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‘Yep.’ Her voice broke. ‘He … sacked me.’
I nodded in sympathy, not surprised considering his nauseating behaviour tonight. ‘What did he say to you?’
Deb sucked in a huge breath and pointed her gaze at the sliding door that led to the garage. ‘I fucked up, Naomi.’ She was almost whispering.
‘It’s okay, Deb. You can tell me.’ I reached out to take her hand again, but she moved it away.
‘You’re going to judge me so bad for this. It’s all my fault. I’m such an idiot.’ She turned her face towards me just enough for me to see that tears had started falling down her cheeks again. She wiped her hand under her nose and let out a pained sigh.
‘Deb, just tell me. You know I wouldn’t judge you.’ I gave her a look of sympathy.
‘I … I’ve been fucking Daniel.’ She was facing me now, though her glassy, reddened eyes stared at the floor.
My heart dropped at her words and so did my mouth. ‘No, Deb, no. You didn’t, did you? You’re kidding me.’
‘I’m dead serious.’ She began to cry harder again, her breath coming in sobs.
‘But he’s married?’
She buried her face in her hands. ‘I’ve been going to his house the past few nights while his wife was away.’
So that’s who she’d been shagging and why she didn’t brag about him. I was aghast, but I tried to hide it. The last thing Deb needed right now was for me to make her feel any worse. I took a breath to steady myself and sat closer so I could rub her back while she continued to sob. ‘I was wondering where you’d been disappearing to.’
She lifted her head and ran both hands through her greasy hair. ‘I feel terrible.’ Her words were choked. ‘I am so stupid, and now I have made us both lose our jobs.’
‘Does his wife know? I thought he had a kid.’
She sat up and reached for a tissue from the box on the coffee table. ‘Yeah, she found out – well, caught us out by coming home early. Daniel, the twit, got the dates of her return mixed up, and she walked in and caught him banging me on their bed. And I soon learned they were her favourite sheets too. She was so angry, Naomi. She pulled him off me, then slapped him multipletimes and chucked her suitcase at him. She kept calling him a lying cheating piece of trash, and I really thought she was going to kill both of us.’
I sat beside her in silence, trying to figure out what to say next.
Deb blew her nose and turned to me. ‘You hate me now, don’t you?’
I could tell by the look on her face how important my next words were.
I put my arm around her shoulder. ‘Of course not, Deb.’
She sighed with relief. ‘Thank God. I’ve been so scared to tell you.’ She gave me a crumpled smile. ‘Look, I got us into this. I will go to my parents tomorrow and tell Mum we got sacked. She won’t care. She’ll help us out with money until we find new jobs.’
‘No, I don’t expect you to do that, Deb. I don’t want your mum to help us out. She has nothing to do with this.’
‘Naomi, I am doing this for us. This is all my fault.’
I looked at her with what I hoped was a reassuring smile. ‘Deb, this is Daniel’s fault. Not yours. He should know better than to cheat on his wife with a younger woman, and to be honest, I don’t even care that much about getting sacked. I was pretty close to leaving anyway. He wasnevergoing to give me a pay rise, and deep down, I knew it. I guess this just snapped me back into reality.’
‘How did him firing you even happen? What did he say?’ She raised a worried yet quizzical brow.
‘Uh. He said I was just a “cook”, and I was pathetic and slow. He pretty much implied I was an incompetent fool and tried his hardest to make me feel worthless.’ I let out a sickened sigh.
‘What the fuck, Naomi. No way. That’s such bullshit.’ She shook her head. ‘Do you understand how many compliments you get when your food goes out? Dozens. Nearlyeverycustomer raves about your food. You are the reason we get so many tips. That’s not even an exaggeration, and Paul too, ofcourse. But seriously, Naomi, don’t listen to him. He just said that because he’s angry at me. He’s such an arsehole.’
I nodded in vigorous agreement. ‘I think he’s had it in for me since the day I started. I genuinely think he doesn’t like women.’
‘Yeah, you’re right.’ She looked ashamed.
‘And what about you? How did he fire you?’ I asked in concern.
‘Mine wasn’t as abusive as yours. He took me out the back near the bins and said, “You’re finished, Debra. I can’t have you working for me anymore. You’ve ruined my marriage and basically fucked my life. You’re a troublemaker, and you seduced me. All of this is your fault.”’
