Universally Challenged

by Anna Bell

  The scene was nothing like Jess would have imagined. They were standing at the end of long corridor with chequered tile floors and glass windows stretched all the way along. It felt like they were outside on a grand patio. The sound of the grand piano drifted around the chatter of the room.

  ‘Jessica, great to see you again,’ said a woman walking up from behind her, patting Jess’ arm as she walked past. She looked about the same age as Jess and had a British accent, too.

  ‘Great to see you, too,’ said Jess, wondering whether they would usually kiss or shake hands. She hovered awkwardly for a second until the moment had passed.

  ‘How are things with you?’

  ‘Oh, they’re fine.’ Unless you count the fact that I’m living in a parallel universe and I have no idea who you are she added silently in her head.

  ‘Excellent, and how is Giles, are you still with Giles?’

  Who the hell was Giles? Giving that she had had no texts, calls or emails from Giles in the past forty-eight hours she decided she wasn’t with him. If she had been up until this point, then he would obviously need to get himself out of the dog house. She looked down at her drink or empty glass that was in her hand.

  ‘Um no, we’re not.’

  ‘Oh, that is a surprise,’ said the woman, tucking her short blonde hair behind her ear.

  Was it? thought Jess. She needed to change the subject away from herself and the life she didn’t know.

  ‘So how about you, how are you doing?’ said Jess.

  ‘Oh, just fine. PRT was a good move for me, and Martin and I are moving in together, finally,’ she said. The way she said finally told Jess she had heard lots about the saga of them not moving in together.

  ‘Look, Jessica, there’s Fraser Cole,’ she said, waving at a middle-aged, bald man. ‘I simply must go and see him. We will have to have a good gossip later on. I want to know all about what’s happened since I left Global.’

  ‘Oh, yes, we certainly will,’ said Jess, hoping she’d avoid the mystery woman. At least now she knew she was an old work colleague. She wondered if they’d been friends, but there had been something in the way that she’d asked about her love life that had made it seem like they didn’t keep in touch. The way the woman was working the room she probably treated everyone like her best friend.

  A couple of men near Jess tried to pull her into their conversation, but Jess didn’t have a clue what they were talking about. There was something to do with spread betting, which had nothing to do with the type of betting she’d done before (namely an annual punt on the Grand National). She’d asked them as politely as possible about their jobs and they had gone on, and on, and on, about their latest achievements. Jess didn’t think they’d realised that they’d learnt nothing about her in the half an hour she was talking to them. Which was probably just as well.

  ‘You look like you could do with one of these,’ said Jake, handing her another drink.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Jess, taking a big gulp of champagne.

  ‘It’s just horrible not knowing who anyone is, and not knowing what anyone is talking about.’ Jess was aware her voice was going to pitches that only dogs could hear. Her heart was beginning to race and she was sure the room was spinning a little.

  ‘Look, we’ve seen Roger and he’s seen we’re here, and now he’s moved on to talk to that British woman, Jilly.’ Jess identified the mystery ex-work colleague, making a mental note to herself of her name. ‘Why don’t we go have a drink somewhere else?’

  ‘Will no one else miss us?’ asked Jess.

  ‘I doubt it; look some people have already drifted away.’

  Jess nodded and followed as Jake turned his back, not waiting for an answer and calling the lift. As soon as the lift door closed Jess breathed a sigh of relief.

  When they emerged on the street Jess finally felt able to breathe again.

  They started walking without really talking about where they were going. They didn’t really say anything and Jess was just pleased with the silence. It gave her an opportunity to be lost in her thoughts.

  ‘Do you want to go for a drink here?’

  Jess looked up at the Rockefeller Center. She’d never been inside. She’d only ever been here around Christmas time when the ice-skating rink and giant tree stood outside. She hesitated, and hoped he wasn’t talking about the Rainbow Room, that was at a dizzying height many floors above street level. She was petrified of heights and she knew she’d never relax in a bar so high up. But she hoped that she was remembering rightly that it had closed down.

  Before Jess could go into full panic mode, he’d led her in the direction of the winter ice rink, only it had been transformed into an open-air bar.

