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She hands me a phone and I look at it in surprise. “What’s this?”
“Your phone. Your laptop is waiting at your desk and there’s a folder waiting in your inbox with everything you need to know. Set it up and any problems, email me. Or run them through me at our weekly meetings.”
“Weekly?”
“Yes, didn’t Dexter explain? You work in this department for three months before moving to another. Learn the business from the inside and then move to the next lesson. I am your point of contact and if you have any questions, I will try to answer them and what I can’t, I’ll put on my list to ask Dexter.”
“I won’t get to ask him myself?”
“No, Holly, Dexter will not be involved in your training. I thought you already knew that?”
Feeling like a boat cast adrift in a turbulent sea, I try to smile bravely. “Yes, of course, silly me.”
Yes, silly me indeed, because now I understand perfectly. He may have arranged this opportunity, but wants nothing to do with me outside of our other arrangement. Well, that’s fine by me because I intend on throwing myself into work and who cares how I got the job, anyway?
All that matters is that I’m here now.
* * *
I hateMack Evans on sight. As soon as Helen introduces us, she disappears off, leaving me with a total misogynist. He barely gives me a backward glance as he snaps, “Ah, the new recruit. I can see why Dexter chose you. Your assets are notable.”
I actually can’t believe he just said that as he stares at my chest and then says dismissively, “Mine’s strong and black. The kettles inside the third door on the right. Ask the others what they want and then I’ll get one of them to talk you through what we do.”
I know better than to argue because obviously I’m the least important person here and with a sigh, head off to resume my position as the one person in the office who is disposable and needs to perfect her coffee making skills before her journalistic ones.
By the time I’ve made just about everyone here a coffee, a woman with a bored expression stops by and says blankly, “I’m Joanne, Mack’s asked me to walk you through things.”
“Hi, I’m…”
“Anyway, here’s your desk.” She points to a desk on the edge of the office near the restroom and I see a laptop and nothing else in a cubicle the size of me. “It’s not much, but all you need is space to type, anyway.”
She looks bored as she says, “Every evening you’ll get an email with your duties for the next day. Mainly research, with the odd meeting thrown in. Dress to impress at all times because honey, as a woman in a man’s world, I can tell you those men don’t see past your tits and if they like what they see, you last a bit longer.”
“Seriously.” I feel angry already, and she rolls her eyes. “You get used to it. Just play the bastards at their own game and prove that you’re better than them. They’ll soon learn. It’s probably also best if you don’t fuck any of them. The last girl that did thought it would help her career. It didn’t. She just became an embarrassment, a reminder of their own weakness and was reassigned to the local rag.”
I feel sick as she studies her nails. “Be better, Holly, that’s my advice. Be better than all of them and then they have no excuse to replace you.”
Somebody calls her over and she sighs. “I should get back. You know, us girls should stick together, so if there’s anything you need, a sympathetic ear perhaps, you can always call on me.”
She nods and heads off, leaving me alone and feeling way out of my depth. But I wanted this. This is what I betrayed my family for, so I should suck it up and run with it to make it count.
