A hard call

Laura and Dan listened to the ate breakfast and listened to the news. They talked about whatever came to mind. Once they'd finished eating, Laura got out her phone and stared at it.

"You don't have to call," Dan suggested.

"I should," Laura said with a deep breath. She scrolled through the phone and clicked the screen twice. It rang for a little bit before Patricia picked up. "I... didn't expect your call."

"Hey... Patricia," she said after a moment.

"I... looked into a few things on my end. I don't have a whole lot I can send to help, but I do have some contacts. You... might not like some of the places I know are hiring the area, but... well... how are you?"

"We're getting by."

They talked for a while. Laura winced as she listened to yet another bad idea from her sister. It seemed like Patricia was trying to drag her back into the mess that had gotten her into so much trouble in college.

Laura answered what questions she was able. The only good idea her sister had so far was to try a hospital to see if they had an accounting position open. That, or a call center. They were always hiring poor unfortunate souls.

"What... do you need if you can get us the money?" Laura asked in a hesitant voice. Dan looked up from the dishes and locked eyed with her.

"I can help you more if you come up here and stay with me."

"I... don't know if we could make it up there. Dan has a stable job."

"Could you come up here then? There are things I could do for you. I have a place for both of you," Patricia offered. "You could send money back to him. He's a big boy."

"No."

"Does he have vacation he could use?"

"Maybe?"

"Are you debt with the wrong people?"

"No, I'm not."

"Will it get that bad?"

"I don't know."

"Do I need to ask around for a safe... mediator if it comes to that?"

"Uh, no..." Laura grumbled. She was getting tired of this conversation. It was going nowhere and she had a feeling it would only get worse.

"Have you considered hooking again?"

"I am not doing that," Laura all but yelled. Her son looked up at her with wide eyes. She stared at the phone with an incredulous look on her face. "Okay, I'm hanging up now..." she hissed.

"Listen, I have someone who could keep you safe. As a backup!"

"No..."

"Think about it? If you can't find a job."

"No..."

"I'll send you the information," Patricia grumbled. "He works with high-class escorts."

Fine," she grumbled before ending the call and putting the phone down on the table. She semed to sag back on the stool. It took all her willpower not to scream.

"Everything, okay?" Dan asked.

"My damn sister," she grumbled back.

"What did she want?"

"For us to come up there for a week. She said she might have a place for us to relocate entirely. It wouldn't cost us much in terms of cash, but... well my sister has different ideas on what is acceptable."

"That's out," he said with a shrug.

"You don't even know what it was."

"I don't need to. You were against it, so I'm against it."

Laura looked at him for a moment before smiling. "Thank you," she sighed. "It really isn't what you're thinking about. I just won't get sucked back into her little world. Not if I can help it," she sighed. It was probably exactly what he was thinking about. She hoped he would never find out about her past.

Just then, someone knocked at the door. "Oh! That'll be the cable guy," Laura gasped and looked down at herself. "Right, I'm going into the bathroom," she declared as she grabbed her phone, a set of clothes, and rushed for the relative safety of the bathroom.

Laura sat on the toilet and cried silently. It hurt to have her sister rub her past in her face so blatantly and cruely. She knew it was a bad idea then, but feeding Dan and her with fast money seemed like such a good idea at the time. Her past mistakes never let her live a normal life.

She heard her son talk to the cable guy and stared at her phone. Patricia texted her three numbers. She was tempted to delete them, but turned off her phone before she could do it. Fresh tears fell as memories she'd rather not remember came back to her.

"It's safe," Dan called a little later.

Laura emerged from the bathroom, wearing light makeup and a loose, revealing top. "How do I look?" she asked with a smile. She wanted to look good for their neighbor.

"Simply beautiful. A stunning goddess of..." he said before trailing off. "Motherhood."

Laura's mouth quirked, and shook her head. "No way am I going to have another child. You can keep your motherhood comment to yourself," she laughed. "You're the one that gave me these back-breakers," she complained with a gesture at her breasts.

Laura took a seat at the table. Dan helped her get her phone hooked up to the internet. By accident, they found that the wall nearest the bed had the best signal, so Dan moved the router and modem to the socket on that wall and ran the cable line around the edge of the room.

"Oh, I have so many emails," Laura complained as she sat on the bed, her legs crossed.

Dan and Laura busied themselves with their own projects until it was time to go over to Amanda's apartment for an early dinner. Laura baked her dinner rolls with what she had.

"You look sharp," Laura complimented as she wiped lint and a stray hair off the front Dan's only half-way decent shirt. She'd made him get it so they could have something to wear if they ever went out that wasn't a work polo.

"You look amazing," he shot back and gave her a hug.