Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
“Tell me more about your boss. Can I look him up? What’s his full name?” I tell her and she shrieks as she Googles his name. “He’s gorgeous. Is he single?”
“No idea.” I pull my tart dish from the cupboard. I hadn’t walked away with much from my relationship with Shane. I had no place to live, no furniture. When I talked to him about taking one of the cars, he’d lost it and told me his money had paid for it. So when it came to the contents of the kitchen, I’d not said a word. He was away the weekend I moved out and I took every single bit of kitchen equipment. I left him with a knife, fork, spoon, and plate. The rest—every glass, whisk, and tart dish—came with me.
“Did Dr. Gorgeous mention a wife or girlfriend? Did he have a picture on his desk or a ring on his finger?”
Okay, so I’d checked out his ring finger. I guess it was ovary-instinct or something. Shane and I had been together for so long, it had been a while since I’d even noticed how attractive other men were—but it was biologically impossible for Zach Cove to fly under my impervious radar. “I was focusing on the job. You know I need to impress this guy. I need this job for nineteen months.”
She slumps back in her chair and makes a dismissive sound. “But you’re so organized. You’re used to problem solving. If Dr. Gorgeous has a temper, you’re the impatient, spoiled-brat whisperer. Plus, you’re the nicest person I know. You’re going to kill it at this job.”
“First off, you’re a lawyer. It’s not a high bar to be the nicest person you know.” Cynthia’s mum and my mum were friends. Cynthia was always used as an example of what I could have been, could have achieved, if only I’d stayed on at university.
“True,” she says.
“Plus, Dr. Cove isn’t my boyfriend, so I’m not sure I’ll see the side of him that may or may not be a little spoiled.” He didn’t strike me as spoiled. More…moody and terse. Or maybe he just didn’t like people very much.
“I’d like to see every side and every angle of Dr. Gorgeous.”
Cynthia continues to salivate at images of my new boss while I finish off our tart and put it in the oven.
“Perhaps you’ll have a wild office affair where he’ll bend you over the examination table or do things to you with his stethoscope.”
“I said I was trying to impress him, not scare him. I’ve not done my bikini line since I left Shane.” Waxing habits aside, there is no way I’m getting naked with Dr. Cove. I can’t risk jeopardizing this job before I’ve saved what I need for Le Cordon Bleu.
“While that cooks, I’m just going to do a bit of research.” I’d brought my work laptop home because I wanted to research the insurer recognition process Dr. Cove had mentioned. For whatever reason, he didn’t seem overly eager to get the wheels in motion, even though he won’t get any patients until he does. The last thing I need is for him to decide against setting up a private practice and go back to the National Health Service full-time. I need to help him get patients through that door so I keep my job.
“Promise me something,” Cynthia says.
I unknot my apron. “What?”
“Don’t give yourself over to this job in the way you did to Shane.”
I frown. “This is entirely different. Shane was my boyfriend.”
“But you gave up everything for him, and I’m worried that’s your default setting. You’re in a brand-new job, why do you need to sit down and work at eight thirty on a Thursday? You’ve given up enough of yourself for a man who doesn’t deserve you. Don’t make the same mistake again.”
“Working for Dr. Cove is a means to an end. Keeping this job means I can start the Grand Diplôme sooner. I’m not doing anything for him that doesn’t benefit me.” I’ve been through the calculations over and over. This job is the fastest route to Cordon Bleu. Nineteen months is completely survivable, even if Dr. Cove ends up being a total nightmare. In a minimum wage job, it would take thirty months—maybe more, depending on rent and bills in the meantime. No, I have to focus on making the job with Dr. Cove work. Whatever it takes.
I’ve learned my lesson. I thought Shane and I were unbreakable, yet here I am, at the end of our relationship, ten years older, without a career and with nothing much to show for the last decade other than a lot of kitchen equipment.
But maybe that’s all I need.
Four
Ellie
I pull out a plastic container of cherry-almond squares I made last night. Since Shane and I split, I’m still having trouble sleeping—which gives me plenty of time to make sweet snacks. I’m not sure if it’s my ex’s betrayal that keeps me awake at night, or ruminating on everything I gave up. As Shane so helpfully pointed out during our last conversation, he never asked me to make him and his career my world. Not outright, anyway. I offered up every sacrifice on a plate. With a garnish.