At last, my first day of gainful employment as Emilia is in the books. It's not glamorous, and it's probably temporary, but it's very nice to know I'm not entirely living off the good graces of my kids, even if I am contributing less to the rent than either of them. Actually, not even contributing to the rent, technically; they're splitting that while I'm covering groceries, laundry, and other expenses. Kutter's idea, once we realized how much less I'll be making.
It's not terribly impressive for me to be working in a large bookstore, either in terms of my previous work experience or Emilia's degree, although I'm hardly the only young person with this sort of degree working retail there. It's not surprising; a lot of folks who studied the humanities in college come to New York looking to get into the publishing business but there aren't that many jobs, so they look for something lit-adjacent. It makes it even more surprising that Kutter got the job he did, really, although he hay have had a leg up in that while all the other applicants were clearly looking at it as a stepping stone to editorial, Kutter was pretty focused on the actual job being offered. None of us were looking for jobs the way the real girls would, or at least folks who saw being these people as their future, as the first step in a career path, and I do kind of wonder how much ripple effect that's going to have.
Also, for as bad a reputation as working retail gets - and I certainly didn't think I'd ever be going back to that sort of job after graduating from college - there is a weird sort of satisfaction in helping people get a thing that they want, especially in a bookstore, where they are often so enthusiastic about it. Indeed, contrary to how bookstores usually work, I got a bunch of recommendations from customers today and will be seeing what I can find at the library so I can better do that part of the job.
Of course, it's also meant a little bit of reordering things at the apartment, starting with getting home and finding the smoke detector going off because Kutter decided to make cheeseburgers and he didn't even get that far because he figured burgers needed bacon and, well, for all that Kutter can be detail-oriented, bacon will burn off you take your eyes off it for a second and the boys are always on their phone. On top of that we are not sharing a large apartment, so the smoke filled the room quickly, and Kutter also made the rookie mistake of putting the pan under running water to get the smoke to stop. Let me tell you, the eyes he inherited from Katey can get really wide.
I pointed Rusty to the windows and he got them open, flipped the switch for the fan above the range, and then stood on a chair to see if there was a battery to take out of the alarm. Wired, but after I opened the door, the breeze dispersed most of the smoke and Kutter apologized profusely to the neighbors.
I clasped him on the back as we closed the door. "Don't worry. We're almost certainly not the first group of recent college grades they've seen set off a smoke alarm."
Kutter groaned anyway. "I just wanted to do something for your first day at work."
"And I appreciate that! Besides, we can still make burgers; the bacon will just be extra-crispy."
I waved Rusty over and stepped them through some things. Turn the fan on, spray the pan good, watch everything like a hawk until you've got a handle on how long something takes with your gear. And, whew, it's a good thing we've got an electric stove here!
We got dinner made, at least, although Kutter still seemed upset that he messed it up. "Aw, don't worry about it. It's almost reassuring, actually, that you two aren't completely adapted to being these women yet."
Rusty raised an eyebrow. "Really, Dad, saying cooking is just a girl thing? What have you been doing all our lives?"
"That's not what I meant--"
"And maybe we've just adapted to being single girls in the city who live on Starbucks and takeout Thai food."
I pointed at his burger. "Well, they I guess I should be assured you're not there yet!
We had a good laugh and then I started in on the first book on my list (Freida McFadden's The Boyfriend) while they played games
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