The Cinderella Moment. Gemma Fox

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СКАЧАТЬ mentioned, it’s in Brighton. Lest we forget, Jake, I live in Norfolk. And at the moment, as things are, I can barely afford to live here, let alone there. I read somewhere that it’s more expensive to live in Brighton than London –’

      ‘Yes, but that isn’t the point. You need to change your luck, Cass, do something different. Underneath, Barney is basically a really good guy. OK, so maybe it’s a long way underneath at times – but he’s prepared to make nice and easy for the right person.’

      ‘Meaning?’

      ‘Well, for a start he’s got a great big basement flat he’s rolling around in, and he’s lonely.’

      ‘Oh, come off it, Jake – this sounds like procurement to me. I’m not a nurse. I’m sure Brighton is jam-packed full of people looking for jobs.’

      ‘Yes, but he doesn’t know any of them. He’s not good with people – he can be funny – and besides, I’ve already told him about you.’

      ‘Oh well, that was kind of you,’ Cass said grimly. ‘You told him about me? So I’m a charity case now, am I?’

      ‘No, but please think about it, Cass. I don’t want to see you go, but I do know that the offer is genuine. Barney is as straight as a die, and he really does need someone to help him out. I thought of you straight away.’

      ‘Because?’

      Jake sighed. ‘Because you need to get away from here and stop mooning around. This way you could do some of your own stuff – paint, for God’s sake – and still work. You look awful, Cass. You’re not eating properly. When was the last time you picked up a pencil or a paint brush? Everyone is worried about you; you know that, don’t you? David is stupid.’

      ‘Everyone?’ Cass said thickly. The sound of David’s name still made something hurt deep inside her. How could she have been so blind? How was it she hadn’t seen it coming?

      ‘Everyone,’ Jake murmured, leaning forward to stroke the hair off her face. Cass looked up at him; Jake was sixty-five if he was a day. He’d come round the day she moved into the cottage with a chicken-and-bean casserole and a bottle of red wine and had been part of her life ever since.

      Cass smiled up at him; they were probably as close as two unrelated adults could get, without romance getting in the way. She loved him and he loved her, which had sustained them even when they didn’t like each other very much. Like when Jake married Amanda (who had hated all his friends and especially Cass, although to be fair, eventually – so’s no one would feel left out – Amanda had ended up hating Jake most of all), or when Cass caught vegetarianism and with all the zealous enthusiasm of a true convert had referred to his superb Beef Wellington as an act of evil, barbaric bloody murder, during a dinner party for one of his best clients. The memory could still make her cringe on dark and stormy nights.

      ‘I’ll keep an eye on this place. It would do you good to get away from here for a while,’ he said gently.

      Cass felt her eyes prickle with tears. ‘Don’t make me cry, I’ve got an interview to go to and mascara doesn’t grow on trees, you know. Took me bloody ages to do this eyeliner.’ And then, after a moment’s pause, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do, Jake,’ Cass whispered miserably. ‘I loved David so much. Why did he leave me?’

      ‘Because he’s an amoeba,’ Jake said, handing her a bit of kitchen roll. ‘An amoeba and an idiot and a complete wanker. Anyway, all those people who love you thought you were far too nice and far too good to end up with a clown like David.’

      ‘I married an amoeba?’

      ‘You surely did.’

      ‘My parents thought he was really lovely,’ Cass sighed. ‘I suppose that says it all, really. You’d think by the time we got to our age it would be easier, that we’d have it all sewn up and sorted.’

      Jake nodded.

      ‘And he hated you,’ she sniffed.

      ‘I know.’

      ‘She’s eighteen, Jake. Eighteen.’

      He nodded. ‘I know.’

      ‘I thought I was doing her a favour. Some pocket money, baby-sitting, bit of housework. She told me she wanted to travel. It’s so sordid.’

      ‘I know.’

      ‘David kept complaining about her, saying she wasn’t doing things properly. Like he would know! How she annoyed him, how she was always getting in his way, and how we were paying her too much. I should have guessed, Jake. I should have known. That’s what makes it so terrible. How come I didn’t see it coming? I love him, Jake – I’ve got the worst taste in men.’

      ‘Your taste in men is legendary, Cass. Now just shut up and go, will you, or you’re going to miss the train. When you get back, we could take Danny and the dog down to the beach, if you like, and then I’ll cook supper.’

      ‘You’re such a nice man, Jake.’

      ‘With instincts like that, it’s no wonder you always pick total bastards.’

      ‘And wankers,’ said Cass, picking up her handbag. ‘Let’s not forget the wankers. You’re OK to pick Danny up from school today?’

      ‘I’ve already said yes, and I’ve laid in a stock of food shaped like extinct amphibians. Who is it today?’

      Cass picked up a sheaf of papers in a manila folder from the kitchen table and read the letterhead on the inside page. ‘Dumb, Bum and Stumpy, looking for someone to work in Human Resources.’

      ‘You can do that?’

      ‘I can try.’

      ‘Cass, honey, this is ridiculous – you’re an artist.’

      ‘And a woman with a mortgage.’ Cass looked at him and sighed. ‘David said I needed to grow up and get a proper job. Now, hand me my briefcase.’

      He picked it up and looked at it thoughtfully. ‘Where the hell did you get that from?’

      Cass licked a finger and scrubbed at a smear of blue poster paint on the handle. ‘The dressingup box at Danny’s school; they said I could borrow it till the end of term.’

      Jake looked heavenwards. ‘You don’t have to do this.’

      ‘I do. David told me that I see the world through rose-tinted spectacles and that my relentless optimism got him down. He said that I’d never be able to manage on my own in the real world without him. He said I was far too naïve.’

      ‘Come off it, Cass. He was being cruel, that’s all. You’ve got nothing to prove.’

      ‘I have, Jake. I have to show him that I don’t need him, that Danny and I can manage without him, thank you very much. And I need to do better than just manage – I need to do well. The worst thing I can do to David is be happy, solvent and successful.’

      ‘Yes, but not like this. Why don’t you at least think about Brighton?’

      Cass СКАЧАТЬ