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35
Rebecca
I was still thinking about the theatre trip when I waltzed into the photocopier room holding a pile of shredding and humming loudly to myself, stopping abruptly when I saw a man bending over the machine, prodding at buttons. I didn’t recognise him from behind.
‘Well, hello there,’ said Tyler, turning round and giving me one of his dazzling, film-star smiles.
‘Oh,’ I said. ‘Hello.’
I’d had absolutely no idea he was in town and felt quite put out by the fact he hadn’t told me. Nobody wanted to be thrown off guard like this at work. Mind you, in truth, I hadn’t really thought about him much since he’d been away.
‘I wasn’t expecting to see you,’ I commented.
‘I should have let you know,’ he said, ripping off his jacket and throwing it on top of the spare boxes of copy paper. ‘But it was very last-minute. I got on a flight last night and haven’t stopped since.’
I nodded, putting my own photocopying down on the side. ‘So how have you been?’
God, this small talk thing was awful. Nobody would guess we’d spent three nights together. Any intimacy we’d built up had well and truly vanished.
‘You know, I’d love to stop and chat, but I’ve got to get these papers copied before the senior management meeting. That secretary on reception …’
‘Violet?’
‘Yeah, Violet. She’s at lunch, apparently, so I’m having to do the goddam thing myself.’
He turned back to the machine.
‘Want a hand?’ I said, although part of me wanted to watch him struggle, since he clearly thought doing his own photocopying was beneath him.
He stepped aside. ‘I thought you’d never ask.’
‘Twelve copies should be enough,’ I said, pressing one button. I didn’t know what he was making such a fuss about.
The machine began to groan as it worked its magic and noisily started to spew paper out into the side tray.
‘How’s the summer party looking?’ I asked, searching around for something to say. ‘Did you get that event plan I sent over?’
I’d been working really hard on it. Amanda had asked me to put it together and I’d been bristling at first, since she was supposed to be taking the lead and had already taken the credit for my ideas about the venue. But now that I’d decided to leave, it didn’t bother me half as much.
‘I did, it was great. I said to Amanda that I’d like you on the team permanently, but she seemed to think you were tied up elsewhere.’
I half laughed. ‘Did she, now?’ I said, passing him his copies.
He took them, hesitating. ‘We could do dinner later in the week,’ he suggested. ‘If you’ve got some time in your schedule?’
Of course Amanda chose that precise moment to fling open the door. She stood there, backlit, beautiful, one hand on her hip. ‘Sorry to interrupt,’ she said, a fake smile plastered to her face. ‘Tyler, I wondered if I could have a quick word?’
And then something came over me. I wanted to annoy Amanda and also I’d been thinking too much about Jack and needed to rein myself in. Since I was leaving anyway, it didn’t matter anymore if people found out about me and Tyler. In fact, I almost couldn’t wait to see their faces when they did.
‘Dinner sometime would be lovely,’ I said to Tyler. ‘Call me?’
And then I turned back to the photocopier, pushing buttons indiscriminately, imagining Amanda standing there open-mouthed. Neither of them spoke, but I heard them leave the room, the door clicking shut behind them.
After they’d gone, I did my photocopying and went back to my desk. I scrolled through my work emails and then, once I’d checked nobody was looking, opened up my Gmail. One message in particular caught my eye. I took a deep breath and opened it.
Interview: Marketing Director, Children in Crisis
I clicked into it, my heart beating a little bit faster. They were inviting me for an interview a week on Tuesday. I had to prepare a presentation, it said, about what I understood the ethos of the charity to be and what I thought I could bring to the role from both a personal and a professional perspective. My heart sank; I hated presentations. It had been fine when I’d had to do them here at Kingsland because I knew the company like the back of my hand and I knew exactly what they’d be looking for. But this was different. I’d never wanted a job this much. I was going to have to bring my A-game, not least because I knew I didn’t belong at Kingsland anymore, if I ever had.
