Chapter 5

"Please?" Nate added. "I'd love to buy you lunch to thank you for helping her."

Charlotte's eyes went even bigger as she stared at me and mouthed What is happening?

I debated for only a moment. Charlotte's earlier words coming to mind. No, he wasn't asking me out on a date, Penelope would be there. The thought of spending a meal with hunky Super Dad and his sweet daughter- that sounded better than the cup of instant noodles I had at home.

"I'd love to."

"Great. I'll text you the time for lunch tomorrow and we'll figure it out." Nate squeezed Penelope's hand. "Let's get out of here Sweet Pea while your mom is distracted."

Erin was seething as she listened to whatever the person said on the other side of her phone call. She paced in quick clips across the title.

Nate kept his arm around Penelope and positioned himself between her and Erin as they walked past. Charlotte came over to me looking a bit nervous as she glanced between our boss and a fuming Erin who looked two seconds away from breathing fire.

"What did I miss?" Charlotte asked me.

"She wanted me to cut Penelope's hair into a short bob, Penelope only wanted a trim. Mr. Hockey came to the rescue."

"And asked you out to lunch, don't forget that."

My boss sighed. "Lia, this whole mess could have been avoided if you'd simply done the cut. Hair grows back, the kid would have gotten over it."

Erin hung up her phone call. If she were in a cartoon steam would be blowing out her ears. She whirled around and lifted her phone high.

"Hey besties, you won't believe the day I've had. I've never had such a bad experience. I booked a cut for my daughter and not only did she waste my time going through the motions of washing hair, but seriously she shampooed for twenty minutes, it was creepy. Then she refused to do the cut." She turned the camera to look at me before turning it back on herself. Looking at my boss she demanded, "I want her fired now!"

My boss looked at the phone, Erin, and then me. "Pack up your things, Lia. You're done."

"But—"

"No. You're fired."

Erin smirked and went back to her phone. "That's how it's done besties. Demand respect and get things done."

She put her sunglasses on, gave a kiss to the camera, and then strode out the door.

I turned to my boss. "You can't seriously be firing me over that. I was protecting Penelope from that witch."

Charlotte nodded. "Seriously. Mr. Hockey even paid you for the service."

I noticed the cash Nate had handed her, conveniently, was no longer visible. My boss's phone started pinging and she pulled it out of her pocket. She frowned, and as it kept pinging, showed me the notifications. The salon was getting hammered with one-star reviews.

"You're done Lia. You're a liability, and the only way for me to salvage this is to tell people you're fired."

"Can I at least get my last check?" I asked.

"You owe me the booth fee for this month."

"It's only the second."

"With all this bad press I'll be lucky if I can find someone to take it over in February." Priscilla retreated to her office closing the door behind her.

I started cleaning up the things I'd used for Penelope's trim, and Charlotte grabbed a broom to sweep. We were silent, and I appreciated the moment to gather my thoughts. When I woke up this morning, I never would have thought I'd lose my job, and now probably my apartment; I especially never thought Super Dad would end up being Mr. Hockey. Hannah had been absolutely right about his protective streak, and it made him all the more attractive. Not that it would help me pay my rent or my bills. . . I'd probably have to take Maria up on her offer to sleep on her couch.

Charlotte put her arms around me and gave me a hug. "You'll find somewhere better. Put me down as a reference."

"Thanks, Char." I returned the hug before getting my things from my locker, and returning to where Charlotte stood by my case. "I'll miss working with you."

"Oh, you aren't getting rid of me that easy. I want to hear all about your date with that hunk at book club."

"It's not a date."

"It's food and he's paying. I'll see you in three weeks at The Book Garden."

Walking out of the salon with my case, I hurried home to my little apartment. The temperature was dropping quickly, and I felt the cold wind down to my bones. I lugged the case up three flights of stairs, and I was sweaty and out of breath by the time I reached my door. A bright yellow eviction note was taped to the chipped white paint above the number twelve.

"No, no, no," I muttered to myself as I opened my door and put the case inside. I locked my door, and hurried to my landlord's door down the hall, before knocking on it.

Benny opened his apartment door only as far as the chain would allow.

"Benny? Why is there an eviction notice on my door?" I asked.

"Lia, your payment is late."

"You promised I'd have until to end of the week to pay it." I argued. I'd counted every dollar I had to make sure I could pay rent for January. Between all the holiday closures at the salon, I hadn't had enough money to go home for Christmas or mail any presents home to my parents.

He shrugged. "That was before I found out you were fired. You didn't pay and that means you're out."

"Come on Benny, give me a chance." I pleaded.

"Be out by the date on the notice, or whatever is in the apartment will go towards the balance." He slammed the door in my face.

My phone started ringing and I looked down to see the florist calling. A small spark of hope bubbled. Maybe they needed me to cover a shift.

I took a big gulp of air, and in my most cheerful voice answered with, "Hi Emma."

"Lia...." Emma paused. "I wasn't expecting you to answer. This is awkward."

"Do you need me to come in?" I asked.

"No!" She sounded panicked. "There's no easy way to say this Lia. You've been so wonderful to work with, but someone tagged the shop in an unflattering video of you. We don't have a choice."

"Please, Emma. I'll do anything."

"I'm sorry Lia. Maybe if this has all died down we can talk about you helping with the Valentine's Day rush. But there's no way we can have you working here with everyone being so upset."

This couldn't be happening. I tried to think of a way to pay rent, but without the paycheck from the salon and florist, there was no way. I reached my apartment and found Mrs. Jex standing there with a plate of chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk.

"I hear you've had a bad day."

I simply nodded and picked up a cookie.

Mrs. Jex nodded towards her open door. "Come now, let's sit."

On autopilot I followed her into her place, and took a seat on the floral print couch. She set the cookies and milk on the glass coffee table before sitting in the matching chair across from me.

"Now dear, why don't you tell me all about it."

"I got fired twice today, I can't pay my rent. I'm going to be homeless."

She pointed to the cookie in my hand. "Take a bite."

Doing as she directed I took a bite and the warm gooey chocolate hit my tongue in all its delicious glory. If Mrs. Jex ever wanted to apply for a job at La Petite, she'd simply need to give Maria one of these cookies. I should call Maria and see if she needed to fire me too. I took another bite, appreciating that the cookie wasn't hard or chewy but the spot in between. After I'd taken my last bite, Mrs. Jex handed me the cold glass of milk.

"Was it the Hockey Housewife's video?" She asked.

I lifted my brow, "Hockey Housewife?"

Picking up her TV remote, she pulled up one of her saved shows. Season one of Hockey Housewife had a cast of gorgeous women in heels standing on the ice. And there on the end was a younger-looking Erin with a hand on her belly and a smile that suggested she had it all.

"That was her first season. I still remember the episode when Nate found out she was pregnant and he bought her the biggest pink diamond I've ever seen. But when they broke up he was absolutely devastated and dropped off the news. I couldn't believe it when they said he was going to be playing hockey for Glacier Bay."

Two cookies later she was talking me through his stats and how he was the highest-scoring player on the team so far this season.

"Oh it's time for my show!"

I spent the rest of the afternoon, and the next morning, watching soaps with her and forgetting about rent, and everything awful.