felt guilty. I said a little prayer and asked God to forgive my sins because the way my life was going, I was on a fast train to hell.
Chapter Eleven
“Hey, Jane, it’s me, Magnolia. I got your message. What’s going on?”
“Hey, Magnolia.” Jane sounded out of breath. “How was your appointment?”
“Fine. Long, but fine.”
“Yay! I’m glad to hear that.”
“So what’s—”
“Hey, can you hold on a second for me?” Jane asked, and I heard a loud clunk as she put the phone down somewhere. I continued walking down Mission Street and made a right on 18th Street so that I could head to Valencia Street. The smell of urine had assaulted me since I’d gotten off of the BART. I tried not to stare at all the homeless people and vagrants, but I felt sad seeing how bad the homeless situation was in San Francisco. The city was so rich, and yet there were so many people who couldn’t even afford a place to live. It wasn’t too much of a stretch to think I could have been one of them. I’d been in the city without a job and had wondered how I was going to be able to pay my $2600 a month rent. If it hadn’t been for Anna lending me $10,000, I would have had to have gone home, and then I wouldn’t have gotten the job at Cool Credit.
I pulled out my notebook to look at my notes. Now that I was here, I was a little nervous about asking random people in the street to answer questions for me. I stopped outside of the Dandelion chocolate store and decided to buy myself something before I got to work. I breathed in the delicious smell of chocolate as I got in line and studied the menu on the chalkboard. I decided to get a frozen hot chocolate and a brown butter blondie. I’d decide on my questions while I was eating.
“Hey, Magnolia, you still there?” Jane’s words were rushed.
“Yes, what’s going on?”
“Sorry, the office is crazy today.” She sounded excited. “Tate ordered a camera for me to take some photos and videos to use in the marketing shots. He wants me to join you tomorrow and record you interviewing people.”
“Oh, okay,” I said. “I’m actually in the Mission right now. I wanted to get a headstart on the interviews, but it will be great seeing you tomorrow. I’m feeling really nervous.”
“I bet.”
“So what’s the big lie you found out?”
“Remember how Tate told us he was the sole investor in 800 Club?”
“Wow, he agreed to change the name from Cool Credit?”
“Well, no, but I’m trying to make it happen. Okay, you know how Tate told us he was the sole investor in Cool Credit?”
“Uh huh.”
“Well, he’s not.”
“What?” I shuffled a few paces farther in the queue. “What do you mean?”
“He has a silent investor.” Jane’s voice was eager. “Someone invested two million dollars in the company.”
“No way. How do you know? Tate told you?”
“Of course not.” She lowered her voice. “I heard him on the phone.”
“What?”
“So I was going to his office to, uhm, see if he needed any help, and his door was ajar, and as I was about to walk in I heard him shouting.”
“Oh, shit, what was he shouting about?”
“He said something like, ‘I’m the boss and I make all the decisions. You’re a silent partner, remember?’ Then he was quiet for a few seconds as he listened to the other person and then he said, ‘Yes, I know you put in two million, and I appreciate it, but that wasn’t part of our agreement. No, no, I’m not going to do that. I hired the number of staff that I thought was needed.’” And then Jane’s voice dropped even lower. “And then he said, ‘I’m not firing anyone.’”
“What?” My heart lurched. “His partner wants him to fire us?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Jane sounded worried. “I mean, Tate stood up for us, but still.”
“What did he say next?”
“He said he had to go, and then he lowered his voice and I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation.”
“Man, that’s crazy.” I looked at the notebook in my hand. “I need to make sure that I write the best articles that I can, then. Shit, these blog posts need to go viral.”
“Ugh,” Jane groaned. “I feel ya. We need to work together. I can market your ideas and you can incorporate the brand points I’m trying to get across.”
“That sounds good to me.”
“So maybe tomorrow