by Kaylie Kay
If looks could kill Olivia would have been a murderer. She stared in disbelief as the door closed. Firstly, she fumed, Tom hadn’t even acknowledged her, although she had become part of the furniture lately, she reasoned. Secondly, they were going for lunch, together, without her. And thirdly, she had freakin’ waved. She may as well have held up a barrier saying ‘One Up’ and danced around.
‘Are you ok?’ Keira had noticed Olivia didn’t look very happy, that being an understatement. She couldn’t bring herself to answer, afraid of what she might say.
‘Olivia?’
‘I’m ok, or I will be in a minute.’ Olivia was concentrating on taking deep breaths and calming herself down.
‘It’s ok, hon, it’s only us two here, say what you’re thinking,’ coaxed Keira, aware that Olivia clearly needed to get something off of her chest, and pretty sure that it was Sarah.
‘Oh Keira, is it me? Please tell me I’m being stupid, that she is just harmless and that I have nothing to worry about.’ She held her head in her hands, unable to look up as she knew she wouldn’t find the reassurance she needed in Keira’s face.
‘Oh babe, I don’t know what to say.’ She looked at her friend pityingly, glad that she wasn’t in her situation. ‘Tom’s a good guy, I don’t need to tell you that, but I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her.’
Olivia looked up and nodded.
‘I wish to God I had never gone to that barbecue, I pretty much gave her the job and now I’m stuck with her, and feeling like this.’ She put her face back down into her arms that were crossed on the desk for a moment, then looked back up at Keira. ‘I don’t even want to be here, answering the bloody phone all day.’ She finally admitted what she had been thinking the last few weeks out loud. ‘I don’t think Tom even appreciates it anymore, but I feel like I need to keep an eye on her. Once you’re gone I think I’m just going to quit, I’m not sure it’s doing my sanity any favours being here.’
‘It would be good if she just moved on, really.’
‘Yes, back to the other side of the world,’ Olivia agreed wearily.
‘Or if she was terrible at her job and got fired.’
‘If only.’
She remembered Claire’s words from their telephone call a few weeks ago, they had come back to her more than once since. Do something about it.
Chapter 25
It was pouring with rain as Olivia drove to work the next morning, and her tears flowed down her face like the raindrops that lashed against her windscreen.
She had tried to talk to Tom about Sarah, but it had all gone so wrong and they had argued. She had first tried to belittle her, make her look stupid, but Tom wouldn’t have it, defending her and stating how important she was to his business. This had upset Olivia even more, and she had accused him of fancying her. Childish, she knew, but it was funny how jealousy made you behave.
Tom had been furious. He hadn’t fully seen this side of Olivia before, indeed nor had Olivia herself, and he really didn’t like it. He had no time for the immaturity and neediness and had ended up sleeping in the spare room rather than talk any more about nonsense. Perhaps at one time he would have comforted her, and made her feel better, but the truth was he liked Sarah, she was indispensable to him now and he relied on her. Olivia would just have to accept her as she usually accepted everyone; he was busy and had no time for her behaving like this.
Of course Olivia hadn’t had a wink of sleep, and she winced at her reflection in the rear-view mirror as she sat in the airport car park. The tears had left streaks in her foundation and her eye makeup had smudged right down to her cheeks. She reached into her cabin bag that sat in the passenger seat footwell and pulled out her makeup bag – it would need to perform miracles today.
As she stood minutes later in the bus shelter, she checked her phone, hoping there would be something from Tom. Nothing.
I’m sorry, she texted, struggling to find any more words. She thought for a moment that she should just call in sick, she had no idea how she would get through this flight. It would be easy to just call up, give her payroll number and tell them she was ill, but maybe it was best that she went away and let things calm down. She couldn’t recall ever leaving on an argument before and wondered how other crew did it, as she was sure many did.
