That $200 that he left on the table let me pay my rent and that phone bill.
I'm trying to not remember how I got the money.
Just working hard to find a new job.
But I want one that I can more then just do. I want one that's not just a job. I want something I can love doing. That's not an easy grab. You have to by pass a lot of those yeah I'd hate this but it's a job opportunities.
I'm still doing that. I'm paid up on rent and bills. There's not much in the fridge and I'm buying things like toilet paper and such with the change I always collect.
But I'm making it. I'm surviving. I don't need a lot. I just need the bills paid and the bare essentials.
I want a good job! I spent 13 years taking care of my boys, precious as they all were. I loved those days. But they aren't living with me anymore. They're with their dad. So it's just me. And open empty days that I want and need to fill with something that matters.
I spent 13 years basically coasting. I look back at times and think the only thing I did those years that was important was raise up well three beautiful boys. I didn't even write much. The boys and the house took up so much time and energy. And it's a little hard to concentrate on writing when you have six or eight kids, yours and half the neighborhood, running around screaming and squabbling ten feet away.
So I work at it every day. I read the employment pages front to back. I go off to the job search agency almost daily. I walk up and down the neighborhood, for miles in both directions. I have a few interviews. And I have a ton of applications sent out.
But I don't have a job yet.
And I'm back to being desperate.
No bills are due yet. But I have almost no money left. I've scrounged the change from everywhere. Even the old look beneath the sofa cushions trick.
I need money for the bus. And some things you just can't do without. Toilet paper is kind of essential.
And then it comes. It's a beautiful sunny day. Cold of course. After all it's Minnesota in January.
I was able to walk to this job interview. I don't think I'll get it though. Being good with people is worth only so much. I don't really have the skills the job is looking for.
So I'm a little down walking home.
Oh let's be honest. I would have loved the job. I knew it would be a long shot. I was hoping enthusiasm, brains, and the willingness to study hard and learn fast would mean something.
The woman who interviewed me didn't seem terribly impressed.
A little down, yeah. Reality is that I am trying desperately to make it home before I start crying. I don't do crying where anyone can see me. I don't let people see when I hurt or when I'm sad or afraid. I don't share that or give that. Always that giggling little pouncing cutie. I do smile pretty. And show only the up side. I hate sympathy or pity. My answer is always I'm just fine.
So I'm walking up the street to my apartment fast as I can. My eyes are down. I don't want to share what they are saying even with strangers.
I glance up a little to navigate a patch of ice and freeze mid step, almost flipping myself into a kamikaze comedy of winter follies on ice.
He's there, smoking outside his apartment building.
Suddenly I really want to cry.
Oh please make him go back inside! I stop still myself. And light my own cigarette.
I smoke it slower then anyone has ever smoked a cigarette before.
And he is still there when I am done.
I fucking know. It's not chance or coincidence. Not stupid here. I'm just desperate. I know.
If I get near him he'll make that offer again. Money I need to get me by. Money no one else has to offer. As much as they may want to help.
I just stand there getting colder and colder. I don't know what to do. One of my interviews might actually hire me I think. But I don't even have the bus fare to get there.
It's not even the money for sex equals being a whore thing. This man terrifies me. Just the little that shines in his eyes before he damps them down. I don't know why but his entire attention has slammed onto me like a rat trap. He is focused on me. Before we ever even spoke a word I think.
I want to yell out a protest that I can't to this anymore. I used to be that kind of wild child. I'll admit that. Now I'm just a divorced mom with three boys that live with their dad.
I'm nothing to excite anyone!
Why did his eyes land on me?
All I have done since I moved in was work and have my boys every other weekend.
I don't know or realize what he has seen or heard.
I haven't thought about the window, or the shade that has been open half way since I moved in.
I wouldn't get it even if I knew.
I don't think of myself as someone who would inspire lust. I'm not some taut little tight bodied 20 year old. Divorced and in my late thirties I don't often think of myself as an object of desire.
He wants me because I'm still a bit of that good little girl. I arouse him because he has heard me through that open window laugh like an exuberant, cheerful child. And he has also heard me cum. Me forgetting that if I can hear him then he can hear me.
I've caught his eye and his attention. And finally his hunger.
He has watched me bounce off the bed where I curl around my lap top wearing just bikini panties and a tank top. He's seen long legs uncurl and a still agile body unwind and dart off the bed.
He's a hard, cold man. What I don't get is that he wants me for my warmth.
He gets that I love the people who enter my world and he wants that. He wants what I give out so casually. He wants it for his own.