Page 100 of Prove You Wrong

‘I was worried about you, with your mum … ’ Josie looks guiltily back, swigging her tea to avoid speaking.

‘I didn’t have a particularly good example growing up?’ I offer.

She scrunches her nose and gives a little nod.

‘It must have been lonely for my mum, bringing up kids on her own, being abandoned by her parents, then my dad. Then Chloe’s. I’m not mad at her for trying to find a guy all those years. Sometimes I think she works so much now to try and fill that void.’

Josie opens a box file, pulling an envelope out. ‘Well, that I can relate to.’ She starts laying receipts out on the rug.

‘Sorry things went south with Scott.’

She bats her hand. ‘That’s nothing. I'm a big girl. It was a one-night stand … well, two if I’m being accurate. It's cool.’ Her voice catches and I don’t quite believe her.

‘But youlikedhim. God, me going on about Nate … sorry.’ I rub her arm and give her an apologetic look.

She fixes me with a pointed glare. ‘Don’t you dare dim your light to make others feel brighter.’

‘Well,’ I nudge her arm,‘I think you're radiant.’

‘I’ve decided it’s his loss. Iwasfeeling pretty shitty about it last week but I got my art therapy on. Painted a whole red series. It's getting a lot of love on Insta. I've sold a couple already.’

Patting her pile of receipts and invoices, I say, ‘Speaking of which, let’s get your tax return sorted.’

I help Josie complete the spreadsheet I'd prepared for her to get all her incomings and outgoings in order and then spend some time working out some other things she could write off as well.

‘Eeek. The spreadsheet has stopped working.’ She starts striking the keys with increasing ferocity.

Stilling her hand with mine, I tap into the formula bar. ‘You forgot the bracket here.’ I make a quick change and the numbers sort themselves out.

‘You’re so good at this.’ Her arm circles me for a brief hug. ‘Thanks for helping.’

‘I don’t mind at all.’ I shrug with a smile.‘Anytime.’

‘Let me know if there’s ever anything I can do for you.’

‘Now you mention it … how do you feel about taking an accountancy course?’

Hurt flashes through her green eyes. ‘I thought you said you didn’t mind helping?’

‘I don’t. No, the course is for me, I mean.’ I laugh, realising my mistake. ‘I’d be leading the course. I need a friendly face in the audience.’

‘Leading it?’ she croons. ‘Tell me more.’

‘I’ve had a chat with the local college. Still ironing out all the details, but I’ll be delivering a basic, never-seen-a-spreadsheet-before type evening accountancy course. But I know,’ I hold my hands up, ‘I’m not a teacher, so I’ve signed up to do a certificate in education, and I need to get thirty hours teaching as part of the qualification. I’m going to deliver it online, too, so I can maybe help single parents or people that can’t get out in the evening.’

Josie throws her hands up. ‘Why the fuck are we doing my tax return when it’s not due for a month? We need to go out and celebrate.’ She pulls me up and thrusts my bag at me.

‘Cocktails!’ we say in unison.

Chapter 30

Nate

I’m on call tonight, but it’s a quiet one. At a loose end, I decided to help Scott at the bar while waiting for my phone to ping. Ella’s studying this evening, having already started her new course.I’m so proud of her.

Suddenly, my phone buzzes. It’s Control. Must be a priority ad hoc request or I’d have heard from them sooner.

‘Hi. Whatcha got for me?’

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