Five hours later Olivia was at 39,000 feet over the Atlantic on her way to Miami. She had sent Tom her usual message as she left and he had responded with xxxx – shorter than usual but it was something. The flight was busy and had taken her mind off of things for the first couple of hours, and she felt much better as she pulled the cart towards the back of the aircraft.
‘Tea or coffee?’ she offered the people next to her. The girl on the cart with her, Karla, was on her first
flight and Olivia loved her positivity and enthusiasm.
‘Any hot drinks, sir?’ she beamed at the elderly man in 63C. He flashed every one of his false teeth back at her.
‘Tea please, my love. Lucky me, having you beautiful ladies looking after me,’ he flirted.
‘Milk and sugar, or are you sweet enough?’ she teased him.
He laughed and nudged his wife, making sure she had seen the attention he was getting.
‘No, he’s not. Give him all the sugar you’ve got, love,’ retorted his wife, and both of the girls laughed at her quick wit. ‘Forty years of marriage and he still tries to make me jealous, doesn’t realise you all see him for the silly old sod that he is!’
Olivia couldn’t work out if the lady was annoyed with her husband or not, or if she had resigned herself many years ago to his ways and learnt to live with it.
In her hotel room that evening Olivia drew her curtains, looking out briefly at the lights along South Beach. She couldn’t face going out tonight, although some of the crew were meeting at the bar. She felt exhausted by the events of the night before, and not to mention having walked across the Atlantic. She climbed into the huge bed that was standard in all of their hotels, with its crisp, cold, white sheets, and let her head sink into the feather pillow. As she fell to sleep she thought back to the old lady on the flight and wondered if perhaps she could be like her, just accept things and learn to live with Sarah being in her and Tom’s life, embrace her rather than fight her. But she just couldn’t get the feeling that she couldn’t trust her out of her mind, so couldn’t imagine how she could ever be ok with her.
Chapter 26
It was night time in Hong Kong. Jez hung his head out as far as he could from the ferry side and watched the light show on the buildings at the edge of the harbour, feeling the fresh breeze against his face. He hadn’t taken the Star Ferry since before Jacob was born and had forgotten how magical it was.
‘It’s beautiful.’ Gabriella’s voice pulled him back from his thoughts. She had linked arms with him and it felt nice to be close to someone. Coming to Hong Kong had been scary for her, but thanks to Linda and Jez she had truly enjoyed every minute of it. Thankfully the new job was exactly the same as she had done at home so the transition hadn’t been at all stressful, and her time off had mostly been spent with her old companion.
As for Jez, his mum had been right. It had been good for him to meet up with her again. Long gone was the mousey kid. Gabriella, or Gabby as she preferred to be called now, had grown into a beautiful woman. She had long, highlighted, blonde hair that she wore in a fashionable cut, and she dressed in designer clothes that flattered her hourglass shape.
‘Thank you so much for this, Jez. I would have been lost these last ten days without you.’
‘Oh, it’s been my pleasure, I needed to get back out enjoying life again.’
She looked at him sympathetically, seeing the young boy she remembered deep in his eyes. She was so sad for what he had gone through, but was happy to be a part of his moving forward.
The ferry jolted as it came in alongside the pier at Tsim Sha Tsui, and Gabby unlinked her arm as they made their way to the exit. Jez was taking her to the best restaurant in town, apparent
ly, and she was intrigued. They made their way out of the ferry terminal and he led them along one busy road after another, eventually turning a corner into a bright market street.
‘Temple Street market,’ announced Jez as if introducing a show.
‘Oh!’ Gabby was always happy to shop but had dressed for dinner, and her heels were already killing her feet after the walk here.
Jez grinned mischievously, and took her hand, leading her through the throngs of people to the other side.
She couldn’t help but laugh when he pulled out a white plastic chair from a table outside of a small café, and gestured for her to sit down. Really?!
‘Don’t say I don’t take you to all the best places!’ Jez tried to keep a straight face.
‘I wish I’d made a bit more of an effort.’ Gabby didn’t try to hide the sarcasm in her voice, looking down at her shoes.
