Small Change

by Sheila Roberts

  “This is good for me. What are you and Tiff going to have?”

  “That bad, huh?”

  Rachel popped a truffle in her mouth, then set the plate back on the coffee table. “Worse. I don't have a job anymore.”

  Jess sat down on the nearest chair. “Oh, no.”

  “Oh, yes. But that's not all. Claire needs braces and the Prince of Darkness is being his usual rotten self. I'd stick my head in the oven, except it's electric.” She took another truffle.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Go back to subbing if I can't find a teaching position. Between the schools in Heart Lake and Lyndale I should be able to pick up enough work. It's just—” She stopped and shook her head.

  “That you wanted something permanent,” supplied Jess.

  “I wanted something to go right,” Rachel corrected, eyes flashing. “I swear, the day I met Aaron my life became cursed.” She ran a hand through her hair. “All right, that is a major exaggeration, I admit, but I feel like everywhere I look I see bills to pay. I just …” Her voice broke.

  Jess put the plate of chocolates in her lap and a glass of wine in her hand. “I'm so sorry.”

  Rachel went for her third chocolate and rinsed it down with a healthy slug of wine. “It's okay. I'll be fine. My mom always says God never closes a door without opening a window.”

  Rachel's mom was currently busy caring for her husband, who'd had a stroke, and Rachel's deadbeat sister, who had moved home with her two children. Talk about an eternal optimist. But Jess nodded her agreement. “That's a good thought to keep in mind.”

  “I need a window to open really soon,” Rachel said, rubbing her temples.

  “I hear you,” Jess said with a sigh.

  “Oh, geez, listen to me. What's going on with you? Does Michael have a job?”

  “If we want to move to Ohio, he does.”

  Rachel's face lost its color. “You're not moving, are you? Oh, Jess. Please tell me you're not moving. I know it's selfish of me, but if you leave that will be the final straw.”

  “We're not,” Jess assured her. “Michael is looking for something around here. And I'm going to get a job.”

  “A job?” Rachel looked at her with new interest. “Doing what?”

  “Robbing banks,” Jess said, deadpan. “I'll start with Washington Federal Loan. They should have plenty now that they've been bought out. Want to drive the getaway van?”

  That brought a smile. “Sure. Let's give them something to talk about here on Cupid's Loop. Seriously, what are you going to do?”

  “I'm going to see if I can get work as a temp.”

  Rachel gave a thoughtful nod. “I hear they can keep you busy doing that. I never thought of you as the office type, though.” She took in Jess's tight jeans, pink tank top, and pink sequined flip-flops, and added, “I can hardly wait to see what you wear to the office.”

  “I can do office boring if I have to,” Jess said, and plucked a chocolate from the plate. They were disappearing fast. If Tiffany didn't hurry up and get there she'd miss out. Jess checked her watch. It was now a quarter after seven. Well, Tiffany tended to run late.

  But by quarter till eight the chocolate was gone and half of the wine, and there was still no sign of her. Jess went to the living room and looked out the window. She could see Tiffany's Craftsman style house, which sat kitty-corner and across the street of their cul-de-sac. Like all the houses in Heart Lake Estates, it was big, too big for two people really, but Tiffany and Brian had planned to fill it up with babies. So far it was still too big, although Tiffany had done a good job of filling it with home furnishings from Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel. Her car wasn't in the driveway. Neither was Brain's jeep.

  “That is so weird,” Jess said, returning to the family room. “Nobody's home.”

  “I say we start,” Rachel said. “She's always late, but this is ridiculous.”

  “Maybe I'd better call her and see if she's okay.”

  “She probably found a sale, which means we won't see her until after the mall closes. I don't know where she finds the money for all these bargains,” Rachel muttered as Jess went for the phone.

  “She got another charge card. Didn't she tell you?”

  Rachel's eyes got big. “No. She knew I'd ream her out. And I'm betting she didn't tell Brian, either.”

  Jess called Tiffany's cell phone, but only got her voice mail. “Hey, where are you? We're ready to start.”

