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CHAPTER 3
Bleary-eyed, Maya poured breakfast cereal into bowls and placed glasses of orange juice in front of her children and remembered why she needed a full eight hours’ sleep — or at least seven. She didn’t have the patience for the children’s bickering. The whole school run was grating on her this morning.
She had stayed up past midnight again, opening an online dating account on one of the sites Selina had recommended — the one she’d met Kelvin on. Maya had thought it best to go with that one. Maybe there would be less chaff and more wheat.
It had taken up most of her evening, making her late going to bed. She couldn’t afford to commit this level of time continuously. Maya normally used her evenings to order stock and read up on the latest beauty treatments and products in GuildNews and TheBeautyProfessional, which she subscribed to. And then there were her accounts. She had a business to run! And she liked some downtime before bed.
Now she realised why she hadn’t dated in so long. She simply didn’t have the time.
This morning, Selina had booked Maya for some beauty treatments. Kelvin was taking her away for the weekend — their first break away together — so she wanted a manicure, pedicure and waxing.
“I’m so excited,” Selina said, lying on Maya’s massage bed, ready for her bikini wax. “Have you set yourself up online yet? How’s it going?”
Maya was pleased Selina had broached the subject. She’d held off, unsure whether to raise it. “Yes, but I haven’t put up a profile picture yet.” She wasn’t very good at the whole selfie thing — only girls in their teens and twenties had perfected looking beautiful while pouting at a camera an arm’s length away. She’d only partly filled out the information the site requested.
Maya ripped at the wax and Selina gave a gasp.
“Oh, sorry, should have warned you that bit would hurt.” Maya winced, forgetting how she was used to administering these treatments. Concentrate.
Before she’d had children, Maya had worked as a beautician in the spa at one of Portishead’s luxury hotels, a job she’d loved. After the children had been born, she’d returned briefly, before agreeing with Kyle to convert a room in their large house and became self-employed. Clients had come to her and it had worked conveniently around the kids and school holidays. But after Kyle had left — or rather after she’d kicked him out — the family home had had to be sold to split their financial assets.
Maya could forgive Kyle for no longer loving her: after all, relationships faltered. But she’d never forgive him for cheating on her. If there had been problems, they should have discussed it.
Contrary to expectations, Maya loved her cosy semi-detached cottage. Every decorating decision had been hers. There had been no one to moan that the colour was too dark, or not to his taste — Kyle would have had magnolia throughout. It may have needed some cosmetic updating — which her dad had helped with — but it was comfortable. She and the kids had lived in it for just over a year now. The school was still within walking distance. It was more manageable, and a new start for the three of them. This way, Maya could live comfortably and affordably. But it meant taking her beauty business mobile.
She’d downsized the house but upgraded the car to an estate, so that she could fit in a massage bed and any other equipment she would need for her clients. To keep up with the latest beauty trends, she sent herself on courses and learnt new treatments: with Kyle no longer there to provide financial stability — apart from the child maintenance — she needed to stand on her own two feet.
“You never warned me how time-consuming it would be,” Maya said, thinking of the lack of sleep she’d had last night as she pasted on warm wax, then ripped it off with strips of muslin.
“Yes, sorry, I forgot that,” Selina said with a grimace. “Try to restrict when you go on the site. I would only go on in the evenings, once Toby was asleep.”
Maya agreed. She wouldn’t be in a bar at a lunchtime trying to pull, so maybe she needed to restrict her online search for a date to the evenings as well.
“Hey, but high five.” Selina raised her newly manicured hand, and Maya slapped it. “You’ve done it, you’ve braved the internet and got yourself out there.”
Yes, she had. Tonight, she would upload a photo and give this online dating thing a proper go.
