by A. E. Radley
It had been almost two months since she’d first encountered Selina. At first, Kate had been certain that she had a good grasp on the woman’s personality. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Selina could be cold, harsh, determined, and ruthless, but Kate was beginning to realise there was a lot more to her. Not that Selina made it easy.
“That’s wonderful,” Ivor said, waking her from her analysis. He leaned in close. “I’ve never really got on with them.”
“They are tricky to master,” Kate agreed. “Luckily, I grew up with them.”
Ivor leaned back in his worn office chair and nodded.
“I bet that helps a lot. When I was at Royal Mail, we didn’t have computers. So, I never learnt!” He chuckled to himself.
Kate tried to control her facial expressions at the shocking news that whenever Ivor had worked at the country’s postal distribution network, there were no computers. Either Royal Mail were very slow on picking up technology, or Ivor had worked there a very long time ago.
Ivor gestured to his desk, which was cluttered with stacks and stacks of paper files, scraps of paper, pens, and the morning newspaper.
“I write whatever I want to email to people, and Clara sends it for me,” he explained.
Kate blinked.
At that moment, Clara appeared with a piece of paper in her hand. Clara was a woman in her fifties who sat on the other side of the large room. When they had been introduced, Clara had seemed pleasant though quiet. Kate got the impression that Clara enjoyed being on her own, and wanted only minimal interaction with those around her.
“An email just came in, Ivor.” She handed it to him.
“Right, let’s see what they are saying now.” Ivor reached forward and put on a pair of glasses. He held the piece of paper at arm’s length and muttered to himself as he read the text.
Kate was close enough to him, and the paper was held out far enough, that she could easily see the printout. She read the contents of the message, and the one below, and quickly concluded that the top message was from someone who had mistakenly clicked reply to all, rather than just replying to person who had sent out the first message.
“What’s she mean?” Ivor asked. “This doesn’t make any sense!”
Kate sat quietly and waited for Clara to explain.
“I don’t know,” Clara said. “What should I reply?”
Ivor placed the paper on a spare corner of his desk and grabbed a pen. “I don’t… know… what you… mean,” he mumbled as he handwrote his reply.
Kate couldn’t take it anymore. She gently put her hand on Ivor’s to stop him from writing. “I think Susan has accidentally replied to all people on the email,” she said.
Ivor’s brow rose in confusion.
“When David sent the first message, he sent it to a mailing list, which you’re on. There might be ten, or even a hundred people on that mailing list. But Susan has replied to everyone, rather than just David. I think this is a message for David only. You can ignore it.”
Ivor read the letter again. And then again. After a moment he nodded. “Yes, because this doesn’t make any sense.” He turned to Clara and handed her the printed email. “Shred this. And then print out a fresh one and put it in the cabinet.”
The phone on Ivor’s desk rang.
“Excuse me a minute,” he said to Kate before answering the call.
Kate nodded distractedly, too intent on watching Clara. Clara walked to the corner of the room and put the piece of paper into a shredder. She then returned to her computer and pressed a few buttons. She walked over to the printer and retrieved a piece of paper before finally crossing to a long row of filing cabinets and putting the paper in one of the drawers.
They’re printing out and filing emails, Kate thought in amusement. She stared at the row of cabinets. All the emails.
She couldn’t believe that the post room was operating forty years out of sync with the rest of the building. She’d seen some of the office space when the HR manager had shown her round. Everyone else was using state-of-the-art laptops. She even saw some tablets. But somehow, the basement was stuck in its own little time period.
Selina would implode if she knew about this, Kate thought.
Ivor put the phone down. “Sorry about that, my dear. Busy, busy.”
“That’s fine,” Kate said. “I imagine you get a lot of calls.”
As you don’t have a computer on your desk, or know how emails work, she mentally added.
“I do!” he agreed. He stood up, bringing him to a height only a little taller than he’d been when sitting down. “Now, let’s get you started.”
Clara held the package in both her hands and visibly swallowed as she stared at the address label.
“Is everything okay?” Kate asked.
Clara was sweet but a little odd. Kate had quickly learnt that everyone in the post room was lovely but a little odd. Ivor had managed to put together a group of delightful misfits, and Kate was already falling in love with all of them.
“It’s for Miss Hale.” Clara looked at her, fear in her eyes.
“Miss Hale?”
“Selina Hale, the operations director. She’s really mean. She fires everyone all the time.”
Kate wondered if she should tell Clara that she knew Selina and risk rocking the boat with her new co-workers. She was pretty sure that no one would want to talk to her if they knew she was on speaking terms with Selina. It had only been a couple of hours, and she didn’t relish the idea of alienating her new colleagues so quickly.
“What’s going on here?” Ivor was on his way, having seen the colour drain from Clara’s face.
Clara held up the box. “It’s for Miss Hale.”
Ivor smile and looked at Kate. “I think Kate can take that. Apparently, she already knows Selina, don’t you, my dear?”
