Alicia Dylan swept up her clothes and tiptoed into the bathroom, trying not to wake Callan, who snored softly. She winced slightly at the start of a headache as she stared at her reflection in the mirror.

The queen of bad decisions had done it again.

After being let go early from a temp role in the Marketing department of one of Oakridge’s management consultancy branches, she had met up with her best friend to commiserate. She and Nell had gone to the Trackside Social on a whim.

Since returning to the town almost six months ago, she had fallen into the trap of short term, temporary work that she was way over-qualified for. It was obvious that Oakridge didn’t have the same wealth of opportunities she had been able to choose from when she’d worked in London. When she’d made the choice to come back there after being made redundant, she had expected to find a new job within days.

That had been her first bad decision.

Persuading Nell that she would be a model flatmate was her second.

Sharing a tiny one and a half bedroom flat with Nell and her boyfriend Rory was challenging at the best of times. They got in each other’s way a lot of the time, and Alicia spent a lot of nights with her pillow over her head, trying to block out the sounds of Nell and Rory’s vigorous love-making. It made her even more depressed about not having a boyfriend.

When Callan had shown her a tiny bit of interest the previous evening, she had jumped on it—not to mention him—when he invited her back to his place. Her body twitched as she recalled some of the things they had got up to. It had been hot, steamy, sensual, and in the cold light of day, as she examined her face to see a spot breaking out on her chin, it felt more than a little dirty. Nell had been horrified when she’d told her what she was going to do. Alicia quickly fired her a message to say she was safe and she’d be home soon. She got an immediate response that said, Well, was he worth it? I expect ALL the details when I see you later. Can you pick up milk? x.

Alicia wriggled into the previous day’s clothes, well aware she would be doing the walk of shame. She hoped that Callan’s place wasn’t too far from hers.

She popped her head back into the bedroom as she was about to leave. Callan was star-fished across the bed, the sheet draped loosely around his hips. His dark hair was tousled and the stubble on his jaw appeared even darker than it had done the previous evening. The extent of his tattoos had been a complete revelation. As well as his arms, his back and chest were covered in various designs, both simple and complex. One of his legs stuck out, and she spotted yet another picture on his calf. At least his dick had been free of ink.

A smile played across her lips as she debated whether to leave a note and decided against it. She grabbed her handbag and headed out of the door. Maybe some bad decisions needed to be confined to one night.

She stepped out of his building, recognising her surroundings and knowing she wasn’t that far from home. The town was coming to life as she walked down the street: commuters on their way to work, shops beginning to open, lorries making deliveries, people queuing for coffee. As she walked, Alicia thought back to her evening with Callan. They had talked for hours in the bar before heading back to his place. As she replayed the conversations in her head, she concluded that she knew almost nothing about him. She didn’t know what he did for work, whether he had lots of friends or family, or whether he had a girlfriend. She did know he preferred the strawberry sweets in a Starburst pack (which was useful, because she liked the citrus ones), enjoyed whisky over vodka, and liked to chill out on holiday rather than explore. Anything important that would have given her an insight into his life had easily been deflected as he’d abruptly changed the subject. A frown briefly flitted across her face, maybe he did have a girlfriend. Alicia told herself that she needed to forget about him. A bad decision that she wouldn’t have to repeat.

As she went into one of the little convenience stores to pick up the milk Nell had requested, it suddenly hit her that she didn’t have anything to do or anywhere to be. She was unemployed, again.

The good mood that had been diminishing with each step towards home was replaced by a black cloud. She slammed the correct change down on the counter and rushed from the shop, half jogging as she reached the flat in record time. She let herself in and headed straight for the open plan living room and kitchen.

Nell, clad in jogging bottoms and one of Rory’s rugby shirts, was sitting on the sofa, laptop on her knees, the TV muted with breakfast news pictures on screen.

“What are you doing here?” snapped Alicia. Her plan had been to come home and wallow. Having company hadn’t been part of that.

Her best friend ran her hand through her unruly, curly blonde hair. “I thought you might want to share some of the sordid details of last night, although judging by the look on your face, I may have been wrong.”

“Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I told them I’d be working from home today. Big report to get done and would get distracted in the office.”

