by A B Turner
Everyone shifted nervously in their seats, exchanging worried glances, I looked at Kat who seemed to be suddenly more tense as well. My mind raced back, had someone overheard her talking to Vanessa? I wanted to ask her if she was really sure there had been nobody else there, but with Diana in full flow, it would have been madness to draw any attention. Diana walked slowly across the room and paused in front of Jake,
“Why am I not surprised it was you, Jake?”
He looked up at her, at first,he appeared genuinely surprised,
“I don’t know what you mean, Diana,” he stammered, “I didn’t do anything.”
Diana sighed,
“Exactly Jake, you didn’t do anything, but you had plenty to say to a certain barmaid in the hotel, when the launch was over.”
Jake blushed furiously but Diana wasn’t finished,
“Unfortunately, it seems the barmaid was being paid by a certain tabloid newspaper which now, thanks to you, has the inside story of the launch and what allegedly happened between various guests.”
Jake looked totally shocked,
“But I didn’t know..” he said, almost as a whisper.
“That is no excuse, you have been here long enough to know, if we are not trusted, we will lose most of our client base, not to mention, do untold damage to my reputation.”
Jake was crestfallen, he just kept shaking his head in disbelief, as Diana finished her speech,
“As a result, I have no choice but to ask you to resign, I am not going to sack you because I believe you did not act intentionally. This way, I shall provide a reference and you will be able to secure another job.”
Jake looked at her and then around the stunned audience, for a moment, it looked as if he was going to say something, but he resisted and just left the room. Diana watched him go, there was no mistaking her discomfort at the outcome, but had resolved there was no other choice. She quickly ended the meeting and dismissed us all, Kat and I walked together back to the general office, neither of us having anything to say. The whole place seemed to be quiet, even though there were still people moving from one office to another, it all seemed to be happening in silence. I checked my messages and I had an urgent request from Jacquie, as I left my desk, it felt as if everyone glanced up at once, watched me go and then buried their heads in their own work. As I walked into Jacquie’s office, even she seemed subdued,
“Thanks for coming, Carrie, I’ve finally managed to print your schedule for next week..you’re going to be working on a book launch, it’s cookery so, a whole load of health and safety needs to be done, risk management..blah blah blah.”
She passed over a file, when I looked vaguely bemused,
“Yes I know I’m supposed to be digital but I can’t work out how to send the promo stuff yet.”
I thanked her and went back to my desk, there seemed to be a general sigh of relief I had reappeared, clearly it would be a while before everyone felt truly secure in their jobs again. The mood was so low, I was genuinely relieved when the end of the day finally came, as Kat and I left the building, we both felt lighter.
“Well, that was all a bit grim, wasn’t it?” she said, “Fancy a glass of wine or six before heading home?”
I laughed,
“No thanks, I’m having an early dinner with Lainie and then I might get started on this launch stuff before I talk to Sky.”
“Oh right,” replied Kat, “So shall I stay up and repeatedly message you? Just to be annoying?”
“I’d be grateful if you could resist the temptation,” I answered firmly, she offered a mock salute and walked over to her car.
When I reached home, Lainie had already started cooking, so I had nothing to do until dinner was ready.
“I could get used to this,” I joked, she laughed,
“Well, enjoy it while it lasts, hopefully I will be too busy to cook if my interview goes well.”
After we had eaten, she went out for the evening and I settled down with the launch file, but hard as I tried, I couldn’t concentrate. I tossed the file on to the sofa and switched on the television, while idly flicking through the channels, suddenly Vanessa’s face appeared. Some kind of voiceover began,
“…earlier today, we caught up with Vanessa Bonart to talk about her new movie ‘Born Again.”
I sat back and watched, wondering if anything had changed since we had met, but as the interview continued, it seemed nothing had. When she was nervous, she tucked her hair behind her ear, when she felt the question was a bit stupid, she smiled and tried not to sound patronizing, she was the same. My phone beeped, it was Kat,
‘Are you watching?’
‘Yes I am,’ I replied quickly.
