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“She doesn’t want to talk to you,” Marianne said. “You’d better leave.”

Jack grunted with frustration. Davina wouldn’t look at him. Everyone else glared in his direction. And then he said those words every woman loves to hear: “We’ll talk more later when you’ve calmed down.”

The door clicked quietly shut behind him, leaving everyone to stare at it for a beat, then they descended on Davina and she was swallowed in a huge group hug.

Sharp tears of regret and disappointment trailed down her cheeks. But most of all, she felt betrayed. She pulled away from the group to look at the door. Yep. Betrayed and strangely alone. And before she could become completely morose, Marianne announced it was time for a cup of tea.

Davina’s day was black like tar. It clung to her, dragging her down with each long minute she had to endure.

With the help of her college students and a van she borrowed from her father’s church – this time with permission – she returned the equipment to the TV studio. No amount of mascara and lip gloss could help her deal with the shame of having her students see her, tail between her legs, facing up to her stupidity. She couldn’t even blame anyone else. It had been her great idea to make the movie. She was the one who’d taken things without permission. She was the one so driven to succeed that she’d roped Derek into her schemes. It was all her. And now she was paying the price – public humiliation, professional failure and a future that ended in a cul-de-sac.

She kept her head down as she unloaded the van for the last time. One more pitying look and she was going to burst into tears. In public. Just what she didn’t need. One of the adult students squeezed her hand as they shut the van doors.

“Why don’t you let us finish up?” she said to Davina. “You wait here. We can manage without you.”

“I shouldn’t,” Davina said but her eyes welled up.

“No, you should,” Melanie said. She turned to the other students. “We’re taking this, guys. Davina will wait here.”

“Good idea,” Eric said.

Davina let herself be gently pushed into the passenger side of the van. It was cowardly, letting them face the fallout for her. On top of everything else, she was a coward. Although her eyes felt full to overflowing with tears of self-pity, none of them fell. Instead Davina sat in silence. She didn’t move. She didn’t think. What was the point? There was nothing to do and nothing to think about. An image of Jack from the night before flashed into her mind and she felt a stab of pain in her stomach. She’d thought it meant something. But it didn’t. She didn’t mean anything to him.

“Let’s get you back home,” Melanie said as they climbed into the van.

Home. She didn’t even have that. Without the income from her job, she couldn’t afford the rent on the house. She expected Jack would be ecstatic about that – he’d made it crystal clear that his main aim was to get rid of her. Guess he got what he wanted on every front.

She let the black tar suck her down. No job. No house. No future. And she felt like a dirty rag used by a man and discarded. As they pulled out into traffic, Davina was oblivious to her surroundings. There was too much going on inside her head. What was she going to do now? She couldn’t see past the pain of another failure. No, not another failure. The last failure. This was it. The point where she gave up. As she thought the words her chest ached.

Davina Davenport, queen of being positive, had reached the end.

And in that moment she did it.

Davina let go of all her dreams. The one where she became a successful actress. The one where everything turned out great with Jack. The one where she got to live in Millie’s old house and bake cookies all day long. They’d all been stupid, immature fantasies. She knew that now. It was time to grow up. It was time to let go of dreaming and get real about life. It was time to give up completely. As Davina accepted her fate, she felt her heart shred within her. And then she felt nothing at all.

Jack was in the shower when the phone rang. It was the police station. They wanted to see him in person. They needed to talk. They wouldn’t tell him exactly what it was about. But he knew. This was what he’d been waiting for. Vindication. His old job back. His life on track. It felt good. Really, really good. The only fly in his ointment was the fact he had unresolved issues at Millie’s house. But there was clearly no dealing with Davina until she’d calmed down.

He tried to quell the excitement he felt as he dug out a clean T-shirt to wear. Hell, he might even push the boat out and put on a shirt. With one look in the mirror, he headed to the station. He would have been walking to a disco beat, if not for the fact his brain was stuck in a Davy groove. Dealing with his tenant had become a life-consuming problem.

People waved cheerily at him as he walked through the station. There seemed to be more than the usual dose of Friday afternoon cheer in the air. It felt good to be back, even for a visit. He made his way down the long grey corridor to his ex-boss’s office.

“You called. I came running,” Jack said, aiming for laid-back and breezy. “What can I do for you?”

Inspector Malcolm Green, his ex-boss, motioned to a chair.

“Sit down, Jack,” he said. “Thanks for coming in.”

Jack did as he was told, swinging a foot up to perch it on his knee. He hoped that Malcolm saw a man at ease, but inside everything was churning.

“You might have heard,” Malcolm said. “London has been investigating the Chief Superintendent.”

Jack resisted the urge to grin.

“I heard.”

Malcolm swallowed hard. Admitting he was wrong didn’t come easy to the man. Jack figured that the words had to be sticking in his throat.

“So.” Malcolm looked him straight in the eye. “You were right Jack. The guy is as genuine as a three pound coin.”