Freed

Freed Read Free Page A

Book: Freed Read Free
Author: Berengaria Brown
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talking to herself as she watched the financial report. “Ha, Consolidated are up. I predicted that. I reckon they’ll go even higher, too. Of course JKL are down. Anyone with half a brain can see their CEO’s a useless waste of space. Hmm, I hadn’t thought about Bentons. They could stand watching. They may go up quite a fair bit I think.”
    Mas stared at Aurelia, his fork halfway to his mouth. She was right. Her predictions weren’t bad at all. He hadn’t thought about it until right now, but he couldn’t remember her being absolutely wrong with any of her forecasts. And he most certainly could remember her being correct.
    “Aurelia?”
    “Hmm.”
    “You should set up some spreadsheets with your financial predictions. Use screen shots to record date and time, and do it for a couple of weeks to see just how accurate you are,” said Mas.
    “But what for? It’s just a bit of a game I play with myself.”
    Niall stared at her. “Sweetie, people make money, lots of money, with financial predictions. It’s a lot more than a game.”
    “Yeah, but the only way to make money is to have money. If it goes up two percent and you put in one hundred dollars, you now have one hundred two. Not exactly the kind of profits you need to pay the rent.”
    “Just do it, Aurelia. Make the spreadsheets, keep the records, see how good you are. Hell, if you can make money out of it, I’ll give you a few hundred to play with.”
    “Yeah. Me, too,” added Niall.
    “Okay, it might be a bit of fun. I like following the figures. I’ve always been a number person rather than a word person.”
     
    * * * *
     
    Aurelia enjoyed playing with spreadsheets and watching the financial movements. She did as Mas had suggested and took screenshots with each of her predictions and the results of them each day. She actually surprised herself with the level of her accuracy. Not once did a thing she marked for making money lose any, although several didn’t move either way.
    Yeah but so what. She totaled up her week’s efforts. If she’d started with one hundred dollars, she’d have made sixteen dollars profit. And if I got a decent job, I’d earn that in an hour, not a week! There’s no future career here, even though it’s been a bit of fun. Dammit I need a job!
     
    * * * *
     
    “Hey there, Aurelia. Can we meet up for lunch today? Or are you too busy?”
    “Hi, Ormonde, I’d love to have lunch with you. Where do you want to meet?” Aurelia spoke into her cell phone.
    “How about Papa Giovanni’s in Main Street, at one o’clock? And this is my treat. I want to ask you some questions.”
    “Sure, that sounds great. I’ll see you then.” Aurelia slid her cell phone back into her pocket thoughtfully. What could Ormonde possibly want to ask her about? Ormonde was an incredibly brilliant accountant. She was the one who’d helped track the paper trail for the call center people. Forensic Accountant was her formal title, but she was more like a mathematical whiz kid who could find out anything people wanted hidden if it had a dollar sign in front of it.
    Aurelia shrugged. Well, she’d find out soon enough. Meanwhile, it was time to look through the online job vacancy lists again. I really, really need a job!
     
    * * * *
     
    The conversation stayed light and general as they ate, but Aurelia sensed a slight tension in Ormonde. Whatever could the woman want of her? Aurelia was at a total loss to know how she could help her. Finally, she couldn’t wait any longer. “What questions did you want to ask me?”
    Ormonde fiddled with the spoon from her coffee. “Mas said you’d organized the commitment ceremony for Evelyn. That you arranged everything, the celebrant, the venue, the entire party.”
    “Yes, that’s right. Trevellyan said I could plan it however I wanted to. But they all wrote their own vows. I downloaded some from the Internet that other people had written, and they read through them for ideas, but the words they said

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