Sophie mumbled a reply, but I didn’t hear, though her friend gasped.
“You can’t go to Norway for that long!” she said, horrified. “That’s ages.”
“I know,” Sophie said sadly, “but it’s a great job. Really well paid. All food and board taken care of, super gorgeous locale. They want someone to start right away . . .”
Now I was really interested. Free food and accommodation in Norway? Well paid? I could feel myself being drawn in—no, hauled in, by the throat—and there was a tingling sensation all over my body that I hadn’t experienced in a long, long time. Kind of like falling in love, only without the certainty that it’s going to end in tears and vile accusations.
When I was little, Mrs. Corbett—my year four teacher, who didn’t get under my skin but who showered me with love and the kind of smiles that made me stand a little taller—told me about serendipity. A happy accident, she said, orchestrated by the universe. She said we were all made of star dust—which I thought was gross at the time—so the oldest parts of our being would recognize when something was serendipitous. I told her that when I met her I had a big shiver all over, and she crouched down and said, “That is exactly what serendipity feels like, Lexi, sweetheart. Exactly that.”
“You can’t go!” Sophie’s friend hissed. “Look, I wasn’t going to say anything for another week or so, but . . . I’m pregnant!”
Sophie gave a squeal and wrapped her arms around her friend. “Oh. My. Word. What?!”
Her friend was sniffling and giggling now and I rose a little higher in my seat to catch sight of the laptop screen for the job details.
“When are you due?” Sophie said, hugging her friend and rubbing her back.
“February. I need you here, Soph. I was counting on you helping me out, especially since I’ve got this project to deliver by bloody Christmas. I wanted you to be my doula. Please? Look, whatever this job pays, I’ll double it.”
Sophie considered. “All right,” she said, smiling. “Oh, blimey, a baby, Seren?”
Seren. Like serendipity.
It was as though the universe was pointing a gigantic, God-like finger from parting clouds right at me, and a Charlton Heston voice was booming, This job is meant for you, Lexi Ellis.
I had to get the details of that job. Not just the details—I had to get Sophie’s statement, her CV, and her references. After all, she was the one with the experience in nannying, not me. In one wild moment of crystalline clarity, I knew what I would have to do in order to get the job—I would have to pretend I was Sophie.
“I’m going to get some lunch,” Sophie announced. “Are you hungry? Well, you will be, won’t you? Now that you’re eating for two!”
Her friend—Seren—deliberated. I’d pulled out my phone by this point, hell-bent on getting a screenshot of the laptop screen before she put it away, but Seren was blocking my view, and just as she rose up out of her seat she closed the laptop lid. My heart sank.
Thanks, Universe. Thanks for toying with me.
“Hold up,” Seren called after Sophie. “I’m coming.”
Sophie glanced back at her bag and laptop, a worried look on her face. She was tall and slender, long auburn hair to her waist, and a belly top revealing a slender midriff. To my horror, she caught my eye.
“Would you mind?” she began, and I stared back at her, cow-eyed. “Would you mind watching my stuff while we head to the buffet carriage?”
“Oh,” I said, finding sudden composure. “Not at all.”
She flashed an appreciative smile. “Thanks.”
The two of them headed off down the carriage chatting loudly, and I breathed a sigh of relief. I glanced around to check no one was looking before reaching an arm through the gap in the seat and lifting the lid of the laptop. It was probably password protected. Damn. Quickly I flipped it open and the screen whitened. To my relief, the PDF of the job application was there, right in front of me, and so I thrust my phone forward and took picture after picture of the screen. I scrolled up and down on the keypad, no longer really seeing what I was taking photos of, but snapping hastily at everything and anything to make sure I got it all.
“Thank you so much!”
Sophie’s voice sounded, sending a javelin of fear right through me, and I sat back in my seat,