Evicted

“This was stuck in the door,” Search said shoving a piece of paper on the kitchen counter. I opened it, already knowing what it was.

“Notice to quit premises,” I read aloud, and Search narrowed his eyes at me and nodded his head in the direction of Emmalise.

A side smirk that didn’t meet my eyes rested on my face as I headed upstairs to talk to Search about our sudden need to move.

“I thought we were all caught up,” I said to him pushing my curls out of my face. My mind crawled to the last time we spoke about the rent and how much we needed to pay. Search had told me not to worry about it, and I listened.

“We were,” Search said furrowing his eyebrow together and rubbing his head. His long brown hair was more wild than usual today. He still looked good though.

“So, if are all caught up, then what the heck is this?” I asked him waving the paper in the air.

“We were, caught up, but then something came up.” He said walking back and forth across the room. My head dropped into my hands.

“Search, what did you do with the rent money?” I asked him speaking into my hands, my blood was boiling and I couldn’t stand to look at him right now.

“I had to pay for some equipment, an upgrade to the car so I can keep working.” He stopped pacing and walked up to me, moving my hand from my face. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see him right now.

“When were, you going to tell me?” I asked him, my eyes opening slowly to meet his sorry gaze.

“Today, I swear,” He moved his hands into mines and squeezed them tight.

I pushed him off and went downstairs, put Emmalise’s jacket on, and grabbed the car keys. He knew better than to follow me. I needed time to think and space. Emmalise trailed close behind me as we walked to the car and I tried hard to find the upgrades to it that Search spoke of. I couldn’t even see any.

“Want to go get some ice cream?” I asked Emmalise with a huge smile painted on my face. I hated for her to see me upset.

“Isn’t it too cold for ice cream?” She asked me in her big girl voice. I found it hard to believe that she was only three years old sometimes the way she speaks so clearly.

“It’s never too cold for ice cream.” I told her buckling her into her seat. I drove to the ice cream shop closet to our house and we sat in the car eating while I read a verse from the book of Psalms in the Bible to calm me down. Search was good at finding things, that’s how her go this name, and his job. People hired him to find what they lost. He made good money from it, but was constantly pouring it back into his business, leaving us in the red at home. I knew his intentions were well but this time he had gone too far. If he would have just told me we were still behind, I could have picked up more shifts at work or something. Anything would have been better than being dragged into court if we didn’t pay what we owed in the next fourteen days.

Emmalise groaned from the back seat. “Mommy my tummy hurts,” She rubbed her stomach in little half circles.

“Too much ice cream I bet,” I smiled at her and grabbed her ice cream from her, placing it in the cup holder in the front seat. “Let’s head home,” I told her, half dreading it.

Search had left by the time we got back and I already knew where he went. Back to work. A sigh escapes my body giving me instant relief that I didn’t have to talk to him about this anymore today. Tomorrow was another story though. I would make him sit down and talk this over no matter what, we had to keep a home for Emmalise. After laying Emmalise down to bed, I sat at my laptop eager to watch Netflix and unwind. My G***l desktop alert went off in the comer of the screen and I clicked on it, seeing that it was from work.

“We no longer need your services,” I can’t even read on past the first few words. My head hurts and my eye begins to water. I need this job. Especially with Search investing almost everything he gets into his business. My watery eyes retreat to the screen and I continued to read the email aloud though there’s no one to hear it.

“We had an unexpected family emergency, and we will be relocating indefinitely. Thank you for your years of service. We apologize for the hardship that this may cause your family. Your last paycheck is at the house on the table in the foyer.”

Unbelievable. I worked for them for years and they let me go in an email, hours before my shift was supposed to start. Standing up, my laptop slid to the floor and I left it there, not caring if it broke.

The stairs were too high to climb, so I just laid out on the couch, not bothering to turn off the lights. Today was a day that could just end, exactly now.

“Get up, you’re gonna be late,” Search nudged me from his side of the bed, He carried me upstairs in my sleep. If I wasn’t so mad at him I would have found that cute.

