by S L Lewis
‘Ok, so we have to make sure these figures go to Sales and Marketing before 10am but you need to make sure that they are in alphabetical order and make sure there are no spelling mistakes and all the information is correct,’ she ordered. ‘You also need to follow up this ad space request as the magazine has not confirmed if we will make the Friday issue or the overall price. We then have a meeting with Mr. Maguire at noon to discuss the new proposal for the summer agenda and then you need to go to a meeting with Marketing to see what they are proposing for next month for the new client we’ve just landed,’ she barked as she ticked the last demand off her clipboard list.
I swear she only walked around with this bright red clipboard to make her look extra important, even though she was really just a paper pusher just like me.
‘Oh no! Hold on, did she just say we were having a late lunch?’ the thought quickly entered my already data overloaded brain. ‘Errm Ann, does that mean we will be having a late lunch? It’s just I made a lunch appointment,’ I asked nervously.
She turned and regarded me as though I said I was going to wee on her prized clipboard. I felt nervous but maintained eye contact. Isn’t that what they say to do when you see a dog? To show there is no fear so it doesn’t come over and bite you on the arse? However, I amend that theory when I am faced with a pitbull or some 14 year old chav’s cross breed fighting machine that they can barely control on their chained leashes; my theory then goes to, ‘RUN and jump somewhere very high before I see my leg in it’s jaw with my favourite pair of black strappies’.
‘If you are unable to prioritise your work above your social life, maybe you should look for another job Nita,’ she said in the clearest, icy tone. She then walked away, making me know she meant business; I dialled the phone to rearrange my lunch with Amelia.
After rearranging the lunch date (which wasn’t hard as she took the day off work…it must be really bad as she lives and breathes work!), I continued with the huge pile of work Ann managed to keep adding to my desk as she walked past every 10 minutes. ‘Oh well,’ I thought as I tried not to concentrate on my heart being ripped to shreds.
But the time had come to face it.
I had been so busy trying to tune out the Romeo and Juliet performance by keeping occupied that I didn’t realise the time had flown past. ‘Please bring a pen and notepad,’ Ann ordered as she regarded the completed work.
So we walked in and immediately I felt the colour drain from my face.
I imagined her to be a horse faced, posh but dull looking blonde, who he only married because she had a few acres of daddy’s land in the countryside and attended boring museum functions…but she was far from that.
Indeed she was blonde, but she looked more like a Swedish natural blonde model. Even after having two children she looked like she was only a size 6. Wearing an expensive looking baggy white shirt, tucked into some dark brown wide calf length shorts, beautiful strappy brown sandals which looked like they were they were designed specifically for her ankles and an expensive large brown Prada bag.
She was naturally pretty with minimal makeup and hair tied in the messy but stylish bun, to show that she wanted to be understated. She smiled and walked over to me.
I began to sweat as she held her hand out and I wondered if at any second she was going to slap me. ‘Hello, my name is Mrs. Maguire. I seem to know everyone here but I haven’t seen you before. Are you new?’ she purred as she examined my poor attempt at dress up.
‘Oh, so she doesn’t have a first name? What a cow! She knows everyone here, does she? Does she know that her husband is a lying, cheating sod, who has trouble getting it up? Bet that would wipe the smug look off her face!’ I thought as I tried to gather some form of moisture in my mouth to answer her. ‘Hello, my name is Nita and I am indeed a new recruit. It’s a pleasure,’ I answered as I gritted my teeth.
There was an awkward silence and I could see Angus shifting in his chair out of the corner of my eye. Everyone else had entered the room and some of the management were playing with the children. ‘So, are you enjoying it so far, Nita? I hope my husband isn’t working you too hard? I know he can be a tyrant sometimes,’ she chuckled. ‘Yes, I’m enjoying it, thank you and your husband isn’t much of a tyrant really. I actually think he might be having trouble keeping up with me,’ I laughed.
Angus heard the last remark and shot me a look of pure anger and I made my way to my seat.
Mrs. Maguire stood confused for a second but decided it was time to take the children to their nannies and go shopping (ok so she didn’t say that but isn’t that all these high society ladies do with their days?) and we started the meeting.
The meeting lasted for an hour with regular intervals for tea and coffee (with those delicious, expensive little assorted biscuits that make you want ten but you know that each nugget has about 1000 calories in it!) and although there were initial looks of irritation from Angus, he remained quiet about the recent events.
After the concluding questions and answers session, I made a quick escape to avoid Angus’s rage.
**********
Amelia was sat in the cosy, family run restaurant in a small table in the corner of the room.
It must have been serious as she had already gone through half a bottle of white wine. ‘Hey hun, have you been here long?’ I asked whilst looking at the half empty bottle, hoping this was the reason for the liquid absence. She didn’t flinch at the question and just calmly concluded, ‘nope, just been a hard couple of days’.
