Family

"Oh my god! Pai, where did you get that from?" Nathan asked laughing uncontrollably.

"First of all, I never said her son was a member of any Mafia or whatever you called it." Nat stated wondering where she got such an idea from.

"In fact, he is the calmest and most gentle human you would ever come across. He is not a bad person at all. Again, they do not want you visiting. Moreso, they live at Yardstin which is about a three to four hours journey. If you ask me, I'll say this is a very good deal and it's just for a period of three months. The icing on the cake is, they pay weekly." Nat added, the last line was said in a whisper in order to convey how exciting the news sounded.

"Nat," she called shaking her head to the sides. "I don't think this will work for me. I've got my gift store running on the side, I've got to work, I also have my whole life here. I can't just pack up and move to another state." Paige complained bitterly.

"Not even when you are going to be paid two thousand dollars each week? asked Nat with a raised brow and mischievous smile.

"They are paying what? How? That's a whole lot of money!" Paige exclaimed literally shook to her bones. "Who pays their employee such amount of money for a week?"

"The Kentleys." Nathan replied.

"Unbelievable!!"

"You should probably read about them before making a decision. You can give me a feedback by Thursday. That should give you enough time to decide, right?" He asked.

"Nat, two thousand dollars each week." She said in a distant voice while staring at nothing in particular. Turning to him again, she spoke.

"That will be eight thousand in a month and approximately twenty-two to twenty-four thousand in three months. How is that even possible. It sounds too good to be true."

"I know, I've done the math before now and the pay is quite encouraging honestly. You could buy a property you know." Nathan said smiling broadly.

"I'll give it a thought this evening." She finally said thinking about the money and how far it would go in solving most of her personal problems at the moment.

Then a distant reminder shook her, Nathan would obviously need a percentage cut from the money. He got the offer for her, he could have given it to anyone in the hospital but he brought it to her. So, he deserved a reasonable percentage from the pay.

"How much is your cut?" She asked him smiling knowingly.

"I'll get paid five thousand dollars for helping them find a reliable hand and that's the cut I'm taking. Besides you need the money more than I do." He winked. "Mrs. Kentley was a former patient of my dad's before he passed on."

"God bless his soul." Paige uttered audible enough.

"She's been my patient since dad's demise. So, I've been close to the eldest son for a while now in case you are in doubt."

"Thank you so much, for bringing such an amazing offer to me on a platter. I am very grateful and indebted to you. And best believe my husband to be will pay you in full before he gets married to me." She teased, and roared in sweet happy laughter.

"And I can't wait to get my wages." He smiled. "Just let me know if your decision on time." He added, in a more serious tone.

"I sure will. Now, let's leave you to continue with work. See you later." She said and received a nod from Nathan before stepping out of his office.

****************

Paige had spent the next couple of days thinking about Nathan's proposal. It did sound too good to be true, but he already told her that it was real.

She made a mental calculation of all the things she could do with some of that money and at the end of the day, she realized that she needed more than anything she could think of.

So, that was the only thing required for her to arrive at a decision. She had to take the job, since it was just for three months, she was going to be done in no time.

With the decision made, two days later, she drove down to her family home to see her step-mothey and sister, the only family she had left,vand possibly let the know of her intending absence with no plan if telling them the exact purpose of her absence.

"We heard about the new job offer." Veronica told her Paige, dashing the poor girls hope of keeping the reason for her upcoming absence a secret. She had sent for Paige on hearing about the temporary job offer from Paige's boyfriend.

"What offer?" Paige asked.

Veronica have never asked her stepdaughter to come to the house for nothing.

It has always been to ask for money or to discuss pressing matters which would be summarized with a request for money. So Paige suspected the fbe older women wanted money but the problem was she didn't have more money on her. She was barely surviving and her stepmother and sister have refused to do anything to support the family financially. Since the death of her father, Paige had practically been the only one catering for the family and the upkeep of the home even though she was not living with them.

Her step-mother would always threaten to sell off their family home if she fail to sort their bills and the house was the only remaining property out of two her father left for them.

The house held lots of beautiful memories of her childhood and reminds her of her dear father and mother. Hence she just couldn't afford to let go.

"The job offer you got at Yardstin." Veronica replied adjusting her position on the sofa.

"Who.... who told you about that?" Paige asked frowning.

"That lousy, loquacious boyfriend of yours." Came the nonchalant reply from Veronica. Fernanda chuckled uncontrollably at her mother's description of Paige's boyfriend.

"And what's s so funny Fe?" Paige shot at her stepsister angrily. "Maybe you should laugh some more since we're having a free concert." She added, and for the first time in a while Fernanda didn't talk back at her but kept mute and a straight face.