Read Online When He Was Bad... by Anne Oliver - Free Book Online

some headway before it starts to rain.’
    â€˜What are your plans today?’
    â€˜I have to finish digging over the plot.’ Which she should have finished yesterday, but with Matt calling the meeting and all, it had put her behind. She kept moving, walking backwards as she spoke. ‘Then it’s the fertiliser and seedlings— Belle left everything in the greenhouse. Are you going to the office?’
    â€˜I don’t plan on it,’ he said, dashing her hopes for a daywithout the prospect of further interruptions. ‘I’ve a costing to finish and a computer link-up with the Sydney crew.’
    She nodded. ‘I’ll come by the door when I’m done.’
    When she stopped for lunch, she ate her sandwich and drank her thermos of coffee alone. Despite what she’d told Matt about being self-sufficient, Belle always invited Ellie inside to share her break.
    On the last day Ellie had seen her, Belle had offered her a key to the main house, allowing her access to the bathroom and hot water. But she’d felt awkward about the whole idea and refused it. If anything happened in Belle’s absence Ellie didn’t want to be held responsible; it was bad enough that she’d given her the code to the gate.
    She’d not glimpsed Matt since she’d started work this morning. Seemed he was in accord with her—business hours were just that. She didn’t know whether she was relieved or disappointed.
    Her mobile rang as she was packing away her lunch box. She glanced at caller ID and answered straightaway. ‘Sasha. I tried calling you last night. Where did you get to?’
    â€˜I called in sick. I just opened your message.’
    Her friend sounded distant and Ellie felt that all-too-familiar clutch in her belly. ‘Are you okay now?’
    â€˜Never better.’
    â€˜So are you up to checking out that Healesville job with me sometime soon? We need to let them know—’
    â€˜Ah, about that…’ A pause, then Sasha went into excitement mode with, ‘I met this great guy at a club last night. Anyway…’ she went on when Ellie didn’t reply, ‘I’ve got the chance to work onboard a cruise ship leaving Sydney in a week’s time.’
    Disappointment ripped through Ellie. ‘I thought you said you were sick last night?’
    â€˜Everyone chucks a sickie now and then, right?’
    No. Not when it mattered they didn’t. ‘I was counting on you to show me the ropes at the bar last night.’
    â€˜Oh. Sorry. Did you get the job, by the way?’
    â€˜Let’s just say I’m not cut out for that sort of waitressing. Which is why this Healesville job is important to me.’ She closed her eyes, surrendered to the inevitable. ‘Sasha, obviously your heart’s not in this, so take the cruise job and forget Healesville.’ Forget everything .
    The bed-and-breakfast place out of Melbourne was offering a four-week stint to landscape their garden, and Ellie had persuaded Sasha to come along. Ellie had explained that she didn’t want to let Belle down while she was away and had promised to get back to them by the end of next week. She intended winning the job, with or without Sasha.
    â€˜Hey, you there, Ellie?’
    â€˜I’m here.’
    â€˜So…I’ll call you when I get back and maybe we can—’
    â€˜There’s no point, Sasha, it’s just not practical. Good luck with everything. Goodbye.’ And have a nice life . She stabbed the disconnect button.
    She’d thought they were friends. But true friends didn’t let each other down. When was she going to learn? Ellie had some kind of in-built radar that sent people running in the opposite direction.
    Remember that when you think about Matt McGregor .
    As befitting her mood, ten minutes later it started to spit—a cold, ugly, misty spit. Ellie pulled on her thin plastic poncho and continued digging.