Sherri was gaunt and ghostly, with dark circles under her eyes, and her face was puffy and red from sunburn. She was so thin that someone could crack her in half like a twig.

“I know all about you, Sherri,” Gloria said. “I’ve known all along. I know about your mom. Your dad. Your ‘brothers.’”

“How?” All this time, Sherri had been so careful to keep her old life separate from her new one.

“Your friend you came here to interview with, she told me. I knew before you even showed up in my office. That was why I let you interview.”

“Because you felt sorry for me?”

“Listen, I don’t feel sorry for anyone. Life is tough. Just ask any of the girls. You aren’t the only person here with a master’s degree from the school of hard knocks.”

“And?” Here it was. Sherri waited for Gloria to lower the boom.

“And nothing.”

Gloria picked some dirty cotton balls off the floor and threw them in the garbage with a look of disgust. “You want to know why I hired you? It’s not because you were the prettiest girl to walk through that door. It’s because you wanted to work here so badly that you were willing to lie for the job. You were hungry.”

“Don’t fire me, Gloria. Please.” Sherri didn’t want to cry in front of Gloria. Not Gloria!

“I could have fired you a long time ago. Believe me, I’ve thought about it. For someone who’s a quick study at everything else, you’re slow to learn about yourself. You’re slipping. I see it. Everyone sees it. But you?”

“I’ll do better. I will. Please, I’ve got nothing else.”

Gloria put her hands on her hips. “You really believe that, don’t you?”

Sherri couldn’t answer, because Gloria was right, as usual.

“I don’t think it’s the job you want,” she continued, after a pause.

“It is. I love it.”

“Get out of here, Sherri.” She pointed at the door.

“Please. Don’t.” She was so desperate she wanted to hurl herself at Gloria, grab on to her, beg. “I’ll go out there and bust my ass. You’ll see. I’ll be fine.”

“Clean up. Grow up. Get all that shit out of your system. Get your act together.”

“You mean I can come back?”

Gloria turned and began walking toward to her office.

“Please?”

“Take care of yourself. Dry out, Sher. No more pills. No more sleigh rides.” She clicked the door shut behind her.

Sherri, angry, looked at herself in the full-length mirror and began to pull off her eyelashes, tugging the ends so hard that her eyelids were distorted and her vision blurred. But if it was from pain or the tears that had gathered against her will, she wasn’t sure.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN