Courageous Love - Jerry Cole Page 0,4

searching, but I’d never done that before. I asked Stacy for help and she agreed because she wanted to leave as bad as I did. She suggested some websites where I could find people hiring and even lent me her tablet to search. However, we both realized that was a dead end because of how small the town was. If there were jobs available, they’d advertise them at the stores. Which meant I had to go down there and look.

I had put that off for a day, and then another, and then it was almost a week after I’d been abandoned here. I didn’t have an idea where to look and I didn’t want to go knocking on every door begging for a job. It would feel demeaning. I went to college for an art degree that I mostly slept through getting, in both senses of the phrase. I liked art well enough but I didn’t really plan on ever using it. I went to college for the experience and hook ups. Even if I wanted to create some studio art, this wasn’t the kind of place that was crawling with art collectors. Besides that, I knew that experience was important as it was mentioned in every online listing I saw. I lacked any experience in any field. There was no point in getting a job when my parents so generously gave me an allowance. Taking that away so suddenly was cruel. How was I supposed to learn what to do before I starved?

“Stop staring Adam,” Stacy said in a monotone as she passed behind me.

I closed the pantry and sat across from her at the breakfast nook. I laid my head on the table and sighed loudly.

I could practically feel the eye roll even though I couldn’t see it. “Stop moping.”

“I can’t. Life is too tragic.”

“You could do something about it.”

I propped my head up on my chin and looked up at her. “But why should I have to?”

She scowled. I knew it wasn’t directed at me. “If you quit now your siblings are going to win.”

“I should just let them. You can tell my dad I raised the white flag. He was right. I'm an irresponsible lazy wreck that will never change.”

She frowned even harder. “I don’t think just giving up is going to do it. I think if we can’t get you self-sufficient this might be made permanent.”

“What?” That got me to shoot up in my seat really quickly. “What makes you say that?”

She shrugged. “It’s a feeling. If you prove what your siblings said about you is true to your parents, I think they will be more inclined to believe whatever else they say.”

It all made too much sense to me. “See how he failed, father? He gave up too easily. You’ll have to show him you mean it,” I thought my Rosidae impression was spot on.

“That’s what I was thinking.” She cleared her throat and lowered her voice slightly in a fair impression of Isaac, “Ms. Stacy didn’t exactly help, did she father? Maybe she’s not as reliable as you think.”

“I get it. The twins probably have more planned. This feels like their biggest move yet. If we win this, I don’t think they have anything else that can get rid of us as effectively. But that means they’ve probably been preparing for this for a long time. They have back up plans for their backup plans.” I felt my shoulders droop. I would have to take this seriously after all. I really didn’t want any part of the family business. But I couldn’t stand living in this secluded place. I also didn’t want Stacy to lose her job because of me.

“I’ll try tomorrow,” I promised.

“We can’t give up yet,” she said with a weak smile.

I didn’t have a good feeling about any of it.

***

I tossed and turned that evening. Stacy found a map of the town on the internet and copied it down for me and expected me to go to every business she marked asking about jobs. What if I went to every spot on that map and they all turned me away? I was a stranger, I had never had a job before, and I wasn’t sure how you even asked someone to hire you.

I threw my sheets to the side and got up out of bed. It was a little after one o’clock in the morning. I never went to sleep that early back in the city. I was usually out