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‘You do? Why?’ Eve sat up, desperate to hear something good about the situation she was in.

‘Because you need to find your way without Serena or Edward. They both have their careers. You’re still finding yours and you need to do it alone.’

Eve nodded. ‘You’re right. I need to stand on my own two feet. If I’m with Edward everyone will assume anything I succeed at is because of him, and if I stay with Serena I’ll never get anywhere.’

‘Are you going to talk to Edward?’ asked Zara.

Eve shook her head. ‘It’s too complicated. I like him, a lot, but with his ex and the kids, and now his stepson is staying with my parents, it’s just so messy.’

Her friends nodded and Zara held out the bowl of crisps.

‘Can I offer you a prawn cocktail crisp for your troubles?’ she asked with an apologetic shrug.

‘Wow, you really know how to treat a lady.’ Eve laughed a little as she took a snack.

‘So what now?’ asked Anita.

Eve looked at her friend and sighed. ‘I guess I have to find another job.’

Eve’s phone rang and she saw Serena’s number on the screen.

‘That’s a no from me,’ she said and switched her phone to silent.

‘Maybe she wants you to come back,’ Zara said.

‘I would eat a beehive before I worked for her again,’ Eve said and drained her wine and held out her glass for a refill.

‘Okay, so that’s a definite no.’ Zara laughed.

‘I’ll look for a new job tomorrow but tonight, we can order a curry and watch shitty TV and finish this wine. Deal?’

‘Deal,’ said Anita and Zara in unison.

‘And it’s New Year’s Eve tomorrow,’ said Zara. ‘We can go to the costume dress-up events at Stars Niteclub and spend a stupid amount of money on drinks and talking to underwhelming men at the overcrowded bar and then be bitterly disappointed, if you want?’

Eve laughed. ‘That sounds like a special sort of hell for the desperate and lonely.’

‘Hey, don’t knock my plans,’ Zara said with a chuckle and then she paused, her face serious. ‘You know you can come. I know you won’t like it but it’s something to do, isn’t it? Just in case you’re depressed and feeling shitty about being at home alone on New Year’s Eve.’

Eve reached out and held her friend’s hand. ‘You are beautiful and lovely and above all, you’re a good friend and even though I would actually prefer to be eaten by wolves than attend that event, I am grateful you’re thinking of me.’

‘If you go, you might feel like you’re being attacked by wolves,’ said Anita. ‘I have a Little Red Riding Hood outfit you can borrow.’

‘Oh, Grandmother, what big ideas you have. No thanks. I worked for a wolf for the past three years, I am done,’ Eve said decisively. ‘Now let’s order a curry that I can eat with my big teeth.’

*

That night Eve lay in bed, reading the many text messages from Edward.

He claimed he hadn’t asked Serena to keep her as an assistant. He told her he would pull his books if she wasn’t given the job as editor. He said he missed her. The children missed her.

She didn’t reply to him because she didn’t know what to say yet.

Something about what Anita had said about finding her own way without Serena or Edward resonated with her.

She was tired of being in service to Serena and even Edward. She needed to look after herself first.

A text from Serena came through as she was thinking.