“A little. Sort of,” Kate confessed.
Clara quickly handed the package to Kate, a look of relief on her face. “Then Kate can always take Miss Hale’s deliveries?” she asked Ivor eagerly.
“Yes, I think she can.” Ivor looked at Kate for confirmation.
“Sure. I’ll take this one up now.” Kate pointed towards the corridor and the elevators.
“You remember the way?” Clara asked.
Kate nodded. “Sure, I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”
Relief washed over her. Clara was so happy that she no longer had to deliver anything to Selina that she didn’t seem to care that Kate knew Selina personally. She wondered if the conversation would reappear at a later date, once her colleagues had gotten to know her better.
She didn’t know how she’d describe her relationship with Selina. They weren’t friends. Not co-workers. Not really anything that could be easily described.
Kate pressed the elevator button for the twelfth floor.
She’d been surprised to realise that she’d had to hold herself back from defending Selina to Clara. Even though Kate categorically agreed that Selina was mean, she’d still wanted to jump to her defence.
“She’s rude,” Kate reminded herself. “Don’t be fooled by her.”
Selina had been kind to her, but Kate wasn’t ready to fully trust her yet. She’d met plenty of nice people who had turned out to only be willing to help her as long as it suited them. After a while, being a good Samaritan became boring or hard work, and most people drifted away.
She was determined to not be hurt anymore, and to do that, she had to remain tough.
She stepped out onto the twelfth floor and walked towards Selina’s corner office. Kate stopped outside the office when she noted that Selina’s assistant wasn’t at her desk. She looked up and saw Selina walking around her office on the phone. She wondered if she should put the package on the desk and leave.
As she was pondering, Selina noticed her and waved her in through the glass window.
Kate sighed in relief that the question had been answered and walked into Selina’s office. She placed the box on Selina’s desk, but
before she could turn to leave, Selina gestured for her to wait.
Kate stood quietly as the operations director shouldered the phone, taking out a sharp-looking letter opener and efficiently slicing open the package.
“Well, of course we need to ensure that we stay on track. But at what cost?” Selina asked the person on the line. She placed the letter opener on the desk and opened the box. Kate didn’t know why Selina had asked her to stay if she was insisting on remaining on her call. Her eyes started to wander around the room.
“Here.”
She looked back at Selina who was holding out the contents of the package for her.
Kate hesitantly took the box.
Selina covered the mouthpiece of the phone. “It’s cheap, so I doubt it will be much of a theft risk.”
It was a mobile phone. Kate looked at Selina in confusion.
Selina handed her a Post-It note. “My personal number. There’s credit on the phone. I understand the shelter gets busy. If you find yourself without a bed for the night, call me.”
Kate’s shaky hand took the note.
Selina took her hand from the mouthpiece. “That’s quite frankly the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard in my life, Dominic. What business school did you go to again? I’ll be sure to donate to them immediately to ensure no more graduates enter the business world so poorly prepared.” She turned and continued her phone call.
Kate couldn’t believe that Selina had been so casual about giving her what was essentially a lifeline. And had taken the time to choose a phone that wouldn’t be a theft risk.
She felt tears welling in her eyes but refused to show them. She took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself down again.
It was the nicest thing that anyone had ever done for her in longer than she could remember. Selina had given her blanket permission to reach out if she needed help. That was different to other people who hadn’t even been there for her when the worst had already happened.
Kate didn’t know if she’d ever actually call Selina, but the offer was incredible. She looked at Selina, who was thoroughly distracted by her call.
Maybe I got her wrong. Maybe she is a nice person under all this bluster, Kate thought. She turned to leave.
“Kate, one moment.”
She looked back at Selina who was again covering the mouthpiece of the receiver. “When you’re delivering post to marketing, could you see if you could accidentally overhear what they are doing about the brokerage event? And then report back?”
Kate laughed louder than she had intended. Selina gave and Selina took away just as quickly.
“No, I won’t spy for you,” she said with a wide grin. “But thanks for the phone.”
“Useless,” Selina whispered good-naturedly before rolling her eyes and returning to her call.
A Heart of Ice
Selina slammed the phone down and put her head in her hands. Why people insisted on being incompetent was completely beyond her. It sometimes seemed like she was surrounded by idiots.
“Selina?”
She peeked up at Gemma who stood in the doorway to the office. She blinked a couple of times, realising that Gemma almost filled the doorway these days. It wouldn’t be long now before the woman exploded or gave birth. It could literally be either given the tremendous size of her.
When did that happen? she wondered.
She hadn’t been paying attention lately. Days were flying by with problem after problem, and she hadn’t taken a moment to look at anything other than her cluttered desktop.
“I have that doctor’s appointment to get to,” Gemma reminded her.
“Oh, yes.” Selina looked at the clock on the wall. Where did the day go?
“So, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, good luck.” Selina fixed a smile on her face as Gemma waved her goodbye and left the office.
