Page 82

She could fight for this, make her voice heard, regain all that she’d lost. All except Bea.

Or she could go on the way she was, groping blindly toward something new, something she hadn’t identified yet, but something that could end up being better if she had enough faith and strength to get there.

She smiled at Darren and loaded her fork with salad. “No,” she said. “Thanks, but no.”

Chapter Thirty Three

It was Josh that told her. He just phoned her up out of the blue on the Saturday before she was supposed to start work again and told her everything.

“You have to be kidding,” Liz said when Bea told her.

“I wish I was. How did you get this job in the first place?”

Liz shrugged. “I applied online like I do for most jobs. There was no sign of anything fishy, I swear to you, otherwise I wouldn’t have applied.”

Bea blew out a breath, trying not to think of all the things that had depended on her finally having a steady job.

“My offer of a loan is still out there,” Liz said.

Bea shook her head. “Nope, I got this. But thank you.”

Liz pointed with her crutch and Bea grabbed the coffeepot and poured some more in Liz’s cup. “You’re going to have moving expenses and all sorts,” Liz said. “Are you really sure? There’s nothing wrong with accepting help.”

“I know that. And if you weren’t lethal with those crutches, you’d be carrying boxes for me,” said Bea. “But I’ve got this. If I need help, I’ll definitely let you know.”

Walking home from Liz’s house, Bea tried to come up with a new plan. This wasn’t the end of the world, she told herself. It was a small hiccup, that was all. And she supposed it explainedthe phone call she’d got from Alli, not that she’d answered it.

Alli must have found out before she did and wanted to tell her. Which was kind, she supposed. But then, Alli must have been pretty happy. She’d gotten what she wanted. With the program being investigated, she’d have a good argument for getting her job back.

Bea was happy for her. Not the happiest, because she had a feeling that Alli’s job wasn’t doing her any favors, but happy because she knew it was important to her. She hoped that one day Alli would find out that real happiness came from something other than a job. Like people, good people.

She thought about Luke agreeing so readily to her raise. He must have known already that things were going wrong. That was why he was shredding papers, why he’d seemed so jumpy about other people being around. She’d had a bad feeling about him from the start.

The real problem was everyone else. Josh and Lex would be out of a job, too. She didn’t know what to think about the others, about Izzy and sweet Julia, big Marcus and quiet Leslie. It would be easy to blame them, she supposed. They had all been lying.

But then, Bea was more charitable than that. They’d been paid by Luke to fill out the numbers. They must have needed the money, or why do it? Why shut themselves away from their families for two weeks?

It must have been hard on them too, she decided. The whole thing was just a good example of how one bad person could ruin things for everyone. Still, she supposed, as she walked up to her front door, at least no one had been hurt in the process. That she could be glad about.

And glad that she wasn’t even more involved with the place. She’d worked there for two weeks, not enough time to be asked to do anything untoward. Things could have been a lot worse, she thought as she climbed the stairs to her flat.

THERE WERE PLENTY of freelancing sites that advertised foryoga teachers. And a fair few job sites as well, she found as she sat in front of her computer. What had stopped her applying for all these jobs before, she wondered.

Lack of confidence, probably. That and lack of motivation. Things were different now, though. She was applying for everything that she could find, not even looking at the qualifications required. She’d deal with those if they became a problem later.

She was, however, getting more than slightly annoyed by the online application process. Jobs that required an attached CV and then proceeded to ask questions that could be answered by reading said CV should be illegal, she decided.

She was filling out yet another series of questions when Robbie and Marilyn came home, giggling at something as they came into the hall.

“Afternoon, Bea,” Robbie said, poking his head around the kitchen door. “Just going to catch the football. You alright?”

“Fine,” she said, not looking up from her computer. “Have you got time to watch football? I’d have thought you’d be spending your time looking for a new flat.”

“Yeah, well, er, we looked at a couple already today, and one more lined up for tomorrow afternoon. I think we might have found what we’re looking for today, but keeping the options open, you know how it is.”

“Good,” she said.

Marilyn bustled into the kitchen. “Afternoon, Bea. I’m going to get started cooking dinner. Robbie told you about the flat?”