Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121898 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 609(@200wpm)___ 488(@250wpm)___ 406(@300wpm)
“No. You’re right. I’m sorry, Tom.”
“Don’t be sorry. Being sorry won’t fix it.”
“I know. If it makes a difference, the first thing I plan to do after this Christmas is find a therapist to help me deal with everything.” She put the mug down and swapped it for her bag. “Actually, on that topic, I have something I need to give you.”
“What could you possibly need to give me?”
She got up and passed me a brown envelope. It was unsealed, but light.
With a frown, I took it from her and removed the contents. “Is this… your CV?”
“Yep.”
I met her eyes.
“Why are you giving me this? I know where you’ve worked and what grades you got in school.”
“I quit my job.”
I stared at her. Was I hearing her correctly? Or was my lack of sleep last night catching up to me? “You did what?”
“I quit my job,” she repeated, folding her arms across her chest. “They wanted me to stay even longer, so I told my boss to shove his presentation up his arse until it does a couple of loops around his digestive system and walked out.”
Yeah.
That sounded like the Zara I knew.
“So, what am I to do with this?” I held up the sheets of paper. “Are you asking me to go over it and tweak it for you? Maybe put in a few good words?”
I knew what she was asking for.
“You know why,” she said, clenching her jaw.
“If you want to use your get out of jail card with me, you’re going to have to do better than that.”
She held her jaw tightly for a second, then relaxed it and walked back around to the chair to sit down again. “I was going to quit in the new year anyway. I can’t keep going back and forth. It was only supposed to be a short-term thing, but I got too comfortable avoiding everything here. I told myself it was a good thing, that I was making more money for my family, but like you said, all I did was abandon them.”
I wasn’t going to argue with her.
“Dad would have come down and dragged me back by now. I was half-expecting you to do the same.”
“Well, that’s why you got away with it for this long. He babied you. Personally, you’re old enough to deal with your own shit, so I’m not going to drag you anywhere to fix your problems.”
“I realised that when we spoke the other day on the phone. I also realised I was missing everything. Danny’s growing up so fast, and if we want another baby…”
“There’s no—” I stopped.
Shit.
She didn’t know that Beth was pregnant yet.
I’d forgotten that.
“What?”
I blinked as if I’d forgotten. “Sorry. Lost my train of thought. Carry on.”
She waved her hand through the air as if brushing my words away. “I just can’t do it anymore, Tom. I’m not happy. I’m miserable. I miss everyone. I miss Castleton. Earning as much money as I was seems futile now.”
“Why did the money matter? If you were somehow struggling, you know you could ask.”
“I wanted to buy us a house. With money I’d earnt,” Zara said softly. “Not your money, not the estate’s money. You already did enough by helping Beth open the shop.”
Ah.
“Is that worth missing out on time with your family?” I asked, raising my eyebrows. “I understand where you’re coming from, but Dad left you enough money to buy ten houses.”
“I didn’t want to use it.”
“Why? Nobody else has an issue with using inheritance to buy a house or pay off a mortgage. Why should you be any different?”
“It just feels wrong.”
“Then buy a house and donate the same amount of money to charity if it makes you feel better.” I sipped my tea. “This is a very first world problem, Zara. I know you like creating entire mountain ranges out of molehills, but this is a bit daft, don’t you think? Besides, it’s not like there’s a rush for you to move out. Nobody is kicking you out of here.”
“Like you’re going to want your sister and her family around when you get married.”
I held up one finger. “One, I’m single. I’m nowhere near getting married.” I added a second. “Two, this house is far too big for just me and Mum. And three,” I said, holding up a finger. “It’s almost time for the school run.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“Since you’re here, you can save me a job and walk into town to pick your son up from school. I’ll call and let them know you’re coming today,” I said. “And while you’re walking, you can think about how you’re going to come back and beg your brother for a job.”
“I’m not going to beg you.”
“Then I’m not going to give you one.”
“Dad always promised that there would be a job for me with the estate.”