As soon as she was gone, Selina put her head in her hands again and breathed out a long sigh. Gemma’s replacement wasn’t something that had found its way to the top of her to-do list just yet. She knew it was becoming an urgent issue, but so was everything else.
There were reports due, presentations to write and give, meetings to organise, budgets to restructure. Everything had come at once, and Selina was feeling the pressure.
But she knew it would all be worth it. Everything she was working on was high profile. Her seat in the boardroom and her office on the thirteenth floor were all but guaranteed.
If she survived that long, she thought bleakly. She didn’t even know what day it was. In some ways she hoped for a weekend arriving shortly, in others the thought of two days’ lost productivity gave her shivers.
“Are you okay?”
She looked up. Kate had stepped into her office and was placing a handful of letters in her in-tray.
“Yes, I’m fine.” Selina blew out a breath and dragged her laptop closer. She needed to see if accounts had finally done what she’d asked them to do one hundred times before.
She realised Kate still stood in front of her desk. She met Kate’s eyes and raised her brow.
“You don’t look fine,” Kate replied. “What’s up?”
Selina’s hands stilled over the keyboard. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had genuinely enquired about her health.
“I’m just busy,” she explained. “Lots of things happening at once. I’ll get through it, and then things will look brighter.”
She leaned back in her chair and regarded Kate with a smile. Kate just looked at her, clearly not believing a word she said. She took the opportunity to look at Kate. She was looking better than she’d ever seen her. There was a healthy glow to her skin, and she’d put on a little weight, which had been much needed. She seemed… happy.
“And how are you? Settling into the dungeon?” Selina asked, hoping to change the subject.
“It’s been a month, I’m part of the furniture now. And you can stop calling it the dungeon. I’ll accept basement.”
“Very well, a reasonable trade. Life in the basement treating you well?”
“Yeah. Ivor’s…” Kate trailed off as she looked for the appropriate word.
“Ivor,” Selina supplied. The man was beyond ordinary descriptors.
“Yes. Exactly. He’s a sweetheart. Bonkers, but sweet.”
“I hear stories,” Selina admitted. “Not from you, of course. You’re apparently above spying for me.” She recalled the few vague attempts she had made to extract information from Kate, only to be met with a laugh and a declaration that she was wasting her time.
“Clara got locked in a mail crate this morning,” Kate said.
She gawked. “How is that even possible?”
Kate shrugged. “They’re an impressive bunch. I’m surprised you haven’t fired us all and installed robots.”
“The thought crossed my mind, but Ivor is over seventy and has no idea what salary he should be paid for his role. I think he’s still pre-decimal. I give him a farthing every other week and he’s happy.”
Kate laughed. “I don’t believe it; I think you have a soft spot for him. For all of them. You can’t bring yourself to force lovely little Ivor into retirement.”
Selina let out a sad sigh. “I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but no, I’m not that kind-hearted. If I thought he was bad at his job, I’d fire him in a heartbeat. In fact, I’ve heard stories of the insanity that happens down in the post room, and I have considered investigating to see if a shake-up is needed. The only reason I haven’t done so is because the department hires low-salaried staff, and it’s not a good use of my time. Yet.”
Kate’s face fell.
Selina felt guilty for not living up to the ice queen with a secret heart of gold persona that Kate had obviously carved out for her.
“I’m sorry, I wish I could accommodate your dream of me having just a hard exterior and being a human being underneath it all, but I’m not. I’m the operations director. I’m the one who makes the hard choices.”
&n
bsp; Kate nodded her head and took a small step back. “I know. Just… don’t work too hard. Take a break now and then,” she requested before she left the office.
Selina watched her walk away. The young woman smiled and greeted people as she walked through the open-plan office. It was nice to see that she had settled into the company.
She’d seen Kate sparingly around the office but had not spoken to her often. She wondered if Kate had managed to find shelter every night, or if she had simply chosen not to use the phone she had given her.
Or if she had used it, but not to call Selina.
It was possible, maybe even probable. Selina didn’t think she was the first person Kate would turn to in case of trouble, even if she wished she were.
She shook her head, having no idea where thoughts like that came from.
“Get back to work,” she muttered to herself. “Let’s get something finished today.”
Stuck in the Middle
Kate pushed the post trolley through the eleventh floor, dropping off envelopes and packages as she went. It had been a few weeks, and she already felt like she could do her job in her sleep.
In fact, she wasn’t entirely convinced that she hadn’t sometimes done the deliveries while at least half asleep.
Everyone was lovely, both her colleagues in the post room and the people she met throughout the office. And, of course, she was very happy and grateful to have a secure, full-time job.
But to say she was bored would be an understatement.
She had no intention of rocking the boat. She was earning money during the day and able to get to the shelter each night. Life was good. She also knew that with just a couple more payslips in her account, she’d finally have the sum she needed to rent a room somewhere.
Parbrook was expensive, and commuting was even more expensive. So, for now at least, she was stuck at the shelter. Maybe one day in the future she’d have enough for her own apartment.