Read Online The Throwaway Year by Pepper Pace - Free Book Online

her head. Dani quickly changed the subject and Hayden was grateful that a moment later her tears receded.
    After the ir lunch break, Hayden went back to her desk, too afraid that if she stopped at the restroom the tears would return. She stared at her computer screen hands slack in her lap.  There is no joy in my life. This is all…
     
    ~***~
     
    Hayden had stopped at McDonald’s again on her way to Fox Vinyl. She ordered a large chocolate shake, a double quarter pounder with cheese and a super sized order of fries with two apple pies.  Her stomach ached terribly by the time that she entered the building.
    Not because she had eaten all of that fast food, but because she had thrown it out the window and now her stomach felt like an empty cavern. She never packed an evening meal because she wouldn’t have time to spare reheating a packed meal for dinner when she had one hour from the end of one job and the beginning of the next. So there was no way that she could survive on sandwiches and salads all week long for each of her three meals. Dinner was the time that she splurged on carryout; either a roast chicken dinner from Boston Market, or Italian Wedding Soup from the deli, and if she was lucky, the roast turkey special from The Cracker Barrel.
    S he’d blown that though…
    Hayden walked into the little canteen for the first time since being an employee of Fox Vinyl, her stomach making sounds that unnerved her. It was worse than she had imagined. No surprise that the ashtrays and trashcans were overflowing but the floor was sticky. She didn’t have to open the microwave to see that it was totally filthy… she could smell it! It smelled like… Abdullah.
    The tables appeared to have been cleaned with a dirty sponge. She couldn’t even smell the Pine Sol that she had used on all of the surfaces when she was the cleaning lady. Did the new person even use disinfectant?
    Hayden couldn’t hide the grimace on her face as she headed for the vending machines. She carefully studied the contents but there was absolutely nothing even remotely healthy inside of any of them. She finally settled on two cartons of orange juice. She would have gone for a carton of skim milk but couldn’t see the expiration date and something told her that she really shouldn’t trust the milk in the vending machine.
    She was about to leave when she saw Brian waving at her from a table where he sat alone smoking a cigarette.   She waved back and he gestured for her to come over. Well, why not? She never took breaks and everyone else got up at least once an hour. Mr. Fox didn’t seem to have a policy concerning breaks—evidenced by the amount that Pam took.
    “Hey Hayden.”
    She sat down across from him. “Hi Brian, how’s it going?”
    “Pretty good.” He picked up his pack of cigarettes and offered her one.
    She shook her head. “No thank you. I don’t smoke.”
    He took a last puff and then smashed it into the ashtray, turning his head to blow the smoke away from her. She opened one of the cartons of OJ and downed it hungrily. Her stomach groaned loudly and Brian gave her a shocked look.
    “Oh, I’m sorry! That was just my stomach!”
    He smiled in amusement. “Yeah, you’re hungry.”
    She shrugged but was happy to see him smiling. He always appeared so somber, and when he smiled it changed his face completely. He was too pale, too thin, but suddenly he was also kind of cute.
    “I didn’t have time for dinner,” she explained.
    “Orange juice for dinner?”
    “Well… I’m trying to eat healthy. So…”
    “Ah. Right. There is nothing healthy to be found in this room.”
    She opened the second carton but was a bit more ladylike as she took a small swallow. “I hear there’s going to be a big bonus in a few weeks. A thousand bucks,” she said.
    “They do it every month, or something close to it.”
    “I bet you’ve won it a few times.”
    He smiled and looked down. “No. I’ve only been doing sales for a few