Page 81 of Chasing Storm
I rub her back and ask, “Did your hubs do something to upset you?”
She glares up at me. “No. This isn’t about him. It’s about that witch Angela.”
“Oooh,” I murmur and remove my hand from Cheryl. “What did she do to you?”
“It turns out they are in debt up to their ears, and she hasn’t paid me this month. I mean, what the fucking fuck? Sadie as well. She has stayed to cooperate, whatever that means, but I’ve walked out before things went sideways forme. The auditors are there; the ethics board are crawling all over the place. It’s doomed. DOOMED, I tell you!” she roars in my face, tears streaming out of her eyes. “What am I going to do? I haven’t been paid, and now I have to find another job which isn’t going to pay me for another month after that!”
“I know, babes. Well, I didn’t know about the Robbs. That’s shocking.” But it all makes sense now. It makes all the sense that Angela didn’t bother me about my parents’ clientsuntilshe needed me. I was the ace in the hole, supposedly. But why would she think I’d ever betray my parents to help her? She is delusional.
Well, desperate, obviously.
“Do you want me to see if my parents’ can offer you something?”
Her eyes go wide, and she grabs my arm. “Would you? I loathe beingthatfriend, but I’m freaking out.”
“I’ll ask, but I honestly don’t know if they have anything. There’s Miriam here already and me.”
“I’ll do anything. I’ll be their brew bitch. I don’t give a fuck.”
“You could ring the temp agency in the meantime,” I suggest.
“I have. They don’t have anything. And I can’t live like that, not knowing what’s coming in when. I need stability, especially now.”
“Now?”
She sighs. “I’m pregnant. It’s why we went away the other week. We decided that was the time. And now this happens. I need every penny between now and then and the benefits… fuck.”
I hesitate. She sounds so frantic. I lick my lips nervously. “Is there something else you want to say?”
“What do you mean?” she asks, rooting around in her bag for a tissue, which she finds and blows her nose.
“Anything. I’m here if you need to vent.”
She sighs heavily. “Tim got laid off. We had no idea it was coming. Completely out of the fucking blue. He’s been looking for a job, but his trade is niche, and there are so few jobs. He’s widened his net, but you’ve seen where we live. We need both our salaries coming in to afford the fucking place, along with everything else.”
I silently agree. They live in a four-bedroom townhouse that is absolutely in the right area for the exclusive schools, which of course drives the price up ten fold.
“Fuck,” I mutter. It doesn’t even cover it.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, wait here. I’ll see if my mum is in and if she can help.” I’m doing a shitload of relying on my parents to bail everyone out, including me, lately, and it’s starting to suck. Since when did I become the go-to problem solver of Notting Hill?
“Thank you, Storm. I’m so sorry about this. You’ve got such a big heart, and you’re such a good friend.” She flings her arms around me again.
That’s my problem. Everyone keeps saying I’m so compassionate. It’s not a bad thing, but I need to work on not being so easy to come to with every woe under the sun. I’ve got my own shit going on. Like, what am I going to do about moving into the guys' house. I know they expect it. I half think they stuck around in my teeny studio flat to prove that we needed to be somewhere bigger. No one has mentioned it yet, but I feel it’s coming, and I’m trying to avoid thinking about it. It’s not that I don’t want to be with them. I do. I’m crazy in love with all of them, which is bizarre, but so amazing that I feel myself well up every time I think about them. But being in love hasn’t changed my need for independence.
I glance over my shoulder at the practice and realise with a sigh, that went out the window when I asked my mum for a job. I’m fooling myself and using it as an excuse to get out of moving in with them.
I stand up and, with a tight smile at Cheryl, which has nothing to do with her, but my own issues, I head into work and grin at Miriam, a genuine smile as she waves at me. She’s brilliant. And the fact that she named her Cockapoo Sadie, just makes me love her even more.
“Is Dr Gloria in?” I ask her, feeling weird using that, but ‘mum’ is hardly professional.
“Yep, just got in about ten minutes ago.”
“Thanks.” I unlock and push open the door that leads down the corridor and rap lightly on my mum’s open office door.
“Hey,” I say when she looks up. “Any jobs going?” Might as well just dive in there. Everyone appreciates a non-bush-beating conversation, I think.
