‘My mother.’
‘Right, so as far as I’m concerned, that’s more than enough. Can you start tomorrow?’
Wow, the shortest job interview in history. Also, the one she’d least wanted to get. Georgina must have felt her hesitation.
‘I see here from your CV that you’ve been earning a considerably higher salary than comes with this post. Look, we just need somebody to hold the place together, so I’m willing to compromise – how does €37,000 sound?’
Ally blinked. That was almost ten grand higher than the basic salary. This job was getting harder and harder to refuse. It would also instantly solve the problem of having to explain why she’d been fired from Celtic Concrete. Her heart was trying to make itself heard in a tiny squeak but the evidence from her head was drowning it out entirely.
‘Sure, thank you .?.?. Actually, that sounds great.’
The lines on Georgina’s forehead relaxed. ‘Glad to hear it, and welcome to the team. I think you’ll be perfect.’
Ally could have been importing Class A drugs or running an illegal puppy mill for all Georgina knew, but she reflected, with a twinge of guilt, that once you knew the right people, doors swung open.
‘Super, we’ll see you tomorrow morning at nine a.m. and I’ll show you the ropes.’
* * *
‘Well, how did you get on?’ trilled Mum’s voice excitedly down the phone.
‘I got it.’
‘Fabulous, I knew it. I was just chatting with Allegra Carmichel on our Thursday walk, and I was telling her I’d managed to put you forward for the job, and as she said to me, “Hildie, where would that girl be without you? Without a doubt you are amazing.” That’s the only word for it, she said: “amazing”.’
Ally sighed. She was far from amazed – this was all too familiar. No matter what she did, if it was something bad, then it was typical and she was to blame; if it was good, then it was all down to Mum. And if you confronted her with it, she’d be appalled, incredulous. And worst of all, wounded.
So, she had a job that would allow her to pay the mortgage – barely, and only if she didn’t eat too much. She’d been persuaded by the pet shop to bulk-buy the fish food. Maybe she could share a bit of that .?.?.
Oh God, now she was going to have to face The Owl’s Nest and resign. She stopped dead in the street. She actually couldn’t bear the thought but there was nothing else for it – just tell them and get it over with. It was like pulling off a plaster: the longer you dragged it out, the worse it got.
* * *
She’d taken the morning off for the interview, so maybe they’d be too busy to ask her where she’d been. Then she’d be able to have a quiet word with Dave and it wouldn’t all feel too catastrophic.
Of course, everyone was there, including Dave, who looked like he needed pegs to hold his eyes open and was eager to tell her that the baby was a great little fighter and nearly breathing on his own in his high-tech incubator. Ally’s heart sank, how was she going to break her news to him?
Pete meanwhile was up on a ladder, changing a light bulb, when she walked in, so Ally found herself facing him at an alarmingly intimate level.
‘Morneening,’ she trilled.
God, she really hadn’t expected her voice to come out that high. ‘It’s great to see you, Ally,’ said Dave. ‘I thought you were on your morning off and I was just saying how we missed you.’
He looked so warmly at her that she felt like a total traitor.
‘I just finished .?.?. what I was doing. So, can I help?’
‘You’re telling me – you do barista, I’ll do food.’ Dave grinned. ‘The team’s all here. We’re good.’
Ally had the feeling that it wasn’t just the work she was needed for, it was her presence itself. Funny, she’d never felt before that she was someone who really made a difference, who was valued, in a way. And here she was, about to walk out on them, leaving them in the lurch. But how on earth could she turn down a solid job offer?
Just then the door burst open and the same four women whom Ally had served on her first solo run piled through the door – they had become cheery regulars.
‘Oh, hi, Ally, can we have the usual?’
‘Oh, and um, some of that berry tart and four spoons – we’re being good before Christmas,’ another of them announced to general laughter.
‘Sure, girls, take a seat. I’ll be with you in a mo,’ she called breezily.