  Jake headed in the direction of the bar, leaving Jess to find a seat. She looked around at how beautiful it was. The lights of the Rockefeller Center shot up into the sky and she could just hear the sounds of the fountain over the music.

  ‘I didn’t think you’d want another drink, so I just got you an iced tea. I hope that was ok?’

  ‘Yes, that’s great, thanks.’ Jess was suddenly embarrassed as Jake sat down opposite her. She wondered what he must think of her. In the past forty-eight hours he’d been subjected to all sorts of episodes of her acting crazy, and here he was recognising she was in distress and scooping her up and taking her away.

  ‘You’re a saint putting up with me.’

  ‘Well, Roger did ask me to host you on your visit.’

  ‘Yes, but I think he probably meant take me out to dinner one night so I wasn’t stuck in my hotel room, not chase around the city after me when I act like a complete mental person.’

  Jake just shrugged and smiled. ‘I’m used to it,’ he muttered under his breath.

  ‘Sorry?’ said Jess, not quite hearing him.

  ‘Never mind. Look, did you want to get some help with this memory loss?’

  ‘Is that what you think it is?’

  ‘Well, what else can it be?’

  Jess didn’t know. Surely with memory loss you forgot stuff, not remembered everything happening differently?

  Jess stirred her ice tea around with the straw. She didn’t really want to confront what was going on. She just wanted it to magically go back to the way it had been.

  ‘Look, I’ve got a friend who used a really good shrink. I’m sure she’ll be able to help you.’

  ‘A shrink?’ said Jess, just a little too loudly; the other guests in the bar started to look round at her. ‘I don’t think I need a shrink.’

  Jake didn’t say anything, he just looked at her.

  ‘I mean...’ She started a sentence that she didn’t know how to finish. She couldn’t explain what was going on; maybe talking to someone who didn’t know her would help. After all she couldn’t go on like this. ‘Ok,’ said Jess nodding.

  ‘Right, I’ll phone her first thing tomorrow. See if she can squeeze you in sometime.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she said taking a sip of her drink in an effort to finish that topic of conversation. ‘It is so beautiful here, I can’t believe I’ve only ever been here at Christmas time.’

  ‘I know, I love it round here. The Rainbow Room was my favourite bar in the city. I didn’t go very often as I always wanted to be blown away by it, but I just loved it. Did you ever go before it closed down?’

  ‘No,’ said Jess. She didn’t want to share with him that her fear of heights had stopped her.

  ‘Well, if it ever reopens, you’ve got to go. It has the most magical feel to it; the views, the music, the cocktails. I’m not much of a cocktail drinker, but up there you had to.’

  For a minute Jess got lost in looking into Jake’s eyes. She felt like she was on a date and that this would be the perfect time to kiss him. Only she was married or at least she still felt like she was.

  Jake must have felt it too, as he began to babble about places he loved in the city. ‘If I had a top ten New York list, then the Rockefeller Center would be on it. Have you even seen the ar
t here at the Rockefeller Center, the American Progress Mural?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘It’s fantastic, and then there’s the whole Lenin frieze that was beneath it... you have to do a tour of it sometime.’

  ‘So what else would make your top ten list?’ asked Jess.

  ‘I love going over to Brooklyn to the botanic gardens to see the Cherry Blossoms.’

  Jess smiled at his enthusiasm. She wanted to tell him about a field trip they’d taken the kids on to see it, but she’d just got him off the topic of a shrink.

  ‘And then you’ve got the museums and art galleries. MoMa, the Guggenheim, the Met. And the music, I mean the music is so diverse. I love going to the opera and seeing the philharmonic play.’

  Jess couldn’t believe that they lived in the same city. He was making her feel like a philistine.

  ‘Sounds amazing,’ she said.

  ‘Well, they’re playing in the park tomorrow, you have to come, they’re always fantastic.’

  ‘Ok,’ said Jess, blushing. She was suddenly embarrassed by his change in attitude. He’d always seemed so quiet and guarded. And here he was suddenly waxing lyrical about everything.

  ‘I’m sorry, I babble when I get nervous.’

  ‘Why are you nervous? Worried that I’m a compete psycho and I’m going to come at you?’ said Jess.

