Jess shook back her blonde hair, laughing as she shared the cash with Cassie.
“Hey, shall we take a selfie?” she suggested, but Cassie declined.
“I have absolutely zero makeup on,” she explained, and Jess laughed and put her phone away.
The lack of makeup wasn’t the real reason, of course; she was trying her best to stay under the radar. The first thing she’d done after arriving in London was to change her social media settings, turning them fully private. Well-meaning friends might say something, and the path could be traced. She didn’t want anyone knowing where she was. Not her ex-boyfriend back in the States, and certainly not her ex-employer and his legal team in France.
She had thought she would feel safe once she’d left France, but she hadn’t realized how accessible, and interconnected, the whole of Europe was. Going straight back to the States would have been a more sensible choice.
“You’re looking amazing—have you lost weight?” Jess asked. “And are things going well with the family who employed you? You said you were worried about them.”
“It didn’t work out, so I’m no longer with them,” she said carefully, glossing over the ugly details that she couldn’t bring herself to think about.
“Oh dear. What went wrong?”
“The children moved to the South of France, and the family didn’t need an au pair anymore.”
Cassie kept it as simple as possible, hoping a dull explanation would prevent any further questions, because she didn’t want to have to lie to her friend.
“I guess that happens. It could have been worse. You could have worked for that family everyone’s talking about where the husband is standing trial for murdering his fiancée.”
Cassie looked down hurriedly, worried that her expression would give her away.
Fortunately they were distracted by the arrival of the wine, and after they’d ordered food, Jess had moved on from that juicy morsel of gossip.
“What are you going to do now?” she asked Cassie.
Cassie felt ashamed by the question, because she had no coherent answer. She wished she could tell Jess that she had a plan and wasn’t just living day to day, knowing that she should make the most of her time in Europe, but feeling increasingly uncertain about her situation here.
“I’m not sure. I was thinking of going back to the States, finding work somewhere warmer. Florida, perhaps. It’s expensive to stay here.”
Jess nodded in understanding.
“I bought a car when I arrived. Someone at the guesthouse was selling it. That took a lot of my cash.”
“So you have a car?” Jess asked. “How awesome!”
“It has been wonderful. I’ve gone on some amazing drives out of the city, but using the car with the gas and everything, and even day-to-day living, is costing more than I expected.”
Hemorrhaging money without any prospect of earning income was stressing her out and it was reminding her of the battles she’d gone through when she was younger.
She’d left home at sixteen to escape her violent and abusive father, and ever since then she’d had to look after herself. She’d had no security and no savings and no family to fall back on, because her mother was dead and her older sister, Jacqui, had run away a few years earlier and had never been in touch again.
Living on her own had been a case of month-to-month survival for Cassie. She’d sometimes only made it by the skin of her teeth. Never mind having peanut butter at month’s end; it had been her staple diet when times were tough, and she’d gotten into the habit of taking restaurant or bartender work, partly because the jobs came with a free staff meal.
Now she was panicking about living off a dwindling nest egg that was all she possessed in the world, and thanks to the cash that had been stolen today, that nest egg was even smaller.
“You could look for a temporary job to tide you over,” Jess advised, as if reading her mind.
“I have. I’ve approached a few restaurants, and even applied for bartending work at some of the pubs, but I got turned down right away. Everyone here’s a stickler for the correct paperwork and all I have is a visitor’s visa.”
“Restaurant work? Why not au pairing?” Jess asked curiously.
“No,” Cassie shot back, before remembering that Jess knew nothing about the circumstances of her previous job. She continued.
“If I can’t work I can’t work. No visa means no visa, and au pairing is a longer commitment.”
“Not necessarily,” Jess countered. “It doesn’t have to be. And I have personal experience of doing it without a visa.”
“You do?”
Cassie knew her mind was made up. She wasn’t going to au pair again. All the same, what Jess was saying sounded interesting.
“You see, all the restaurants and pubs get checked regularly. There’s no way they can hire anyone without the right visa. But working for a family is different. It’s such a gray area. After all, you could be a family friend. Who’s to say you’re actually working? I stayed with a friend in Devon for a while last year, and ended up doing a few babysitting and temporary childcare jobs for neighbors and people in the area.”
“That’s good to know,” Cassie said, but she didn’t have any intention of exploring that option further. Talking to Jess was cementing her decision to head back to the States. If she sold the car, she would have enough money to support herself there until she got back on her feet.
On the other hand, she’d expected to spend much longer traveling. She’d been looking forward to a full year abroad, hoping it would give her the time she needed to move on from her past. This was her chance to make a fresh start in life, and to return as a changed person. Arriving back home so soon after leaving would feel like giving up. Never mind that other people would think she hadn’t made a go of it—she would personally believe that she’d failed.
The waiter arrived, bringing plates piled high with nachos. Hungry, because she’d skipped breakfast, Cassie dug into the food.
But Jess paused, frowning, and took her phone out of her purse.
“Talking of part-time jobs, one of the people I worked for called me yesterday to see if I could help him again.”
“Really?” Cassie asked, but her attention was focused on the food.
“Ryan Ellis. I worked for him last year. His wife’s parents were moving house, and they needed someone to look after the kids while they were away. They were lovely people, and the kids weren’t bad either—they have a boy and a girl. We did lots of fun stuff. They live in a beautiful seaside village.”
“What is the job?”
“He’s looking for somebody for about three weeks, urgently, to live in. Cassie, this could be just what you need. He paid very well, gave me cash, and didn’t mind about the visa at all. He said if I had been accepted by an au pair agency I was clearly a trustworthy person. Why not call him and find out more?”
Cassie was tempted by the prospect of cash in her pocket. But another au pair assignment? She didn’t feel ready. Perhaps she never would be.
“I’m not sure it’s for me.”
Jess, however, seemed determined to sort out Cassie’s future for her. She tapped keys on her phone.
“Let me send you his number anyway. And I’ll message him now and say you might get in touch, and that I recommend you highly. You never know, even if you don’t work for him, he might know someone who needs a house sitter. Or a dog walker. Or something.”
Cassie couldn’t argue with her logic, and a moment later her phone buzzed with the arrival of Jess’s