After the waitress had taken our orders, I went into interview mode, ‘so hun, what’s going on?’ I asked as it was rare to see Amelia upset. ‘I think he’s cheating on me’ she blurted out before the tears came.
Luckily the restaurant was at the end of their lunch time rush so only an elderly couple noticed the upset diner, but displaying the unemotional British stereotype (stiff upper lip!), they pretended to ignore it. ‘Oh my gosh, are you sure?’ I gasped.
I handed her a tissue and she continued to tell me her theory. ‘He was supposed to come over at the weekend but claimed he was working, so I thought I would call his work on Saturday after lunch but they told me he wasn’t in this weekend. I called his flat and Charlize answered but when I asked for him she lied and said he was at his parents.’ ‘How did you know she was lying?’ I pondered, ‘because it took her too long to think of that answer. I’ve always wondered about their “friendship” and now I know that it wasn’t just platonic. He was fucking her and her “so called” partner!’ she loudly replied.
The last sentence made the elderly couple jump in shock and they decided that they couldn’t take anymore of the emotional behaviour and left.
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Amelia and Geron seemed like such a solid couple. Although he lived in Paris and worked quite a lot, they still made the effort to maintain their relationship and even talked about Amelia moving over to Paris in the next few months. ‘Why would he ask her to move over there if he was cheating on her? I mean, as soon as she went over to live with him, she would find out, wouldn’t she?’ I deliberated whilst eating my wild mushroom on French toast starter.
‘Have you spoken to him about your speculations hun?’ I tried. She looked at me as though about to laugh then maintained her composure and continued, ‘do you really think he would tell me the truth? I just left a message on his mobile and stated that I knew everything and I hope that they’re all very happy together but do not ever contact me again,’ to which she gulped down another glass of white and summoned the already nervous waitress to bring another bottle.
There was nothing I could say that would change her mind so I continued to listen and arranged a night out after work to help to take this off her mind.
If Geron is cheating on Amelia, I have no more hope for the male species!
Getting back to the office was a little easier than previous expected, especially after the fourth big glass of wine. ‘I really hope you have not
been to the pub Nita? As I have left some work on your desk that needs to be completed before you leave for the evening,’ Ann announced. I just nodded and headed for my desk.
I logged back into my computer and was shocked to see an email from Angus!
For a spilt second I wanted to be one of those strong women like Amelia and just delete it, to teach him not to be such a spoilt child but curiosity got the better of me and I pressed open.
It read:
Hello Nita,
I apologise for my behaviour the other night. It was childish and I really regret it.
I really want to make it up to you but I understand if you refuse.
If you can find it within yourself to forgive me, please meet me at the flat at 7pm and I’ll make it up to you.
Yours,
Angus
Oh my gosh! Was he being serious? I thought he wanted to kill me and let his wife wear my skin as her new coat? I didn’t know what to do so I went to the bathroom for some thinking time, as I knew he could see me reading it from his office.
I tried to stay in the bathroom for as long as possible but I had to finish off the new pile of work Ann had refreshed my desk with. So I slowly walked back to my desk and replied,
Hello Angus,
I will accept your invite but I will not be staying long.
I just want to see how sorry you are but I am telling you now that whatever we had is now over as I will not be treated as you treated me; it was not my fault.
Regards,
Nita
‘Ha! One up for girl power,’ I thought as I sent the email and continued with my work not wanting to look up to see his response.
He responded minutes later with a short reply, ‘see you later then,’ and I wondered if my stony reply had hurt him?
The minutes gathered into hours and work was finally over and I made my way to the reception doors. ‘Nita, hold on,’ someone shouted. It was Sarah from Research so I stopped. ‘Hey Sarah, how’s it going?’ I asked as she gave me a hug which I’m no longer scared to reciprocate. ‘Hey hun, I have a huge favour to ask? I need another woman’s opinion on this dress I have saved for a wedding I’m going to at the weekend but they’ll only save it until 6pm today. Will you be able to be my clothing advisor for the next hour or two?’ she asked with desperation in her eyes.
I thought about my appointment with Angus for a second then decided even if I am late it would show him that I’m a busy lady who doesn’t need to run every time he tells me to, so I agreed.
We arrived at the shop with10 minutes to spare and she tried on the dress.
It was beautiful.
It was a long flowing dark blue satin dress, with discrete diamantes in the right hand shoulder. It really suited her frame and with the obvious approval from the young sales girl, she bought it.
We went for a drink and after a brief catch up we both left. ‘I’m so happy we can still get along after what happened,’ she said as she gave me a hug goodbye. ‘You’re a great woman so what ever happened before is forgotten,’ I confirmed before we made an arrangement to meet next weekend for a girly night out.
My stomach was churning on the way to see Angus and I thought of what I was going to say and how it had to be said.
The Tube ride went unbelievably fast and I was there within 30 minutes.
As he opened the door, my eyes were hypnotized by the candle light swamping the room and I walked in.