  “Ready to start? I am starting,” Rachel said. She seated herself at the worktable and began sorting through the tiny charms, which they would then string along with beads onto little wire hoops to loop around wineglasses. Jess had found everything from multicol-ored glass fishes to tiny shoes in various styles.

  Jess joined her and they worked another ten minutes with still no sign of Tiffany. “Don't you think it's strange that she hasn't showed up yet?” Jess asked. “I just saw her this morning so it's not like she could have forgotten.”

  “Like I said, she found a sale,” Rachel said, slipping a bead next to the charm on her wire.

  “I hope everything's okay.”

  “Of course it is. If it wasn't, we're the first people she'd have called.”

  They finished their creations and still there was no sign of Tiffany. Jess went to the living room and looked out the window again. The cars were back in the driveway now and a light was on inside. “She's home now.”

  “Nice of her to let us know she wasn't coming,” Rachel said, settling on the couch. “I don't get it. She was the one who wanted to make these.”

  As she spoke, Tiffany's front door opened and out dashed a petite blonde with a heart-shaped face, wearing designer jeans, a silky pink top, and sky-kissing heels that screamed designer label.

  “Here she comes,” Jess announced.

  “Just in time to lick the empty plate,” said Rachel, who had devoured the last truffle.

  A moment later Tiffany was at the door.

  “Where have you been?” Jess asked, letting her in. “We were worried.” Then she realized that Tiff's eyes were red and puffy, a sure sign she'd been crying. “What's wrong?”

  “Brian found out about the charge cards.” Tiffany fell onto the love seat. “It was terrible,” she said and burst into tears.

  Jess sat down and put an arm around her. “What happened?”

  “He, he, he …”

  “He beat you,” guessed Rachel in horrified tones.

  “No. He, he, he …”

  “Oh, my God, he's leaving you!” Rachel cried.

  “Noooo.” Tiffany wailed. “He took my credit cards. Even after I returned everything.”

  Rachel stopped looking sympathetic so Jess stepped in. “I'm sorry.”

  “Well, I'm not,” said Rachel. “Tiff, you should be glad Brian took those credit cards. Think of the mess you could have gotten into with them.”

  “Oh, that's easy for you to say,” Tiffany snapped. “You have credit cards.”

  Rachel's eyes narrowed. “Well, let's trade. You can have my charge cards and I'll take your husband.”

  This was not good. Jess had two emotional women in her living room going at it and no chocolate left. “Come on, you two,” she pleaded. “This isn't like either of you.”

  Rachel sighed. “Sorry. I'm a little cranky tonight,” she muttered.

  Tiffany nodded, accepting her apology, but she still looked hurt. An awkward moment passed before Tiff said in a small voice, “You're right to lecture me. I know I'm wrong. It's just that …”

  “What?” prompted Jess.

  “I don't know how to explain it. Somehow it was easier to cope when I could go in the store and buy something on sale. Getting a bargain was like doing a good thing for our family.”

  She didn't need to explain what she was coping with. Jess had had a miscarriage herself. It was a grief most people didn't understand, a loss met with well meant words like, “Don't worry. You'll get pregnant again.” As if losing t
hat life growing in you along with all the hopes and plans for the future meant nothing. She suspected shopping was Tiffany's way of trying to fill the emptiness.

  “We're a mess,” Rachel said. She went to the family room and returned a moment later with the near empty bottle of wine. She filled a quarter of a glass and handed it to Tiffany. “Sorry. This is all that's left. And we ate all the chocolate, too. We've been consoling ourselves.”

  Before Tiffany could protest, Jess filled her in on Rachel's lost job and the crisis looming on the horizon for her and Michael.

  “Rachel's right,” Tiffany said miserably. “We are a mess.”

  “Only temporarily,” said Jess. “Things could always be worse.”

  “I guess you're right,” said Rachel. “Why do we always see the glass as half full?”

  “Cuz it is, cuz somebody drank all the wine,” said Tiffany, frowning at the glass in her hand.

  “Seriously,” said Jess. “So we're not rich. Most people aren't. But we've got lots of good things in our lives.”

