Chapter 15

“I don’t see how I’d manage it,” Desiree said with a sigh.

“Well, what are you going to do then?” her brother asked, sticking his fork in a box of cold Chinese food. He dug around, pulled out a healthy mouthful, and ate it. He watched her for a moment, then swallowed and said, “I mean, really? There’s Jenny, and there’s here.”

“I know, I know,” she answered. “Reese, I just... don’t know. I mean, the only thing I ever did besides... you know... was waitressing.”

“So?” he shrugged. “There’s tons of waitressing jobs around here.”

“I also don’t want to do anything that might put someone in the position to remember the old me,” she said. “I want to stay as far away from that as possible.”

“Step one is keeping your clothes on,” he said, pointing his fork at her.

“Yeah, thanks for the tip,” she said acidly. “Don’t you have anything helpful to offer?”

“Mm, not really.”

A voice interrupted their luncheon chat. “Hello, hello!”

“Hey, Jen!” Reese called out.

“Hey,” Desiree added half-heartedly.

“Hey, you guys!” Jenny said enthusiastically, shouldering off her coat. She scooped up her purse again and brought it to the table. “Now, I know this is totally presumptuous of me, but do you love me or do you love me?”

She held a couple of colorful brochures under Desiree’s nose and waited expectantly.

“Uh...” Desiree said nervously.

“I told my boss all about you this morning,” Jenny said, dropping down into the chair between Desiree and her sibling. “We need more people. I swear, sometimes this town is so small! And you’d be surprised how few people want to move to the snow and ice!”

“Heh heh, yeah,” Desiree chuckled nervously. She squinted carefully at the pamphlets, all of which were related to dentistry in some way.

“So anyway, he gave me work study my last semester,” she said, “and he didn’t have an applicant in mind for this year so...”

“So?” Desiree said, not following the discussion.

“You, silly! He picked you!”

Desiree just stared at her.

“To be his new candidate,” Jenny said, nodding at the other girl. “You know. For dental hygiene school...”

“Oh. Oh! Oh!” Desiree said, partly astonished, partly just horrified. Oh, my God, sticking her hands in other people’s mouths. “Oh, my God, oh, my God...”

“I know! Isn’t it great? You’re just going to love working for Dr. Pennyfeather. He’s really the nicest boss ever.”

“Uh huh...”

“I can never understand why he was teased in grade school,” Jenny mused.

“Was his name always Pennyfeather?” Reese asked. Desiree kicked him under the table.

“So anyway,” Jenny went on, ignoring Reese altogether, “as soon as you’ve gotten all your paperwork together, he’ll pay this semester’s tuition for you.”

“Wow,” Desiree said. “That’s very... generous.”

“Yeah, it is,” Reese said. “Tell him thank you, babe.”

“Oh, no, Sarah can thank him herself! I convinced him to give her a job as an office assistant part time while she goes to school, just until she earns her hygienist position. He’s so great! I told him you can start Monday.”

“You did what?” Desiree asked, unable to decide whether she was upset or not at her brother’s girlfriend’s meddlesome actions.

“Oh, I hope that’s okay!” Jenny amended quickly. “It’s just... I knew you were looking for a job... and Reese said he wants you to get on your feet as quickly as possible, so... I just thought... I hope it’s all right with you!”

“No, no, it’s great!” Desiree said, deciding instantly that it was. She jumped up to give the girl a quick hug and said, “I promise I’ll be there first thing Monday morning.”

“Great!” Jenny said. “I’ll give you a ride. Hey, we can carpool!”

“That’s excellent, you know, since I don’t have a car...” Desiree grinned.

“Well, that’s what employment is for, sis...ee. You big sissy,” Reese said, re-using his same lame joke from the previous evening.

“I swear, Reese, what is your problem?” Jenny said, giving him a poke in the ribs. “Don’t tease her when she’s trying to get a job.”

“Yeah!” Desiree seconded, just to be obnoxious. Reese shot her a dirty look. She stuck her tongue out at him, then turned to smile at Jenny, saying, “All right, so this is the program I take it?”

She held up a brochure for the local vocational college that featured a girl with impossibly white teeth standing next to a victim in a dentist’s chair. Jenny nodded wisely. “That’s it. Just two short years to the career of your dreams. Unless... did you have any credits from your other school that might transfer over?”

“Oh, um, no,” Desiree said uncomfortably. “This is all going to be new for me.”

“Great,” Jenny said again. “Well, okay then. Let’s go online and see the booklist for your first semester of classes! Ooh, maybe you can use some of my old textbooks. I saved them all, you know, in case I want to look them over sometime.”

“Uh huh...” Desiree said, completely disgusted at the thought of reading dental literature for recreational purposes. Jenny grabbed Desiree’s arm and dragged the cinnamon brunette into the next room.

Reese shoveled another forkful of food into his mouth and called after them, “Have fun, ladies!”

Desiree panicked slightly; oral hygiene was pretty low on her list of fun things. She only hoped Jenny’s enthusiasm would be catching. And on the plus side, at least she had a paycheck to look forward to. She was going to tell Reese to marry this girl; she already thought of her as a sister.