  ‘No, I just... Never mind. Look, we should probably be getting you back to the hotel,’ he said, looking at his watch.

  Whatever moment they’d had was broken in an instant and he went back into businessman Jake mode.

  ‘Ok,’ said Jess, a little sad. She’d felt like she’d almost got to know a little bit of the real Jake before he retreated back into his shell.

  ‘Thanks for sorting out the appointment for me.’

  ‘Hey, no problem. It would be great if she could squeeze you in, preferably before the presentation on Thursday.’

  ‘The presentation, right.’ Jess nodded. For a moment she’d felt like Jake was on her side, and that he cared about her well being, but she realised that everything came down to the precious presentation. She was glad they were on their way out. She just wanted to get back to the hotel and be alone with her stupid thoughts.

  Chapter 15 – Jessica Anderson

  Jessica stood waiting in the lobby of the Waldorf. She fiddled self-consciously with her hair, which she still couldn’t get the hang of. She didn’t feel like she was appropriately dressed; her little black dress was just edging on the side of slutty rather than classy. She was showing more boob then she ever would at a company function. She wished she’d tried it on before she’d left that afternoon. It hadn’t looked so slutty on the coat hanger. She’d idled her afternoon away at the Guggenheim and if she’d known she could have gone shopping instead.

  She pulled her dress up over her chest as inconspicuously as she could.

  ‘Hey.’

  Jessica spun round to see Jake stood in front of her. Unlike her, he was appropriately dressed for networking drinks.

  ‘Hey,’ she said. Her vocabulary had suddenly reduced to that of a teenager.

  ‘Want to go on up?’ he asked.

  ‘Sure.’

  This could be a long evening, thought Jessica. Maybe this was a mistake, coming with Jake. They clearly had nothing to talk about it.

  They arrived in the Silver Corridor after riding the lift in silence punctuated with awkward smiles.

  ‘Jake Harrington,’ said Jake to the woman behind the counter. ‘And this is my PA, Jessica, who’ll be joining me this evening.’

  ‘Very good, Mr Harrington.’ She handed Jake his pack and gave Jessica the once over, and handed her a guest badge. ‘You can write your name in, if you want,’ she said with a patronising tone, as if she was speaking to a child.

  ‘That’s ok,’ said Jessica mortified. Her cheeks had been flushed. PA? She thought Jake must be having fun with this.

  ‘Sorry about that,’ said Jake, as they left the sign-in table and he picked up complimentary champagne for them both. ‘I was reading the terms of the conference, and I noticed a bit about PAs being welcome at some events. I don’t think many people ever take them up on the offer, but it seemed like the most straight forward way to get you in.’

  ‘That’s ok, I don’t mind. It’s quite nice being here under the radar. Oh look, there’s Patricia, talking to her type of man.’

  ‘Yep, that would be Roger: my boss.’

  Jessica nodded; he would be exactly Patricia’s type. Slightly older, slight spare tyre around his middle. A man that would be only too pleased to have a leggy brunette flirting with him. And for Patricia it might mean the next leg up on the company ladder.

  She scanned the rest of the delegates. There was Hermut Roth from FTP in Frankfurt, they’d met in Shanghai last year. Over in the corner was Maurice Thompson, from a rival firm in London, a schmoozing arsehole would be Jessica’s best way of describing him. And talking to Maurice was Jilly Price, who she used to work with. She looked at them and none of them had a hint of recognition of who she was. This could be an interesting night.

  ‘Ah, Jake,’ said his boss walking over with Patricia.

  ‘Hi, Roger, Patricia. Nice to see you.’

  ‘And who do we have here?’ said Roger, looking firmly at Jessica’s boobs peaking out of her dress.

  ‘This is my, um, friend, Jessica.’

  ‘Your friend?’ said Roger raising his eyebrows. ‘Jessica, delighted to meet you. Nice to see that Jake actually does have a life outside the office. Patricia was just filling me in on her presentation. Sounds fan-tastic.’

  Jake smiled.

  ‘So, Jessica, what do you do?’ purred Patricia.

  ‘I’m a teacher.’

