by Anna Bell
‘Oh, yes, I’m fine. How was the museum?’
‘Good, thank you. They liked the designs, and they’ve finally finished working out their layout so I’ve got the final measurements for the panels. In just a few tweaks I’ll have the final drafts done today.’
I can’t help feeling pretty upbeat.
For the first time in I can’t remember how long, I feel on top of my work. My enthusiasm doesn’t seem to be limited to when I’m in a client meeting; I’m genuinely enjoying it.
I don’t know whether it’s because I’m still buzzing from my cycle ride at the weekend or whether it’s because Joseph liked the photo of me, but either way it’s good for business.
I unpack my iPad and the notes from the meeting before picking up my phone and walking over to the coffee station.
As I wait for the kettle to boil I bring up Facebook. I wait for it to update itself, holding my breath as the notification button turns red. Ever since Joseph liked the photo of the festival at the weekend I’ve been checking to see if he’s liked any more of my photos.
Two notifications. My heart races as I close my eyes and wish that it’ll be him. But alas, it’s my cousin and an old school friend liking my cycling photos.
I click on Joseph’s page, to see if there is any evidence that he’s replaced me. I hate the not knowing – I’m worried that I could be doing this for nothing.
He was tagged at a pub for lunch yesterday with Marcus. No surprise there, we often went to the same one on a Sunday for lunch. He really is a creature of habit.
My mind suddenly goes into overdrive as I wonder if there’s a way I could speed up my plan. Maybe I could use his habitual nature to my advantage and bump into him. It couldn’t hurt, could it?
‘Boo,’ says Giles, bringing me back to the office with a jolt.
‘Oh,’ I say, looking up and trying to work out where I am. Damn Facebook app.
I shove the phone into my pocket and make a cup of tea.
I’m walking back to my desk, when I see Rick bounding across to our table.
‘Abi, have you uploaded those files from the meeting yesterday yet?’
My cheeks immediately burn as I realise that I’d completely forgotten.
Rick and I had a meeting with the council events department yesterday and they gave us a memory stick with the project information on. I was supposed to put it on the shared drive. I’d put the stick in my desk drawer before lunch and then completely forgotten about it. The lure of the duck wrap from the sandwich shop down the road had been too hard to ignore.
‘I didn’t,’ I say honestly. Rick is a fan of honesty. ‘I’ll do it now.’
I slide open my drawer and look for it.
I dig through the tangled mess of elastic bands, Blu-tack and paperclips. I really must tidy this up, I think to myself as I find odd change and biro lids.
I can feel Rick impatiently looking over my shoulder.
‘It was right here,’ I say, confused about where it could have gone. I haven’t opened the drawer since.
I pull open the paperwork drawer beneath it, in case it somehow fell through the solid bottom, but with that being tidier it’s easy to see that there are no memory sticks in there.
‘I hope you haven’t lost it,’ he says, sighing. ‘It took us ages to get a meeting with them and I can’t go back and ask for them to give us the files again.’
‘Well, it can’t be lost. It has to be here.’
‘What’s going on?’ asks Linz, walking over. ‘Hi, Rick.’
Even in my flustered state I don’t fail to notice the eyelash-flutter she gives our boss.
‘Hi, Linz. Abi here has lost an important memory stick.’
‘I haven’t lost it,’ I say grumpily. ‘It’s got to be here somewhere.’ I remember so vividly putting it away. I sigh.
I’ve scoured the drawer and it’s definitely not there. I’m so worried, I can’t even get excited that I’ve found half a packet of Starburst at the back.
I look around my desk in desperation, lifting files and notes to look underneath, just in case I’d absentmindedly taken the memory stick out to transfer the files.
‘Is this what you’re looking for?’ asks Linz.
I look at where she’s reaching down to the floor. She comes back up in what looks like a version of the Legally Blonde bend and snap move. But for once Rick doesn’t seem to have noticed. He snatches the memory stick out of her hand.
There’s no denying it’s the right one as it has the council logo on it.
