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39
Rebecca
I dialled Val’s number. Why wasn’t she here? I needed her calming presence more than ever today.
‘Are you coming to the meeting?’ I asked breathily, an air of panic in my voice.
‘Yep,’ she said. ‘On my way.’
‘See you in a sec,’ I replied, going to put the phone down.
‘Becs! Hold on. What happened last night? Did you-know-who come for dinner in the end?’
‘Yep,’ I said. ‘Brandishing flowers. Charm personified. Problem was, I couldn’t stop thinking about Jack. When he kissed me, I felt these little explosions in my stomach. You know the ones?’
‘I can just about remember,’ said Val. ‘And you don’t get that with Mr USA?’
‘No,’ I answered. ‘So we had dinner and I told him I didn’t think we should see each other again.’
‘Becs! You heartbreaker.’
‘Hardly. He was probably booty-calling someone in the taxi home.’
Val laughed. ‘Good for you. I’ll be up in a sec, OK?’
Mike Walbeck was sitting at the head of the table with his hands clasped in front of him, a stray grey hair on the lapel of his navy jacket.
‘Morning, everybody,’ he said.
There was a collective good morning before everyone dived into the plate of croissants in the centre of the table, leaving pastry crumbs splattered all over it.
I took one and picked at it, nerves rattling around in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t know what exactly I was nervous about. So what if I hadn’t gone for the job? So what if nobody knew that except Val and Freya? It was nobody’s business but mine.
‘May I start by saying how delighted myself and the rest of the SMT are with your hard work of late. I’ve had some excellent feedback about you all, particularly from Tyler Martin, who sends his apologies but had to fly unexpectedly back to New York this morning.’
I bit my lip, hoping I hadn’t had anything to do with his urgent need to leave the country. Surely his pride hadn’t taken that much of a bashing?
I noticed Amanda was scribbling worthily away in one of those posh Smythson notebooks. What was she writing everything down for, anyway? Mike’s PA always sent the minutes round. She was particularly dressed up today in what looked like a Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress. Her hair was loose and cascaded down her back and I wondered what time she’d had to get up to make it look that good.
The door flung open and Val came shooting through, throwing herself into the nearest chair. I caught her eye and she gave me a sneaky thumbs-up.
‘I wanted to be at this meeting this morning to give you some very good news about the exciting management role we’ve created in the department,’ Mike continued.
Everyone visibly relaxed (except me, that was). I had a last-minute panic that I’d been mad not to go for it, but it was too late now.
‘As you all know, to help us build our profile even more, we have decided to appoint a head of press and marketing, who will oversee all the events, press and advertising for Kingsland Marketing.’
I took some deep abdominal breaths, trying to stay calm. I wondered whether that was something Jack did before going on stage. I’d ask him, if we ever had a proper conversation again. I was slightly worried I’d pushed him away after our unexpected kiss.
‘We interviewed several extremely talented individuals for the position and have spent a great deal of time debating over who would be best placed to take things forward,’ said Mike.
I fiddled with a stray thread of cotton on the sleeve of my shirt. You’ve done the right thing, I kept repeating to myself in my head.
‘And ultimately we were all in agreement that there was one outstanding candidate. She brought some fantastic new ideas to the role, her presentation was exciting and boundary-pushing and we think she will be a wonderful addition to our senior management team.’
My heart hammered against my chest. Val winked at me and Freya nudged me in the ribs.
‘I am delighted to announce that your new head of press and marketing is Amanda Hayhurst.’
