Free Unstuck by Liliana Camarena

what I meant.
    “Confusing? Working for him,” She smiled and nodded.
    “Always,” She said “But you don’t seem to have a problem with any of it. You should have seen the others, by the third time their name was yelled they were already in tears. You will last, I can tell,” she said
    “Lucinda!!” The door to Patrick’s office was opened. I shrugged, smiled to Harriet and on to the office went.
     
    By 6 pm I was already on the SVU and halfway to my house with Patrick by my side. I was really tired, my head was killing me and I still had to face packing a suitcase in front of my boss who, by what I’d seen, had no idea of what privacy meant.
    “Tired?” he asked as I yawned.
    “A bit. I was getting used to the unemployed life,” I smiled.
    “No you weren’t,” he said and I just smiled. What was the point on saying no to that? “You did great today,” he said looking out the window.
    “Did I?” I asked looking out the window as well.
    “Yes, you didn’t cry,” I had to laugh out loud at that.
    “So it’s true, then. You make your assistants cry on the first day?” “It wasn’t your first day, Lucinda,” He seemed serious, maybe tired.
    “It was my first real day. The real tests were today, right?” I asked.
    “No, your first real test was making me my midnight snack,” He finally looked at me and smiled “We are here,” I looked out and yes, we had stopped in front of my house.
    I jumped out of the SVU and walked towards the front door and opened it.
    “Hi guys,” I said to my fish. Patrick followed me and looked around wondering who I had said hi to. I put my purse on one of my white couches and walked towards the fish to feed them. Oh no! What had happened to fish #2?? Oh no! It was dead. Another one. Oh no! The water works! Not in front of my boss.
    “Lucinda?” I heard Patrick’s voice and I tried to hide my face but I could not take it anymore, I broke down crying. I just put my head in my hands.
    “What’s wrong?” I felt Patrick’s hand around my shoulders “oh… Fish die,” he said finally getting what I meant that first night.
    “Again,” I said crying like a baby.
    “Come, sit down,” said Patrick taking me to the living room. I couldn’t stop crying for the life of me! “I need to make a phone call,” I said and Patrick looked at me as if I was crazy. I was pretty sure he thought I was really attached to the fish. I wasn’t. Not really. I took my phone and dialed Nick’s number and pressed the speaker button. I was a mess, thankfully I didn’t have a runny nose but I was not about to put my phone to my ear and mess it all up with tears.
    “Sugar! How..”
    “Shut up Nicholas,” I interrupted him immediately “Ok... bad mood, what happened?” I heard Nick say while Patrick gave me a tissue. This was a mess, all over a fish.
    “Did you feed my fish, Nick?” I asked choking on my tears.
    “Of course I did, Sugar. What happened?” He said in his most tender voice. He knew how touchy the fish subject was.
    “Fish #2 is dead, Nick,” I sobbed. I didn’t dare to look at Patrick; it was pretty embarrassing for me.
    “Oh, sugar, I am so sorry. Are you ok? Do you need to talk?” He said in his calm voice.
    “No, I just came to pick up some stuff. I’ll take care of it and I’ll call you later tonight, ok?” I seriously needed to stop crying, but I couldn’t. I hung up with Nick and turned to look at Patrick. Yes, I was sure he thought I was crazy.
    “Fish die,” he said again and I just sobbed in agreement. “It’s so much more than Fish #2 dying right?”
    “So much more,” I said and went on sobbing again, “I should explain,” I said, “You don’t need to, Lucinda,” Patrick was also using a soothing voice.
    “I want to, seriously, Patrick. I want to explain this crazy behavior,” I wiped my nose, that I was sure was as red as Rudolph’s, and went on to explain my situation.
    “Two months ago I came home to find Fish #3 dead,”