Going Up

by A. E. Radley

  Jonathan wasn’t like his father at all. Jonathan didn’t reward hard work, he exploited it. His mantra was that work someone else did was work he didn’t have to do.

  She’d made a terrible miscalculation. She had to remind herself to breathe.

  “I’ll be taking his place, obviously,” Jonathan explained. He sounded giddy with excitement.

  “Obviously,” Selina said. “Congratulations.”

  Things were finally slotting into place in her brain. She felt sick. She’d built her whole strategy around one concrete fact, that Nicholas Addington would remain the head of the board. It had never even occurred to her that he wouldn’t. That was turning out to be a massive miscalculation.

  It seemed so obvious now, so very clear for her to see. Of course Nicholas would want to retire when the company was at its peak. No one wanted to leave a company which was struggling.

  The economic landscape had been difficult over the last few years, and Addington’s had taken its fair share of knocks. Selina had always fought to bring it back. This time she’d outdone herself; this time Addington’s was stronger than it had been in years.

  Which meant it was the perfect time for Nicholas to stand down and be praised by his peers for his magnificent leadership.

  She had brought it all on herself.

  “Thing is, I can’t make too many board changes too quickly,” Jonathan was saying. “I don’t want to spook the investors, especially now. We need to be perceived to be strong and stable. And you know how board changes can set tongues wagging.”

  “I see.”

  “I have some people I really need to bring on board immediately. Colin and Tim, obviously,” he explained. “Once my dad leaves, I think Peter and Mike will leave soon after. They are near retirement and will probably see this as a great time to go. I’ll need to plug those positions with David. Maybe Craig. There’s a lot to think about. But what I wanted to say was, you are on my radar, Selina. Don’t worry. I can’t move quickly on this, but as soon as I am able to, that position upstairs is all yours.”

  She knew it was a lie. She felt light-headed, and she gripped the phone so tightly she was surprised it didn’t shatter.

  “I’m grateful for that, Jonathan,” she said slowly, professionally.

  “Great! Excellent! Well, keep up the good work, Selina. And hopefully, in twelve months or so, we’ll have that chat.”

  “I look forward to it,” she replied.

  He hung up the call, and Selina lowered the phone from her ear.

  She tried to remember to breathe in and out, but the room was spinning so fast she couldn’t catch up.

  It was all becoming clear to her.

  She’d been played.

  Jonathan had been the one to tell her that Nicholas wouldn’t retire yet. She clearly remembered him telling her more than once that his father would be staying for another decade. But he’d just let slip that he’d known it was coming. He had expected Nicholas to leave within the year.

  He’d deliberately fed Selina false information, and she’d fallen for it.

  Jonathan wanted to take over. He knew his father wouldn’t leave Addington’s unless it was in a strong financial position. He knew Selina wanted a place on the board, and he knew she was the only one with the drive and planning to be able to pull off such a turnaround.

  Now Jonathan would step in and reward his friends. The boys club. He’d keep Selina exactly where she was, because she was the only person in the company who could do what she could do. What he needed her to do. In other words, he had no incentive to promote her.

  She’d been so focused on her goal that she hadn’t stopped to consider the bigger picture. Now she couldn’t believe she’d been so foolish.

  She felt cold, empty. Lethargic. More than that, she felt lost. Like she suddenly had no idea where she was or where she was going.

  She reached forward and closed the lid of her laptop and slowly stood up. She packed up her bag, took her coat from the rack, and walked out of her office.

  She turned off the lights as she left, standing in the dark corridor while she waited for the elevator. For the first time in years, she had no idea what she was going to do. The world felt off-kilter, like she didn’t know what would happen next.

  She left the building in a daze and sat in the driver’s seat of her car. She didn’t know how long she sat there, staring out of the windscreen at the building.

  For a brief moment, she considered calling her sister until she remembered that they still weren’t speaking following their argument. She’d meant to call but had never got around to it.

  Too busy with work.

  As usual.

  Working towards a goal that would never happen. Being played by someone she’d always considered to be an idiot.

  Now that idiot was celebrating a promotion while Selina was left counting the hours she’d wasted. Time she could have spent living her life had been spent working towards a promotion that would never come.

  You’re alone and miserable, she heard Kate’s voice echo in her head.

  She was right. She had burnt every bridge until she was left with no one. The only people she really talked to these days were work contacts—certainly not anyone she would consider a friend in a time of crisis.

  She pictured Kate in her mind. She supposed Kate would get a kick out of hearing what had happened to her. She wondered if she should call and tell her that she’d been right in everything she’d said. That way, she could at least hear a semi-friendly voice. If Kate would even speak to her.

  She unlocked her phone and scrolled down to the number of the cheap phone she had given Kate all those weeks before. As her thumb hovered over the call button, she wondered what she would say.

  She stabbed the button, deciding that she’d figure it out as she went along. Right then, she just wanted to hear Kate’s voice. Almost immediately she heard a strange tone and a robotic voice informed her that the number had been disconnected.

  She got a new number, Selina realised. She licked her dry lips and hung up the call.

