Page 82 of Love Letters on Hazel Lane

In any case, she had vanished afterwards without a word. He’d been loading his car with all the Scrabble boxes and she’d definitely been there, but then when he’d returned to the hall, there was no sign of her. He’d gone round all the classrooms searching, but she was nowhere to be seen. Mrs Wood had been packing up the art room; she’d said that no, Jo hadn’t been in. She wasn’t in the staffroom either, nor the kitchen nor any of the classrooms.

How could she leave without saying goodbye after everything they’d achieved together?

Matthew wasn’t there either and Razz couldn’t help wondering if Jo had left with him.

Maybe there was some other explanation. A sick relative perhaps, or some other emergency. Or maybe she’d just been tired. Had a headache. It had been an exhausting couple of days.

He contemplated texting her to check she was okay but decided to wait until Friday when he’d see her at Scrabble club. She probably needed a few days to recover from the weekend.

Yes, he would talk to her on Friday, and in the meantime, he’d think of some subtle way to find out if she was seeing Matthew.

Perhaps he’d ask Annie to bake a special cake in Jo’s honour, to thank her for everything; she had, after all, undertaken the lion’s share of the work for the festival. She could have easily done it without him, but Razz knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that he couldn’t have done it without her.

32

Right when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, they did.

Jo tapped out a WhatsApp to Gemma later on the train home.

David promoted Leona instead of me. What am I meant to do, Gem?

Her phone pinged a few minutes later. Gemma had written,

Impress him. Make him regret his decision.

And inevitably, as she always did, Gemma attached an online article:

Six Ways to Make Your Boss Love You.

Great. Just what she needed.

And the first way? Enthusiasm apparently.

So, when Leona took over from Caroline, she was supposed be enthusiastic?

No chance.

She scanned down the article. Go above and beyond what your role requires and your boss expects.

And how was she meant to do that, exactly?

*

Jo placed the drinks on the table and slipped onto the banquette seat beside Kate.

It was Tuesday evening. After another tricky day in the office and feeling frustrated at Leona’s imminent promotion, Jo had needed a shoulder to cry on and a listening ear. She wanted to text Razz, but something had stopped her. She hadn’t heard from him at all since the festival and was beginning to feel rather hurt about that; even if he was with Zoey, well, they were friends, weren’t they? And yet he’d left without so much as a goodbye after the festival. She felt rejected by him. Again. So rather than texting him and risking further rejection, she had messaged Kate instead, who, surprisingly, had turned out to be free that night.

‘Have you met up with Matthew yet?’ Jo asked.

There was hardly anyone in the George that evening: a group of older women in the corner who shrieked with laughter every few minutes and some lads knocking back pints of dark, locally brewed ale.

‘Yeah, last night as it happens.’

‘And how did it go?’

‘Well, he’s lovely but he’s a bit of a nerd. Always banging on about techie things. But we’ll see. How about you? Any matches from the speed-dating?’

‘Three ticks in my box.’