Page 5 of The Fallen Man

“Oh my God,” said Jessica breezing into the kitchen. “Have you seen the courtyard? Who rented that out? Those lanterns are to die for!”

“I don’t know,” said Caitlin, smiling. “but it’s dreamy. You need to see Angela. She’ll probably pay you to take some pics for the website.” The curvy blonde cocktail waitress was a direct contrast to Caitlin’s willowy frame and dark hair, but Caitlin suspected that it was more her sunny outlook on everything that truly made them the opposites that attracted. Caitlin had difficulty wrapping her head around optimism these days, but she loved that Jessica could.

“Ooh!” Jessica squeaked and hurried out of the kitchen. Jessica’s dream of being a professional photographer was slowly coming together. She was currently filling in with cocktail waitressing and real estate photography, but something like the setup in the courtyard would look good in her wedding portfolio too.

Caitlin pulled her apron and nametag out of her cubby and headed out to the bar area to set up for her event that would start in another hour. The other half of the building would open to guests momentarily. She was passing the office when Vince stuck his head out.

“Hey, Caitlin.”

“Hey, Vince,” she said.

He smiled back, but she thought his smile looked tight. He rubbed the bump on his nose—it was from a break during his college football years—a nervous tick that gave away that he was uncomfortable with whatever he was about to say.

“Hey. I was hoping to get a sec to talk to you.” He pushed one of his twists behind his ear, and Caitlin felt a flutter of nerves—he was being extra serious. She knew that Vince looked out for her, but nothing good happened anymore when someone wanted to talk to her.

“What’s up?” she asked, putting on her most cheerful smile.

“Have you seen the call sheet?”

“No. Why? am I working with Andrew again?” Andrew was nice enough but also the laziest barback in the history of bartending. Vince knew she hated working with him.

“Heh. No. I put Andrew with Sharice. Over on the other side. Um. At the Deveraux party.”

Caitlin’s heart sank. “The Deveraux party?”

“I swear, you’re not going to have to go over there. I just thought you should know.”

Caitlin sighed. “It’s fine, Vince.”

“It’s not fine,” he said sourly.

“It is what it is,” said Caitlin. “Thanks for making sure I don’t have to go over there. I appreciate it. And I fully expect you to charge them for every tiny thing.”

Vince grinned, his teeth flashing in stark contrast to his to umber face. It was a great smile, and Caitlin could easily see why Angela had fallen for him. “I will nickel and dime the shit out of them,” he promised. “OK, um… that was actually the easy stuff.”

Caitlin’s heart sank. “What now?” she asked, dreading the answer.

“The student loan people called again. They want to garnishyour wages.”

“Shit,” she muttered. “I don’t know how they expect me to pay them if they take all my money.”

“Do you need an advance?” asked Vince.

“No,” said Caitlin, shaking her head vehemently. “No. My paycheck from the agency comes in at the end of the week. I was going to use that to pay them.” Which would put her behind on the rent. Again. “I just thought I had a few more days.”

“I’ve been through this before,” said Vince. “They can only take money if you clock over a certain amount of hours.”

“I can’t work less, Vince. I need the money.”

“Yeah, I’m saying you have toclock infor a certain amount of hours.” He gave her a look that said she wasn’t getting it. “I could pay out the rest of your hours in cash.”

“I’ll pay them a bunch, and then we won’t have to worry about it,” said Caitlin, shaking her head. “I appreciate the offer, though.”

Vince smiled sadly. “Whatever you think best, kiddo.”

Caitlin shook her head. “I don’t even know, Vince. I’m just trying to make it through today.”

Caitlin continued out to the main corridor that separated the event spaces. She was lucky to have Vince in her corner. Without him, she would have been homeless on the street. Caitlin pinned on her name tag, her hands going through the familiar motions and feeling the grooves in the metallic-looking plastic. Her fingers rubbed along theKinKatie. Sometimes she wondered about the girl who had owned the name tag before her, and sometimes, she thought about getting Vince to make her a name tag withCaitlinon it, but she never did. These days the name felt like hers.