Chapter 21

Back on the Stuffie Hospital London stall, Isla was pleased to note that things were calming down. They still had plenty of people who were interested in their flyers, but as most of the stuffies themselves had sold, there were less people coming to coo over the cute creations.

Susie was eerily quiet, and when there was a break between customers, Isla went to check in with her. "You okay there? You seem quiet."

The energy that usually animated her boss was notably absent. Dull, tired eyes turned Isla's way, and she immediately grabbed a chair and made Susie sit down.

"Susie, what the hell? You should have said if you were tired."

"I'm fine," said Susie, who most certainly was not. "It's all good."

"Well that's crap," said Isla, bluntly. "You're not fine and it's clearly not all good. What's happened?"

"It's fine," the redhead repeated. "I just need to…" She swayed slightly and Isla grabbed a water bottle from under their booth and thrust it at Susie.

"Drink."

"I'm f?—"

"Drink."

Susie took one look at Isla's face, and she must have seen the concern there for her to take it seriously and grab the bottle.

"Fine."

"Where's Bri?"

"She left." Susie's voice was flat. Briana was her best friend. She'd been the one to make sure that Susie actually took a break and ate earlier. If she had gone, with Susie like this, then something had gone very seriously awry.

"Okay then," said Isla. Glanding around, she caught Daniel's eye. "Wait here, Susie, I'll be right back."

Hurrying over, she took Daniel's arm and pulled him to the side of the hall. "So I'm aware that this is your day off, and you're not technically supposed to be working the market today, but if we paid you, could you take over the stall "til the end of the day? I'm really worried about Susie, she's not…"

"She's not okay," agreed Daniel. "I thought she looked slightly dazed earlier, but Bri was with her, and I knew that she'd keep an eye on things."

"Bri left," said Isla.

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "Shit."

"Precisely."

"Leave it with me. I'll get Mossie to come and show Giraffe to customers, and talk them through how all the repairs went. It'll be a good draw."

"Excellent, thanks."

Isla headed back over to where Susie was sat. "Come on Susie; there's a quiet room round the corner. I think we need to have a chat."

Susie did not want to talk much. She was down to monosyllabic answers, and slight rocking back and forth. She didn't even want to look at the kitty stuffie in Isla's pocket, when she offered it.

Getting her phone out to call Bri, Isla slipped out of the quiet room and pulled the door closed behind her. Bri picked up on the first ring.

"Hello? Isla?"

"Bri, really sorry to bother you, but Susie's in a bit of a state. I think she might be close to burnout. But she said you'd left?"

Briana swore. "I haven't left left. Two seconds." The call cut off suddenly, and then the door to the café across the foyer opened, and Bri hurried towards Isla, balancing two coffees and her mobile phone precariously, the coffee lids loosening and threatening to fall.

Isla took one of the coffees from her. "You look flustered."

"Yeah, well, Susie wouldn't go home, even though she's exhausted, and I said that I was going to get some coffee. And in her so-tired-she-can't-concentrate-properly state, I think she's assumed that I meant that I was going going." Bri sighed. "I know she's your boss, and I probably shouldn't say anything…"

"She's my friend too," said Isla. "And I'm worried about her."

The weariness on Bri's face showed how concerned she was too. "I just don't know what to do. She won't take time off work, she insists on working all of the hours… It's just not sustainable."

"Actually," said Isla. "I'm hoping to maybe change my working pattern—a couple of days in the office, a couple of days working from home—maybe that could prompt a discussion where you bring up her work-life balance?"

"That's definitely a possibility. Look, I'm going to go in; I don't want her thinking that I actually left her behind."

When Bri opened the door to the quiet room, Isla heard Susie exclaim, and then turned away as the very definite sound of tears drifted out. As friendly as she and Susie were, she didn't think that Susie would want her to overhear that conversation.

It was a hard balance to get right, and she'd noticed that Littles often struggled to get it right. Isla had spent the last the years worrying about Rachel and her inability to feed or water herself when she was down an ADHD rabbit hole. That would be one of the benefits of moving down, she realized. She'd be able to keep a closer eye on Rachel, and make sure that she didn't reach the levels of burnout that Susie was occupying.

She paused, before reentering the hall. Huh. She was assuming that the move was a done deal, before she'd even spoken to Rachel. Isla guessed that meant that she'd kind of made up her mind.