Page 26 of Always, in December

‘Speeches already?’ John asked.

‘They’ll want to get them out the way so they can get drunk with the rest of us, I imagine,’ Laura said.

Max grinned appreciatively as the CEO of the company, a man in his sixties who Josie had only seen once in the four years she’d worked for them, took to the stage – a little platform that raised him ever so slightly above everyone else. He cleared his throat, touching his glasses and nodding to the guy in black who was adjusting the microphone to his height. ‘If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to say a few words before we all get stuck in to the festivities.’

There was a shuffling around the hall as people found seats or quickly grabbed another drink, then turned their attention to the stage. ‘Thank you so much for joining us this evening, and for giving up your Christmas Eve to support our sponsored charity for the year.’ He indicated a table behind him, which was home to various items – a bottle of champagne, a hamper basket, and photos of what looked like a helicopter and the Eiffel Tower, amongst other things. ‘Please do take the time to bid on the items here and show your support – Christmas is all about giving, after all.’

Laura made a derisive noise. ‘The whole charity thing was supposed to get us press attention,’ she explained in a subtle whisper to the three of them. ‘That’s why it’s on Christmas Eve too, the board thought it would mean we got some mentions in the diaries, and that a few mags might cover it which obviously they haven’t done because the whole thing has been handled terribly. I did try to tell Janice this, but instead of listening to common sense and years of experience, she chose to ignore me.’

‘It’s been a good year,’ the CEO continued, ‘and we’ve seen some growth, which is excellent news, but there’s still room for improvement and we’ve been looking for ways to expand and restructure each individual company to make sure that we stay strong players in the market.’ Josie clenched her teeth at the word restructure. Here he was, talking about how good the year had been – if it had been so good, then why were they trying to make a bunch of people redundant?

‘I’m going to let each company tell you their most exciting news themselves. First up, from Peacock PR, is the lovely Janice Evergreen.’

Janice swept onto the stage immediately, and Josie knew she must be loving this – the chance to stand up in front of everyone and prove how important she was. She went on again about the positive year and Josie took a gulp of her Prosecco, glancing at Max, who, though he was wearing a polite expression, had to be regretting his decision to come right now.

‘But the most exciting thing we have to look forward to,’ Janice was saying, ‘something which we’re so pleased to be announcing at last, is that we’ll be opening up a New York office early next year, which will be headed up by none other than our own Oliver Burton.’

It took a moment for the words to sink in, for Josie to notice that Laura was leaning in, frowning at her. ‘Did she say . . .?’ But she didn’t need to finish the question because there he was, on one of the tables closest to the stage, raising his hand at the polite applause that echoed around the hall.

‘Did you know?’ Laura whispered. Josie could only shake her head mutely. No. She hadn’t known that while she was being made redundant, her ex-boyfriend was being made the head of a new branch. Across the other side of the Atlantic, no less.

Chapter Eight

Josie didn’t hear the rest of the speeches. Occasional words, like celebrate, congratulate and financial, got through the dull ringing in her ears, but she didn’t bother to concentrate to make sense of the wider context. Laura kept flicking her glances, but Josie just stared straight ahead, focusing on making sure she was blinking so that she didn’t look vacant or bored, if anyone important were to glance at her.

How long had he known? Surely he couldn’t have just found out? This was the kind of thing you knew for months before it was announced – you had discussions over the starting date, negotiated a better salary. Which meant he must have known while they were still together, must have been talking to Janice about it in private meetings at the office where they both worked, then just failing to mention it when they got home for the evening. He was planning to uproot his entire life, and he hadn’t even bothered to discuss it with her. She wondered if he’d known Janice was planning to make her redundant too, if that had come up in all their secret talks.

Her eyes were stinging now, though she couldn’t work out if she was angry or sad. She took a steady breath and tried to keep blinking. She felt a warm pressure on her right hand and looked down to see Max squeezing it. ‘Are you ok?’ he whispered. Josie nodded, but couldn’t bring herself to look at him directly. God, what must he think? He’d come along for a fun Christmas party and here she was, trying not to cry. Laura shoved a drink into her other hand – Josie suspected it was Laura’s second, untouched glass of Prosecco – and Josie took a sip, grateful to have something to do.

The CEO finished off the round of speeches and, after announcing the bowl food would be out shortly and wishing them a happy Christmas, left the stage to a polite round of applause, which died off soon enough to be taken over by chatter and laughter. Josie dimly heard the violins start up again in the background.

