Raven froze. That wasn’t what she was expecting to hear when she walked into work.
“Like hell, I am.” Raven stood staring down Sarina. She’d gotten here well and truly on time.
“You weren’t sick yesterday.”
“I was.”
Sarina threw down the paper. There on the front page of theAdvertiserwas a picture of the baby alpaca. Fuck. She was in the background as clear as day. When the fuck did that happen? Yesterday had been a blur on so many levels. She now had a boyfriend, saw a baby alpaca born for the first time, and her future might end up in the country, but she wasn’t so sure about that even though she’d been confident with Ben. When she wasn’t with him, the doubt crept in, her mind kept thinking about details that were out of her control.
She swallowed hard.
“Get your things.” Sarina’s voice cut through her thoughts.
It was done. She was now fired from her dream job. Fuck. All her future plans were falling to pieces around her. She kept her chin high as she strode to her desk, grabbed the few things that were hers, throwing them into her handbag. She avoided Jax’s gaze, turned on her heels, and walked from the office for the last time.What the fuck am I going to do now?
“You’re here early.” Ben looked up from spreading fresh straw around Evie’s pen.
“Slight mishap at work.” By the time it had taken her to get to the showgrounds, she had decided that this was the time to start her business. It wasn’t like she had a choice. If it didn’t work out in three months, how much time she had based on her savings, then she would look for more work. Though she wasn’t sure how she would get a job, she was sure Sarina would spread the work in the graphic design circles that she wasn’t worth employing.
“No, what happened?” The concern spread across Ben’s face was endearing.
“Sacked.”
“What?”
“You haven’t seen the newspaper today?”
“Not a bad photo of you.”
“Yeah, well, my boss saw it.”
“Oh, that’s bad.”
“Yep. So now, no job.”
“That smarts. What are you going to do?”
Raven rested her arms on the pen and looked to see the baby alpaca. “Wow, he’s all clean and strong now.”
“Survival of the fittest in the animal kingdom.”
“No shit.” She felt his arms around her waist. It was a good comfort. She rested back into his chest. His hands folded over her belly, and she placed hers over the top. “I’m going to start my own design business.”
“Sounds like a good plan.”
“Yeah, but I don’t have any clients.”
“Hmmm.” He nuzzled her neck. “I might be able to help with that.”
“What, don’t tell me you need a design or something for the farm?”
“No. But I’m the new president, and at the meeting, it was decided we needed a new logo for the Alpaca Breeders Association of South Australia.”
“I doubt that they would let you give the job to your girlfriend. That’s nepotism.”
“They won’t care because my girlfriend will do it at a great rate and do a great job which will blow their socks off.”
She laughed softly. “I can’t afford to give mates rates.”
