The girl with the curves!
Sometimes life seems straightforward, but what happens when there are curves
along the way. Does it seem fair that some get the straight road and others the
winding road?
When curvy Harley finally
gets the job of her dreams after twenty job applications, she’s in for a big
surprise. Sebastian Forrest, her new boss is the man she’d love to hate. For a
while Sebastian goes against her and makes her feel like she isn’t good enough,
but there’s a reason, and soon Harley will find out why.
The road isn’t
straightforward and the more Harley gets to know Sebastian the more her heart
warms to him. But soon she finds out something that takes her back to her
bitter past and forces her to ask some difficult questions.
Excerpt
Just
then the doorbell rang. Harley squinted at her watch, it was almost eight
thirty.
‘Who
on earth?’ Harley dragged herself to the door. ‘Oh my god, what’s happened?’
Amber
fell into her arms and let out the loudest howl scaring poor Buttercup to find
refuge under the couch.
‘He
left meeeeee!’ The cry was deep and painful. ‘He left meeee!’ The tears poured
down Amber’s pretty face.
‘Come,
sit down.’ Harley led her best friend into the living room and sat her down.
For
a moment she watched her strong and independent friend turn into a dependent
and weak woman. It made no sense at all, she was the strong one, the one who
never bowed down to anyone. If Harley had learnt anything about confidence
she’d learnt it from Amber.
Amber
had gone onto to work for a solicitor’s office. She’d turned into a strong and
powerful career woman but had suddenly turned into a marshmallow.
‘Honey
start from the beginning.’ Harley reached for a box of tissues that sat on the
coffee table.
Amber
pulled two bits of the absorbent paper and blew her nose profusely.
‘Itssss
Kyle….he left meeeeee!’ The tears started up again and she sounded like a
choking engine.
‘Oh
gosh, why what happened?’ Harley hadn’t been under the impression they’d been
in trouble.
Kyle
was Amber’s solicitor boyfriend. He worked in a different department but for
the same company. He was handsome but nothing striking and Harley had often
wondered what Amber had seen in the guy in the first place. Kyle was arrogant
and sarcastic; dining out with him was like scrubbing a brillo pad against ones
skin.
‘He
said.’ She sniffed and straightened up. ‘That it just wasn’t working.’
‘What
wasn’t working?’
‘Us.’
‘Did
you ask him why?’
She
nodded.
‘And?’
‘He
gave me that line, it’s not you it’s me…I just need to play the field a bit
more. I feel as though you’re suffocating me.’
‘Jerk!’
Harley was hardly surprised; he was never one to deliver bad news delicately.
‘What
am I going to dooooo!’ The tears erupted again.
Harley
took both Amber’s hands into hers and waited for the cries to die down. When
only a few sniffs were heard, Harley stood up and made her way to the kitchen;
pulled out a giant tub of chocolate ice-cream from the fridge and picked up two
desert spoons.
‘Here.’
Harley handed her a spoon and put the tub between them.
‘I
can’t eat that, I’ll get bigger. Lips to hips.’ She tried to smile.
‘Oh
honey please. Listen to yourself. You and I both know we’ve got big booties, we
are never going to look like Victoria Secret models, so eat.’ Harley popped
open the yummy ice-cream. ‘Come on, why try and be something you’re not? Your
words not mine.’ She took the first scoop and took it into her mouth.
A
smile crept up on Amber’s face and soon she was digging into the creamy
ice-cream too.
‘I
hate men!’ Amber screeched.
‘Hmmm,
but we love them too!’ Harley thought back to her boss. He was the sexiest man
she’d ever set eyes on and yet she couldn’t stand to be near him.
‘Doesn’t
it just annoy you?!’ Amber dug the spoon into the tub and brought out a big
blob of ice-cream.
‘They
think they rule the world!’
‘I’m
assuming you mean your boss in particular?’
‘I
don’t get that guy. Why the hell did he hire me if he doesn’t want any input
from me?’
‘Honey
it looks good on the books.’
‘What’s
that supposed to mean? I worked damn hard to get to where I am.’
‘Why
don’t you leave?’
‘And
go where? I’m probably already past my sell by date.’
‘Oh
don’t be so hard on yourself. There will be someone who will appreciate you.’
‘I
don’t think I can handle another string of interviews.’
‘Hmmm
there’s that.’
‘I’ll
be competing with a new set of graduates.’
‘You’ll
have experience behind you.’
Harley
pondered on these things, would it be that difficult to get another job. Her
thoughts drifted to the time she’d begun to job hunt, it hadn’t been very
uplifting, more soul destroying.
‘I’ll
stick with it for a while longer. Maybe when I’ve more experience I could
freelance.’
‘Good
idea.’
Soon
the talk died down and the pair watched some television. Buttercup came out of
under her hiding place and made herself comfortable between them. Two hours
later, Amber asked if she could stay over.
‘I
really don’t want to be alone tonight.’
‘Yeah
sure, take the spare room.’
Amber
had done that many times before.
‘Just
be aware I’m out the house very early. I’m covering a court case late morning.’
‘So
why the early start? Can’t you just head straight there?’
‘The
boss wants to have a word with me.’
‘Oooh.’
‘My
thought’s exactly. It’s never good news behind his closed doors.’
They
parted to their separate rooms at the top of the stairs. Soon the nightmare of
work would start.
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