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Chapter Six
Evie
I can’t help it. I keep opening the fridge and looking at the shelves filled with cheeses and meats. So much more than I’ll be able to eat on my own.
Surely Lexi is going to want something in return for all this, and as I glance at the salon card still sitting on the table, all I can do is think her kind gestures are racking up. But Thomas’s absence surrounds me, and I’d do anything for him to come home. Whatever Lexi wants from me, I’ll pay just to have the house filled with his laughter and chatter again.
Louis said the owner, Carla Jenkins, will be expecting me, so I make sure I have my portfolio and my credentials before I leave the house. I check my watch, wanting to see how long it will take me to walk there. The sun’s bright, but the autumn chill has me buttoning up my jacket as I set off.
If I had the luxury of being nervous, my stomach would be twisting itself up as I agonise over talking to the owner about a job. But my desperation has settled my stomach this morning. I need this job, and in this town, it’s getting more and more difficult to find work. I’ve never had any complaints from previous clients, and the two salons I’ve worked in were sad to see me leave.
By the time I make it to the salon, I check the time again. It’s taken me twenty-six minutes. Pushing open the door, I’m instantly hit with the scents of shampoos and hairsprays, and I take a deep breath.
As soon as I get home, I call my mum. It shouldn’t surprise me when she answers, but it does. I have this growing anxiety that she’s going to disappear with my son. I’ve woken up from nightmares where I’m searching and searching for them, but never find them.
“Evie. I hope you’re calling with good news.”
There are no greetings—nothing. I bite down the urge to point out her rudeness, but instead I say, “I am. I got a job. I’ve got a chair at a salon thirty minutes from my house. I start tomorrow.”
“That’s great,” she says, lacking the excitement for me to believe she means it.
“I’ve got a job, so when can I see him?”
I don’t care if she hears the pleading in my voice. I’m beyond my pride. If she were here, I’d drop to my knees and beg.
“This Saturday. Meet us St. George’s Park at 1 PM.”
She quickly hangs up without a goodbye, but I don’t care. I get to see my son this weekend. Tossing the phone on the table, I keep moving so I’m not dwelling on the here and now right this moment.
I fill the kettle and prepare a mug for tea. Sitting at the table, I reach for my notepad and pen, and start making lists.
A list of bills and debts I need to catch up on, jobs I need to complete around the house, and all the ways I’m going to make this up to Thomas for as long as I live.
I’ve barely finished when my phone rings, and the familiar private number flashes across the screen.
“Hello?”
“Hey! I heard you’ve got yourself a job.”
Of course it’s Lexi, and I’m not surprised she’s heard the news.
“News travels fast.”
She laughs. “I have my ways.”
“Lexi, I don’t know how to pay you back for everything you’ve done for me.”
Here it is. The moment she can tell me what she wants from me. Only, it doesn’t come.
“No need to pay me back. Just get your boy home.”
“I intend to.”
“That’s what I want to hear. Anyway, what did you think of my brother?” she asks, completely turning the tables on me.
For the first time in months, I laugh, and God, it feels good. “I suppose he was nice, if you can get past his intensity.”
And his good looks in a rugged, bad boy kind of way. It’s his eyes, though, that have lingered in my mind. I caught him staring a few times, and it was like being under a microscope.
