CHAPTER 31

“Chop the tomatoes concasse. If you’ve been reading your glossary, you’ll know what that means.”

Natalie chopped her tomatoes coarsely, proud that she’d stayed up and remembered what the term meant.

Her instructor passed by.

“Very good, Miss Morrison. But if you would hold your knife like this,” he said, standing beside her and sliding the knife so fast and with so much skill that Natalie felt jealous. “Here, try again,” he said, passing the knife back to her.

“Thanks.”

Chopping was exactly what Natalie needed right now. She imagined the tomato was Yolanda and chopped to her heart’s content.

She couldn’t remember a time when she’d been so upset. It was sad, really, how their relationship had ended over…What had ended it?

Yolanda was being so selfish. She had really let this whole promotion change who she was as a person. Or maybe she’d always been like this? Was I too blind to notice that I was more of a friend to her than she was to me?

It didn’t matter now. She had enough saved to last until the two-year course was completed, and her father had already offered to loan her money if she didn’t find a job right away. But she was through. She hoped she never saw Yolanda’s face again, and she probably wouldn’t. From this day forward she was no longer an employee of Behave Hair Salon. She was on her own.