Chapter 8
“What would you do if you suddenly found yourself unemployed?”
“I’d go overseas for a nice long holiday.” Dean tipped his beer in the air before taking a long drink. The bar they’d chosen was packed tonight and his eyes skated over the crowd as he answered, “I’d rent out my house and go for months and months.”
“You would? By yourself?”
“Hell, yeah! Backpacking with all those hot European girls you hear about? I wouldn’t even need time to think about it.” He laughed and took another drink. “If that letter had been presented to me I’d have booked tickets at the airport before I even got home.”
“That sounds a bit extreme.”
“Maybe for you, sensible Nate, but I like to live, ya know?”
“You wouldn’t save the cash and look for another job?”
“Fuck, no! How many chances do you get to do something amazing with a windfall like that? I’d rent out my house and go. I’m not as financially savvy as you, though, so I don’t own a house to worry about. Maybe the boring option is the right one.”
“It doesn’t sound like it when you say it like that.”
“Yeah. I’m hoping you’ll take my travel option. Go exploring. See the world while you’re still young enough to climb things and meet hot chicks. I’ll house sit for ya!”
“For a stripper, you sure mention the chicks a lot. Don’t you get enough of them at work?”
“I get my share.” Dean laughed and licked his lips, making a lewd expression as Nate frowned at him. “My stage name isn’t Dean-the-Machine-Cox for nothing. If the travelling girls who come to work in the club are anything to go by you need to get yourself to Europe right now, my friend!” He laughed again and headed to the bar for another round.
“What does your new lady friend think of the news?” Jasper spoke without looking up from his phone. “Women always have an opinion, I’ve discovered.”
“I haven’t told her yet.”
Jasper looked up from his screen and his finger hovered in mid air. “Why the hell are you here with all of us, then?”
“You weren’t my first choice. No offence.” Nate rolled his eyes as Jasper grinned at him. “I’ve called and sent texts yesterday and all day today and she hasn’t answered. Now her phone is turned off.” He took a sip of his beer and tried to look unconcerned.
“Ooh man, you’re in big trouble then.” Jasper waved his phone in the air, “They don’t usually turn the phone off, trust me.”
“I know. It seems a bit odd but what can I do? I left a note at her place and now I just have to wait.”
“It’s the weekend. Did you have plans with her?”
“We had plans for tonight. I thought I’d be home a lot later so I sent her a text to cancel.”
“You probably should have called.”
“Probably.” Nate pushed his empty bottle across the table. “Too late now, though. So, we wait.”
Dean returned and pushed another beer toward them both. “I’ve been meditating on your predicament.”
“And?”
“And I definitely think you should take the travel option. Go cheap, though. No staying in fancy hotels like you normally would on holiday. If you’re going to bag the women you should stay where they are. Going local is your best chance. Plus, if you don’t spend too much you could go for six months, or a whole year!”
“Here I was thinking you had a solution about my lack of return phone calls of the female variety.”
“Nope. There’s a reason I’m single. If they play games, I drop them like hot potatoes. Hence, they think I’m a dick and they don’t chase me.”
“You can be a bit of a dick,” Jasper said, still engrossed in his phone.
Dean leaned over and snatched it out of his hand. “Says you, who’s here to support a mate in his moment of need but is glued to his phone. Who are you—”
“Give that back, idiot.” Jasper swiped in the air but Dean held the phone out of his reach. He peered at the screen and then at Jasper.
“Just as I suspected. Mimi has your attention even though she’s not here.”
“Sorry.” Jasper shrugged at Nate. “Can’t help it. I’ve liked her for years and I’m not doing anything to ruin it.”
“She still planning another calendar next year?” Dean handed back the phone and Jasper snatched it from his grip.
“Yep. She just can’t decide who to put in it. I say do something new, she says people really enjoyed the last one.”
“Too bad you weren’t in it Nate. This conversation might have been a non-event if you were taken.”
“I am taken.”