There was a break in the programme for advertisements, which just gave me time to check Messenger to see if Skylar was around, but there was nothing. My attention switched back to the interview,
“So Vanessa, I couldn’t leave without mentioning your forthcoming wedding, are you excited?”
Vanessa beamed,
“Naturally, as everyone knows, I have kissed a serious amount of frogs but now I have my prince.”
The interviewer laughed nervously,
“And finally, do you have any advice for people looking for love?”
Vanessa frowned, just for a moment and then she looked up, the whole screen was suddenly filled with her face,
“I don’t think you should look for love, it comes to you when you least expect it and from someone you couldn’t possibly imagine, at least it did for me. And don’t give up on it either, it only takes one special person to change your whole perspective.”
“Fascinating,” commented the interviewer, but Vanessa wasn’t quite finished.
“One more thing, don’t ever think you have to always know what to do, sometimes the best things happen, when you have absolutely no idea at all.”
As the interviewer thanked her, I sat completely dumbstruck, Vanessa did remember, almost exactly those same words had happened between us, all that time ago. I switched off the TV and just sat quietly in the dark, so much had happened since we had met that night. If you believed in Fate, maybe it was that, which brought us together. But whatever it was, I would always be thankful. I checked Messenger again, I could see Skylar was typing, but I couldn’t wait, so I called him,
“Hey sweetheart, good morning.”
“Hey gorgeous, I was just thinking about you, I am missing you like crazy, so you need to get back here.”
I laughed.
“No seriously,” he continued, “I have no fucking idea what I’m doing without you.”
“Well, I don’t know either, but a wise friend once told me, that’s when the best things happen.”
Skylar paused,
“I wish I could stay, sweetheart, but I have to get to the school,will you be around later?”
“I’ll be here, take care, okay?”
“I will, speak to you soon.”
I was just about to toss the phone back on to the sofa when it rang again, thinking it was Skylar, I picked it up straight away, but it was Kat,
“Hey Carrie, I’m guessing you saw the whole interview? What did you think?”
I wasn’t sure what to say, or more to the point, what she wanted me to say, was this how it would be now? Every time Vanessa was on television or on a magazine cover?
“I don’t know, Kat, it was an interview..” I knew I sounded irritated, which I didn’t really mean, I didn’t know what else to say.
“Oh right,” Kat replied, obviously a bit deflated by my apparent lack of enthusiasm, “Well, anyway, I’m glad you saw it and I’ll see you at work…”
I could hear she was about to hang up and I didn’t want the conversation to end this way,
“Kat, I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be, I don’t know, weird..it’s just..”I struggled to end the sentence, but thankfully, she saved me,
“It’s okay, Sweetcheeks, I do kind of understand, I will get over it and I promise you, I won’t
mention it again, okay?”
I thanked her, we arranged to meet for lunch soon and said goodnight. I was relieved we had spoken and although I wasn’t entirely convinced Kat completely understood, I was grateful, I wasn’t going to have to try and come up with any kind of real explanation. I switched off the remaining lights and wandered down the hallway to my room, as I passed Lainie’s door, I could see she had left her window open. So after carefully stepping over the discarded clothes and open books that littered the floor, I closed the curtains. As I did so, I noticed the picture of Steve on a shelf above her bed, I had accepted long ago, she needed to have some evidence of her father and it no longer bothered me. I picked it up and sat on the end of her bed, I wondered what he would think of me now, what he would think of how far I had come…here I was, a nice home, a job with prospects, good friends, beautiful daughter and enough confidence to not only fall in love, but to fly right around the world to be with them. I carefully wiped the picture with my sleeve and then placed it back on the shelf. I glanced at her alarm clock, it wouldn’t be long before I could talk to Skylar, maybe even start thinking about my next visit, because there was no doubt in my mind, there would be another and after that, who knew what might happen? With my head filled with possibilities, I walked back to the door and switched off the light. I was about to turn away, when I found myself hesitating, I looked back at the picture,
“I wish I’d known years ago, it was all within me.”
THE END