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Rick and I stared at each other for a long moment, then he broke into a grin. ‘Are you having a pleasant day then?’ he asked and let the door silently close on its own with us still standing on the wrong side.
‘Very,’ I agreed and forced my lips to form a smile, but I could tell from his face it didn’t look quite right.
He crossed his arms against his chest and leaned against the wall. Rick was one of the good guys, so while I was happy to realize that we would be in the same team (whatever that meant), I was still too nervous to just follow him in there.
‘I think I’ll join you in a second,’ I announced when it didn’t look like he would go away. ‘You can go ahead. I’m waiting for a phone call, actually.’
‘Phone call or some more pacing to do?’ he asked, his smile still going on strong.
‘Walking is very healthy.’
‘I agree. Hence the pacing, I’m guessing.’
His smile got bigger.
Just when I was thinking of something clever to say, the door I was successfully avoiding opened and William peeked his head outside.
Panicking, I dropped to one knee.
I was wearing stilettos. No shoe laces or anything like it in sight.
‘Uh,’ William started, and I closed my eyes. He must have thought I was an idiot. I certainly did. ‘You two must be the last ones in my team, I believe. Why don’t you join us so we can get started. I have a few things I need to go over with all of you before you can get back to your day.’
‘We’ll be right there,’ Rick said, at the same time as I mumbled something in a thicker voice than my own, as if that would certainly make me unrecognizable.
When I couldn’t see William’s black shoes in my eyesight anymore, I slowly rose from my awkward crouch, coming face to face with Rick. He had a shit-eating grin and there was nothing I could say to save face.
‘Why do I have a feeling this is going to be loads of fun?’ he asked in a low voice as he opened the door for us again.
‘Shut up,’ I hissed and forced him to go ahead of me while I made sure the door was securely closed behind us.
My heart beating a mile a minute, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
What if he recognized me?
What if he had already recognized me?
Was I supposed to say something if he hadn’t recognized me?
What was I supposed to say if he had recognized me?
What if he didn’t recognize me whatsoever?
Ouch.
But maybe not so ouch?
Maybe I should or could say… Hello! How have you been? What a surprise right? The world is so small and you didn’t break my heart a little bit at all! I’m so excited to be working with you.
As more questions assaulted me, I kept my eyes averted from the big desk where I could see him half-sitting, legs crossed, arms crossed, relaxed. I quickly took a look around the room. With him we were five people in total.
Stan, Trisha, Rick, William and me.
William and me.
In the same room after so many years.
I only let that sink in for a second, then I took two steps to my left and chose to stand slightly behind Trisha and Stan. As far away as possible from a still grinning Rick, and a William who was looking at some papers on his desk. With how jittery I felt, I was ready to jump out of my skin.
‘Okay. I believe I’ll have some chairs later today so I’m sorry for having this meeting standing. Now that we’re all here, let’s get started. Do you all have clients you’re working with right now? And how many?’
‘I’m working with one. With two other colleagues, that is,’ Rick piped up.
‘Actually, Stan and I were about to have a meeting with a potential client today.’ Trisha glanced at Stan, then addressed William. ‘Also, just in case you weren’t told, most of us work in teams. It’s very rare that only one person will handle the client.’
William asked Trisha another question, but I didn’t hear a single word of it. I was busy feeling like that kid who was afraid the maths teacher was going to meet her eyes and ask her something from the multiplication table on the very first day at school. And as soon as they stopped talking, it was going to be my turn to give him an answer. Which meant I was gonna have to come out of my not-so-clever hiding spot behind Stan’s back.
While William asked Rick a question, Stan moved. Frowning, I moved with him.
Looking back at me over his shoulder, he frowned too. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Nothing. Why?’ I asked, looking just as puzzled as him. When he didn’t face forward again, I improvised and swiped my hand over his shoulder a few times. ‘Cat hair,’ I muttered.
