Chapter 3
Emma
Are you kidding me? The hot guy in the elevator with the tattoos peeking out from under his dress shirt is my customer? Awesome. I’m sure that’s gonna be a nice one-star rating with a complaint about my unprofessional demeanor and financial irresponsibility.
FML.
I carry the coffee order down two more floors and deliver it to a harried woman who appears to be in her eighties. Then I head back to the street, checking my app on the way to see what my next delivery is.
The sushi bar three blocks up. Perfect.
That gives me just enough time to call Yoshi and ask him to have an order of California rolls waiting for me when I get there. Since I have to eat while I make my deliveries, sushi is ideal. It’s an easy finger food while I am walking, and Yoshi never charges me for my food when I’m making deliveries for him. He calls it my delivery tip. Considering that most of my tips are only about 30% of what it would cost me to pay for my lunch, I’m grateful for his generosity.
I’m on my ninth delivery of the day at two p.m., and if I hit twenty for the day, I’ll get a $50 bonus. And I really need a $50 bonus. So, I ignore the shin splints and blister forming on my heel and don’t even consider signing off until that “bonus attained” button flashes on my phone.
~**~
It takes four more hours for me to finally get to the point that I can’t even consider another delivery. And with my bonus attained over an hour ago, I don’t feel at all guilty as I slowly walk back to where I left my car parked and think about the hot bath and book waiting for me at home.
Dropping into said tub is the first thing I do when I get home, but I only let myself soak peacefully for about five minutes before I start to get antsy, thinking about all the things I need to get done. I grab my phone and pull up the Meals2Me app.
In my driver earnings menu, I click the transfer icon to move the money I earned today into my checking account. I should’ve done this on my way home so I could’ve stopped to pick up groceries, but I was too fucking tired. Toilet paper and ramen can wait until tomorrow.
I almost drop my phone into the tub when I see the number displayed as my balance.
$5270.48.
That can’t be right. There’s no way in hell I earned that much today. There has to be an error somewhere. I scroll through each transaction, looking for the problem. It doesn’t take me long to find it. My delivery at lunchtime to the hot guy with the secretary shows a $5,000 tip.
Obviously, that’s a mistake.
I doubt he would’ve given me a five-dollar tip based on what he overheard, much less a five-thousand-dollar tip.
The bitch of it is I can’t transfer just the $270.48 that I actually earned. I can only transfer the entire balance at once. All or nothing. And I don’t want to owe this guy five thousand dollars when he realizes his mistake and comes asking for a refund.
Which means I can’t transfer any of it. I must have murdered kittens in my previous life for Karma to hate me so badly. The thought of yet another day being spent begging other people to fix their mistakes so I can pay my bills and access my own damn money is just too much. I’m suddenly exhausted and want nothing more than to fall asleep and pretend the past two years of my life never happened.
~**~
“Excuse me,” I say to the woman behind the desk.
She’s on the phone and holds her finger up to ask me to wait. I don’t really have time to wait, but I also can’t leave without getting this resolved. So, I force a smile and tap my foot, trying to be patient while she finishes the dinner reservation for fifteen that she’s making.
“I’m so sorry to make you wait, dear. How can I help you?”
She appears to be younger than my mom, but she gives off that same maternal vibe that all moms seem to have. Despite my frustration, she does put me at ease.
“I’m sorry to bother you, but I made a delivery here from Meals2Me yesterday. Do you remember me?” I hope to come across as genuinely nice and not the fake nice I feel.
“Of course I do. You brought Mr. James’s lunch.” She nods and her smile grows. “Is there a problem?”
“There is, unfortunately. I think you made a mistake when you were leaving the gratuity. I don’t know if you meant to leave five dollars, but it actually came out as $5000.” I make a face to convey my shock at the amount. “Obviously, that will be refunded, but I just wanted to bring it to your attention so we can take care of it immediately.”
She chuckles and reaches for her own cup of coffee. “Well, this might be your lucky day, because that wasn’t a mistake. Mr. James asked me to give you that gratuity.”
My jaw drops, and I have no words. How can that be? Eventually, I take a breath and look at her in confusion. “But why? I don’t understand.”
She shrugs and looks lovingly at the office I saw Mr. James walk into yesterday. “He just does that sometimes. Around the holidays, he gets really generous. I think he just likes to spend his family’s money,” she says in a conspiratorial whisper.
I shake my head, still not completely understanding what she means. “I can’t accept that much. All I did was deliver a sandwich. Even $50 would be too much, but $5000 is ludicrous.”
The woman just smiles and leans forward. “Honey, just take the money. He has plenty to share, so if it doesn’t go to you, it’ll go to the next person. You might as well be the one to get it.”
I bite my lip, considering my options. I really do need that money. Like really, really need the money. Not only would I be able to get caught up on rent, but I could pay off all my late utilities and not have to worry about where my next meal is coming from. “Are you really sure? He does this for lots of people? It wasn’t just some pity thing for me?”
She pats my hand with a twinkle in her eye. “I promise it’s okay. Just consider this a good deed someone did for you, and maybe someday you’ll be able to return the favor.”