Page 69 of Jain

“Yeah, hot Mr Silver will be yourcolleague,”Kate wailed, and Harley scowled.

“Ha, yes. I know,” I said, sipping my second pint.

“Good job you’re getting married. Vada would probably rip your throat out otherwise.” Harley chuckled before stealing a crisp from Sarah and starting an argument.

I tried not to respond, but the words echoed around my head.

Good job you’re getting married...

Was it? We would see. Until then, drink.

Excessively.

Jain

“I’m going to be late, fuck!”

I stubbed my toe on the corner of the table, crying out in agony as Julian raised an eyebrow at me.

“Jain, calm down, babe. It’s fine; you’ve got plenty of time, I know it’s your first day, but you need to calm down.”

He glanced back at his paper, sipping his coffee when his phone rang.

“Recruit Salute, Julian speaking.”

I grabbed my bag, quickly checking my reflection before leaving the house.

Julian was working from home today, and he had pressed snooze on my alarm, making me late. So, he could fuck off if he thought I was listening to him.

“Don’t forget to choose the flowers you want!” he yelled after me as I silently flipped him the bird.

I would shove his flowers up his ass.

I slid into my car, reversing quickly from the large drive, easing myself into the steady traffic that led to my new workplace.

My old school.

I couldn’t quite believe I was going to be working here, of all the places. When Julian got allocated to this town, I knew that I would end up here; there wasn’t much in the way of education around these parts. I’d been secretly pleased and had allowed myself tiny fantasies about being reunited with Evan. Then I had excessive guilt and prayed he had moved on to new pastures.

But no.

He was still here.

When I finally arrived, parking in the staff car park almost threw me. However, I managed to make it with only seconds to spare and realised I had no idea where the staff room was. It had changed since I had been here—some things still stayed the same, though; the stench of bleach mixed with mashed potato, the way my shoes squeaked on the floor.

Vada was behind the reception when I walked in, her eyes narrowing when she saw me.

“Good morning,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t blame me for Evan dumping her. I had no idea what she thought and partly didn’t care.

“Hi. I suppose you want directions to the staff room?”

She was barely civil with me.

“Um, yes.”

Vada sighed before unlocking the door to the office. She pointed at a fire map on the wall, telling me where to go in an emergency as I tried to keep up.

“Vada, I’m sorry to hear about you and Evan,” I said, hoping she would see me as someone who cared rather than who I truly was.