Free When Sorry Is Not Enough by Millie Gray

you? You’ve never spoken to me like you have just done. I have supported you all through your life. Made excuses for you. Sorted out so many messes for you I’ve lost count. So out with it – what’s going on?’
    Josie pulled herself up as far as she could. But before replying to Sally she took a long look at herself in the large mirror above the bar and running her fingers through her hair she said, ‘Better get used to the new me, Sally. Gone are the days when you can use me to run your businesses for a pittance. From here on in …’
    Sally guffawed and spluttered. ‘Have you lost your marbles or something, Josie?’ she asked through her mirth. ‘I pay you more than I pay anyone … and more than you’re blooming worth.’
    ‘You think so?’ jeered Josie.
    ‘I do. And have you ever thought how much gallivanting over to America you would do if I wasn’t subsidising you?’
    Josie looked in the mirror again. ‘Sally, I’m sorry but I have been put wise to you and how you use everyone, especially me, to your own ends.’
    Sally quite suddenly stopped chortling because she just couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Reluctantly she had to consider, what or who had got into Josie? ‘Look,’ she managed to eventually stutter, ‘who has been putting all this rubbish into your head?’
    ‘Victor. And it’s not rubbish. He has spent hours getting me to see my true value and how I am being taken a loan of.’
    Rita, who had been listening behind the kitchen door and missing some of the important bits of the conversation, quietly opened the door and slunk into the far end of the saloon.
    ‘And who the hell is Victor and where did you meet him?’ Sally demanded as she grabbed Josie by the arm and birled her around so they were facing each other.
    This action caused Josie to become aware that she was upsetting Sally so she backed away a little before croaking, ‘Victor Castello is the son of an Italian nobleman who has studied economics at university.’ This statement to Sally seemed to boost Josie’s confidence and she then added with a sneer, ‘And he, thankfully, was the one who answered my lonely hearts advert. And he has become my advocate and mentor. Oh yes, on my time off we nip into the Caledonian Hotel on Princes Street and sip cocktails. That’s when he counsels and advises me.’
    The plaintive uttering of ‘Oh, my gawd’ that rang around the bar did not come from Sally but from Rita who had decided to rush over and close the outside doors. Sally’s reaction was to sink down on a chair before she began trying to tear her hair out.
    ‘So you see, Sally,’ Josie continued, unaware of Sally’s consternation, ‘I’m not like you waiting patiently for a few crumbs that might fall off the table. I know I am my own woman now and I’m grabbing all the chances life puts my way.’
    Sally took her fingers out of her hair and started to shake her head before uttering, ‘Are you saying this Victor, who has just come into your life, is now your advocate and mentor?’ Josie nodded with an air of alluring disdain.
    ‘But, Josie,’ Sally went on contemptuously, ‘when I last saw you, a few days ago, you couldn’t even spell advocate or mentor … never mind know the meaning of such words.’
    Josie bristled. ‘Funny you should try to bring me down like that. That’s exactly what Victor says you have done to me all of my life. But he’s now educating me to think for myself and to think big. So, Sally, get used to it because he will be coming in here from tonight to be my assistant manager.’
    ‘Oh. Naw. Naw. Naw,’ exclaimed Rita. ‘Somebody get the Leith polis quick … there’s gonnae be a murder.’
    ‘You’re wrong there, Rita. No a murder. Because she’s no worth doing time for. All that is going to happen is …’ Sally now moved over to the outside door which she forcibly flung open wide. With a cock of her head she then hollered, ‘Right, Josie. You’re out there on