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Chapter Three
“Alright, coffee break. Five minutes.”
The longest three hours of my life. And most of it, to waste.
Three hours in this room with my team of designers and we barely settled on anything yet. We haven’t even crossed past half the items on our agenda. For the hundredth time, the debate was about which colour scheme to choose.
Hence, the coffee break.
I was in desperate need for caffeine. Since I finished the coffee I brought with me from home in my beloved rainbow-coloured travel cup, I hadn’t had a chance to refill it.
And so I grabbed my cup and made my way to the stairs down to the kitchenette. Luckily, the tiny break room was vacant. My team probably went for a nicotine break before the caffeine intake. Good. I could sit here and enjoy coffee in peace.
As I waited for the coffee machine to brew my French roast, I checked my email inbox on my phone. Amongst the unread was one from Sam.
Hoping the no-subject email was about work, I clicked on his message.
Come to my office.
I sighed. Been dreading that request. But he was the boss and I was at his mercy until five in the afternoon. I had to go to his office, wishing it or not. If I could manage to slip out of it today, I’d have to visit his office another time either way.
The second half of the meeting flew by much faster, despite my multiple attempts to prolong with duplicate questions and revisit earlier items from the agenda. Suddenly, I didn’t want the meeting to end.
As I returned to my office and sat at my desk, I realized my hands were shaking already. I was so not looking forward to facing Sam after… Oh, shit. I shouldn’t even be thinking about it. I would go to his office, all professional, and dismiss any mention of our business dinner. Or better yet, I would pretend the hangover made me forget it. Scrap that thought. Sam already knew I remembered.
Without a doubt, it was bound to be awkward.
All your fault, Lucy. Thirty years and you never learned to keep your libido in check.
My next attempt to further delay the dreadful meeting was to eat the chicken salad I bought from the cafeteria downstairs. It was past noon, my stomach was growling and if Sam wanted to go over the outcome of my earlier meeting, I would be stuck at his office for a while. Sam was the kind of business owner who didn’t want to expand too big so that he didn’t lose control over all that was happening. And to do that, he requested weekly one-to-one meetings with all his directors to stay updated on every department.
As I finished my salad, I bit on an apple next. Munched on it in near slow motion. A stupid attempt to delay again.
Then, as the clock struck just past one, I stood up from my seat. Inhaled a few deep breaths, gathered up all my courage – his coat too – and began my short walk to Sam’s office.
I knocked lightly on his door with one knuckle.
At his ‘come in’, I turned the knob and went in. Sam didn’t even look up at me from behind his desk. He was engrossed in tapping the keys of his laptop.
“Be with you in two minutes. I just need to finish this.” He said quickly.
“Okay.”
I realized that if I wanted to pretend all was normal, I must act like I usually did around him. I couldn’t just stand by his door like a statue.
I stepped towards his desk. Took a seat opposite him without an invite, like usual.
How could this man look so concentrated yet at ease simultaneously? And look at that perfect posture. And at his full lips, inaudibly reading through what he was writing. No, I shouldn’t be looking at his lips. I should be looking anywhere but there or him altogether.
My eyes wandered around his office as a distraction. I’d been in this room a hundred times and never noticed everything was organised and plain. The walls and furniture were all white. His desk was neat with one little stack of papers and one Mont Blanc pen beside his laptop. In the corner of the room was a table with four chairs for private meetings. On the other side were one small sofa, one tall cabinet and one shelving unit with multiple trophies and awards. And then there was the floor-to-ceiling window behind his desk. An office fit for a successful CEO like Sam.
“Done,” Sam announced with a whistle of relief as he shut his laptop. “Sorry for keeping you waiting.” He checked his wristwatch. “I’m pitching to that investor Ms Lisa Brown in less than half an hour. Remember I told you about her last week? If you delayed five more minutes to come to see me, you would not have caught me here.”
I knew I should have gone for coffee before coming to his office. I could have unintentionally missed him.
I stood up from my seat. “Don’t let me keep you then.”