  It made sense. Kate didn’t need her anymore, so why would she keep the number? She’d moved on. Kate had gone up in the world while Selina had stalled at the twelfth floor.

  A bitter laugh escaped her as she realised two things in quick succession. Firstly, Kate now worked in a call centre for old people who were lonely. Secondly, she was an old person who was lonely.

  She wanted to speak to Kate. For some reason, that was all she could focus on.

  She searched for the charity online and took a deep breath before pressing a button to connect the call. It rang a few times before she heard Kate’s voice. Sadly, it was a pre-recorded message telling her that the office was closed for the night and urging her to call back in the morning.

  “Your call is really important to us,” Kate’s voice said.

  Selina hung up. She leaned her forehead on the cold glass of the driver’s side window and blew out a long breath.

  “What now?” she mumbled to herself.

  Unexpected Behaviour

  Kate dumped her bag and coat on her chair and snatched her notepad from her desk. She was late to work for the first time. She didn’t think she could possibly be blamed for it as Carrie had been the one to insist that they stay out late. And Carrie had bought that third bottle of wine.

  She hurried across the office before stopping, turning back, and snagging a pen from her desk.

  “Rough night?” Jasmine, her desk neighbour, asked with a grin.

  “Yeah, I think I’m still asleep,” Kate admitted.

  She checked she had everything and rushed to Carrie’s office where she had been due to start a meeting ten minutes ago. Thankfully, it was only a meeting for the two of them. Kate would have felt mortified if she’d kept more people waiting because peeling her face from her pillow had been such hard work that morning.

  She poked her head around the corner. Carrie was on the phone, a confused expression
on her face. She blinked up at Kate and gestured towards the chair in front of her desk.

  Kate sat silently, wondering what the call was about.

  “I see. Well…” Carrie trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words.

  Kate fiddled with the cap of her pen, spinning it around and around. She felt uncomfortable, even though Carrie had invited her in.

  “I suppose that’s that.” Carrie sat back in her chair. “I mean, after the final paperwork.”

  Kate looked at the walls, anything to distract her.

  “Of course, well, I appreciate the call. Thank you for letting me know.” Carrie leaned forward and hung up the call. She stared at the desk phone for a few moments.

  “Is everything okay?” Kate asked.

  “Selina’s signed the divorce papers,” Carrie said. “Quite unexpectedly. They were hand-delivered sometime last night. All signed and completed.”

  “That’s good news,” Kate said without feeling. It was good news, but also extremely unexpected news. “Did you speak to her last night?”

  “No.” Carrie slowly shook her head. “Should I call her?”

  Kate shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you think you should?”

  “I… don’t know either. This seems so unlike her. Selina is like a dog with a bone. For her to just silently give up and sign the papers… it’s not like her at all.”

  “Maybe she thought enough time had passed?” Kate suggested.

  Carrie leaned back in her chair and looked thoughtfully at the ceiling. “No, that’s not very likely. It’s all a bit strange.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments before Carrie shook her head and reached for a folder of paperwork. “I’m sorry, we better get this meeting started before we run out of time.”

  She shuffled through papers, looking for her meeting notes. Kate could tell that she was concerned but was trying not to show it.

  Even Kate knew that caving in like this was not Selina’s style. If Selina was intending to deliver signed documents, she’d do it stylishly and publicly. Kate could imagine Selina strutting through the office and dramatically removing her sunglasses while pinning Carrie with a glare before slamming down the divorce papers.

  That was how Selina Hale did things.

  Silently posting an envelope one evening was not at all how Selina did things.

  “Here we are.” Carrie pulled a report from a stack of paperwork. “Now, we need to have a look at the call duration report for last month because there’s an anomaly.”

  Kate looked through her own paperwork and pulled out a copy of the report. She’d already seen the anomaly and had a reason for it. She’d gotten to know the system and all its quirks during her month at Parbrook Age Support.

  She showed Carrie the report and her findings, explaining the small bug in the system and the best ways to go about repairing it, but her mind was distracted. She knew she shouldn’t be thinking about Selina, certainly not worrying about her.

  But it was beyond her control.

  Like the bug in the call centre software, Selina’s behaviour was a mystery. And Kate didn’t like unexplained loose ends. Something had caused Selina to suddenly change her mind about the divorce, and she knew she wouldn’t rest until she knew what it was.

  It had been a while since she’d seen any of her old colleagues at Addington’s, and she wondered if it wouldn’t be a good time to swing by her former workplace and say hello to a few people.

  While she was there, she could see Selina for herself. Just to put her mind at ease.

  Checking In

  “My, my!” Ivor stood up and walked towards Kate, an enormous grin on his face. “Hello, stranger.”

  “Hello, boss,” Kate greeted. She bent down a little and gave the man a hug.

  “Were we were expecting you?” he asked. He threaded his thumbs into the belt loops of his trousers, a pose which Kate was sad to say she missed. She knew she’d never forget a thing about her time in the basement of the accountancy firm. It had been an interesting place to work. It felt safe and like she was part of a work family who truly cared for her. On the other hand, she’d never seen such bizarre work practices. She hoped they’d never change.

