‘What? What do you want to say?’ Eve asked.
‘Nothing,’ Zara said and turned away.
‘You know, for someone who works in marketing, you’re pretty bad at lying,’ Eve said hugging the hot water bottle to her chest.
Zara turned to her. ‘I believe him,’ she said. ‘After he left, I found out he’s pulled his catalogue. I’m not supposed to know but you know Henshaw and Carlson, such a gossip factory. Anyway, he’s pulled the books. The board offered to fire Serena but he said they should have fired her anyway for being so unethical in her bullying and lying. Quite a few other staff and authors have come forward about Serena. It’s a PR nightmare for them. Serena is denying it all and screaming blue murder now, but it’s too late. She’s been exposed and is, right or wrong, the poster person for bad behaviour in publishing.’
‘Great, so she’ll be sullying my name even more.’
‘You’re missing the point, my self-involved friend. Serena is being held accountable for the first time in her career. And Edward has walked. He doesn’t have a publisher and he has to pay a shit-ton of money to the company, which is hard cos who has cash anymore? Not that I would have his money, but twenty mill they’re saying.’
‘He doesn’t have that sort of cash,’ Eve said. ‘He said the house at Cranberry was a huge expense and he would have to write forever just to pay for the upkeep.’
Zara shrugged. ‘I don’t know how he’ll pay for it but it’s happening and it’s because of you.’
‘Gee thanks,’ Eve said.
‘I’m just telling you what I heard and what he said to me. Use the information however you wish, but I thought you should know.’
Eve hugged her friend. ‘Thank you. I’m going to sleep on it and see how I feel tomorrow.’
‘Always a good idea,’ Zara said.
Eve went back to her room, climbed into bed and opened her book. She was rereading her favourite children’s books. Tonight she was readingFive Children and It, an old-fashioned tale but it always made her laugh. She thought how much Flora would like the story of the children and the sand fairy but then closed the book. She couldn’t seem to get the Priest family out of her head. Everything always came back to them. The song she heard that she thought Myles might like, the story about Serena from Jasper, the book for Flora.
What was she doing? She thought as she lay and looked at the ceiling. She missed them, she loved them all, especially Edward.
Why was she running away because his life was complicated at the moment? Life was always complicated in its own way. Everyone had a turn, her mum always said, and this was Edward’s turn – and she’d left because she was scared.
This was the first time she had been honest with herself. Deep down she knew Serena was lying and Edward was telling the truth. But she had used it as an excuse – that she could not face the children and Edward because of Amber.
She jumped out of bed and found Zara in the kitchen, making ramen.
‘I left because I was scared of Amber. I hadn’t seen anything like that before.’
Zara looked at her friend. ‘Imagine what it was like for those kids then.’
Eve burst into tears. ‘I’m a horrible person. I just left them all.’
Zara held her. ‘You’re not horrible, you were scared.’
Eve nodded. ‘I was. And I’m not qualified to help them. What could I do?’
Zara rubbed her arms. ‘You did the right thing. You took them away from the events and you stayed with them until Edward could be with them.’
Eve gulped as Zara went on.
‘And you’re not supposed to be qualified for this sort of thing. You’re not a social worker. No one is supposed to be qualified for that. Ever.’
Eve wiped her eyes with her dressing gown. ‘I wanted to go back and be super successful and show him who I am without him or Serena.’
‘You absolute goose,’ said Zara. ‘Just be yourself and then the people who are looking for you will find you. Don’t try and be a mini-Serena in your ambition or anything else. Be yourself and be truthful to that. Then it will work out; it always does.’
Eve looked at her. ‘Have you ever thought about writing a self-help book for young women in the corporate world?’
‘I have actually,’ said Zara. ‘But get a job first and then we can discuss my advance.’
They hugged again and Eve went to bed, settled in to sleep. She needed to talk to Edward but not when she was like this. At least she understood her response now and surely Edward would understand, wouldn’t he?
