Page 5 of Bleeding Hearts Duet

“I’m sorry, Brighton.” She frowned. “So what are you going to do now?”

I shrugged because truthfully, I had no idea. I used all of my savings to come here, and I only had enough to keep my room for the next two weeks. I’d been counting on this, and I had nobody else to rely on, but I couldn’t tell Nicole that.

I should have known it was too good to be true. Things like this didn’t just happen out of the blue for me. I should have looked into it better, made certain it was a concrete offer. It wasn’t as if I was dying to be a baker’s apprentice, but it was the only offer I had. And I had clung to it.

“Well, you have some office experience, don’t you?” Nicole asked.

“A little.” I gave her a sheepish nod. “Sometimes I filled in at a tire shop back home. Answering the phones and booking appointments. Not exactly rocket science.”

“Well,” she spoke in a gentle tone, “my company is hiring. It’s normally pretty brutal competition to get in, but there’s an open spot for an office go-to girl, and since you know someone on the inside…”

She left the words hanging in the air, and I took the bait without hesitation.

“You think you could get me an interview?”

“I can do better than an interview.” She winked. “I’m the coordinator for the intern program.”

“You are?” I blinked in confusion. “But you’re so young.”

She stiffened at my blunt observation, and I slumped against the tree. I didn’t mean for it to sound rude, but it was a truth that couldn’t be ignored. Nicole was only a year older than me, which would put her at twenty-two. Even if she was fresh out of college, I didn’t see how she could already be running an internship program.

“I am young,” she agreed. “But I’m in tight with the CEO. And I may look sweet and innocent, but I wouldn’t underestimate me, Brighton.”

She smiled as she said it, but there was also a slight edge to her voice that I found a little odd. It disappeared a moment later when she picked up her cupcake.

“Now we just need to talk about finding you a more permanent place to stay.”

---