AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you ok, James?” she said. “Do you need a coffee?”
“No, thank you,” I smiled. “I don’t need a coffee.”
A flicker of a grin ghosted across her lips. “Anything else I can get you?”
“A personality transplant,” I sighed. “Jesus, Lydia, there’s so much I want to give you, but here, in this place it seems so untenable. I can’t break out of the compartments I’ve placed in my own life. What does that make me?”
“Human...” she whispered. “Scared…”
“Weak,” I said. “It makes me weak, and it makes thisthingwe have seem all the more intangible.”
“We shouldn’t talk about this,” she sighed. “You’re breaking your own rules. This isn’t from me, James, it’s all from you. You’re the one who’s putting such weight on this whole work-home divide, not me.”
“Sorry,” I said. “Monday blues.”
“I’ve got a case of Monday purples myself,” she grinned.
We were interrupted by a knock at the door. Frank blustered his way in, fishing for status updates. Lydia handed him the Salmons file, smiling as he thumbed his way through it. “Good stuff,” he announced. “This is looking fine, very fine indeed.”
“Lydia and I are heading up the accounts briefing at head office in a few weeks’ time, phase one should be well in progress by then.”
Frank smiled his golfing-all-weekend smile. “You’re getting quite a taste for these out-of-office jollies, James.” He nudged Lydia. “You couldn’t get him away for love nor money at one point, Lydia, didn’t like the break in his routine.”
“A bit of chaos never hurt anyone,” she grinned.
“That’s what I said, isn’t it, James? Variety is as good as a rest, that’s true alright.”
I held my hands up. “Fine, I get it, tag-teamed on a Monday morning. I’m not even on my second coffee yet. Give it a rest, will you?”
“Tetchy,” Frank groaned. “So very tetchy. You must be a saint to put up with this all the time, Lydia.” He winked and I rolled my eyes, turning my attention back to my monitor.
My extension rang, Hazel from reception. I took the call gratefully.
“Mr Clarke, is Lydia Marsh with you?”
“She is, why?” I heard shouting in the distance, Hazel’s muted voice as she clamped her hand over the mouthpiece, snapping at someone. “Hazel?”
Lydia took a step closer, eyes curious. Frank hovered too, gawping at the both of us. Finally Hazel came back on the line.
“There’s someone here to see her,” she said. “He says it’s important.”
“Who says it’s important?” I asked, more demanding than warranted.
“He says his name is Stuart Dobson. Says he’s her boyfriend. He’s pretty wound up, Mr Clarke, demands to be let through. I think I should maybe call security,” she whispered.
“I’ll be right down,” I said. “Don’t let him up here, Hazel.”
I hung up, and Lydia stared at me with big, demanding eyes. “What’s going on?”
“You have a visitor in reception,” I announced, keeping my tone as deadpan as possible. “Hazel said he’s agitated, believes she should call security.”
“Well who the flipping hell is it?” Frank pondered.
“Stuart,” Lydia said, biting her lip. “It’s Stuart, isn’t it?”
“That’s what Hazel said, yes.” My eyes crashed into hers, wondering what the fuck was going on. “I said I’d go down, I don’t want you down there if he’s like that, Lydia.”
She jumped about a foot in the air, ditching her paperwork all over my pen arrangement. “No, James,” she said. “It’s fine. I’ll go, honestly. I can handle him.”