‘You really should be more careful with these types of files.’
‘I don’t know how it got on the floor,’ I say, scratching my head. Was I really too busy thinking about the duck wrap that I didn’t put it away securely? ‘I’ll pop it on the drive now.’
I hold my hand out, but Rick snaps his fingers protectively around it.
‘It’s all right. I’ll do it. Wouldn’t want it to go missing again. Thank you, Linz, for finding it.’
Rick walks off and I’m left with Linz standing beside me, beaming, like an expectant puppy waiting for her reward.
But I’ve got no treats coming her way. I growl slightly in her direction and she goes off, ponytail swinging, to her desk.
‘Could have happened to anyone,’ says Fran, poking her head through the gap in our partition. ‘Maybe one of the cleaners knocked it off your desk.’
I bite my tongue. It wasn’t on my desk. I know it wasn’t.
‘Although it would have to be Linz that found it,’ says Fran. ‘As if she’s not the golden child already in Rick’s eyes. She’s now playing the hero.’
I nod. She’s got a point – of all the people to find it.
So much for my good mood. I was just starting to feel like I was getting back on Rick’s good side after my working from home letter, but now he’s pissed off at me again.
My phone rings and I sigh as I answer it.
‘Hello, Design Works, Abi speaking.’
‘Abi, hi, it’s Lucinda here,’ says a woman whose voice I don’t recognise. I mentally flip through my work Rolodex but I can’t think of any Lucinda.
‘You know, from Spanish class?’
‘Oh, Lucinda,’ I say. I do know. ‘How are you?’
‘Fine, thanks.’
‘Been practising?’ I say, feeling guilty that I haven’t picked up my textbook since last Wednesday’s class.
‘I made Thomas have a Spanish evening. I cooked my best tapas to get us in the mood, but to be honest, we ran out of conversation after about five minutes. It was fun at first – we made up new identities, but after hello, what’s your name, where do you come from and what do you do, we sort of exhausted our vocabulary.’
I laugh. Lucinda’s one of the absolute beginners like me.
‘You’re doing a lot better than I am,’ I say, feeling relief that the college is having an open evening tonight and therefore we don’t have a lesson.
‘So,’ says Lucinda, snapping into what sounds like professional mode. ‘I’m calling about the design work we talked about last week. I think I’ve persuaded Thomas to go ahead.’
‘That’s great news,’ I say. I’d forgotten all about that chat. We’d been talking in the break about the boutique hotel she and her husband run on the seafront, and how they’d just finished a big refurbishment. She’d casually mentioned that they were going to need to remarket it, and I’d passed her my business card. I hadn’t given it another thought. I’d mainly done it because I’m always desperate to get rid of my cards – I don’t want to be that sad loser with a massive stack of them if I ever leave.
‘How do we go about it then?’ she asks. ‘It’s all a bit new for us – the last time we did leaflets I did them myself at Pronto Printers.’
I cringe, glad that she can’t see my wrinkled expression. I know that Pronto Printers do a perfectly good job of design templates and I can’t blame businesses for using them, because they are very cost-effective, but that doesn’t
mean that it doesn’t grate on me a bit.
‘Right, well here we do things a little differently. We’d have to set up an initial meeting to establish your brief and talk through what you want. You know, if it’s just leaflet design or whether you want us to do a whole package including rebranding and website.’
I try to remember the sales patter that the account managers would come out with, as it’s not my usual forte.
‘OK, right. Lots to think about then. So how soon can we meet? I don’t want Thomas changing his mind.’
‘I’ll talk to Rick, our director, and see who he’ll assign on accounts, then I’ll get back to you ASAP about a meeting. It would probably be helpful for it to take place at the hotel so we can see the refurb and get ideas for the design. And seeing as you’re not far away, I’m sure we can schedule something in for the next couple of days.’
‘Great, that would be perfect. If Thomas doesn’t have to go anywhere he’ll be even happier.’
‘Perfect, then. I’ll go and have a chat with Rick now and get back to you.’
