was the type of woman to always get into trouble. In fact, my road record was completely spotless until now.

“Until Officer Dick head at least” I grumbled loudly as I pulled into the parking lot of the 911 center.

I pulled my car into the closest spot available, killed my car and sat there for a few moments preparing myself for the interview. They will probably give me a few situations and will want me to tell them how I would handle that particular situation.

I can do this.

“You got this, Avery ” I whispered to myself. “You have handled every condition you have been faced with, with the appropriate answers, and always got whoever it was the help that they needed at the time ”

I got to hype myself up before I get too nervous to walk through the doors. I don't normally get this anxious, but in a new town, people will be quick to judge me.