Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 105756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Obviously, that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. He didn’t strike me as the sort of man who was ever caught unawares, not like I had been the other day. Besides, I couldn’t even imagine him naked. Jonathan Oaks was so uptight he probably slept in a custom-made three-piece suit.
He wanted me out of his mother’s house, and though I had every right to stay another six months while I found a new place, my stupid, stubborn pride wouldn’t allow it. I would not beg a man like him for a single scrap of lenience. I refused. I knew it was going to bite me in the arse, but I couldn’t think about that. I would find a new place to live, and in the meantime, I was sure my sister wouldn’t mind if I slept on her couch in exchange for babysitting my nieces. They were a handful, but I loved them to bits, even if they always managed to talk me into letting them do my hair and makeup whenever I babysat.
I often ended the night looking like a deranged doll from a horror movie.
Remembering how my poor sister still had to tell all three girls about their granddad passing away, my heart clenched. It was going to be so tough for her and for them. Her kids had never experienced loss.
Stepping inside my office, I expected to find it empty when I realised someone was sitting at my desk painting their nails.
Hannah.
So, when I said everyone I hired was great, that did include Hannah. She was an amazing care worker, the most upbeat person you’d ever meet. She could cheer up the residents and put smiles on their faces like nobody else. Unfortunately, there would always be a strain between us, and that was because of my ex-boyfriend, Cathal. He was the nurse who visited Pinebrook a couple times a week to tend to the residents’ medical needs, and up until three years ago, he and I had been a couple.
We’d been together for four years before the relationship had just kind of fizzled out. Still, I’d been prepared to work on things and try to find the passion again. Cathal hadn’t felt the same way. He’d started acting differently about six months before he’d finally broken it off. Something in my gut had told me he’d been secretly seeing Hannah for those six months, especially since she’d always worn this vaguely startled, guilty expression whenever she’d been around me. The girl had zero poker face.
Still, I could never prove it.
Three months after our breakup, she and Cathal had begun to soft launch their relationship at work. Which, to be fair, was decent of them. At least they hadn’t come in smooching and canoodling a week after he’d left me. They’d given me some time to recover and regather my self-respect. It had been humiliating that my thirty-eight-year-old partner had dumped me and then started seeing a twenty-three-year-old right afterward. I’d been thirty-four at the time and therefore on the receiving end of lots of sad, commiserating smiles. Smiles that had said, “Poor thing, getting traded in for a younger model. She won’t have much chance at starting a family now.”
So, yeah, it had been awful, and I’d had to keep my chin up through it all, pretend Cathal’s new relationship didn’t affect me. That having to work every day in the same building as his gorgeous, sunshine-y, much younger new girlfriend hadn’t killed me a little inside. But as I said, I was stubborn. And the last thing I’d ever do was let people know how much it hurt.
Thankfully, the hurt had subsided, and I no longer felt much about Cathal and Hannah. As far as I was concerned, I hoped they were very happy together. They weren’t bad people, just a little selfish maybe. And besides, Cathal’s and my relationship had lost the spark and intensity long before the period where I suspected he and Hannah began their affair.
“Ada, I didn’t think you’d be in today,” she said, her cornflower blue eyes wide with horror.
I noted there was a half-finished cup of coffee and a half-eaten jam bun in front of her. She’d clearly been making herself comfortable in my office, thinking I wouldn’t be in. I couldn’t deny that her mortification at being caught was a tiny bit satisfying.
“So, you thought you’d make yourself at home?” I asked, folding my arms and cocking my head.
“I just, um, ah, I shouldn’t have,” she rambled as she began collecting her cup and plate in a rush while blowing on her freshly painted nails.
“And you know nail polish isn’t allowed,” I went on, eyeing her fingers. It was a health hazard for carers. She was supposed to keep her nails trim and clean of any polish.
“Oh! I thought it would be okay since it’s clear, but—” I shook my head, and she winced. “Okay, I’ll remove it ASAP. Sorry, Ada. And sorry for being in your office. It was completely inappropriate.”