Carrie sat on the couch, staring at the bay windows with her left hand held out absent-mindedly before her. Soon it would be 3:30, soon it would be 4:00, soon it would be 4:30, soon it would be 5:00, then 5:15, then 5:30, then 5:45, 46, 47, 48, 49.

Part 3

Part 3

ONE

“There I was in my storage unit. I had nothing, no job, no boyfriend, no place to live, and then bam. Six weeks later I had my career, and six years later here I am,” said the drug rep, who was standing in the waiting room and leaning on the counter. She had a miniature dolly cart with a few crates and boxes on it, the sort of rig a homeless person would have, but new-looking, as if she wiped it down every night and got the wheels and buttons repaired from time to time. Megan thought the whole drug rep thing was disgusting, corporate, and transparently evil, but Jillian stood on the other side of the counter smiling at the rep with her mouth open.

“Wow,” said Jillian.

The drug rep looked like she took street fighting classes.

“Yeah,” said the drug rep.

“You know, I was trying to start my own business,” said Jillian.

“Oh, really, what’s that?”

“I was going to do coding. I found the software and everything, but things just didn’t quite work out.”

“Awwwww,” said the drug rep. “You know, honey, I could always hook you up with a job in my business.”

“Oh, yeah?” said Jillian.

Megan could not believe this. It was inappropriate to talk about wanting to quit or switch jobs when you were at your workplace and nine feet away from your employer.

“But I should warn you, it’s real fast-paced.”

“Well, maybe I’ll think about it,” said Jillian.

I mean, if Megan could resist it, everyone should be able to.

“Ok, sweetheart, I’m going to leave these samples with you, and you just give me a call whenever Dr. Billings is ready to meet with me.”

“Oh, ok,” said Jillian, taking the samples.

“Can I leave some literature out?” asked the rep.

“Sure,” said Jillian.

By “literature” the rep meant advertisements for bowel-emptying medication.

Jillian’s smile was like stuck or something. She almost started laughing, but she knew it would be a deep, woofing, slow laugh. Ridiculous. Thinking about laughing like that almost made her laugh again, a high-pitched rapid giggle. Ultimately she didn’t laugh, she just stood there and watched the drug rep wheel her little hobo cart out of the lobby.

Jillian walked back to her desk and said, “That woman is such a sweetheart.”

Megan didn’t respond, but Jillian was used to that.