Just Breathe by Janette Paul Read Free Book Online Page B

wait-staff, you’d think I needed the money, which I do, but I thought you’d think it was because I didn’t have a good business, which I do, and wasn’t very good at yoga, which I am, and then you wouldn’t want me for the ad.’
    She took a breath. He said nothing so she went on. ‘So I pretended to be a guest, which I thought was working pretty well right up until I served cakes to your client then threw them all over myself. Sorry about that.’
    Ethan didn’t speak for a long moment.
    Why hadn’t she just said sorry and shut the hell up?
    ‘Oka-ay,’ he said slowly. He took a breath as though about to say something more, then faltered.
    Dee cringed inside, waiting for the blow.
    ‘You’ve got a bit of cream just there.’ He waggled a finger at the side of her face. ‘On your earlobe.’
    Oh. She reached up, wiped the splodge of cream from her ear and smeared it on her shirt. ‘What’s a bit more cream when you’ve already rolled in it?’
    He chuckled a bit, which Dee thought was really sweet – and so much better than crushing her. ‘See you later, Dee the Yoga Teacher. And good luck with the ad.’
    She watched him walk back inside, feeling a little bemused herself.

    Dee swapped her phone to the other hand and closed the door of the yoga studio as she answered it. ‘Hi, Mum.’
    ‘I saw Claudia Warburton this morning, Trudy.’
    It’d be lovely if Val could start with hello every now and then. ‘Who?’
    ‘From tennis. She asked me how long you’d been a kitchen hand.’ It was both a question and an accusation, like she wanted Dee to deny it before she slapped her wrist.
    Dee started down the stairs to the street, trying to decide how best to handle this. It was the ultimate let down for her mother. Her daughter, with a degree and lots of potential, reduced to hired help. It had to be money trouble, she’d think. She must be desperate, she’d think. A perfect opportunity to rescue her, set her on the right track, make her buy that apartment and get a better job.
    ‘Well, you see, I was doing a favour for a friend with a –’
    ‘She said someone threw food at you.’
    ‘It wasn’t like –’
    ‘I just don’t understand, Trudy. You don’t need to do that kind of work. If it’s money you need, I can help you. But you’ve got to get yourself into a better job. A proper job. You’ll need one to pay off your apartment.’
    Dee slammed the front door, gritting her teeth. Was it any wonder she preferred scraping by than asking Val for help? ‘Mum, it’s not like that. It was a bit of extra cash, you know, after Christmas, and I was really just helping out Jo, you know, doing her a favour.’ She winced at the lie and threw her yoga mat in the back of the car. ‘And actually, I’ve just got a really well-paid job. Heading off right now for two days’ work.’
    Dee had laughed out loud when Lucy phoned the morning after the catering job to say Leonard the Client had approved her for the ad. If she’d known a pie in the face would clinch the deal, she wouldn’t have waited until the end of the night to do it. Best of all, they were putting her up in a posh hotel for two nights so they could get an early start each day. She was getting a holiday, too.
    ‘You’re working in someone’s kitchen for two days?’ Val was shrill.
    ‘No, I’m doing yoga in a TV ad.’ She said it like an announcement, waited for the applause.
    ‘There’s no future in that. You may as well be working in someone’s kitchen.’
    Sitting in the driver’s seat now, Dee bent forward and slowly, repeatedly, butted her head on the steering wheel. Patience, Dee. Calm centre. Deep breathing. ‘The ad is for Health Life Insurance. You’ve got insurance with them, haven’t you?’
    A slight pause. ‘Yes.’
    ‘It pays heaps for just two days’ work and Lucy Roxburgh says it’ll start a virtual landslide of opportunities for me.’ Not that she intended to get caught in it. One ad would pay enough to