  “Mine all went back to the store,” Tiffany grumbled.

  “Yes, but you've still got your husband,” Jess reminded her, “and he loves you. That's huge. Rachel has her kids, I have my family, and we have each other. How many people live on the same block as their best friends? I'll admit, we have some challenges right now, but we're not starving.”

  “Yet,” said Tiffany. “They laid off two people in Brian's department this week. If he gets laid off I don't know how we're going to make it,” she continued, refusing to be sidetracked. “Especially now that I don't have any credit cards.”

  “I have to admit, I'm scared, too,” Rachel confessed in a small voice.

  She had a right to be. She was an only child, but her parents weren't swimming in money, and at the moment they had problems of their own. And Jess and Tiffany weren't exactly in a position to help her, other than offering moral support.

  But you had to think positive. That was something else Jess had learned in her forty-four years on the planet. “We can't let a little thing like money problems defeat us,” she insisted.

  “People jumped out of windows in the Thirties over a little thing like money problems,” Rachel reminded her.

  “Well, you wouldn't have been one of them,” Jess told her sternly, “and neither would I, and neither would Tiff.”

  “You're right,” said Rachel. “I'd have pushed Aaron out a window instead and collected his life insurance.”

  Tiffany giggled at that. But she sobered quickly. “So, what are we going to do?”

  “Maybe we should take some kind of money management course,” Rachel suggested. “We could probably all stand some improvement in that area.”

  “Except now I don't have any way to pay for one,” grumbled Tiffany.

  Rachel frowned. “Good point. Without a job, I can't afford some big, expensive course.”

  “Me, either,” said Jess.

  “There has to be something we can do,” said Rachel.

  They all sat there, the only sound in the room Tiffany's nails clicking against her wineglass as she thought.

  “Wait a minute,” said Rachel suddenly. “Where's the one place in town where learning is free?”

  Jess's face lit with understanding. “Of course! You're a genius.”

  Tiffany looked from one to the other, confused. “I don't get it. What are you talking about?”

  “The library,” Rachel explained. “It still doesn't cost anything to check out a book. I'll bet we can find dozens of books on managing money.”

  “Why not? Let's go tomorrow morning,” Jess suggested.

  Tiffany looked pained. “I can't go. I have three clients coming in to get their nails done tomorrow morning.”

  “We'll find something for you,” Rachel promised.

  “It better be something on how to get through credit card with drawal,” muttered Tiffany.

  • 5 •

  The library proved to be a treasure trove of free information. The shelves in the finance section offered a wide selection of books from finance gurus like Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, and Robert Kiyosaki, and Rachel and Jess loaded up.

  “It looks like you two are going to be busy,” observed Lucy the librarian as she checked out their books. She picked up one. “Budgets for Babes. This looks good.”

  “Well, good for us, anyway,” said Jess. “We're babes,” she added with a wink, making Lucy smile.

  “While we're here let's check out the Friends of the Library book sale,” suggested Rachel.

  So after they'd stowed their borrowed books in Jess's car, they went to the lower level of the small building where two rooms had been set aside for the library's popu lar monthly fund-raiser. It seemed half of Heart Lake had decided to check out the sale. Senior citizens looked through gardening tomes and cookbooks while moms and preschoolers raided the picture book section. Several women had gathered at the women's fiction and romance section and were pulling down paperbacks by their favorite authors.

  “We're going to die from lack of oxygen,” moaned Rachel as she and Jess swam through the crowd toward the finance corner.

  “But we'll die with a book in our hands,” Jess said as she squeezed between two walls of people.

  The woman in front of them smiled over her shoulder at Jess. “What are you looking for?”

  “A miracle,” said Rachel.

  “We need to get our financial act together,” Jess elaborated.

  “Don't we all,” said an older man with a grizzled chin and tufts of gray hair growing out of his ears. “At the rate my savings are disappearing I'm going to be spending the rest of my retirement flipping burgers at Crazy Eric's.”

  Rachel pulled a hardback off a top shelf. “Here's a good one.”

