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Chapter 1
Jules: Think I’m getting busted for reading a novel at my desk.
Cat: Reading what?
Jules: …
Jules: That erotica Tori was raving about.
Tori: HahahahAHHhhahah!
Cat: What makes you think you’ve been busted?
Jules: I’ve been summoned to Patricia’s office.
Jules: Do you think I’ll have to do a course about work appropriate activities? I probably should. Bet she’s with HR.
Cat: Deep breath. I just saw her on level 4 with Jonathan. She’s probably running late.
Tori: Or they’re preparing your termination notice?
Jules: Don’t joke about that!
Tori: It’d save you having to make the choice…?
Jules: :(
Tori: Jokes. They’d never fire you. The IT team would fall apart without you.
Jules: Thanks.
Jules: Oh! Think that’s her. I’ll catch you up later.
Jules pops her phone down and folds her sweating hands on her lap, looking around Patricia’s office. Just because she was caught reading a workplace erotica at work, doesn’t mean she has to feel embarrassed. Which she’s not. She’s aware work isn’t the best place for it, but lately, her job hasn’t been holding her attention, even with the extra responsibility of covering her boss’s role while she’s on maternity leave. And the numerous daily phone calls from people in this company with an ‘urgent’ tech issue that has to be fixed ‘ASAP’ because they have ‘deadlines’ only add more stress to her doubled workload. They don’t provide enough of a challenge to alleviate her boredom, hence the ill-advised stress-relief reading material.
Patricia’s cloying perfume signals her arrival a second before she enters. Jules straightens and watches the door as her boss’s boss slides into the room, still graceful in heels in her seventh decade.
‘Julianne. Sorry to keep you waiting,’ she says with her Irish lilt, dropping a stack of books on her desk before sorting them onto the shelving behind her. ‘I was in a meeting with Jonathan and getting anything succinct out of him is like asking my grandkids about their day. I do not need to hear what time you woke up and what you had for breakfast. Bless them.’
Patricia sits behind her desk and readjusts her cat-eye frames on her face. ‘No doubt you’re wondering why you’re here.’
Jules swallows. ‘I have some idea.’
‘Samantha spoke to you, did she?’ Patricia asks.
‘Uh …’
‘You’re all good to cover her, I assume. I would have expected to hear from Samantha before now if that weren’t the case.’
‘Yes?’ Jules’s shoulders creep towards her ears. She hasn’t spoken to Samantha since she left for maternity leave a few months ago, but it seems like the right answer.
‘Perfect. It’s a week-long conference. Everything has been booked already.’ Patricia rifles through her filing cabinet as she talks.
Jules blinks. ‘Conference?’
‘The Australasian Publishers Conference. Down in Sydney. You’ll be going to represent Infinity Press.’ Patricia pulls out a lime green folder and passes it over. Jules stares at it for a second before taking it. ‘That’s a full itinerary for you. Have a look through and if you’ve got questions, email Lindsay and she’ll help you out.’
Jules opens the folder. There are dozens of printouts. She skims the top sheet, trying to absorb the information, then flips the page and reads the next header. ‘Hang on.’ She lifts her gaze to Patricia. ‘This is next week?’