‘Thanks, Abi. Speak soon.’
I can’t wait to jump out of my chair and go and tell Rick the good news.
I tap on his door, still a bit nervous after the memory stick debacle.
‘Come in,’ he calls.
I push the door open and poke my head in nervously. He doesn’t look very pleased to see me.
‘What can I do for you now?’ he says, sighing.
‘Well,’ I say, hovering in the doorway. ‘I have a new client for us. I’ve just taken a phone call from a hotel on the seafront about doing their new leaflets. They’re a little boutique hotel that’s just had a refurb. I go to Spanish classes with the owners and you’ll be pleased to know I gave them a business card when they said they might need some marketing done.’
I thought Rick would at least have smiled, but I’m clearly still in the bad books.
‘Anyway,’ I continue, ‘they want to arrange a meeting with us to discuss a plan of action. They’d ideally like to do it as soon as possible.’
‘OK. Give me their number and I’ll call them.’
‘OK. It’s just I said I’d call them quite quickly to let them know about a meeting.’
I don’t want to tell Rick that Lucinda stressed that she didn’t want Thomas to have time to change his mind. I don’t want him to think that they’re going to be flaky clients.
‘Fine. I’ll call them now.’
‘OK, great.’
I sense that he doesn’t want me to hang around today and I walk back over to my desk.
‘Everything all right?’ asks Fran as I sit down.
‘Yes, fine,’ I say, still feeling slightly deflated.
All I want to do in this mood is go on Facebook and do some Joseph stalking, to see if I can plan my bumping into him, but instead, like the trouper I am, I pick up the notes that I took from the museum and start to enter the dimensions into the design files.
I don’t notice the shadow fall over my desk at first, but I get the sense that someone is standing there.
‘Hi, Rick,’ I say with trepidation.
‘Abi, great work with the Vista Hotel. We’ve had a quick chat and they want a complete rebranding operation. New leaflets, business cards, adverts, websites.’
His smile is infectious, and I feel my frown turning upside down.
‘I’ve set up a meeting with them for tomorrow afternoon. They’re keen to get the ball rolling before the summer season.’
‘Perfect.’
‘I’ve got Pat to put it on the calendar for us.’
I’m pleased to hear the word us, after the memory stick debacle I’d half thought that he’d take the account away from me and give it to Linz.
Speaking of whom, she’s come up behind us.
‘Ah, Linz,’ says Rick. ‘You can come to the meeting tomorrow too. There’s going to be a lot of work with this new client and I’m sure that Abi’s going to need a hand with the workload as I think it’s going to be quite a quick turnaround.’
Linz flashes her pearly whites at Rick.
‘Who’s the client?’
‘A boutique hotel on the seafront. Abi brought them in. See, you should always network as you never know where your next client is coming from.’
He walks off, and I don’t think I’m imagining that he’s got a spring to his step.
‘Well done, Abi,’ says Fran, leaning between the partition.
‘Thank you.’ My cheeks colour at the praise.
‘Yes, well done you,’ says Linz. Her tone is less flattering than before.
I turn back to my Mac and try to channel the buzz and enthusiasm I had this morning. I seem to have been forgiven for my earlier office faux pas.
It just shows you what you get if you take matters into your own hands. If I hadn’t given out the business card I would still be in the bad books. Maybe that’s what I need to do with the list too – dangle a carrot in Joseph’s face, or in this case, me. It couldn’t hurt, could it?
Chapter Sixteen
Three weeks, two days until the abseil and possibly only hours until I get back together with Joseph if the stalking plan works . . .
Since I decided to try and see if I could help the list along a bit quicker by bumping into Joseph, I haven’t been able to think of anything else. I’ve got a busy weekend ahead of me. It’s the big Snowdon adventure, and having convinced Sian to come, I’ve got to go on an emergency trip to an outlet shopping centre tomorrow night after work so she can buy walking boots. Which only leaves me with tonight to put my hasty plan into action.
