The Curse of The House on Cypress Lane: Book 0- The Beginning Read online

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  Gary sat behind his desk, computer monitor off to the side, and typed mechanically onto his keyboard. His tie was crooked, and his nose was large enough to give his eyes an obstacle in any direction he looked. “Okay, Mr. Cooley, let’s see what we have today.”

  Owen sat in the same suit, shirt, and tie as the day before. His manager at McDonalds had cancelled his shift for the day, and with the eminent doom of foreclosure, he couldn’t just sit at home and twiddle his thumbs. “I need something full time. Anything full time. And anything immediate.”

  Gary flicked his eyes toward Owen, then back at the screen, then back at Owen. He took his hands off the keyboard and set them down on his desk with a thump. “Mr. Cooley, you have been coming here at least once a week for the past six months. And I can tell you every job in the system available from memory, but that won’t change the fact that no one is hiring for your skillset. It might be time to start looking outside of Baltimore.”

  “My family grew up here,” Owen said. “My kids go to school here. My son’s little league team—”

  “I’m just saying,” Gary said, lifting his hands passively, “if you’re desperate, and you really want to find something full time, and in your field, maybe it’s time to broaden your horizons. It couldn’t hurt to look, right?”

  “No,” Owen answered. “I guess not.”

  Uprooting his family had crossed Owen’s mind before, he just didn’t entertain it for very long. Plus, the doctors had told him and Claire to keep things familiar for Roger, and the old man had lived in Baltimore his entire life.

  “All right, so let’s see what we have out there.” Gary returned his fingers to the keyboard, a sudden pep in his typing. “Nothing here in the Northeast that was close to your previous salary, so let’s head down south.” He poked a few more keys and then scrolled again. “Oh, here’s something.”

  Owen leaned forward in his chair. “Is it full time?”

  “It is,” Gary answered. “It’s a supervisor position at an auto parts factory, but it says that they’re willing to look at applicants with no supervisory experience.”

  “Where is it?”

  “Louisiana.”

  Owen frowned. When he considered moving his family, transferring them to the south felt too extreme. And Louisiana was the deep south.

  “Health benefits, 401k, and the salary is fifteen thousand more a year than what you were making at the shipyard,” Gary said.

  “Fifteen?” Owen’s jaw went slack.

  “The position is looking to be filled immediately, and it says here that the company will provide housing and pay for any relocation efforts.” Gary smiled. “What do you say? A position like this isn’t going to stay open for very long.”

  “Y-yeah,” Owen said eagerly. “Let’s do it.”