Page 46 of The Tracker's Revenge
“Double shit.”
“Yep.” She nodded, her perfect eyebrows furrowed. “In other words, we need new customers. Stat!”
Mr. Taylor was a divorcee in his mid-thirties who we had booked last week. He was the only customer we’d been able to snag in the chaos.
I grabbed my head, glowering at the numbers as if I could change them by mere will. I tried to wish a few zeros into existence at the end of our squalid balance, but nothing happened.
Damn! I totally have the wrong kind of magic.
“Maybe some of our radio ads will send a few customers our way,” I said hopefully.
Her mouth twisted to one side. “Sorry, I had to cancel those. We couldn’t afford to pay them anymore.”
I felt my energy drain all at once. When we’d started the agency, we’d envisioned people knocking our door down, desperate for a bit of love, ready to get hitched to their perfect soulmates. But it wasn’t anything like that. We’d had plenty of people inquiring about our services in the beginning, but they’d all wanted to pay next to nothing for the love of their lives.Like, what the hell?!It wasn’t as if they were shopping for a pair of socks. Why did people have to be so cheap?
After a few months in business, we’d changed our strategy and started aiming for more exclusive customers, society people with substantially more funds to spend. We’d scored Celina Morelli, hooked her up to a priest, and thought we had it made, especially after she referred DJ Slice our way.
The DJ, Aaron Blackridge, might’ve helped us continue the trend if not for rhabo and the terminally ill partner we delivered for him. Yes, we had saved Josh from sure death, but the damage had been done. We’d put Aaron through a heap of pain, and that was that.
Rosalina slowly lifted a finger as if carefully balancing an idea on the tip of her manicured fingernail. “I thought that... maybe... you could call Celina Morelli. First, ask how things are going with hergodlyman, then casually ask if any of her friends need to spice up their love lives?”
As she told me about the idea, she was cringing in a near mirror image of me. She knew as well as I did that it was a fat chance. Celina Morelli and Aaron Blackridge were friends. Chances were she already knew all about our screw-up, and she wouldn’t knowingly put any more of her friends at risk.
“What if our reputation is damaged forever?” I asked.
“I refuse to believe that.” Rosalina rose to her feet and started pacing in front of the desk. “It wasn’t our fault that Josh was sick, and besides, we went above and beyond to save his life.”
It was true, but that didn’t diminish the awful pain we’d put our client through. Maybe with time, when all remnants of his suffering had disappeared and Aaron’s happiness with Josh wasn’t tainted by the awful experience, he would be willing to mention us to others, but time wasn’t on our side. Not at all.
“Yes, we did go above and beyond,” I said, “but...” I didn’t need to finish. Rosalina understood all too well.
She collapsed back on the chair, a heavy sigh escaping her. “Oh, Triple T, what are we gonna do?”
Seeing her face etched with worry and hearing her voice tremble with doubt nearly undid me. Rosalina was my rock, my strength. She always knew what to do. I was usually the one flailing like a fish out of water, while she donned her mature expression and told me that everything would be okay. Except, she didn’t think so this time. She thought we were doomed. Our dream of owning a business and being independent was dying right before our eyes.
My first instinct was to bawl in despair, to tell her I had no idea what to do but...
I couldn’t fail her. She had been there for me when it mattered most, when I’d been adrift and my life had as much potential as an unfertilized egg. So instead of falling apart like a baby, I squared my shoulders and vowed to do the impossible, whatever it took, to keep our dream alive.
“I will call Celina,” I said firmly. Even though it felt hopeless, and it clawed at my pride, I would do it. I would beg if necessary.
Rosalina smiled at me, though her eyes still looked heavy with sadness and a sort of defeat I never thought I’d see in her expression. “Hopefully something will come out of it.”
I nodded and was about to say it would work, when a loud buzzer sounded from the lobby, making us both jump. We had just installed the thing, and it was the first time it had rung.
Since we were afraid of hostiles marching into our office, ready to decapitate us, we had thought it safer to keep the front door locked, so we’d added a bell and a sign that read “We’re open. Just ring the bell and we’ll be with you.”
Rosalina and I jumped to our feet, a hopeful air wafting between us. Maybe it was a new customer, someone ready to hire us to find their true love.
We could only hope.