‘Ah, sorry.’ Jez hadn’t given her footwear a moment’s thought, he really was rusty with women and their differences! He looked at her apologetically. ‘But I promise you will love the food here, Ness and I used to come all the time.’ It was nice to mention Ness’s name, and Gabby was always happy to listen to him talk about her. Their time together hadn’t lit any fires of attraction, much to his mother’s disappointment, he suspected, but they were so comfortable together, like they had been as kids, and he felt like he had a true friend in her.
‘It had better be worth it,’ Gabby warned him light-heartedly, punching him playfully in the arm.
After the meal, which Gabby had to admit was pretty good, she excused herself for a moment to go and buy some flat shoes she had spotted on a nearby stall. Jez leant back relaxed in his chair, listening to the noises of the market around him. He thought he detected English accents from a group of young women sat on the table behind him and so he tried hard to listen to what they were saying. Although he couldn’t hear everything he did manage to hear enough to ascertain that they were flight attendants, and he found himself turning around casually to see if Olivia was with them. Of course she wasn’t, he didn’t even know which airline these girls worked for, and the chances of her being there right then were less than minimal.
He looked over to where Gabby stood bartering for some shoes and wondered why he hadn’t had any feelings other than friendship for her, why Olivia had been different. He hoped that one day he would meet someone that he would want to be with; he had been lonely for a long time now. Perhaps one day he would see Olivia again.
Chapter 27
Olivia arrived home in the afternoon, exhausted after the long flight that had deprived her of a night’s sleep. She waited up for Tom to get home from work, making sure she had prepared him his favourite meal of roast beef and all the trimmings. Usually he would be lucky if she ordered him a takeaway on landing day, so she hoped the gesture would be enough to sway his mood towards her.
Thankfully it seemed that the time away, coupled with the meal, were enough to restore the harmony, and when she went to bed early that night she felt much better about everything.
She had told him that she would come to the office the next day with him, but when she woke up to the sound of somebody beeping their horn loudly in the street he was already gone. She turned over and picked up her phone from the bedside cabinet to check the time. 10:30am, why hadn’t he woken her? She remembered him asking if she was sure about coming in – wasn’t she tired? – so he had obviously thought he was being nice leaving her in bed, she thought. Well it was still early, and she was going to keep her word. She got up quickly and readied herself for the day.
‘Good morning Sarah,’ Olivia beamed at Sarah as she walked in through the reception door. Sarah looked up surprised. Olivia hadn’t been so friendly to her for a long time, in fact she was pretty sure that she and Keira didn’t like her. Keira was gone now though, so maybe it was her that was influencing Olivia?
‘Hi Olivia, I wasn’t expecting to see you today. Tom never said you were coming in?’
‘I think he thought I needed to sleep after my flight, but I thought you may need a hand?’ It felt good being nice, natural, even if she was acting.
‘Hell yes, I’m up to my eyes in it without Keira, and Tom needs me to sort out all these invoices.’ She picked up a stack of papers from beside her keyboard. ‘If you could answer the phones I can concentrate better.’
That’s me, chief phone answerer, thought Olivia, irritated already.
‘Of course I can, happy to help,’ she beamed back at Sarah, who looked a little unsettled by the change in her. ‘I’ll just let Tom know I’m here.’ She went to open the connecting door to his office.
‘Oh, don’t go in there,’ called Sarah hastily. Olivia stopped in her tracks and turned around. ‘He and Pete are on a conference call to someone, he told me not to disturb them,’ she explained.
‘Oh.’ Olivia stepped back from the door and went over to the desk she had shared with Keira. ‘I’ll wait till he’s done then.’
Almost half an hour later the door opened and Pete came out.
‘Well that made my brain hurt.’ He rubbed his forehead and looked at Sarah for sympathy. Pete didn’t usually get too involved in the running of the business, preferring to be out there, making sure things were getting done properly. ‘See you later mate,’ he called back to Tom, noticing Olivia as he turned towards the door to leave.