It’s Thursday evening, and luckily for me I know exactly where he will be: his local Waitrose. I’d much rather have tried to run into him somewhere more glamorous that sold alcohol that you could drink in situ, but beggars can’t be choosers.
The only slight spanner in the works is that I don’t know exactly what time he’ll be here. He’ll be coming after work, which could mean anywhere from six o’clock until about seven thirty, depending on how busy he is at the office. Which means potentially I’ve got to make my shop last an hour and a half. It’s either that or hang around outside on a bench and wait, but somehow I don’t think that will give off the same air of casually bumping into one another.
I decide to start my trip with a familiarisation of the supermarket, walking round every aisle with an empty trolley to get the lie of the land, trying to work out if there are any good spots to bump into him. So far the wine aisles are looking the best, as they’re fairly near the entrance and in a semi-circular area that means you get a good vantage point of at least three other aisles. Also, I know that Joseph can’t resist walking past a wine shop any more than I can resist walking down the confectionery aisle.
Now to try and make this look like a real shopping expedition. I wander down the sweet aisle, filling my trolley with bits for Snowdon. I stock up on emergency chocolate rations and sugary sweets that are going to glue my teeth together, but might give me a much needed sugar rush when I’m halfway up a mountain. I’m not sure if you bonk when hiking, but I don’t want to find out.
I throw in some giant packs of crisps for everyone to share whilst I’m at it – although part of me wonders if they won’t make it past the car journey up with Sian.
I make sure that I don’t get too focused on the shopping, and keep scanning for Joseph, I don’t want to come all this way and accidentally miss him.
I head down the cosmetics aisle and put in different foot lotions and blister plasters, and then remember that I probably should stock up on some tampons whilst I’m here. See, this is a really useful shop after all, and totally not just stalking.
I’ve just thrown the box of tampons into my trolley before I look at it from Joseph’s perspective. My trolley looks like it belongs to a teenage girl who has a severe case of manky feet and is about to have a sleepover. There’s no way I can bump into him with this crap in my trolley, necessities for the weekend or not.<
br />
I break out into a cold sweat, and start to go into Supermarket Sweep mode, as I hastily try to replenish the shelves with what I’ve taken.
I’m just putting back a packet of chocolate fingers when I hear my name being called.
‘Abi. I thought it was you.’
I look up in surprise to see Ben’s girlfriend Tammy in front of me.
‘Hiya,’ I say, as enthusiastically as possible. I push the chocolate fingers back onto the shelf a little too forcefully making the rest of the packets clatter noisily onto the floor.
I bend down to pick them up, and hastily shove them back in embarrassment.
‘What are you doing out here?’ I say to Tammy. I got the impression that she lived in Portsmouth too.
‘I work round the corner – how about you?’
‘I had a client meeting near here,’ I say, in a very parroted voice. I’ve been rehearsing it in the car on the way over to make it sound natural, but it still sounds robotic.
‘Oh, right. Having a bit of a binge, are we?’ she says, peering into my trolley, which is solely full of chocolate.
‘Just getting some bits for the Snowdon weekend – you know, for everyone to share.’
I look into her basket and notice it’s all bean sprouts and fresh vegetables. Of course it is.
‘Oh, right, yes, I forgot you were going to that. It’s a shame I’m racing. I had a really good time when we went last year. The bunkhouse is a little rough around the edges, but it just adds to the fun of it.’
‘Can’t wait.’
I’m lying. I’d been really looking forward to it, but the closer I get to it and the more I find out about the rustic charm from Giles, the more I’m starting to worry.
‘So your little list should be finished soon.’
Hopefully even sooner if it goes well in the supermarket tonight.
‘Yes, after Snowdon, it will just be wine tasting, a 10k run, the trip to Paris and the abseil.’
It makes it sound like I’ve still got loads left, but with the 10k and Paris booked for the week after next I’m really ploughing through it at a rate of knots. My stomach sinks at the thought of the abseil. At this rate if I’m not careful I’m going to be dangling off that tower before I know it.
