Page 80 of The Reluctant Roommate

“Not just Linda. Although she’s an enormous part of it. My job…”

“You told me you were fired,” Heidi murmured. “But I think there’s more than that. But I won’t pry. I always figured you’d tell me if you wanted me to know.”

Perceptive Heidi.

“The reason I was fired…” Morgan swallowed hard. “I lost my job because I made a major mistake. Cost the client hundreds of thousands of dollars. She demanded I be fired. And while I’ve applied for jobs in the financial sector since, most of the time, Idon’t get any acknowledgment of my application. And if I do, it’s a polite thanks-but-no-thanks.” She looked down at her hands. “That’s why I pretended to you I was still working. I was too ashamed to admit that after seven years in finance, I’m basically unemployable.”

Heidi’s brow creased. “One mistake and a perfect record is erased, just like that?”

Morgan nodded. “It was a major mistake. I was tired, I’d worked an eleven-hour day, and I confused two similar business names. Didn’t sell shares in the company that was failing, instead I sold the shares of the successful company on the rise. I was walked out when it was discovered.”

Heidi nodded. “And now you’re paying your housing loan and living expenses from your savings and my rent? What about unemployment benefits?”

“I was fired for misconduct; I’m not eligible.”

“And you’ve offered to pay Linda’s treatment costs. Oh, Morgan.” Tears glinted in Heidi’s eyes.

The letter from Linda burned into her mind again. It was upstairs on her dresser.

“You said you wouldn’t take other work, but you could temp, surely? As an admin assistant. You wouldn’t need to put it on your résumé.”

Sit in an office typing or filing, answering yes, sir, no, sir, taking her breaks when told, probably clocking in and out? It all sounded so demeaning. But…she looked at Heidi. Heidi basically worked like that, except in a bar, not an office. And she didn’t let it get her down. She just got on with it and did what was necessary to get back on her feet. Morgan bit her lip. When she put it like that, she was being too precious.

“Why didn’t you tell me about why you were fired?” Heidi said when the silence had stretched too long. “Surely you’d know I wouldn’t judge?”

“I haven’t told anyone I’ve lost my job, let alone the reason for it. Not my parents, not Aunt Linda, none of my friends—although most of my friends were in finance, and so of course they know through the grapevine. They don’t call anymore.”

Sympathy radiated from Heidi’s eyes, and Morgan looked away. She lifted her chin. “Don’t feel sorry for me,” she said crisply. “I have my portfolio. Savings. I’m doing fine.”

“But you need a housemate. I think, Morgan, there’s no way I’d be living here if you hadn’t been worried about money.”

She fixed her gaze on the napkin on the table, pleating it between her fingers. Of course Heidi was right about that. But that still wasn’t what she wanted to talk about.

“My family… We don’t admit to our failures. We pretend everything is perfect, even when it’s not.”

“Like Linda is doing,” Heidi whispered. “Have you heard from her? Is she accepting your offer? Can you afford—”

“Wait here.” Morgan rose and went to get Linda’s letter. She handed it to Heidi. “Read this.”

Heidi read it, then set it on the table. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. “Why? Why would anyone do this if they had any other option? To her kids, but mainly to herself? I thought she’d come around, I thought her kids would talk her into getting proper treatment. Have you talked to them?”

“No. But I should. I was waiting to see what happened over Thanksgiving.”

“If this is her wish, you need to respect it.”

“Her kids haven’t called me. I thought they might, once Linda told them my offer.”

“Maybe she didn’t. She could be doing the family thing—putting a good face on it, minimizing the severity of her cancer.”

Morgan’s breath trickled out of her. Of course that was almost certainly what had happened. “I should call Ellie. I always got along better with her.”

“Maybe we need another road trip. Go and talk to Linda.”

“One hell of a road trip. She’s in New Jersey.”

“A flight trip, then. I’ll come with you—if you want. You helped me when I needed it. It’s my turn to be there for you. I’m your friend, remember? Yes, we’re lovers too—at least, I hope we still are. But I was your friend first. It’s not weakness to show the less-than-perfect side of our lives. I don’t think less of you for losing your job. It sounds like you made an easy mistake because you were tired and overworked and you were heavily penalized for it. For one mistake. If you’d had to work less hours, if you hadn’t been tired—would it have happened? Most likely not.”

“I didn’t have to work those hours,” Morgan said. “I set my own. And I’ve never slept well. You know that.”