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So, when Ben had offered a live online call, she’d accepted.
However, that did mean that she’d accepted the job without ever seeing the distillery, or meeting Ben or anyone else in person. Usually, Liz would never have done that. She liked to get the feel of a workplace, and the people in it. She had received a lot of praise in her career for her sales instincts – a nebulous quality that some people seemed to have, and some people just didn’t. What most people thought it meant was that Liz was very good at finding the right people and the right opportunities to sell her products, but, as far as she was concerned, it was about building relationships and listening to your gut.
Liz’s gut was telling her right now that Carol was an important person to be friends with at the distillery, and also that she liked her a lot.
‘So, where were ye before comin’ tae join us?’ Carol enquired. ‘Ben was very excited when ye accepted the job; he’s been singin’ yer praises in meetin’s for weeks. Top Sales Director o’ the Year, five years runnin’. You won some awards, too, he says.’ The receptionist shot her a curious look.
‘Oh. A hospitality company in Glasgow. I was there for ten years.’ Liz named probably the biggest company in the industry, and Carol whistled.
‘I’m not sure Ben could compete with whatever ye must’ve got paid there.’ She shot Liz a curious look. ‘Why’d ye want tae give that up and come up here? I got a friend that works there, and she says they’ve got fridges ye can help yerself from all day. Beer, chocolates, the whole kit and caboodle, aye. Plus, a gym, big pension, all that. Why give that up? If ye dinnae mind me askin’.’
It was a good question, but Liz wasn’t about to spill the real reason she’d taken a pay cut to come and work in a remote lochside village.
‘Just fancied a change,’ she said, noncommittally. That wasn’t a lie in itself. She had needed a change. She’d needed to get away from everything that reminded her of Paul, and of their past few years of disappointment after disappointment. And, though she’d loved her job, it demanded so much from her. Frankly, she wasn’t sure that she could do the late nights, the stress and the travelling anymore.
Feeling tears threatening to overwhelm her again and not wanting Carol to see, Liz turned away and pretended to look for something in her handbag. She took some deep breaths, trying to compose herself, and pulled out a tissue to blow her nose.
‘One cappuccino.’ Carol handed her a white mug with an expertly-made coffee in it. ‘I didnae put any sugar in, but we have it, if you’d like?’
‘Oh, no, I’m fine. Thank you so much for this.’
‘Ach, it’s nae bother,’ Carol assured her.
In an ideal world, Loch Cameron Distillery wouldn’t have been Liz’s first choice in finding a new job. If anyone had asked her a year ago if she would have wanted to move to a tiny village with questionable internet connection and nothing more than a quaint high street for miles around, she would have laughed at them. She loved her job. She loved heading up a big sales team for the world’s industry leading hospitality company – which, also, provided excellent maternity benefits. She would be a fool to give all that up.
But now, there was more at stake than just her career. Liz had genuinely felt that if she stayed in Glasgow for one day longer than she had, and if she had had to drive from her flat to her job, past the hospital that she had spent so much time in, then she might go mad. She had spent so much time in the hospital. She knew its car parks and corridors and cafés as well as she knew her childhood home. She couldn’t bear to see it every day any more.
And, every time she walked past the door to the spare room in her flat – the one she had imagined as a nursery, so many times – she was reminded of that last day with Paul. Of begging him not to go. Trying to persuade him to try with her, one last time, to have a family.
Liz couldn’t face living in that flat any more. It was as if the empty spare room taunted her. The family she could have had. The baby she could have loved. The future that had been taken away for what seemed like forever.
However, Loch Cameron was a new start. The change would be good for her; the job was a new challenge, the air in the village was fresh and clean, and just breathing it in made her feel better.
‘Ah, hello, Liz. Sorry to keep you. I’m Sally Burns.’ A woman poked her head around the door of the kitchen and knocked on the wooden doorframe. ‘I heard voices out here, so I thought I’d come and see if it was you.’
Liz looked around, hoping her face wasn’t flushed and her eyes were clear.
‘Yes, hello, Sally.’ She was tall, dark skinned, looked like she worked out and was impeccably dressed in a well-cut grey trouser suit and a crisp white shirt. Liz liked her soft brown eyes, which held a curious, friendly look.
‘I’m the Finance Director here, so we’ll likely be working together pretty closely,’ Sally explained, walking in and extending her hand to Liz who shook it.
‘Ben’s asked me to convey his apologies. He was supposed to be here today to welcome you and do your induction, but something unavoidable’s come up. I’m so sorry. But I’m happy to show you around, if that’s all right?’
Liz felt a twang of irritation at the fact that the owner of the company – her new boss – wasn’t there on her first day and wondered what was so unavoidable.
‘Follow me. Bring your coffee, and I’ll show you your office.’
‘Lovely. Thanks.’ Liz picked up her bag. ‘Lovely to meet you, Carol. I’ll see you later, no doubt.’
‘Aye, you will. Ask me if you need anythin’ – I’m happy to help.’ Carol beamed.
‘It’s great you were able to join us so soon,’ Sally said as they passed through reception and walked into a glass corridor that joined one part of the building to another. Liz guessed it was a modern addition, and she liked how it complemented the older buildings, allowing you to see them ahead of you as you walked along.
Fortunately, Liz had had some holiday owing to her, so she’d left her job a couple of weeks before the end of her three-months’ notice. Surprisingly, there had been no stipulations from her old firm as there sometimes were if you left a sales job: her old boss, Sharon, had told her that she wasn’t particularly worried about Loch Cameron Distillery being serious competition.
I will miss you, Liz, Sharon had said, giving her a hug. They were friends as well as colleagues, and Liz had felt guilty for leaving, if only because Sharon had been so supportive throughout her IVF.But I get it.
‘Glad to be here.’ Liz followed Sally into a corridor with a series of offices.
