Instead, she put on the kettle and waited for it to boil. Something would occur to her. Some way of getting a large amount of money, and fast, would come to her. It had to, otherwise she’d have to ring Rory and tell him to take his pictures to America. And she would have to get a job that paid proper money.

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Thea was still drinking her tea, or rather, sipping at the now cold liquid in her mug, when Molly rang. She definitely did not want to tell Molly her problems until she’d found a solution, but when Molly asked her how things were going, her ‘fine’ was a little forced.

‘Good,’ said Molly, not noticing, ‘because I need a little favour.’

Thea would have liked to have told Molly that she was fresh out of favours and was far too busy. But even if this had been true, she wouldn’t have said it. As she murmured helpfully, she wondered if she should go on a course called ‘How to Say No to Bossy People’.

‘Ben’s leaving Toby with us this afternoon while he goes to a job interview in Bristol and I’d forgotten we’d got to go out tonight. I was wondering –’

Even Molly had to breathe sometimes. ‘If I could pop over and babysit?’ murmured Thea, wondering why Ben hadn’t mentioned changing his job to her.

‘Oh, no, I wouldn’t dream of asking you to do that. You must be far too busy with the gallery. I expect you’re sitting there now, chewing your pencil, working out which picture to put where.’

This was so far from the truth that Thea let out a sigh. ‘If only that were what I was doing!’

This unaccustomed despondency penetrated even Molly’s pressing concerns. ‘Well, what are you doing?’

‘Wondering how on earth to fund my gallery – at least, how to get some money quickly. Long term I could sell my house, buy something smaller in Stroud and do the gallery with the change. But I can’t do any of that in the three months Rory’s given me.’ She sighed. ‘Do you suppose, if I offered him my body, he might stretch it to four?’

‘Oh, Thea!’

Realising she’d said far too much, Thea backtracked. ‘It’s only a temporary problem, Molly. I’ve just got to think of a way of raising some cash fast. It’ll be all right. And if you want me to come over and babysit for Toby, that’s fine. I’m not cooking for the hordes tonight – they’re all going to be out.’

‘Well, thank you, Thea, but I’ve already told Toby he’s going to your house. I thought you wouldn’t be able to come over, you see.’