“You have a kid, don’t you? How old is she now?”

She gritted her teeth. “My son, Caleb, is almost four and a half.”

“Right,” Randy said, snapping his fingers. “Caleb. Would he be interested in this?”

“Since he cannot read, I can assure you he’d be very excited as soon as I mentioned animals.”

He closed out of the proof and turned his computer back. “Kids need to be drawn to it. Change it and please have it to me by the end of today.”

She took another calming breath as she walked to the door, but this time she decided Gretchen’s techniques were bullshit. She turned back to Randy and said, “Do you have a problem with me?”

Randy didn’t bother looking away from his computer when he answered her. “Excuse me?”

“This flyer and the Oakhurst golf club.” Her frustrations peaked when Randy looked at her with complete disinterest. “Are you trying to make me quit?”

He arched his eyebrow. “Do you want to quit?”

The urge to say yes was strong, but she thought of Caleb and Gretchen, her family, and how that wasn’t quite true anymore. But her apartment did have a rent bill to be paid. “No.”

“Okay then.” End of conversation.

Jax resisted slamming Randy’s office door behind her. Several coworkers turned their heads as she walked by, but no one said a word. She pulled out her phone as she got back to her desk and sat. Gretchen had messaged her twice, and Jax only felt mildly worried.

Caleb and I are with Amanda, shopping. Don’t get mad about it.

Her defenses went up immediately. Who the fuck was Gretchen to tell her not to get mad? Jax threw her phone on her desk without answering the text.

She started working on the flyer right away. She broke it down piece by piece, deleting the aspects she felt most proud of first and inserting complete nonsense that would only appeal to Caleb’s preschool class.

She inserted balloons and clowns—she didn’t even know if there would be clowns at the festival. Jax worked and worked past the time other people had started to pack up for the end of the day. She finished off the flyer with a knockoff version of Thomas the Tank Engine and sent the proof off to Randy. He wanted childish and she’d delivered.

She loaded her messenger bag and pulled on her jacket. She hated how early the sun set during the winter. It seemed like she spent every minute of daylight at work. Once upon a time she would spend her lunch hour with Gretchen, taking strolls and getting fresh air no matter the time of year. Sometimes they’d play hooky and try a new restaurant in the city. Now, she woke up at the last minute, went to work, and went straight home. Day in and day out.