Chapter 8

Saturday night was busy and after her eight hour shift, Holly caught the bus back and immediately showered and went to bed. Sunday morning arrived and she greeted it late, happy to lie in bed and think about her cruise, the money and the events of the past couple of weeks. There didn’t seem to be any pattern or trigger, it was just that major events had taken place and had decided to include her. She thought of Rob and realised that he hadn’t called, which surprised her a little, but she also hadn’t thought about him much either. His face, mannerisms, jokes, language were still familiar but fading into a general sense of what he represented, just a period in her life, most likely similar to like everyone else’s first love.

She so desperately wanted to masturbate but the morning didn’t feel like the right time to reward herself, even though she had abstained or been distracted for what felt like years. She had another shift that evening at the restaurant, and would collect the car on Monday around noon and spend the day driving around. She’d be at the orphanage most of Tuesday and at John Millsum’s on Wednesday. She stared at the ceiling, wondering how on earth it could not be until Thursday that she could play with Mike again. That was so unfair since it really only needed fifteen minutes, ten if Mike was rough with her. She grinned, rolled out of bed naked and checked her PC for email. She clapped her hands in glee when she saw that her insurance company had sent her coverage paperwork to print out for Monday. She decided that she would start the day at the gym, a habit that she had kept up with at least twice a week since she had arrived at the University but which had lapsed during finals.

After a quick breakfast she shed her dressing gown and fitted the heart monitor just below her breasts. The watch on her wrist communicated with the sensor on the strap and she wondered if there would be a hunky guy or two at the gym who might want to feel her pulse or even adjust the strap for her. She slipped into her gym clothes and jogged at a leisurely pace down to the Fitness Center on campus. She thought about using the running track outside but instead used the free weights then went upstairs to the treadmills. Starting at a pace of about five and a half miles an hour she ran for a couple of minutes then turned the speed up to seven, started her watch and ran at increasing speeds for five thousand meters in just over twenty-one minutes. Not a great time for her but then she hadn’t run for several weeks. She was hot and sweaty and walked back home, cooling down as she went. After a shower she changed, had lunch then caught the bus to the restaurant, earning another one hundred and seventy dollars for the night.

Monday came and the car was collected without issue. It performed well and was more powerful than she would ever need, yet in a reasonably low insurance band. She drove to the supermarket on the edge of town and bought groceries that she didn’t really need but it felt good to be a regular consumer. Mileage, according to the dealer, was about forty-four miles to the gallon, a number confirmed when she googled it.

On Tuesday she banked the Tanner’s check, mailed them a thank-you note and a card for Jane then drove to the orphanage, an absolute luxury compared to taking the bus. That evening she looked through every page of Millsum’s website, read their last four quarters’ financial reports and analyst’s comments. She also listened to recordings of earning’s calls and noted any recurring themes. She then called Sam, thanked him for the introduction and then interrogated him about every detail that he could recall about Millsum and had him fill in wherever possible holes that she had in her understanding of the firm. It was almost midnight when she got to bed and was asleep in minutes, happy and content with life and what it was delivering to her.