I entered the front room to find the table set for two, beautiful alluring smells coming from the kitchen and sensual melodies humming from the space aged hi-fi which was on a silver stand in the corner of the room. ‘Please sit, I hope you haven’t eaten?’ he asked as he ushered me to my seat at the table. I just nodded as I was too overwhelmed to speak and he continued to pour me a glass of champagne and bring the starter.
The atmosphere was perfect and he was looking as sexy as a rock star singing just to me in a concert and I wondered if he ordered the food in from a posh restaurant because I couldn’t believe he slaved away at the stove and cooked this, just for me, but I didn’t question it. I just enjoyed each mouthful whilst trying not to show I was too impressed. ‘So, is this how you apologise to your wife?’ I blurted out and wondered where that came from?
There was an awkward silence and then he put down his drink and looked at me. ‘I know that you have opinions about me and my wife but I’m telling you, everything you saw in my office was just for show, for the children and the investors. There is nothing between us and hasn’t been for a long time. That’s why it hurt me so much when we had that ill feeling between us after Friday night. I really care about you and don’t want to loose you. Please accept my apology and don’t leave me,’ he begged. ‘Is he really being honest here? Does he really want me? Can I start to think of a future with this man or is it too good to be true? But what does he have to gain from saying all this to me?’ I asked myself as I continued to get embroiled in the sexual tension.
‘I don’t know what you want me to say?’ I asked nervously. ‘I want you to say you forgive me and you’ll give me another chance?’ and with that last question, he didn’t wait for a reply, he just got up, pulled me up from my chair and kissed me.
I would have like to have told you that I pushed him away but I can’t.
I continued to kiss him. On his lips at first, then his neck and lastly all over his face and then I was lost in his animal passion.
I cannot say I regretted everything or that it was like the other night where he couldn’t stand to attention because it was the opposite. As I lay in his arms feeling happy and satisfied, I started to wonder what my life would be like as Angus’s wife. Would we be that couple who everyone admired? Would we have children? Who would they look like? After his divorce, where would we live? How would his colleagues at work take his new relationship?
After the last question entered my mind, I felt Angus move from my side. ‘Well, I know you don’t have any clothes here so I’ll get you a towel and you can jump in the shower,’ he said as he went into a drawer and got me a fluffy white towel. ‘Oh, well you know I can stay a little longer,’ I said a little surprised at how fast he wanted me to get ready. ‘I know hun, its just I’ve got a few things I need to do before I go back home and I don’t want you to be bored,’ he concluded as he went to get in the shower.
I couldn’t believe how fast things were going but I knew I couldn’t lie in bed to think about it so I got up and joined him in the shower.
I went over to help shower him with the hope he would reciprocate the proposal but instead he kissed my hands and brushed me away.
I had enough of these mood swings and decided to confront him, ‘so is this how’s it’s gonna be? You do the whole Romeo and Juliet performance to get me into bed then as soon as the deed is done, I can go home cos I’m of no use anymore,’ I shouted to make sure he heard me over the hissing of the shower, as he had now left me in there wondering what had just happened?
He came back into the bathroom and popped his head round the shower so he could see me. He didn’t look happy but not as angry as he did in his office earlier. ‘I don’t know what you want from me Nita. I just told you how much I wanted to be with you but if you want to be with me, you have to understand that I cannot be with you all the time. I have other commitments that I must attend to but I’m trying to make time to be with you too,’ he alleged.
I felt so bad.
‘This man was in a dead marriage, had huge work commitments but still wanted me in his life. I should really be grateful for all the effort he put in,’ I contemplated as I gave him a kiss to say sorry and continued with my shower.
As I left Angus, I gave him a kiss goodbye and reassured him that I accepted his apology and everything would be okay between us and made my way home.
On hearing Amelia shouting I scrambled for the keys and ran through the front door.
Geron had come to confront her about her allegations and it didn’t look like an argument you
wanted to be dragged into. I saw Gabrielle and Anya hiding in Gabrielle’s bedroom pretending not to listen through the visible crack in the door, so I made my excuses and joined them. ‘What on earth is going on? And why is Geron here?’ I whispered as I listened to the Yellow Pages being bounced off his back. ‘Well, he is trying to tell her that he isn’t having an affair with Charlize and Elisa but he does have something to talk to her about but she isn’t interested cos she doesn’t believe him and I think she said and I quote, “I don’t care about your excuses I just want you to take your lying bastard self away from me and my life” and then you turned up,’ whispered Gabrielle whilst squeezing her face against the door. ‘Shhh, I can’t hear,’ murmured Anya.
‘Please Amelia, don’t do this. You don’t know how wrong you are. Just let me explain,’ begged Geron. Amelia paused to recompose herself and slowly replied, ‘go ahead. It’ll make no difference though,’ then she sat on the sofa and waited for Geron to continue.