  ‘Oh how lovely, and you’re English, too. What’s an English teacher doing at this kind of conference?’

  ‘I live here actually. I teach in Brooklyn.’ Jessica felt strange saying it out loud, but she’d found a payslip in a drawer that morning, and it had confirmed the mug she’d found.

  ‘Brooklyn, how brave,’ said Roger chuckling.

  Patricia and Roger exchanged knowing looks and with that Jessica was dismissed from the conversation as they moved the topic of conversation on to Chinese dams.

  ‘Well, the sales manager from SinoDam will be here on Friday, you’ll enjoy meeting him. Such a visionary,’ said Patricia.

  ‘If it’s as good an investment as you say it is, Patsy, I’m sure I’ll love him.’

  ‘Yes, definitely. China is definitely the future when it comes to energy. And all those rivers and lakes without dams.’

  ‘Yes, especially Jiangxi province,’ said Jessica, forgetting her social standing within the group.

  Roger and Patricia turned to her with open mouths, obviously forgetting she was even there.

  ‘Sorry, I uh, well I listen to what Jake tells me.’

  ‘Smart cookie, you’ve got there, Jake.’

  Jake nodded. ‘Perhaps we’ll go get another drink.’

  Jake pulled Jessica away towards the bar, but before they could get there Jake was stopped by a couple of men he obviously knew. Looking at the body language, Jake didn’t seem thrilled to be left with them, but Jessica didn’t fancy joining their conversation. Jessica was standing next to Jilly, her former work colleague, who had turned away from who she had been talking to.

  ‘Hello,’ said Jessica, not wishing to be too familiar.

  ‘Hi, there,’ said Jilly. ‘Have we met before?’

  Jessica could see Jilly taking in her outfit and she clearly didn’t think Jessica was on her level.

  ‘No, I don’t think so. I’m Jessica, Jessica Burns,’ she said trying on her new name for size.

  ‘Right, Jilly Price, PRT.’

  ‘Yes, I think I’ve read about you. You’re a fund manager there, right? And your father is a lord.’

  ‘That’s right,’ said Jilly nodding her head and standing up a little straighter. ‘Did you read the article about me in t
he Financial Times?’

  ‘No,’ said Jessica shaking her head. ‘That wasn’t it. Hmm.’ Jessica pretended to be thinking, but she was trying not to laugh out loud. ‘I know, it was Hello! magazine. Weren’t you in there with that guy, what was his name, Tony Walsh?’

  Jilly’s face went ashen white. She hated being reminded of that photo. She’d been at a celebrity polo match and had one to many Bellinis. The next thing she knew she was snogging Tony Walsh, who was one of those reality TV stars that you couldn’t remember which programme he’d been in first that propelled him to z-level celebrity status. But that particular month he’d been dating a glamour model, so when a Hello! photographer had papped her snogging him, it had been everywhere. And Jilly hadn’t been able to get a date with any man with a double-barrelled surname for a year.

  Jilly composed herself as best she could. ‘Will you excuse me?’ she said, before heading off in the direction of the toilets.

  Jessica just smiled and gave a little wave. She was being uncharacteristically mean, but she had little sympathy for her. Not only had she stolen and taken credit for more research of Jessica’s at LMG that she cared to think of, she’d also unashamedly snogged her ex-boyfriend at the Christmas party. Giles had feigned drunkenness, saying he thought it was Jessica pulling him into the dark cupboard. Jilly had pretended it had never happened. ‘As if, darling,’ she had purred. She shuddered at the thought of that; she should have just dumped him then.

  Jessica couldn’t believe how much fun this was. She looked around and wanted to see what other wrongs she could right. She found herself in front of a man she didn’t know.

  ‘Hello, there,’ he said in a thick Southern accent.

  ‘Hello,’ said Jessica, still looking round for someone else she could wind up without them knowing who she was.

  ‘Which of the banks do you work for then?’

  ‘I don’t actually, I’m a teacher,’ said Jessica, actually getting into the lie.

  ‘A teacher. Well, what brings you into the lion’s den?’

  ‘Just a friend.’

  ‘Well, you’re brave.’

  ‘Are you not a banker then?’ said Jessica.