Page 20 of About Last Night
‘What? You’d really leave me and move all the way to Australia?’
Lula sighed, a thread of guilt tugging at her insides. ‘Not everything revolves around you, Em.’ She attempted to make a joke of it but it came out sounding more snippy than witty.
‘I know, but I’d miss you like crazy.’ Em’s voice was quieter nowand, behind the exaggerated sulk, Lula detected a real twang of hurt.
‘I don’twantto go. I loved my job at Flash, but I have to be realistic. Even if by some miracle they gave me my show back, there’s no way I could ever work for Jez again.’ The thought of having to pander to him made her feel physically sick.
‘Surely there’s another station in London you could work for?’
Lula twisted her ponytail around her hand then let it slide through her fingers, finding comfort in the silky strands brushing against her skin. It was a move she’d done in times of stress since she was a little girl, especially when her parents had been having one of their screaming rows. ‘I put my feelers out when things started getting sticky with Jez, but there’s nothing out there at the minute. Not unless I want to take a big pay cut and work the graveyard shift, which would be a huge step backwards, career-wise.’
‘Ugh! I can’t believe they’d just fire you like that. The world’s gone mad!’
Lula listened to her friend chunter on about the injustice of the situation with the pain in her chest and throat getting harsher by the second.
She hadn’t even told Emily the whole story yet. She was afraid she’d totally lose it and burst into tears if she so much as mentioned Tristan’s name. The fact he’d been so cold towards her had almost been worse than losing her job.
She’d really liked him last night.
So much so that she’d even entertained the notion that if she’d met him under different circumstances, they could have made something of their connection. How unluckywasshe to pull the one man she really needed to stay away from that night?
When she thought about it, it wasn’t such a coincidence that they’d met, though. That pub was the closest one to the radio station, so of course they’d both naturally gravitated towards it.Her because it was her local from work and him because it made sense to stay close to where he was working the next day.
What bloody bad luck, though.
It had taken all her willpower to walk out of the station with her head held high and make it home without shedding the hot tears that burned at the back of her eyes. She knew that once she let the anger and panic get hold of her that would be it for the rest of the day – she’d be an emotional wreck. She’d wanted to get the practical stuff out of the way first so she could have a good old wallow without being disturbed.
‘Look, I’ve got to go,’ she told Emily, cutting her off mid-rant. She needed to get off the phone and finally let the growing hysteria free. ‘I’ve got a whole tub of ice cream to scoff and a box set to glom.’ The effort to sound glib and in control almost made her choke. ‘I’ll speak to you tomorrow when I can formulate a coherent thought again, okay?’
There was a pause on the other end of the line. ‘Okay, sweetie. You know where I am if you need me. I’ve got a couple of days off filming after tomorrow so I can come over in the blink of an eye and glom with you.’
‘Thanks, Em. I really appreciate you being here for me. You’re the only person I wanted to speak to, you know.’
‘I know.’ Emily did know. She’d been witness over the years to exactly how flaky Lula’s parents were. From experience, they both knew neither of them would have returned a phone message from Lula for days. They were always too busy with their new families to get involved in the life of the daughter they’d had together. Neither of them wanted to take responsibility for her any more.
‘I’ll call you soon,’ Lula said, keeping her voice as bouncy as she could manage.
‘You do that.’ Em’s tone was kind now, which somehow made things worse.
Lula’s throat tightened even more. ‘Bye,’ she squeaked and ended the call, finally letting her bravado slip and the long-held-back tears slide down her face.
Four hours after he’d first sat down at Jez’s desk and begun to work his way through the files on his computer, Tristan knew why he’d been right to be worried about how the station was being run.
It seemed Jez had been playing fast and loose with the expenses account. Not only that, but there appeared to be a freelancer on the books who was collecting an unusually high regular wage that no one in the station had ever heard of. After doing some more digging, Tristan came to the conclusion that Jez had been paying himself a double wage by syphoning off the ‘freelancer’s’ wage into his own account.
When he eventually caught up with Jez and interrogated him about it all, it was clear from the man’s blustering anger that he realised he was busted. After playing the ‘I’ve been working my arse off here for pathetic wages’ card and bellowing the ‘This station is going to die a terrible death without me’ soliloquy, he finally gave Tristan enough air time to tell him he was fired.
‘Your father’s going to have something to say about this when he gets back,’ was Jez’s parting shot before he stormed out, leaving Tristan’s ears ringing with the sound of his histrionic ranting.
It was the second time that day that Tristan had been accused of playing second fiddle to his father and his blood thumped in his veins as he waited for his annoyance to abate. He couldn’t believe his father had been so lax as to let someone like Jez have free rein with one of his businesses, even if he was the son of afriend. He’d be furious when he found out how much money Jez had been embezzling from him.
Although maybe it served the fool right for not paying more attention to his business affairs.
When Tristan finally felt calm enough, he called a meeting with the rest of the employees working at the station that day. They all filed into the conference room with pale faces, clearly expecting the firing spree to continue.
‘Jez has been relieved as station manager,’ he told them all once they’d taken their seats around the table.
There was a tense silence as they waited for him to continue.
