He slumps back in his chair, relief flooding his face. Fran exhales softly and glances around the room as more people enter and fill the remaining chairs. She’s not quite sure how she managed to save that conversation. It’s a conundrum she can’t solve – how she can be such a great teacher but such a terrible conversationalist. She can command a classroom like no one else, simplify complicated concepts and field questions. She can juggle different levels of ability, slow her pace if she starts losing students and analyse the mood of the room. But when it comes to social interaction with anyone over the age of eighteen she either manages to insult them, misunderstand them or else she finds herself in such an awkward conversation that her only recourse is to feign a coughing fit and swiftly leave the room. Not that she could do that now. Kate is standing in the archway that leads to the communal kitchen and, standing next to her, smiling nervously and twisting his hands together, is the man Fran has been waiting to meet. Tom Wade has finally appeared.

Chapter 11

Now

KATE

Kate sits forward in her armchair, her clipboard in her hands, watching carefully as Tom moves around the room, shaking hands, asking names and welcoming the participants to the retreat. It’s a scene she’s watched dozens of times before but her attention wasn’t as focused as it is now, her grip on her notes never as tight. When she sent out the newsletter, tweeted the details, and posted the Facebook adverts, she felt sick with anticipation. She was braced for a deluge of negativity, trolling and abuse – and she certainly received plenty – and it wasn’t until EventBrite forwarded her the first flurry of bookings that she started to relax. By the end of the first day there were twenty-seven confirmed bookings in her inbox; nowhere near the numbers Tom had attracted at the height of his career but it would be enough for them to cover the costs of a retreat and make nearly ten thousand pounds of profit. She wouldn’t have to worry about paying the rent for six months and there would be enough left to plough into more advertising. She might even be able to hire a tech company to help whitewash the internet of the worst of the articles about Tom, or a PR firm to help repair his damaged reputation.