  Jess read over her shoulder. “Your Magic Money Makeover.”

  The man gave a snort. “They make it sound so easy.”

  “I guess that's the way to sell books,” said Jess.

  “Who would buy a book titled Welcome to Your Life: It Sucks?” put in Rachel.

  “Believe me, ladies,” said the older man, “there's no magic formula.”

  “Tiff will be sorry to hear that,” cracked Rachel. She opened the book and began reading the chapter titles. ‘Making Debt Disappear: The Trick to Budgeting.’ ”

  Jess read over her shoulder, “ ‘Pulling Extra Money Out of Your Sleeve.’ Oh, I need that one.”

  “Me, too,” said Rachel. “ ‘Who Are You: Learn Your Money Type.’ Ha! That one's easy. I already know my money type: broke.”

  “My money type would probably be clueless,” Jess said, reaching for a book.

  Rachel shut hers. “I think I'll get this. It looks interesting.”

  “This one has my name on it,” said Jess, showing Rachel her find, Weathering Tough Times.

  “That one has all our names on it.” Rachel pulled another book off the shelf titled Diva on a Dime. “Here's the perfect one for Tiffany.” She turned the book so Jess could read the title.

  Jess gave a snort. “She'll love it.”

  “Let's go show her,” said Rachel.

  Salon H was a small salon, with only three chairs and Tiffany's manicure/pedicure station. Like all the business establishments in town, hearts were the theme. The mirrors had been specially made to look like artsy hearts, and several glass-blown red, orange, and purple hearts made by a local artist hung in the window. There was always a candle burning on the reception desk—a valiant effort to combat the usual hair salon smell of potions and treatments—and always women chatting in the comfy wingback chairs in the reception area, drinking espresso that Jody the receptionist had made for them.

  Tiffany was in the middle of painting Maude Schuller's nails cotton candy pink when Jess and Rachel walked in with their finds.

  “It's important to learn to manage your money,” said Maude, assuming she was part of the conversation. “The problem with your generation is that you girls don't know the value of a
dollar.”

  Tiffany rolled her eyes. “Yeah, we do, Maude. It doesn't have any value.”

  “That's for sure,” said Cara, the stylist on duty, who was busy giving a zitty teenage girl a hot new hair look. Today Cara's hair was maroon. Six months earlier it had been raven's-wing black with blue highlights. “You know how much cigarettes cost these days? Not that you should smoke,” she quickly added for her client's benefit.

  “A dollar still has value when you know how to stretch it,” Maude insisted. “I was always careful with my money. That's why I can afford to come here and get my nails done. If you're not careful when you're young, you wind up sorry when you're old. I have friends who have to get their food from the food bank because they were foolish when they were younger.”

  “I'm going to live with my children anyway,” said Rachel with a grin. “Payback.”

  Maude shook her head in reprimand, making her loose jowls jiggle. She waggled a pink-tipped finger at Rachel. “You joke now, but when you're there it's not funny.”

  Rachel suddenly didn't look amused.

  “Let's see those books,” said Tiffany weakly.

  “We got one specially with you in mind,” Rachel told her, and dug the book out of her plastic bag.

  Tiffany read the cover and actually smiled. “Diva on a Dime? I like the diva part.”

  “We knew you would,” said Rachel. “So start reading. You can give us a book report next month when we meet at my place.”

  “We never did decide what we want to make,” said Jess.

  “Something cheap,” said Rachel.

  “Nothing is cheap,” said Tiffany with a sigh.

  “You girls,” Maude said in disgust. “When I was young we made all kinds of things on the cheap: bath salts, friendship tea, Amish friendship bread.”

  Tiffany made a face. “Amish what?”

  Maude frowned at her. “It's delicious. I have recipes for all those things. I'll give them to you if you like.”

  “Uh, sure. Thanks,” said Tiffany, looking anything but thankful.

  “People don't know how to be self-sufficient anymore,” Maude said with a frown.

  “Hey, I'm self-sufficient,” said Cara, highly offended.