Chapter 18
MAGGIE
I hadn’t heard from Frasier in weeks. I needed my brother. Needed someone to turn to for advice, even someone who’d never had a long-term job, didn’t graduate from high school, and was basically a hobo. It’s not like I could go to my parents. They were the absolute last resort.
I was preoccupied at the diner, which led to wrong orders, forgotten refills, and lousy tips. Not my customers’ fault. I was the one with my head in the clouds: the money-shaped, unreachable green kind. I didn’t have thirteen thousand dollars. I barely made my half of the rent and utilities, plus drop-in dance classes and groceries, with a little left over for dinner out sometimes or a bottle of shampoo. I wouldn’t be able to save thirteen grand in a year, let alone two weeks.
One thing I knew,
