Page 78 of Riding the Waves

Amy refused to cry, though it was a battle for the entire afternoon once she’d left Damian’s place. It was hard enough to think about leaving in just over a week, but leaving while Damian was angry with her was unimaginable. Sadly, it wasn’t only leaving him that bothered her. There was also the fact that she was going back to live in a house that had never truly felt like home.

At least there was something she could do about that. If she and Anthony sold the house and split the money she’d have plenty for something smaller – a little house or a flat. She didn’t care, as long as it was a place she could make homely for her and the boys. Her kind of homely, not Anthony’s.

Trawling through the property listings to get some idea of her options felt both scary and exhilarating. Her fresh start wouldn’t be everything she wanted if it didn’t include Damian, but it was a fresh start all the same. Finally, she was going to start putting herself first.

For so many years she’d told herself that if Billy and Marty were happy then she was happy, but it turned out not to be true. Not deep down anyway. And the kids’ happiness was probably much easier to achieve than she’d thought. In Oxford they had a house rammed full of the latest gadgets and computer games but seemed to be constantly complaining that they were bored. At Damian’s house, they happily played for hours in a den they built with a few old sheets.

Walking into the offices of Hope Cove Press on Monday afternoon, Amy was immediately struck by the worry in Emily’s features.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, perching on the arm of the couch.

Emily grimaced. “Jack’s worried he upset Damian with the whole bungalow situation. His heart was in the right place, and I’ll be honest, I may have encouraged him.”

“Matchmaking is never a good idea,” Scarlett said, leaning against the desk across the room. “People should mind their own business.”

Lizzie laughed loudly. “You’re always meddling in other people’s business.”

“Only when it affects me,” Scarlett retorted. Lizzie looked thoughtful and didn’t respond.

“Sorry,” Amy said. “I don’t have any clue what you’re talking about.”

Emily blinked rapidly. “Jack not telling you that the leak was fixed. We just thought a bit more time in a confined space with Damian might be good for you ...”

“Oh.” She grimaced. “Damian didn’t tell me about that.”

“What happened?” Lizzie asked. “Wasn’t staying at his place a good thing?”

Amy breathed deeply and dropped onto the couch. “Staying at his place was fine.” She swallowed hard, her smile feeling painful. “It might actually have been good for us. It helped us figure things out.”

“And?” Emily asked cautiously.

“And Damian is never going to forgive me for marrying someone else and taking his kids away from him.” His voice echoed in her head. The only way I was a father to them was through financial support. But you even took that away from me. “I can’t exactly blame him, I just ...” Her chin wobbled madly. “I feel pretty crap, if I’m honest.”

Lizzie scooted over and rubbed her shoulder. “Sorry.”

She shook her head, feeling foolish for bringing her personal problems to them yet again. “I’m sorry. We’re supposed to be here to work and not only am I distracting you with non-work issues but I’m being depressing too.” She swiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Can you please distract me with work stuff? What’s on the agenda for today?”

The silence that fell made her feel even more foolish and she apologised yet again. “I’m really embarrassed now,” she added.

“Don’t be,” Emily said. “We actually had one main topic on the agenda for today, but I’m not sure how appropriate it is now ...” She looked questioningly at Lizzie.

“It’s about you,” Lizzie said, smiling warmly at Amy. “We wanted to let you know how impressed we’ve been with you and how much we enjoyed having you on the team.”

“Okay.” She managed a small smile. “Now I see why you question whether this was a good time to have this conversation. I’ve just been very unprofessional.”

“Don’t be silly. We’re always telling each other our problems.” Emily shared a secret smile with Lizzie. “We actually wanted to share one of our problems with you.”

“What is it?”

“We’re short-staffed,” Lizzie said. “We’re looking to take on an editorial assistant and we’d really love it to be you.”

“I ... um ... what?”

“You’d basically be doing what you’ve been doing this summer,” Emily said. “We need help with reading and responding to submissions. But we also want someone willing to jump in and help with other tasks, and you’ve already shown us you can do that.”

Amy opened and closed her mouth a few times but couldn’t find words.

“We know you’re going back to Oxford soon,” Lizzie said. “But there’s no reason you couldn’t work from there and join us through video calls. There might be the odd time we’d need you here in person, but it would probably be rare.”

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