Nell did something in project management and was always writing proposals, project plans, or weekly reports, so if she was stretching the truth, it wasn’t by much.

Alicia plopped onto the sofa beside her friend. “No, it’s a good thing you’re here. I won’t eat my body weight in ice cream and biscuits if you are.”

“So what’s up? Wasn’t he what you expected?”

Alicia contemplated Nell’s question. It wasn’t as if the evening with Callan had been anything other than totally hot. He was ridiculously good looking, great company, and intelligent. She didn’t know one personal thing about him. She couldn’t just tell Nell that he was fantastic in bed.

“It’s not that. He was fine.”

Nell let out a breath. “Oof, only fine? That bad, huh? You should have said nice.”

“I don’t think I’ll be seeing him again.”

“Really? It looked like you were getting on well with him.”

“I guess.” Alicia shrugged. “There are more pressing things that need my attention right now though, such as finding another job.” She stood up and plucked at the red shirt she still wore. “First I need a shower and then some breakfast.”

By the time she got back, dressed in yoga pants and a sweatshirt, wet hair wrapped in a towel, Nell had made tea and toast. There was also a pad and a pen on the coffee table.

“What’s that for?”

“That.” Nell pointed to the food. “Is sustenance. And that.” She pointed to the notebook. “Is where we’re going to list every available job that you can apply for.”

“We?”

“Yep, I’m going to help.” Nell beamed at her. “I don’t really have a report to do today. As long as I keep an eye on my email and reply to anything urgent, I’m all yours. And we’re not stopping until you’ve applied for at least five things. Now eat and let’s get started.”

Alicia did as she was told, her mood brightening. Having Nell around would definitely help. And with her friend’s organised demeanour, something good had to come out of the day. She crunched on the toast and Marmite, and Nell shouted out descriptions of various roles that she thought Alicia would be able to do.

When there were crumbs and tea leaves left, there was also a pitifully short list.

“Is that everything?” Alicia’s heart sank as she read through what she had written down, mostly short-term or temp roles.

“Wait, we haven’t checked the Jobs in Oakridge page.”

The website Nell was referring to was a community website that had jobs, things for sale, things wanted, house and room rentals, basically anything that anyone local would want. Occasionally you could find a total gem on there.

Alicia rolled her eyes. “Like I want to work in a restaurant or coffee bar.”

“Broaden your horizons, lady, you never know what might come up. Do you want a permanent job or not?” Nell threw a cushion at her head. “Besides which, beggars can’t be choosers. You’ve got rent to pay, remember?”

Nell, not for the first time, was absolutely right. She had offered to sub Alicia the rent several times, saying she could get a loan from Rory, but Alicia refused. She wasn’t prepared to have her friend get into debt because of her choices even if it was with her boyfriend.

“Okay, okay. I’ll make another cup of tea and then we can take a proper look.” Alicia stood up and headed into the kitchen. While the kettle boiled, she dried her hair and threw the damp towel into the washing machine. At least if she was at home, she’d be able to catch up on her chores.

“I think I’ve found something,” said Nell. “It’s local. I think you can probably walk, and it looks like a permanent opportunity.”

Alicia set the tea down on the coffee table and sat next to Nell on the sofa who shoved the laptop in her direction. She read through the brief job ad on the screen: WANTED! Multi-tasking all-rounder needed for a small, but busy, barber and tattoo studio in Fosse Arcade. Duties to include looking after reception, taking bookings, and all aspects of marketing and social media. Doesn’t include getting coffee. There was also a brief outline of hours and an email address to send details to.

Somewhere in the depths of her brain, she remembered Callan said he worked in a shop in Fosse Arcade. If she got a job nearby, she could engineer to bump into him.

She shot a sideways glance at Nell. “Really? A reception job?”

Nell sighed. “Did you actually read it? ‘All aspects of marketing and social media’, two things you’re exceptional at. And it doesn’t involve running around after staff, unlike most of your other temp jobs.”

For a moment, Alicia was almost tempted. It couldn’t be any worse than stuffing envelopes or event goody bags or having to deal with the bitchy hierarchies she had recently come across. Maybe she’d get to work with some fit men. She re-read the job ad in front of her. It couldn’t hurt to apply. After all, it wasn’t as if she had anything to lose.