But clearly today wasn’t that day.
“Hey,” she said softly. “How about we go inside and have some lunch?”
“I’m not hungry,” Haley murmured before turning and running back inside, slamming the door behind her.
Turning toward the house, Sydney looked up at it and sighed. This was her life now. This was her home. It wasn’t a place she would have chosen, but…she would stay here for at least a couple of years and make it the kind of place Tracy wanted for her daughter. It was the least she could do.
She made it all of two steps before the electrician came out and told her he was done for the day and all the work was completed. Thanking him, she walked up the front steps and paused.
One down, one to go…
Walking inside, she found Haley sitting on the couch, staring at her phone. Pasting a smile on her face, Sydney said, “How about some mac and cheese?”
Haley shook her head.
O-kay…
“How about some chicken salad? Grandma made a batch this morning.”
Another small headshake.
Walking over to the couch, she sat down on the coffee table in front of her niece. “How about you tell me what you want to eat?”
“I already said I wasn’t hungry.”
“Yeah, I know, but you also didn’t eat breakfast and you really need to have some lunch. So…come on. How about I make us my super-thin-crust pepperoni pizzas? I know you like them.”
“Aunt Syd…”
“Please? Just…do this for me. You know I hate eating alone.” Eventually, Sydney knew she was going to have to stop letting Haley call the shots, but for right now, it seemed like the best way to handle things.
“Fine,” her niece said with a loud huff.
“You got it,” she said softly, thankful for the restored power. Standing, she kissed the top of Haley’s blond head before heading to the kitchen.
The freezer was stocked with casseroles and all kinds of food that friends and neighbors brought over, but she was dying for something that wasn’t microwaved. Honestly, she would have preferred calling and having a pizza delivered, but she was learning to be a bit more frugal.
The move back to Magnolia and leaving her job meant her income severely dwindled. She’d sold off most of her furniture and managed to maintain half of her savings. Then she received the life insurance money from Tracy and Daren. The money meant she could raise Haley, but she knew it was going to take a lot more than that amount to do it. She had to work—had to find a job. And on top of that, she put a large portion of that money into a college fund for her niece—something her sister and brother-in-law never did.
“I should probably focus more on how we’re going to survive right now,” she murmured as she pulled out the ingredients to make their lunch. Once everything was in the oven, she looked into the living room and saw Haley was exactly where she left her.
With her laptop sitting on the kitchen counter, she opened it and decided to search for a job while she waited for their pizzas to bake. Her eyes widened when she saw an email from her friend Mia with the subject “Job for you!”
Quickly opening it, she felt the first wave of excitement.
The job was actually…working for Mia. Her friend recently published her fourth book—she was a phenomenal mystery writer—and currently needed an assistant.
A virtual assistant.
“Oh, Mia,” she whispered. “Please don’t be messing with me.”
The job description fit Sydney perfectly: handle all correspondence, schedule and coordinate signings and events, social media marketing, graphic design for promos…
Back in Boston, she was a digital executive producer of a local news station and it took her years to work her way up to that position. Before that, she was an administrative assistant to an anchorwoman of the local news. She had worked at the television station and did everything from fetching coffee to being on-site at events to assist the “talent.” But she had worked her way up and had finally gotten the promotion six months ago.
Before the accident.
Behind her, she turned and checked on the pizzas to make sure they were cooking properly. Then, unable to help herself, she quickly pulled out her phone and called Mia.
“I take it you got my email?” Mia asked when she answered.
“I did! Are you serious? I mean, is this job for real or are you just throwing me a bone?”
Laughing, Mia said, “Girl, don’t even. Both my agent and editor have been telling me how I need an assistant, but I thought they were crazy. Now that the new book is out and my schedule is starting to get crazy, I realized I really needed help. And you are the queen of organization.”
It was true. Sydney did have a knack for keeping things neat and orderly, and it was just one of the reasons this whole house project was killing her.
“I don’t even know what to say! I’m not even sure I’d know where to begin!”
“Well, do you have space to set up a home office?”
“Space isn’t an issue. The house has four bedrooms. But right now it’s all sort of…chaotic.” She sighed. “I told you about that, right?”
“You did and I’m sorry.”
She shook her head and forced herself to think positively. “It’s okay. Hopefully in a month, things will be done. So…you said a home office?”
“Yeah. I’ll be sending you an inventory of each of my books and you’ll be responsible for sending them out to readers—you know for giveaways and things like that. Eventually I’m going to set up an online store, but that’s a couple of months down the line. And hopefully something you’ll be able to help get up and running.”
“That sounds amazing!”
“Basically, you’ll do everything you would do if you were right here with me, except you’re doing it from your place.”
“This almost sounds too good to be true! Are you sure about this?”
“You are my first and only choice. You know the way I work and the way I like things to be done. Hell, you’ve lived with me so you probably know me better than I know myself!”
They were roommates in college and, yeah, Sydney knew everything about her.
Including how disorganized Mia was.
“I’m going to need a little time to get set up, but if you start by sending me a list of where we need to get started, I’ll look it over and give you a timeframe for when I can get it done. And…”
“Syd,” Mia interrupted. “Aren’t you forgetting one crucial thing?”
Frowning, she thought about it for a moment. “Um…I don’t think so.”
“Salary? Aren’t you the least bit interested in what I’ll be paying you? And what kind of hours are involved?”
“Oh, right!” She laughed. “Yeah, that would be important information to have. So, um…”
Mia laughed too before saying the hourly wage. “And we’re looking at around thirty hours a week.”
“Are you serious?” she cried. “How is that even possible?”
“Well, with everything going on with you, we haven’t had a chance to talk,” Mia said, “but…I just signed for another six books…”