Well good for you. I try not to roll my eyes. Sometimes young love can be sickening. They think they’ve got it all figured out. But they just need to give it time. They’ll see that love isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be.
‘So, do you think you’re gonna get in trouble?’ She turns to look through my office window, being very unsubtle about the fact she’s talking about them. Now she knows she’s leaving she probably doesn’t feel like she has to be a good employee any longer.
‘No! Why would I get in trouble?’
‘I dunno. They can get you on any little thing, can’t they? My aunt got done for tax evasion and had to pay a massive fine. She also went to prison, but we weren’t supposed to know about that part.’
Her talk of tax evasion and prison is seriously giving me the jitters. I look at Molly’s face and realise she’s loving the drama of it all. I want to tell her to shut up and get on with her work, but how would that look? I suddenly have an unwanted thought that sends my pulse racing – what if it’s Molly who’s responsible for the tax inspectors showing up? I know I can sometimes be a strict boss, but would that drive Molly to do something so awful? I don’t know. All I do know is that she’s enjoying this all a little too much.
She could have left an anonymous tip with HMRC. Maybe she feels that now she’s leaving the area, she’s got nothing to lose. She might have done it out of spite. People can be mean, bitter, all sorts. Over the years, I’ve had a couple of anonymous bad reviews online and I’m sure they wouldn’t have been left by any of my clients, as I always ensure they’re super happy with my work. No, I’ve always put the one-star reviews down to people who are angry and disappointed with their own lives. Either that, or they’re jealous of my success.
I watch Molly as she talks about her relation’s prison sentence, her blue eyes flashing, and her face flushed with the awfulness of it all. Could Molly really be behind my misfortune? Am I overreacting, or have I actually hit upon the truth?
Twelve
TIA
‘Thanks so much for having us all over, Tia.’ Pip gives me a hug. ‘Sorry your kitchen looks like an explosion in a cake factory. Are you sure we can’t give you a hand tidying up?’
‘No, it’ll take me two minutes to shove it all in the dishwasher.’ I survey the devastation and think, More like two hours.
‘If you’re sure…’ Pip slings her bag over her shoulder. ‘Sasha, Milo, say thank you to Tia for a lovely afternoon.’
‘Thank you,’ they repeat dutifully.
Emily and her daughter Maisie are valiantly attempting to pick up some of the toys that are scattered all over the hall and down the stairs.
‘Thanks, you guys, but honestly just leave it.’ I grab hold of Leo, who’s running past me into the lounge with another tub of Lego. ‘Take that back upstairs!’
Why did I tell Rosie she could have her friends round after school today? I’m exhausted and I could barely concentrate on Pip and Emily’s conversation. All I could think about were those photos of me with that man. About whether it even really is me. And if it is, then what the hell happened that night?
Normally I love having my friends over and doing homely stuff with all the children. I like being sociable, and baking makes me feel like a good parent, like Mother Earth. But this afternoon seemed to drag on forever. And I’m sure there was a weird atmosphere between me, Pip and Emily. I caught them giving one another funny looks more than once. Could they have heard about the rumour at school? Maybe Sasha and Maisie mentioned something. That’s all I need – the parents speculating about whether or not I’m a murderer!
Finally, my visitors leave, and I settle the kids in front of the TV while I set about restoring some sort of order to the house. At least we now have several Tupperware boxes full of sailboat cupcakes for the regatta cake stall, which is another thing I can check off my list.
I’ve just got the dishwasher going and started wiping down the surfaces when Ed comes downstairs. He was hiding out in our bedroom while the chaos was going on. He