Page 99 of The Fallback

‘Never mind. The point is you’re OK for the moment but you need to come back to work soon or Rachelisgoing to notice.’

Rosie knew Nadia was right, but until she’d figured out how she was going to handle the whole situation she couldn’t countenance going in. Imagine coming face to face with Rachel and realising that she had discovered what Rosie had done? Rosie would prefer to be fired for absenteeism and had already mentally worked out what personal possessions she would need Nadia to fetch from her office when that happened.

But despite this career Armageddon hanging over her, Rosie couldn’t stop thinking about Mitch. It didn’t help that every time Nadia messaged, she would mention something about how amazing Mitch was and how he had saved her job. And every time Rosie would reply with gritted teeth, hating Mitch for meddling in Nadia’s life but also grateful that he had sorted things out for her.

‘Has he called you?’ Nadia asked. Rosie had been screening her calls but decided that Nadia didn’t need to know that.

* * *

‘I’m still not ready,’ Rosie said defiantly, as Jasmine carefully placed a cup of tea on the table next to the sofa. Rosie was wrapped up in a blanket, wearing Jasmine’s pyjamas and watching daytime TV. Her nephews had begged to be allowed to stay home and do the same, but Chris had wrestled them out of the door about an hour ago to take them to school.

‘I didn’t say anything,’ said Jasmine, sitting down on the sofa next to Rosie.

‘You didn’t have to,’ Rosie said flatly. ‘I can tell by the look on your face that you think I should talk to him.’

Jasmine raised her eyebrows. ‘Actually, I think he’s behaved like a shit, to tell the truth.’ Rosie looked over at Jasmine in surprise. ‘I’ve been thinking it over and you’re right, if he asked for a transfer at the same time that he asked you to have his baby, then I think we can agree that’s shitty behaviour.’

‘You think?’ said Rosie who had begun to think that actually she didn’t honestly know when Mitch applied for the transfer. And that maybe everyone was right and she should return one of his calls and hear him out. And that he really probably was the best person to help her out with this email fiasco and that she should swallow her pride and just pick up the phone…

‘Yes, I do,’ confirmed Jasmine, ‘And I also think that you need to make a decision. Either you talk to him, hear him out, or you move on with your life.’

Rosie felt her eyes well up at Jasmine’s words. She didn’t want to hear it.

‘Rosie, I know this is hard, but you two have been messing about in each other’s lives for over a decade, during which time nothing romantic has happened – until now. Both of you have put your lives on hold. And then as soon as something does happen, it all goes wrong!’ Jasmine put her hand on Rosie’s arm and gave her a gentle squeeze. ‘You really need to talk to him, see if you can figure things out. And if you can’t, well then at least you’ll know. I’m only saying this because I care about you, I hate seeing you like this, and I hate the thought that you’ve wasted all this time waiting for Mitch.’

Rosie inched herself closer to Jasmine and rested her head on her shoulder. She didn’t want to hear her words, but she did want the comfort of Jasmine’s hugs. As if reading her thoughts Jasmine put her arm around Rosie and squeezed her.

‘I still think you should hear him out. Get some closure and then you can move on.’

‘Really? I was sort of hoping I could hide here forever and pretend none of this had ever happened.’

‘I’m going to pretend you’re joking,’ Jasmine said with a raised eyebrow. ‘Youneedto hear his explanation, for your sake, not for his.’.

‘Shouldn’t you be at work?’ Rosie asked, changing the subject.

‘Slow morning,’ Jasmine said.

Rosie looked at her pointedly. ‘You never have slow anytime.’

‘Yeah, well I wanted to check that you weren’t going to sit here and wallow all day. I want those pyjamas back at some point.’

Rosie pointed towards the TV and then her cup of tea. ‘I’m not wallowing. This is medicinal.’

Jasmine rolled her eyes. ‘Right, whatever. But if you’re not going to listen to my advice on Mitch you need to listen to my advice on work. Do you have a plan?’ Rosie reluctantly shook her head.

‘OK,’ continued Jasmine, ‘well you need to get one. Because it’s not acceptable that you throw away your career sitting around moping over some boy.’

‘I’m not moping!’ protested Rosie.

‘You are,’ insisted Jasmine. ‘You need to work out what you’re going to do. Either you fess up to Rachel before she finds out from someone else, because that –’ Jasmine pointed at Rosie forcefully ‘– would besomuch worse. Or you need to work out how to get that email back. Which brings me back to the fact that you need to talk to Mitch.’

‘All right, all right,’ Rosie said grumpily. ‘I’ll do something. Nadia said she would help.’

Jasmine stood up. ‘Well make sure she does.’

‘Are you going now?’ demanded Rosie.

Jasmine walked towards the door stopping to give Rosie’s shoulder a squeeze. ‘By the way, Chris said you can stay as long as you like!’

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