Bad Habits Box Set by Staci Hart

Author:Staci Hart [Hart, Staci]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-07-11T16:00:00+00:00

19

GIVE AND TAKE

Maggie

IT HAD BEEN A LONG day.

I walked out of Susan’s office that afternoon, dragging myself through the shelter like a dead woman. I’d come in on my day off, not wanting to be alone with my thoughts. I wanted to work, focus, put my heart into lesson plans and prepping crafts for the kids. So, in an attempt to be productive, I’d been cutting pipe cleaners and yarn, tracing shapes onto construction paper and organizing the new supplies Catherine sent over.

God knew what I’d have been doing if I’d been home alone. Probably crying at The Notebook and eating Tootsie Rolls, which actually sounded fantastic. Plan for the night: acquired.

I walked into the empty office, my brow dropping as I approached the table where I’d been working. I didn’t see my bag where I’d left it, not after circling the table or digging through my big plastic bin of supplies in the hopes that I’d somehow lost my mind and put it in there. No bag — not on the ground, not on any of the chairs. My heart beat faster as I opened the cabinets, checked under every desk, in every corner.

It was gone.

I knew I hadn’t left it anywhere else, but I flew through the building all the same, checking the common rooms before blowing through the halls, into the kitchen. Brian stood behind the gigantic flat top with about thirty chicken breasts sizzling in front of him.

His brow dropped when he saw me. “Hey, Maggie. You okay?”

“No,” I heard the tremor in my voice. “I can’t find my bag, not anywhere. Have you seen it? It’s dark brown leather, a messenger bag?”

He called over another volunteer to take his place at the flat top before heading over to me. “We’ll find it. I’m sure it’s here somewhere.”

I nodded and followed him out of the room. Susan had left for the day, so we searched everywhere together, and my panic grew with every minute. Everything I needed — all the things I used every single day — it was all in that bag. My phone. Keys. Books. Wallet. At least I’d left my laptop at home. I stood in the middle of the office as we checked it for the fourth time, watching Brian pull out a desk to look behind it.

“It’s not here,” I said softly. “Someone took it.”

He looked over his shoulder at me as he scooted the desk back. “Maybe it’ll turn up.”

“Sure, maybe.”

He walked over to me, stepped close. “Is there anyone we can call?”

There was only one number beside my parents’ that I knew by heart — my brother’s. And that I-told-you-so would be bitter and harsh. I wasn’t equipped to deal with that, not today, not in that moment. So, I shook my head and gave him a weak smile. “I don’t know anyone’s number. They were all in my phone, and my phone was in my bag.”

He nodded with decision. “Let me get you home. I’ll catch us a cab and ride with you to make sure you can get into your apartment.

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