“They fired me,” I told him without my face leaving my pillow. I breathed in the Downy fabric softener scent that was almost gone. Instant relief flooded me, and I pushed my face into it some more to block out his voice.

“What? Fired you when?” He asked me still stalking for some reason I had yet to understand.

“Just go back to sleep Oliver,” I said to him. And he knew it right then exactly how pissed I was. I never call him Oliver. Noone did. I could feel the air thicken in the room while rolling over to face him.

His eyes were red, and for some reason, I knew he expected me to feel sorry for him and the mess he caused.

“I’m sorry Colby. I messed up. I had a job lined up, a big one. It was supposed to pay the entire amount we owed and then some. So, I thought if I get the upgrades to the car, it’ll up m chances of doing this job right, and the clients returning again. I thought it was a sure thing.” He said inching closer to me on the bed. His hair fell in strange places around his face, and if I wasn’t mad at him I would have laughed. He looked like a demented clown.

“I have to go get my last paycheck, can you drive me?” I asked him getting up and ignoring his sob story. I hadn’t decided if I believed it yet, or if I even cared.

“Emmalise, time to get up,” I called to her as I walked into her bedroom next door. She was already up playing with her teddy bears.

“Mommy!” she shouted running up to me giving me a bear hug. I loved the way she greeted me every morning like I was gone forever.

“Baby! Let’s get ready to go.” I tickled her and she laughed refilling my heart with the joy that had been slipping away since yesterday.

Search was already in the car when we left the front door, warming it up. My eyes combed over the car again looking for the enhancements he spoke of, but of course, I was none.

The drive to my now old job was silent except for Emmalise’s nursery rhymes cd that played on repeat. Search pulled into the driveway of my former employer's house and parked right in front of the door. I rolled my eyes at him.

“What are they gonna say, they already fired you.” He said poking me in the arm. A soft smile snuck onto my face, but I quickly put it away. I was still mad at him.

“I’ll be right back,” I told him, reaching for the door handle.

“I wanna come, I always wanted to see inside this place anyway.” He said taking off his seat belt, and quickly unfastening Emmalise.

I grabbed her hand and used my key to let myself in. Silence and emptiness greeted me as I stepped inside the house. The foyer was a mess. Shoes and jackets everywhere. The fur rug that lined the hallway to the living room was turned up in every direction. I shook my head. The silver lining was that I didn’t have to clean this up. Reaching the table in the foyer I grabbed the envelope. It wasn’t a check, but cash instead.

“No wonder they fired you, Colby, weren’t you supposed to keep this place clean?” Search said laughing at his unfunny joke.

“Mommy I have to pee,” Emmalise said dancing in a little circle.

“Good, now you can give us a tour of the house.” Search said flashing his irresistible smile.

“Fine, it’s not like they’re here anyway.” I walked them through the house stopping at every room to give boring explanations of what it’s used for. The state of the house was catastrophic. Dear God, please let their family be okay. Amen. Whatever emergency they had to attend to, it was urgent enough to leave the house in ruins.

The rush hour traffic kicked in as we got back to the highway, and I regretted going to grab my check so early. I should have waited to avoid the traffic. Emmalise cried from the back seat asking for more breakfast and Search turned the music up too loud for this time of day. My hands gripped the seatbelt in search of a way to ease the anxiety that began to rise in me.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic increased my anxiety as we sat in it for an hour. All I wanted to do was feed Emmalise and get a money order to pay the rent.

“Mommy look,” Emmalise shouted over the music pointing up to the sky out her window. A ball of white-hot fire fell from the sky hit the ground in the distance sending a beam of white light across the horizon. Emmalise screamed as the ground shook and cars honked. Search put the car in reverse only to hit the car behind us. Horns blared and trucks drove in the emergency breakdown lane to the right of us, speeding to get off the highway. At the beginning of an exit ramp, a truck hit a minivan, sending it spiraling into the line of cars to the left of it.

“We have to get out of here!” I screamed at Search, while holding Emmalise’s hand.