Charlie

We've finally started to go through the list. I list off the different careers while Olivia says yes, no, or not really. It's tiring at this point.

I rest my head in my hand as my other holds my pen ready to cross off, circle or leave the next option. "Nurse?"

She waves it away. "Same thing with the doctor. I'm fine with it but it isn't a thing that really interests me."

I leave it alone and move onto the next one. "Tutor?"

She shakes her head. "I wouldn't be able to sit there and tutor students. I don't have the patience."

I cross it out and move to the next one. "Teacher?"

Again, she shakes her head. "Maybe? I wouldn't turn it down, but it would have to be with a good age group and with a class I actually like."

"That makes sense. I'd never be able to teach anyone."

She tilts her head. "Why not?"

"I can barely keep myself focused on a topic and learn it, let alone teach someone else? That would be impossible."

"But you already know what you would be teaching."

"True. But it just wouldn't work out for me."

"Oh."

I nod and look down at the list. "Vet?"

"What do you plan to do?" she asks.

"This."

"This?"

I nod. "Yeah. I plan to help people find jobs."

"Why?"

I shrug. "Why not?"

"Well, like, why do you want to help people find jobs? Why are you helping me?"

I drop the pen down onto the table and lean back. "I don't know. I just remember how much I loved to go along with my dad to help his clients. It was always amazing when they got that look on their face when they found a job that they knew was for them."

"So you want to do this for a living to see others be happy?" She raises an eyebrow.

I mull it over for a minute before nodding. "Yeah. That seems right."

She laughs.

"What's so funny?"

"The fact that you don't even realize why you want that job but you know why you want the job."

I blink. "What?"

Her laughter stops. "That's not exactly what I meant." She places her hand on her chin. "But, you just know you want that job. You don't know the reason right away but you do know that that's a job you'll like." She looks down. Her voice gets quieter. "I wish I had that."

"And you can!"

She glances back up at me. "Really?"

I nod.

She laughs. "I'm going to be honest. I don't have that much faith in this plan."

What? My eyes widen. "Then why are you doing it?"

She sighs. She leans back and looks at the ceiling as her head hangs over the edge of her chair. "I'm willing to do anything to get my mom off my back about my future. So when you showed up with this plan it seemed like the best idea."

I clench my jaw and look out the front windows of the bakery. Does that mean that this whole thing might not even be worth it? That she isn't looking for herself and is only looking to get her mom off her back? I run a hand through my hair. "Is it even worth it to continue down the list?" I ask. My tone comes across harsher than I mean for it to but I don't care.

She scrunches her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Well if you're only doing this to get your mom off your back wouldn't you just lying to her and picking a random one to say you have an interest in, work?"

She crosses her arms. "That's not the only reason I'm doing this."

I snort. "Sure. Just like the only reason I'm doing this is to get some experience."

"What is wrong with you? You were perfectly fine a minute ago. I don't see why the reason behind this matters to you. Can't I just keep that to myself?" Her expression turns sour.

I take a deep breath. Maybe she is right. I don't know why I got so worked up. Maybe because I need her to take this seriously. But why? Just so I can get experience helping someone find a job? Isn't that just as messed up as her only wanting to do this because of her mom? "That isn't the only reason you're wanting to do this?"

She shakes her head. "I have other, more personal reasons for wanting to do this."

I nod. "So we'll just trust each other?"

She nods.

I reach my hand over the table to her.

"What's this for?" she asks.

"Shake on it. That'll we'll trust the other if they aren't wanting to tell everything."

Olivia stares at my hand for a moment. She seems to weigh something in her mind before she reaches up and shakes it.

"Agreed," we stay together.

"Shall we finish this list?"

She grins and puffs her chest out. "We shall."

***

After leaving the bakery I head over to my dad's work. The sooner I show him the list the sooner we can start booking appointments and finding Olivia her future career.

Surprisingly we narrowed the list down by quite a lot. I'm sure if we reprint it with only the ones she would be interested in we would end up with half a page. And if we included the ones that are our failsafes we'd end up with a whole page.

I push my way into the office and start to make my way past the front desk when Ms Whatshername waves me down and stops me. "Your fathers with a client right now."

"Okay?" That's never stopped me from going and seeing him before. So, why is it now?

"He asked for complete privacy."

"Why?" I lean my arms on the desk.

She eyes them with disgust. I keep leaning anyways. "His client is very important."

How can someone be important if they don't have a job? "How so?"

She shrugs. "They came in through the back. Said no one can know who she is."

"So I have to wait out here?"

She nods and smirks.

I sigh. "Fine." I walk over and plop down into one of the gray uncomfortable armchairs you'd find at a doctors office. The last time I sat in one of these I got in trouble for not being quiet. That's when dad decided I should just sit in with him, and surprisingly enough I was more calm in there than out here.

I've always thought it was because Ms Whatshername has devil eyes and couldn't stop staring at me.

I lean my head back against the wall and stare at the ceiling. It's plain white tile panels. I pull my phone out after staring at the ceiling for what feels like forever. It's just starting to be close to five o'clock. I got here at four thirty, how long is his client going to take?

I stand up and head to the front desk again.

Ms Whatshername looks up at me over her red wired glasses. "Yes?"

"Do you know if he's still with his client? I have some important things to discuss with him."

"And I'm sure his client has important matters as well. Maybe even more than yours."

"More important than a girl's future?"

She raises an eyebrow. "Yes. It's about a woman's future."

I almost choke on my spit. "Is he on a date?!"

Ms Whatshername breaks into a full on laughing fit. I stand there with my mouth open and my eyes wide for five minutes watching her laugh, questioning everything I know about my dad. "Well?" I ask as she wipes tears from her eyes.

"Heaven no. He's just with a client. He'll be out when he's done."

I groan. "Great." So my dad might be seeing someone while I'm out here waiting to get Olivia her future. How could he do that?

Yeah, yeah. I know that I should show some leeway and assume he's just helping a client. But I did text him and let him know I wanted to do this tonight. And by now office hours are over so we might not even be able to get anything set up for job hunting.

"Everything okay out here?"

I spin around. "Finally," I say.

My dad stands leaning against the wall. His brown curls a wild mess upon his head. "You ready to start your first job searching emails?"

I grin. "More than ready."