The Girlfriend Contract by Lucy Lambert Page A
Authors: Lucy Lambert
Tags: Romance, Contemporary
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door, waited, and then knocked again. After a third attempt, she opened it.
Janice's room was empty. Not even curtains. There were little holes in the drywall over the window where the rod had been mounted.
Gwen had a trusting nature ever since she was little. It came from watching all those Disney movies, where everything turned out all right in the end. Sure, people could be mean and evil. But they always got what they deserved, and the good people always won out. She blamed this trusting nature for her first reaction.
Her thoughts went something along the lines of: Oh! We've been robbed! I hope Janice is okay; I should get a hold of her.
It wasn't until she had to shift the notice from the door and the URGENT letter from the mail to her other hand so that she could find her cell phone that she made the connection.
The notice on the door had the property management company's letterhead in bold face, PATTERSON HOLDINGS, INC. Gwen read quickly, trying to take the entire document in all at once. This, of course, didn't work out so well, so she forced her eyes to scan each individual line, all the way down to, "Sincerely, Mike Patterson."
It was an eviction notice. Apparently, Patterson Holdings had not received a rent check in three months. And, unless Gwen could come up with the $3600 owed in back-rent by the end of the week, in addition to another $173.45 in fees for the bounced checks (it was already Tuesday!) she would have to vacate the unit.
Panicking, Gwen dropped the notice and then tore at the letter.
It was about the same thing, except laying everything out in somewhat more depth.
Gwen's first reaction was thinking she was having a nightmare. She went so far as to squeeze her eyes shut and command herself to awaken. But when she opened her eyes, that partially-crumpled letter still waited in her hands.
Her second reaction was that this was all somehow some big mistake. They'd gotten the wrong unit (even though both the letter and the notice both said Suite 705, her unit). Janice always took care of this stuff right away. Gwen always saw the rent come out of her bank account the next day after giving Janice her check.
She tried giving Janice a call. It went to voicemail. Gwen left a message. Then she texted Janice, just to be sure. Something inside told her that she was never going to hear from Janice again.
At least Janice only took her own stuff. When Gwen realized what had really happened, she rushed frantically through the apartment, checking. All her own stuff still waited in her room. The old TV and entertainment center her aunt gave her when she first went off to school still sat against one wall in the living room. The small breakfast table with its two mismatched chairs still waited in one corner of the cramped kitchen.
Gwen pulled one of those chairs out and sat down. Her wet clothes hugged her skin, but she barely noticed.
She always hated it in movies and TV when characters sat around telling themselves "This can't be happening!" and not doing anything about their problem.
But she really couldn't think of anything. The pittance she earned from manning the desk at the campus library a few days each week barely paid her half of the rent, groceries, cell bill, that sort of thing.
Where am I going to get almost $4000?
It wasn't like she had anything worth selling. No one would want the old TV; it weighed almost as much as she did. Her laptop might get her a couple hundred bucks. She could take on every shift at the library anybody offered. Even so, it would take her months to save up that much. And they wanted the money in three days!
Gwen found the rental agreement from the files she kept by her desk in her room. People are reasonable, she figured, if I just explain the situation to them, we can work something out.
The phone rang once before a deep-voiced woman answered, "Patterson Holdings, how may I direct your call?"
"Hi, I live at your building on Maple, unit 705. I need to talk to
Janice's room was empty. Not even curtains. There were little holes in the drywall over the window where the rod had been mounted.
Gwen had a trusting nature ever since she was little. It came from watching all those Disney movies, where everything turned out all right in the end. Sure, people could be mean and evil. But they always got what they deserved, and the good people always won out. She blamed this trusting nature for her first reaction.
Her thoughts went something along the lines of: Oh! We've been robbed! I hope Janice is okay; I should get a hold of her.
It wasn't until she had to shift the notice from the door and the URGENT letter from the mail to her other hand so that she could find her cell phone that she made the connection.
The notice on the door had the property management company's letterhead in bold face, PATTERSON HOLDINGS, INC. Gwen read quickly, trying to take the entire document in all at once. This, of course, didn't work out so well, so she forced her eyes to scan each individual line, all the way down to, "Sincerely, Mike Patterson."
It was an eviction notice. Apparently, Patterson Holdings had not received a rent check in three months. And, unless Gwen could come up with the $3600 owed in back-rent by the end of the week, in addition to another $173.45 in fees for the bounced checks (it was already Tuesday!) she would have to vacate the unit.
Panicking, Gwen dropped the notice and then tore at the letter.
It was about the same thing, except laying everything out in somewhat more depth.
Gwen's first reaction was thinking she was having a nightmare. She went so far as to squeeze her eyes shut and command herself to awaken. But when she opened her eyes, that partially-crumpled letter still waited in her hands.
Her second reaction was that this was all somehow some big mistake. They'd gotten the wrong unit (even though both the letter and the notice both said Suite 705, her unit). Janice always took care of this stuff right away. Gwen always saw the rent come out of her bank account the next day after giving Janice her check.
She tried giving Janice a call. It went to voicemail. Gwen left a message. Then she texted Janice, just to be sure. Something inside told her that she was never going to hear from Janice again.
At least Janice only took her own stuff. When Gwen realized what had really happened, she rushed frantically through the apartment, checking. All her own stuff still waited in her room. The old TV and entertainment center her aunt gave her when she first went off to school still sat against one wall in the living room. The small breakfast table with its two mismatched chairs still waited in one corner of the cramped kitchen.
Gwen pulled one of those chairs out and sat down. Her wet clothes hugged her skin, but she barely noticed.
She always hated it in movies and TV when characters sat around telling themselves "This can't be happening!" and not doing anything about their problem.
But she really couldn't think of anything. The pittance she earned from manning the desk at the campus library a few days each week barely paid her half of the rent, groceries, cell bill, that sort of thing.
Where am I going to get almost $4000?
It wasn't like she had anything worth selling. No one would want the old TV; it weighed almost as much as she did. Her laptop might get her a couple hundred bucks. She could take on every shift at the library anybody offered. Even so, it would take her months to save up that much. And they wanted the money in three days!
Gwen found the rental agreement from the files she kept by her desk in her room. People are reasonable, she figured, if I just explain the situation to them, we can work something out.
The phone rang once before a deep-voiced woman answered, "Patterson Holdings, how may I direct your call?"
"Hi, I live at your building on Maple, unit 705. I need to talk to
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