It had been 2 weeks since she began looking over Granston's. Mackenzie had been splitting her time between her two major assignments; Granston's and Becker Department store. She liked both places but somehow Granston's was more her scene, and besides that she and Alyssa had begun talking a lot.
Alyssa was 42 whereas Mackenzie was 37. They were both single, lived alone and held demanding well paid jobs. If Mackenzie had to be honest, they were both hot women and they liked to hit the clubs. Alyssa was like Mackenzie in many ways, liked attention but rarely went home with anybody, they fit each other nicely.
"Are you ok?" Alyssa had been walking past the little office she had arranged for Mackenzie and had spotted her rubbing her temples through the open door.
"Just a small headache, nothing to worry about." Mackenzie tried to play it cool, fact of the matter was she was stressed to the limit.
The lease on her apartment was running out at the end of the month which only gave her 3 weeks to find somewhere else to go.
Her car she had already been sold, and the money given to her mother. She was taking the metro to work instead. It was ok but took longer than she liked. It was the prospects of not having a roof over her head that had her wound so tight.
"To me you look stressed," Alyssa exclaimed. "How about we ditch this place and find somewhere to eat and then go to my place for a few drinks?"
"We can't just leave? It's not the end of the day yet?"
"Technically, while here I'm your boss, and what I say goes. Get your things and let's get out of here."
Sorely needing the change in scenery and something to do, Mackenzie saved her documents and turned off her computer before grabbing her bag and following Alyssa to her office to get her things. She was not in the habit of ditching work or cheating on her hours, but it felt good just leaving.
They had eaten at a small Italian place Alyssa knew and had talked mostly about work and random chit chat, it was not until they got to Alyssa's apartment and were seated with some drinks, that Alyssa took the bulls by the horns.
"Listen Mac."
Alyssa had begun calling Mackenzie Mac from the first day, and Mackenzie called her Al. It was some sort of inside joke about using men's names instead of their female ones.
"I can sense something's up. I have no idea what, your vibes are crushing me at work sometimes."
"I'm really sorry. I try to leave it at the door. I'll be better in the future."
"Fuck that, I'm not trying to reprimand you. I'm trying to help you. Talk to me. What's going on?"
Mackenzie sighed. "It's my mom. She married this douchebag and I don't know what he's mixed up in, but he's always in need of money and my mom pressures me to help her financially."
Once she got started Mackenzie told Alyssa everything about her relationship with her mother and her mother's new husband and his children. She kept her father's name and occupation to herself; Alyssa got the idea about her dad being rich and how her mother somehow expected Mackenzie to draw on that connection.
It felt good to have somebody to confide in.
"Holy mother..." Alyssa sat in shock. "So, what you're saying is that soon you'll be homeless and pretty much broke?"
"Basically."
"I have a spare bedroom, you're welcome to it until you find another apartment."
"If I don't find anything by the end of the month, I might take you up on that."
Mackenzie was grateful. Alyssa had not needed to offer her that. She was relieved Alyssa had not crossed the line in offering her money. She was not going to take the bedroom, though. She could not live off charity like that. If push came to shove, she would tell her father and take the heat for it, he would help her no matter what, though it was not something she would do until it was her last resort.
"How are you going to fix the problem with your mother? Don't you think it's about time she took some responsibility herself?"
Just like Mackenzie's father had said, Alyssa just used other words, they meant the same. And if Mackenzie had not felt that deep sense of obligation, she would have stopped a long time ago.
"She'll have to soon enough, I'll help her as long as I can."
"If I get to have children one day, I hope they'll turn out as you," Alyssa said quietly.
The compliment hit Mackenzie like a ton of bricks. She had never seen her behavior as something worth praising, it was just how it was, and she did what she could. Alyssa was the only one who knew what she did for her mother at the expense of her own financial security, and the praise felt nice. Like it mattered that she fought.
All she had ever done was fight.
To Mackenzie it felt like her entire life had been one gladiator fight after another, having to win to progress to the next level of insanity that was life.
"Why don't you have kids yet?" Mackenzie nipped at her drink and looked at Alyssa. "You're at a good place in life. Got the career, earn a fair living, you're beautiful and smart. Why don't you have a man by your side to give you children?"
"I don't know. I just don't like the whole dating scene, the catch a man to complete your life philosophy. My life is good. Yes, I want kids, but not at all costs."
"I get it. I'm probably the same. I've never wanted kids for the sake of having kids. I'm not obligated to reproduce just because I have the plumbing for it. If I have a child one day, it'll be because I find a man who wishes to have one with me. To share the joy and obligation it is."
"You never met one that made you feel like you wanted that?"
Mackenzie smiled and immediately her mind went to Gareth. She had thought about it when she had been in love with him. Wanted him to be the one to look at her and wanting to share that magic with her. But as her love was rejected the desire had faded.
"I've been in love once, but it was not how it was supposed to go, I guess."
"Tell me about it. I met this gorgeous guy at work many years ago. I tried a few times at office parties, but he politely turned me down."
"Some of them are too full of themselves."
They both laughed knowing all too well that they were probably as much to blame for being single as the men they liked to put as the cause.
"Yeah but he was hot, I'm telling you he could make your panty budget explode, because you'd drop them anytime anywhere for him."
"What about at the office? Aren't there any cute ones?"
"Oh there's a few, Heinrich from IT is dreamy. I'll introduce you when I can."
"I have a few at Abrams' too. Maybe we should take them to the club one day and swap colleagues?"
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