As Juno sat and stared at the letter in her hand, that old saying about 'anything that can go wrong, will go wrong' echoed over and over in her head.

Due to some 'restructuring' at her landlord's office and some planned construction and overhauling on her current apartment building, Juno had just been given sixty days notice that she had to vacate her apartment.

She had to find a new place to live. In Chicago. In sixty days.

Preferably a place she could afford, that wasn't adjacent to or acting as a crack house, and that was within reasonable walking distance of the train.

Piece of cake, Juno thought sarcastically. I'm sure apartments like that spring up every day in the city.

Juno glanced at the clock and wondered if three o'clock in the afternoon was too early to just go back to bed.

**

Juno jumped in her office chair as her phone began ringing insistently. She'd just been working on the final paragraphs of a piece of writing that had been commissioned by a new start up magazine in Chicago.

Since returning from vacation, Juno had devoted most of her time to research and article structuring for this one article – trying to come up with a fresh new way to write the typical non fiction piece of writing. She had been asked to write an article on some of the 'unknown treasures' of Chicago, geared towards tourists and locals alike, and Juno had spent a lot of time on the El this week trundling from one end of town to the other to find new restaurants, touristy spots and pretty hotels off the beaten path.

She quickly clicked save on the computer and bounded out of her chair to sprint to her telephone. Slightly out of breath, she picked up the receiver and greeted whoever was on the other end.

"Juno?" A man's voice asked, making Juno's heart skip a beat. "It's Ron over at Pulse."

Juno quickly quashed her hopes that maybe Jamie had somehow tracked her down and was calling her from Scotland. It had been a week and a half, but every time she went out to the mailbox, every time the phone rang, she couldn't help but wish…

"Hi, Ron." Juno said brightly, pushing thoughts of Jamie out of her mind immediately. "I was just putting the finishing touches on your article. Do you want me to email it over in a few minutes?"

"Yeah, about that." Ron said, his voice low and even. "Bad news, kiddo."

Kiddo, Juno thought darkly. I hate being called kiddo.

"Oh really?" Juno asked. "What's the matter?"

"One of our potential funding sources fell through, so publication has been scrapped." Ron explained.

"For how long?"

"Sort of indefinitely." Ron answered. "I'm really sorry, Juno."

"Indefinitely?" Juno repeated. "Not just delayed? You don't want the piece at all?"

She could practically hear Ron shake his head no. "Sorry, kiddo. Just the way it goes with new publications. If we get going again, we'll give you a buzz. I’m really sorry it fell through."

"So I guess this means no commission check this time." Juno asked, wanting to make sure she understood the implications of Ron's phone call.

"That's right. None of us are getting a check this time around."

After making her goodbyes to Ron, Juno hung up the phone and sat down heavily at her kitchen table.

Great, she thought sarcastically. Not only have I spent all week on one lousy article, but now no one will ever see it, and I'm not getting a dime out of it.

So much for paying some bills this week…

**

"Hey." Viv said as Juno answered her phone the following morning. "Darcy and I are going to meet for lunch downtown. Want to come with us – we've barely seen you since we got back from vacation, and we've been a little worried."

"Worried?" Juno asked dumbly as she slowly replaced all her spice bottles into her kitchen cabinet, arranging them by alphabet, height and popularity for maximum usage. Why waste time searching for garlic powder or dried parsley when it could organized to be right up front in her cabinet?

After she finished organizing the spice cabinet, Juno had already decided she was going to separate her CDs into genres, then put them back on the shelves alphabetically, CDs by artists arranged by year of CD release. It was high time her music was organized…

"Yes." Viv said. "Worried. As in, afraid you are doing nothing but crying or compulsively cleaning, or that you are contemplating buying a cat or something."

"I'm allergic." Juno replied automatically, looking guiltily around her spotless kitchen.

"Are you coming to lunch or what?" Viv asked.

Juno shook her head. "I can't. I've been summoned over to the parentals house. I don't know why, but it didn't sound good."

"Uh oh." Viv agreed. "Well, call me later and let me know how it went."

"Thanks." Juno said gratefully. "I will."

**

Juno climbed out of the backseat of the cab and fumbled with her umbrella as she stood in the deluge. After unsuccessfully trying several times to open it, Juno just dashed up the front sidewalk of her parents' house and rang the doorbell a few times.

"You're soaked! Come in, come in." Juno's mother exclaimed as she opened the door and saw Juno standing on the front doorstep. Juno stepped inside the house, her hair plastered to her forehead and her clothes adhering to every inch of her body. "You look a fright." Her mother said as she took Juno's jacket from her. "Do you want some tea?"

How about a vodka, straight up, Juno wished idly. "Tea would be great."

Juno followed her mother into the cozy kitchen, her eyes darting around the house, looking for new knick knacks or family photos. "Where's Dad?" She asked after a few moments.

Her mother said nothing as she carefully stirred some sugar into Juno's mug then handed it to her. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about." Her mother said, studiously avoiding her eyes.

"Dad?" Juno asked, taking a sip of tea and watching her mother in confusion. Her mother was actually opening up and talking to her about family? This was definitely a first for them. They'd never been the type of mother and daughter duo that took long walks and talked about their feelings, like they do in movies or commercials.

"Yes." Her mother repeated. "We've already told your brother, but we wanted you to know as well." Juno's mother took a deep breath. "Your father and I are getting a divorce."

**

Juno dropped her wet jacket on the floor by her front door and flung her shoes off her feet and across the room, where they thumped against the wall and left a black mark.

Glancing at the clock, she grabbed a towel and gave her hair a quick pat down to stop the drips, then dropped the towel on the floor. Shedding her clothes as she went, Juno dug around in her bureau until she found a pair of oversized pink flannel pajamas and slipped them on.

Juno slid between the sheets of her bed and turned over, punching her pillow several times before flopping her head down onto it, a wet strand of hair sticking to her cheek.

It may only be four in the afternoon, but it was either crawl into bed and forget about the world or go down to Patrick's and start drinking martinis until she fell off the barstool.

No current jobs. No money to pay bills. Getting evicted from the apartment. Mom and Dad getting a divorce after over thirty years of marriage.

Juno sneezed violently, and then kicked the covers until she was comfortable again.

And getting a cold.

Great.

Just great.

1335 / 41438 / 50000

before . after