Time After Time Read Online Free Page A

tuck me in?’
    ‘I’d love to.’
    Morgan clapped her hands as she danced off down the hallway, her feet thud-thudding across the floor, while Hayley followed. Her bedroom had soft pastel curtains and pink walls, a single bed with a white frame and three hearts cut into the headboard. There were
Little Miss
and
Angelina Ballerina
books in the bookshelves, and stuffed animals on the floor. Bunny’s fancy daybed, a purple satin covered shoe box, lay on Morgan’s pillow.
    Morgan climbed into bed. ‘Night-night. I love you,’ she said as she kissed Hayley on the cheek.
    Hayley felt a lump rising in her throat. ‘I love you too. Sleep well, little angel.’ She kissed her, then called Mark and Ellen.
    ‘So?’ Ellen said as the three of them settled down on the well-worn but wonderfully comfortable blue sofas in the living room. ‘What’s going on?’
    Hayley smoothed her hand over the cushion and traced her finger around the old, dried red wine stain that reminded her of Gorbachev’s birthmark. She shook her head. ‘Work is hell. Charles is making my life so miserable. He piles his work onto me and it means I hardly see Rick and the kids. Charles, on the other hand, seems to play an awful lot of golf.’
    ‘He’s such an arse,’ Mark said, then arched his back and grunted. ‘He really is.’
    ‘I know.’ Hayley swallowed some wine, enjoying the mild burning sensation in her throat. ‘He blames me whenever anything goes wrong and that seems to be a lot these days. But he’s always clever, I’ll give him that. If I say anything it looks like I’m making excuses, so I take the hit. And,’ she puffed out her cheeks, ‘I didn’t get that other job.’
    ‘What?’ said Ellen. ‘Why?’
    Hayley shrugged. ‘Filled it internally. But that’s not the only problem.’ She explained how the Berger offer had fallen through and her conversation with Charles.
    ‘Oh bloody hell, Hayley,’ Ellen said.
    ‘I know damn well he’s trying to push me out, get me to quit and I probably would have if I’d got that job. But now … What if he fires me?’
    ‘Well, if he does it’s his funeral,’ Ellen said.
    ‘Let him sack you,’ Mark said as he filled Hayley’s glass back to the top. ‘He’ll beg you to come back when he realises how much shit he’s in. You work harder than anyone in that firm.’
    ‘It’s not that easy,’ countered Hayley. ‘I’ve lost deals and … he has allies.’
    Ellen frowned. ‘Allies? What do you mean?’
    Hayley hesitated. ‘I … I haven’t said anything to Rick but … I overheard Charles speaking to Max.’
    ‘One of the partners?’
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Sounds ominous.’ Mark said.
    Hayley nodded. ‘Charles said he didn’t think I was in control of the Berger deal.’ She laughed. ‘Turns out that was true, right? But he said he’d specifically given me the responsibility of getting that client. And it’s true. He did.’ She paused. ‘Anyway … he told Max if the deal collapses, he’ll be recommending severe consequences for me.’
    ‘Hang on a second,’ Mark said. ‘Severe consequences? After all you’ve done there?’
    Hayley looked down. ‘Like I said, I’ve lost deals lately.’
    ‘Please tell me Max defended you?’ Ellen said.
    Hayley shrugged. ‘Kind of, I suppose. Said something about my work always being exemplary. Then Charles jumped in and told him he’s seen it happen before.’
    ‘What?’ Mark said.
    Hayley exhaled. ‘Solicitors losing their edge. The killer instinct disappearing.’ She bit her lip before continuing. ‘Charles has, and I quote, a number of contacts he could replace me with.’ She took a gulp of wine. ‘Practically guaranteed there wouldn’t be any disruption.’
    ‘The little
fucker
,’ Ellen said.
    Hayley shuddered. ‘I don’t know what’s going on. I’ve always been so diligent, you know? They don’t call me Hawk-Eye Hayley for nothing.’ She paused. ‘I know there’ll be paperwork and reprimands before I’m