PART FOUR: CHAPTER 126

Holding my double soy latte and keys in one hand with my scrap bag in the other, I struggled to place the key in the car door. My trembling fingers didn’t help. I could have set my bag down or rested the strap on my shoulder, but no, that would be too easy.

The coffee tipped a little too far. I stumbled back, almost falling off my clearance, Valentino knockoffs, or Vals, as I’d named them. They still cost more than I could afford. I bought them in celebration when I finished my internship at the Cleveland News and Journal and they offered me a full-time position. I’d worn them exactly twice over the past eighteen months. They only had a two-inch heel, but that was the high end of my balancing act. I hid my sexy shoes beneath pants that were a little too long and definitely too baggy.

The shoes were as far as I would step to the wild side. I was too introverted for more. And, I needed my Vals for good luck because the chief editor of the daily news division, Mr. Miller, requested a mee