‘And you’re coming to my softball jamboree next Sunday?’ Daisy asked.
‘Definitely.’
‘And the week after that we’re having a barbecue. To celebrate the end of school,’ Mom added.
I nodded, suppressing a sigh. I wanted to do all those things with them. But there were somanythings to go to and do when it came to my family. It was like an exponential growth of obligation. As soon as I attended one event, I got invited to three more. Every moment I wasn’t doing something to fix my book made me panic. And if dating was a mess that I was just going to have to leave to serendipity, then my writing career was all I had. I couldn’t lose my grip on that.
Maybe itwasa good idea to meet up for drinks with Kaylee. If I ever made it out of this car park and I hadn’t been fried into a walking piece of bacon, some alcohol and a sense of perspective were definitely in order.
‘Leaving so soon, Sir Stephen?’
I looked up from shutting down my laptop to see my new boss, Georgina, staring straight at me from the doorway to her office. She arched one fine black eyebrow at me in a way I’d grown used to over the first fortnight of my secondment to the New York office.
Georgina often communicated with her eyebrows. Dependent on the accompanying expression, the movement of her left eyebrow could mean anything along a sliding scale from ‘I’m not here to listen to your BS’ to ‘this could be entertaining’. The small curl at the corner of her mouth as she lifted her ever-present coffee cup up for a sip made me gamble that she was feeling more playful than peevish.
I gave her an easy smile as I continued packing up, closing and sliding my laptop into its case. ‘Duty calls I’m afraid.’
‘Is that so?’ Her heels clicked across the lacquered floor with ominous precision as she approached – she was in no hurry, presumably because she could tellIwas. She leaned her hip against my desk and put her Starbucks down so close to me, it meant she had to lean forward and the collar of her dark blue blouse gaped open. My eyes remained glued to her face. ‘And whatdue-ty could possibly outweigh your responsibilities here?’ She did an exaggerated impression of my English accent.
‘Embarking on a quest, fulfilling my destiny, possibly wooing a fair maiden or two. The usual for us Knights of the Realm.’ It wasn’t a stellar attempt at a witty comeback but the best I could come up with when my boss was encroaching on my personal space and I wanted to leave the office at a reasonable hour for once.
Since I arrived in the US, I’d worked twelve-hour days – at a minimum – including weekends. It’s not unusual in trading, and that applied doubly when taking over a senior broker’s accounts while they went on extended paternity leave for the summer. I expected it and would continue to put in every hour required, but today I had to locate a man I’d not seen since I was three years old. In other words, my father. In more accurate words, a stranger. But I could hardly tell my new boss that.
‘I can just picture you astride a mare.’ Georgina bit her lip and her brown eyes danced over my face.
The visual image – which I think was the opposite of what she was trying to conjure up – made me want to laugh. Swallowing over it, I plucked her empty cup from my desk and wheeled my chair away to pop it in one of the recycling bins at the end of the bank of workstations.
My new boss wanted to screw with me. Of that I was sure…I just didn’t know the precise nature of the screwing she intended. An actual, genuine physical encounter – or the metaphorical kind that would see me in trouble with HR if I acted on any of her flirtatious behaviour.
‘Do you think you’ll be able to make time in your busy schedule for drinks with the team later?’ She crossed her legs towards me as I stood up and rolled my chair back to tuck it under my desk, keeping it as a barrier between us.
‘I should think so.’ I’d probably be in need of a stiff drink, and it was better to be in company than sitting on my own in my apartment, dwelling on whatever the outcome of finding my father was.
‘Excellent. Get Patrick to send you the details of the bar we’re heading to. I look forward to seeing you later.’ She swiped a non-existent bit of lint off my shoulder as she walked back to her office.
Patrick, the trader I was taking over from shortly, raised his head over the partition between his desk and mine, his receding hair disarrayed from how often he’d run his hands through it. ‘Are you sure you want to come to the bar later?’
‘Of course. It’s a good opportunity to get to know everyone away from the office.’
‘Some people might want to know you a bit better than others.’ He tipped his head subtly towards Georgina’s office.
I made no comment. Was he really concerned for me or simply didn’t want me courting any favouritism with his boss while he was gone?
Patrick gave the impression of being a decent sort. He was often distracted and needed nudging when it came to some aspects of the handover, but I assumed he was edgy about the imminent arrival of his twins. He spent a lot of time on the phone to his wife and seemed to steer clear of the office politics, but I had to be careful not to tread on his toes or give him any ammunition to use against me. If he felt threatened by my performance in his role, it was entirely possible his good nature would evaporate. I’d seen it happen more than once.
He sighed and shook his head. ‘On your own head, be it. I’ll send you a pin with the address. We should all be there at about 8pm.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Let me know if you want to make an excuse.’
‘I’ll see you there.’ I grabbed my suit jacket and laptop case and bee-lined for the lifts. A couple of the traders looked up to wish me a good weekend, but most were occupied on the phone, or studying the markets on their screens at close of play.
The lift doors closed, and I wiped my hand quickly down my face, fastening my gaze on my shiny black shoes. Despite working on the eighteenth floor of the high-rise building, the height didn’t bother me throughout the day on the whole. I had a solid floor beneath my feet and my desk was far enough away from the windows that it was nothing but a pleasant panoramic view of the New York skyline.
But the lifts had glass walls and when they began moving it took a lot of willpower not to start freaking out, as we dropped through the floors, over and over at what felt like a gathering speed. As more people got on at each floor, I found it easier to breathe, despite the crush and when we finally reached the ground floor, I was able to cut through the crowd and exit the lobby with my heart rate virtually back to normal.
The heat hit me from all directions as I stepped onto Wall Street, a wave in the face like I’d opened a sauna door. It bounced off all the windows and white stone to lance down on my head and shoulders.
People had told me it would be hot in New York in the summer, but dictators had nothing on this kind of oppression. I’d considered taking up religion just so I could thank God for the air conditioning in the office and my apartment when I first arrived. I took a shallow breath of dry air and walked briskly towards the subway.
I might’ve considered jumping in a yellow cab to avoid the suffocation of the underground but who knew how long I’d be captive in the back should the driver decide to take me the longest route while the meter ticked on and on. I didn’t want to make small talk either.