‘Oh, hi Olivia, sorry I didn’t see you there,’ he apologised.
‘Hi Pete, is it safe to go in there now?’
‘Yeah, he’s off the call now.’
Olivia got up and let herself in. Tom looked surprised to see her.
‘Olivia, I didn’t expect you to come in today.’ He looked pleased though, she thought.
‘I thought you would wake me up?’
‘You looked so tired I didn’t have the heart.’
‘Well I’m here now.’ She walked over and hugged him, and he kissed her forehead as he usually did.
‘That’s brilliant, I really needed Sarah to help me with some stuff but had to keep her on the phones. Are you ok to cover them whilst I keep her in here for a bit?’
Olivia seethed inside. Had he just completely forgotten how she felt, or was he testing her to see if she had meant it when she said she was sorry and knew she had been silly? Or was he just a man who didn’t think? ‘Of course I can, happy to help.’ She smiled and breezed back out of his office, hoping that she had managed to hide her feelings enough.
As she sat at her desk in the office alone Olivia struggled with her thoughts. Perhaps if they left the door open she wouldn’t feel so bad. The phone hadn’t rung for a while and boredom was setting in; she looked around the room for inspiration of something to do. Five minutes later she was pulling the old dusty coat stand and filing cabinet from the far corner and rearranging the furniture. As she leant down to pick up some paper that had probably been behind it for years she jumped as a huge spider ran across the floor, chasing its hiding place.
It wasn’t a conscious thing, Olivia didn’t think through what she was doing as she placed the glass quickly over the spider, sliding a piece of card between it and the floor and scooping it up. She moved quickly over to Sarah’s desk, opening the top drawer where she kept her car keys and important things and dropped the beast into it, closing it again quickly.
She returned to her work in seconds, as if nothing had happened, and when Sarah emerged just a few minutes later she had almost forgotten that she had done anything… until she screamed!
Chapter 28
‘What the hell?’ Tom was furious. He had been on another call when Sarah began screaming. This time there hadn’t been any interviewee hero to rescue her, and Olivia certainly wasn’t going to run over to help her – she had remained firmly in her seat.
‘Sarah, stop screaming!’ yelled Tom, trying to make himself heard over the top of her noise.
She looked at him from where she was backed up against the wall, and for a moment Olivia felt bad when she saw the
terror in her eyes. The screaming stopped as Tom walked over to the desk and followed her gestures to the cause of her actions.
Once the spider had been unceremoniously thrown out Tom walked back from the door shaking his head. ‘Seriously girl, you can’t scream like that every time you see a spider. Not only might I have a heart attack but if I’d been on that conference call at the time it would have been really bad.’ He looked pleadingly at Sarah as he came level with her desk.
I should have timed it better, thought Olivia. Just as she was telling herself not to be so mean her thoughts stopped in their tracks as Sarah practically leapt from behind her desk and threw her arms around Tom’s neck.
‘I’m so sorry Tom, I promise not to do it ever again.’ She pulled herself back and looked at him earnestly. ‘But thank you for coming to my rescue. Did you see the size of that thing?!’ She smiled weakly.
Olivia coughed. Had they forgotten she was here? Had that girl seriously just hugged her boyfriend as if it was a completely natural thing to do? Had she hugged him like that before? Her mind was whirring at top speed and she wanted it to stop. ‘I’m just popping out, be back in a bit.’ She didn’t trust herself, needed to get out for a minute, calm her thoughts down and get a grip.
Sarah looked at Olivia and took another step back from Tom, who was looking a little awkward with the situation. She hastily gathered her bag and jacket, looking at anything but the pair of them, knowing that her acting skills would not be good enough to hide her feelings from Tom if she remained in that room a moment longer.
‘Anyone need anything from the shops?’ she called as she opened the same door the spider had just left by, not turning around.
‘No thanks,’ they said at the same time, but Tom’s voice sounded further away. At least he had removed himself to a safe distance, she thought, somewhat eased by this knowledge.