There was a crowd of people surrounding Oliver now, shaking his hand and thumping him on the back. She shouldn’t watch, she knew she shouldn’t. It would only make her feel worse. But before she could make herself look away, his head swivelled around and his gaze locked on hers. She stood up abruptly, and Max, John and Laura all followed her lead so that the people on the neighbouring table gave them odd looks.

Oliver was coming over to them now, taking short, quick strides as he weaved his way around the white-clothed tables. Laura swore under her breath, then shot off to intercept him, jerking her head at John as she did so. Josie didn’t understand the gesture until John walked away from them too, splitting off from Laura and stopping right in front of Cara, who had clearly been on her way over as well, though God knew why. Even feeling as she was, Josie had time to marvel at the silent communication between the two of them – they’d only been together eighteen months, less time than she’d had with Oliver, but she and Oliver had never been able to do that, to know what each other were thinking like that.

It took Josie a moment to realise that Max had hold of her hand and that he was squeezing it gently, trying to pull her along, to get her moving. ‘Come on, Josie, let’s go.’ She gave in to the pressure, tripping slightly as she went with him. Everything around her felt strangely distant, like someone had pressed the mute button and turned down the dimmer switch.

‘We can’t just leave,’ she mumbled as he dragged her along behind him, back to the entrance hall.

‘Why not? You showed your face, didn’t you? Can’t say fairer than that. Besides, everyone will be too hungover tomorrow to remember exactly what time you left anyway.’ Josie just nodded, her brain apparently unable to focus on more than one thing at a time, still thinking of all those nights she and Oliver had talked about work, bitching about Janice and lamenting the fact that both of them were overdue a promotion. Nothing. He’d said nothing the entire time.

‘Stay here,’ Max commanded when they reached the hall. ‘I’ll get our coats.’ Again, Josie just nodded, staring down at the mosaic floor.

‘Josie.’ She winced at the sound of Oliver’s voice. She looked up to see him walking towards her, breathing a little heavily, like he’d genuinely run after her. She wondered vaguely how he’d got away from Laura. For a moment they stared at each other, then Oliver shook his head. ‘I’m so—’

‘I am so fucking tired,’ Josie hissed, ‘of hearing how sorry you are.’ He flinched at her uncharacteristically harsh tone and she took a breath through her nose. She needed to get control of herself – the last thing she wanted was for him to know how much this was getting to her. She crossed her arms. ‘I suppose congratulations are in order.’ Perhaps if she were a stronger person, she’d even mean that. He’d always wanted to work abroad, after all. Was always talking about Sydney, New York, Toronto. She supposed, if she’d really thought about it, she should have known he’d never be content to just stay in one place, not like her.

‘I wanted to talk to you before the speech,’ Oliver said, raising his hands in a sort of helpless gesture.

‘Yes, because telling me right before Janice announces it to the whole company is so much better.’ He said nothing and she forced herself to lower her arms, drop the defensive pose. ‘It doesn’t matter, Oliver,’ she said crisply. ‘We broke up. It’s none of my business what you do now.’ He grimaced and she felt just a tiny bit harsh. This was his big night, and she was ruining it.

‘I was going to ask you to come with me,’ he said softly, his gaze never leaving her face. ‘I just . . . I couldn’t figure out how to do it, how to convince you to leave your life here, which is why I never brought it up before . . .’ Yes, she thought bitterly. Before.

But despite herself, she had a flash then of being in New York, her and Oliver out at fancy restaurants or posing by the Statue of Liberty. She’d never been, so the images were a little fuzzy, things she’d seen on films or TV merged in with bits of London. She sighed. ‘Not really my thing, is it, packing up for some adventure in the Big Apple? We both know I’m more of a fan of the safe option.’ Which is exactly why he hadn’t told her, apparently. She was too damn predictable and he’d known, presumably, that she wouldn’t have been excited by it, would have tried to convince him to stay in London instead. She liked to think she would have considered it, but the truth sat uncomfortably in her stomach, weighing it down – she would have hated the idea, hated the risk of it.

Thankfully, Max came back with their coats at that moment. Oliver frowned at the sight of him. ‘You’re leaving?’

Max handed Josie her coat and she slipped it on. ‘That’s my fault,’ he said cheerily, a benign smile on his face. ‘I’m stealing her away.’ Oliver actually glared at him then, before struggling to control his facial muscles. Max pretended not to notice. ‘Congratulations, by the way. New York – you must be excited.’