Tina stepped back and surveyed the new office area in her bedroom critically. An old wooden kitchen table, a lucky find down at the weekly market, now stood in front of the window, a typist’s chair with a red seat cover pushed up close.
She’d scrubbed and cleaned the battered table before placing her laptop on it. A pretty table lamp was on the right-hand side, along with a jam jar of pens and pencils. The single long drawer at the front of the desk now held paper and envelopes.
A cork board for notes and reminders had replaced the picture on one side of the window. On the floor alongside the desk was her printer. She’d keep a lookout for a small table for that to go on, as well as some freestanding shelves. Other than that, the office of Tina Matthews Literary Agency was as ready as it could be for business.
She heard the flat door open and Maisie call out, ‘Anyone home?’ as she walked through to the sitting room.
‘I’m in the bedroom, just doing the final tweaks to my office,’ Tina said. ‘Come on in.’
‘Looks good,’ Maisie said. ‘I’ve bought you a good luck present.’ And she held out a small carrier bag.
‘Oh, Maisie, you shouldn’t have,’ Tina said. ‘But thank you, I love him.’ She laughed as she took out a frog-shaped desk tidy. ‘So much better than this jar,’ she said as she swopped the pencils and pens over.
‘When d’you start officially?’ Maisie asked.
‘I need to talk to Jodie about getting the word out with a bit of a fanfare but I’m thinking in about a week.’
Later, as they sat eating supper, Tina said. ‘Are you still enjoying life down here? You seem a bit quiet this evening. Regretting your decision to stay?’
‘No!’ Maisie glanced at her anxiously. ‘You don’t want me to leave, do you?’
‘No, of course not. But more importantly, do you think you want to stay? The month we agreed is up in a few days and your parents must be wondering what you’re going to do. Whether they should be preparing to welcome you home.’
Maisie didn’t answer immediately and Tina looked at her curiously before breaking the lengthening silence.
‘Something is obviously bothering you. I’m sorry I’ve been a bit preoccupied with my own work problems and now getting things organised for the agency. We’ve not had much time to talk. Is work not going well?’
‘No, it’s not that. Both jobs are fine – especially the boutique. I love it there. It’s… it’s John, my ex.’
‘I didn’t think you were in touch with him,’ Tina said, surprised.
‘I wasn’t. He came into Guy’s last week for lunch with a couple of his new co-workers. Talk about a surprise.’ Maisie laughed. ‘Not sure who was the most surprised to be honest.’
‘So how was he?’ Tina asked quietly.
Maisie fiddled with a lock of her hair. ‘Things down here haven’t gone as well as he expected. His new relationship broke up, plus his original job didn’t work out. He has a new one now in an office near the coffee shop.’
Tina regarded her shrewdly. ‘I can see where this is going. He’s wanting you to get back together again, isn’t he?’
‘He hasn’t actually said that but he’s sorry for hurting me and realises he made a mistake. He does keep saying he wants us to be friends.’
‘How do you feel about that?’
‘Honestly? I don’t know. You know we’d been together as a couple for some time before he came down here, but growing up in the same neighbourhood means we’ve known each other forever. Our parents are friends. We have lots of mutual friends back home. When he dumped me, the thought of him not being in my life any more hurt like hell,’
‘I know it hasn’t been easy, but you’ve survived without him for the last few weeks,’ Tina said.
‘That’s been down to your kindness,’ Maisie said.
‘I gave you a room. You’re the one who went out and got two jobs and pulled yourself up off a very dangerous slope,’ Tina said. ‘Did John ask how you managed in the days after you arrived down here with no one to turn to?’
Maisie shook her head. ‘Not really. I did tell him a bit about being homeless and he apologised, saying he felt guilty. Even offered me money if I needed it – with the proviso, of course, that I’d pay him back eventually.’ Maisie hesitated. ‘What d’you think I should do?’ Her voice broke as she looked at Tina. ‘I do like living here. And I like both my jobs. If he’s going to be coming into the café every day I’ll have to be polite to him, otherwise it could be awkward. He definitely wants us to be friends again. But…’ Maisie shrugged despondently. ‘I know him. In a couple of weeks he’ll start pushing for us to be more than friends. Which I’m pretty sure I don’t want.’
‘I’m not you, but personally I’d find it difficult to trust any lover who’d treated me like John did you, ever again,’ Tina said quietly. ‘Don’t let him use you. Do you still have feelings for him?’
Maisie shrugged. ‘To be honest, no. I could cope with being friends again – I think. Once I got over the shock of seeing him and I’d told him how cruel I felt he’d been to me, it did feel like a load off my mind. Talking to him at lunchtimes is sometimes like pulling on a comfortable jumper, if you understand what I mean.’
‘Familiarity is the word you’re looking for,’ Tina said, regarding her thoughtfully. ‘I think, if you’re planning to stay down here and not return home in the near future, you should tell John that you’ll keep to being just friends for a while and see how things go. No commitment on either side. Do you think John would agree to that?’
‘Next time he starts on about how close we were, I’ll remind him we’re just friends now,’ Maisie said. ‘And that isn’t going to change in a hurry.’
‘So, when you speak to your parents again you’re going to tell them… what? That you’re staying down here for the time being and that you’re in touch with John again?’
Maisie smiled. ‘I do seem to have made the decision about staying, don’t I? I can’t thank you enough.’
Tina waved her thanks away. ‘You wait until you see the rent I’m going to charge you. Joke!’ she added quickly as she saw the look on Maisie’s face. ‘We’ll sit down one evening next week and work out a realistic sum – one you can afford.’
She didn’t add that if Maisie went ahead and let this John back into her life as more than a friend, which she suspected she might be bullied into doing, she planned on inviting him to supper one evening to check him out.