  “No, just passing the building and thought I’d pop in,” she lied.

  In truth, she’d hurried to get her work out of the way so she could rush across town and see as many people as possible before they left for the day. She was in no hurry to get to Selina’s office, knowing that the woman rarely left the office before seven.

  Also, she wanted to ensure she ticked everyone else off her list first. That way she would be able to finish her visit with Selina and take up as much time as she was offered.

  “It’s very good to see you. Are you enjoying your new job? If not…” Ivor turned and pointed towards a beaten-up old office chair which had unofficially become Kate’s during her tenure in the basement. “We’d love to have you back.”

  “I’d love to come back, but I really like my new job,” Kate admitted.

  The smile never left Ivor’s face, even as he nodded.

  Kate suspected that Ivor’s sweet nature covered a very insightful personality. He didn’t talk much about himself. Vague comments about a career in the army and the occasional mention of a loving family were few and far between.

  Ivor was a listener. He often sat quietly while the staff spoke loudly over the general noise of the post room. Kate noticed, even if the others didn’t. She’d noticed that the older man was a fatherly figure to many, and that Ivor took that responsibility very seriously. He never gossiped but seemed to know about everything. He’d given her many a knowing look during her short time working for him.

  He patted her arm. “Well, if anything changes, then we would love to have you back with us.”

  The post room had been boring and labour-intensive, definitely not a job Kate would willingly return to, but the knowledge that it was there in an emergency was a relief. It was nice to have a plan B for a change.

  In one of her recurring nightmares, she was suddenly homeless again. Everything went wrong, and she was back to being a nobody with nothing to her name.

  That seemed unlikely now. She had friends, a roof over her head, and a job she loved and was seemingly good at. The road to homelessness, from her current circumstances, seemed like a long one, but Kate had experienced it once before and knew that anything was possible.

  Part of the healing process was accepting that she now had a support network who would prevent that from happening. Trusting and leaning on that support network was a step on the road to her emotional recovery.

  “Thank you, Ivor, I’ll definitely let you know.”

  Ivor turned and looked around the empty room. “I’m afraid everyone else has already left. Early to rise, and all that.”

  “It’s okay, I just wanted to say hello to you,” Kate confessed. “I’ll come back another time and say hello to everyone else.”

  “You be sure that you do.” His smile was infectious, and Kate felt that he was truly happy for her to be in better circumstances than when they’d first met.

  She jutted her thumb towards the ceiling. “Better go and say hello to a few other people. Take care, Ivor.”

  “You too, my dear,” he said.

  Kate had seen everyone she wanted to except the person she’d actually come to check up on. The elevator doors finally opened at the twelfth floor. She stepped out and took a deep, calming breath.

  She never knew what to expect from Selina. A half smile, a cold stare, a shouting match, an olive branch. And yet, despite the confusion, she still found herself eager to see the woman.

  The first thing she noticed, though, was that Selina’s office was empty and the lights were off. Her heart sank. Had she somehow managed to pick the only day the woman went home early?

  “Hi, can I help you?”

  Kate looked at what she thought of as Gemma’s desk. Someone else sat there now, someone who looked confused, harassed, and e
xhausted. All the symptoms of working for Selina.

  “I’m looking for Selina,” Kate said and pointed towards the office.

  The woman laughed. “You and everyone else!” She turned back to her computer and continued typing.

  “I’m sorry, who are you?” Kate asked.

  “Alison, Selina’s PA. But, no, I don’t know where she is. No, she’s not contacted me,” Alison said with a tone of utter exhaustion.

  “I’m Kate.” She held out her hand, eager to befriend Alison and find out what was happening.

  Alison shook her hand and looked apologetic. “Sorry, it’s been a hell of a day.”

  “I bet,” Kate said sympathetically. “She didn’t turn up this morning?”

  “Nope. And no word from her. She’s missed a ton of meetings. Won’t reply to emails or phone calls, even to her home number.” Alison shook her head and returned to her computer. “And now my inbox is exploding. Like I’m her keeper or something.”

  Kate felt the edges of panic start to wrap around her. It seemed beyond strange that Selina would vanish, and certainly not without contacting anyone.

  “So, no one knows where she is?” Kate asked.

  Alison looked at Kate thoughtfully for a moment. She stood up and peeked around the office to check if they were alone. “There’s a rumour,” she whispered, plopping herself back in her chair and leaning forward.

  “Oh, yes?” Kate asked, leaning in.

  “Nicholas Addington is out,” Alison said, “and apparently his son Jonathan is in charge. Which means a board shake-up. So, maybe Selina is finally going to get to the thirteenth floor?”

  Kate frowned. “Seems weird that she’d vanish after hearing that,” she said.

  Alison nodded. “True. But the rumour is that there are going to be a lot of big changes around here soon.” She shrugged. “Maybe she was fired?”

  Even Kate knew that Addington’s needed Selina. Yes, there were a lot of very competent people in the company, but Selina was the person who steered them all. She was more than just the operations director, and everyone knew it.