“That’s some appetite you got there,” Flossy commented, startling Bliss, who had not seen the woman approach the counter. “Little down on your luck, are you, lamb?”

Bliss swallowed, thinking of Jamie and his elegant mistress. No doubt he’d told her about the wife he’d accidentally acquired and they’d laughed together over all her shortcomings. Color surged into her cheeks as she realized that Flossy had struck very close to the truth. “A little,” she admitted.

Flossy smiled. “Well, you’ve come to the right place if it be work you need. I could sure use a girl to wash dishes and wait tables.”

Bliss was about to decline by explaining that she meant to leave the country when she realized how handy it would be if she could earn a bit of money before the fact. It might be a long while, after all, before she found a position with a traveler or travelers, and her Aunt Calandra couldn’t be expected to support her without some kind of compensation.

Besides, Bliss needed something to distract her from Jamie McKenna and the ruin he’d made of her life. She returned Flossy’s smile, albeit somewhat sadly, and after only the briefest discussion, they reached an agreement.

Bliss was given an apron and set to peeling potatoes in preparation for the supper trade. For the next few hours, she forgot all about her problems, she was so busy.

“You’d best go, missy,” Flossy said when full darkness had settled down around the tearoom. “The tram’ll stop runnin’ soon, and then where will you be?”

Realizing how far she had to travel and how worried her aunt would be over her late appearance, Bliss shed her apron and pulled on her coat. “The dishes—”

“They’ll be here waiting for you in the mornin’,” Flossy said easily. “Hear that bell? Hurry up now, or the tram will go without you.”

Bliss ran to the corner, where the noisy conveyance was about to pull away, and scrambled aboard just in time.

“I was wondering where you got off to,” the conductor complained. He remembered that Bliss had already paid her return fare and didn’t expect another ha’penny.

Bliss smiled and shrugged. A few customers had left coins on their tables, and Flossy had said she was welcome to them. Not only that, but at the end of the week she could count on wages—the first she’d ever earned in her life.

Satisfaction kept the cold winter wind at bay until Bliss reached the center of Auckland and found that she’d missed the connecting tram. It would be a long walk to Macomber Street, she knew, and a cold one, and she wasn’t even sure of the way.

A family, a man and a woman and two little girls, passed Bliss as she stood helplessly at the tram stop. They were laughing and talking among themselves, and a lonely feeling washed over Bliss, making her feel homeless. Abandoned.

She squared her shoulders. She was tired, that was all, and waxing sentimental would do her no earthly good. She drew a deep breath and set out in the direction she hoped would eventually take her to the warmth and safety of her aunt’s house.