Nate frowned at Dean as his friend laughed and drank his beer. “Maybe. We’ll see if she’s still talking to you after the weekend. If not, there’s always the backpacker plan.”
“Aren’t I a bit old to go backpacking?”
“No way. You’re turning, what, thirty-three soon? You’re not too old until you’re a creepy old dude checking out twenty year olds. You have a way to go yet, even if you do channel your grandpa some days.”
“Hmmm.” Nate sipped his beer. “I’ll think about it.”
Dean nudged his shoulder. “I was serious about looking after the house, though. My lease is up soon, if you decide to go I’d be happy to rent your place. That way you know who’s in it and you can relax.”
“Yeah. I’ve never rented my house out before. I would worry about it unless it was with an agent who kept an eye on it for me.”
“Keep me in mind, then. It would save you paying an agent and still give you some cash coming in.” Dean looked thoughtful for a second, then he banged his beer down on the table. “Of course, I want a rental discount dude! I’m not doing it all from the kindness of my heart!”
The three of them laughed and Jasper rolled his eyes as he slipped his phone into his pocket. “Mimi says the travel plan is an awesome idea but she’d be bummed to lose you from her roster of models for the next calendar.”
“Me nude on the pages of a calendar is never going to happen. No matter what I decide to do.”
Jasper laughed and picked up his beer again. “It wasn’t so bad. If your new lady doesn’t come back, and you don’t go travelling, you might be desperate for a date by this time next year!”
***
Nate spent the rest of the weekend scouring travel sights and cursing Dean for planting the idea of travel in his head. He’d told Kelly he wanted to travel but he’d never spent any time researching all the places there were to go. After the first day of clicking and reading websites his mind was spinning.
While he searched he’d found several sites that explained how to travel cheaply for long periods of time. Although it seemed money wasn’t going to be a big consideration for him he thought it would be great if he could return home with a decent amount still squirrelled away in the bank.
Money. Squirrelled away.
That summed up his entire life’s plan. Work hard, get a good job, save as much money as possible and pay down the house. No debt, no extravagant purchases. Basically, nothing fun. His plan had been to be as responsible with his cash as possible to set himself up for a decent retirement.
Now those plans were looking shaky. He was seriously considering Dean’s plan to go exploring on a shoe string budget.
An advertisement caught his eye on the sidebar of the website he was reading. It had a colourful graphic showing Lonely Planet guides were fifty percent off for one day only. One of the covers said Southeast Asia on a Shoestring.
He bit his lip and rolled his eyes as he caught himself thinking silly thoughts about the universe influencing him.
It’s a sign. We’ve been talking about shoe string budgets and going cheap. Asia is close so it’s an obvious starting point. Fuck it, I’m buying that guide!
He clicked the advertisement, entered his credit card details and clicked the checkout button. He slouched back in his chair with a smile on his face. There was a damn good chance he was going to do this!
***
Monday rolled around with no text or call from Kelly. Instead of pining for her he decided to let it go, even though he’d been convinced they had a connection. She’d sent her message loud and clear. He’d fucked up and she wasn’t amused.
When he reached the office, he sat at his desk and enjoyed a few moments of peace before the other staff arrived. For eight years he’d made sure he was the first one in every day, except for that one morning last week. Soon, that routine would be gone. All for nothing. All that dedication to this one bank and now they were closing the branch because some numbers on a page told them to do it. No worrying about how their customers would do their banking; how far elderly clients might now have to travel to make a deposit or enquire about a loan. Everything was online these days or able to be done over the phone through an offshore call centre. Nate knew, from talking to customers every day, that the elderly ones preferred to deal in person with the people handling their money.
Those concerns were secondary this morning. He had the unenviable task of notifying the branch staff that they would be closing in just a few months. He was expecting tears and recriminations. Not something he thought he would ever have to experience here.
The first staff arrived and he saw the wary looks on their faces. Their expressions said it all.
Nate has never called a full staff meeting before.
Of course, they had meetings every week, but there’d never been one where every casual staff member had been requested to attend. Today was that day and they were worried.