Amy closed the door and lowered herself onto another Drittsëkk sitting cube. Ruth Anne was as committed and responsible as Amy was lazy and untrustworthy. If Basil wanted to meet with both of them, the staff cuts had to be much worse than Amy imagined.

Her brain began chasing itself in circles. If Ruth Anne was going, then she was definitely going. And if she was going, then everything was over. She’d lose her apartment. She’d have to move back into her mom’s trailer. Working retail wasn’t so bad if you got benefits and $12 an hour. But if she lost this job, she’d have no other option but mall retail, and all those jobs were minimum wage, and in Ohio that meant $7.95 an hour. She couldn’t live on $7.95 an hour; she was behind on rent as it was. And if Ruth Anne was going, she was definitely going.

Around and around her brain went.

“Did they say anything to you?” Amy asked.

“No,” Ruth Anne said. “But if we’re both here, I’m sure Basil has a very good reason.”

“We’re the first ones to go,” Amy said. “He’s firing us.”

“Let’s make sure it’s really raining before we worry about floods,” Ruth Anne said. “This could turn out to be something nice.”

That was Ruth Anne all over. She remembered birthdays, she remembered hiring-day anniversaries, she remembered children’s names, she remembered what spouses did for a living, and she talked to older partners exactly the same as to younger ones. She never patronized, she never condescended, and she never said a mean word about anybody.

She’d worked at the Youngstown store for thirteen years before transferring to Cuyahoga “just to try something new.” At forty-seven years old, she’d never married, didn’t have kids, and Amy had never heard of a serious boyfriend. She treated Orsk like her family and home, and every day she tried to make it a better place. As a cashier in checkout, she considered it her personal mission to send customers out the door with smiles on their faces. She lived to make other people happy.

“I appreciate that you’re looking on the bright side,” Amy said. “But if you’re here with me, it can’t be good news.”

“Don’t you worry,” Ruth Anne said, pressing her lips together. “We’ll just sit right here and whatever comes, we’ll get through it together.”