Kim unpaused the show.
“You heard it here first, folks,” Donna said. “Honey magazine is struggling, let’s do what we can to help.”
She paused the show again.
Lucy leaned her head on the window frame and sighed. “We’re fucked.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
While the London Underground was a technical marvel and exceled at transporting large numbers of people around the city quickly, they still had a way to go when it came to braking.
Fiona sat in the middle of the row of seats. While she was glad to have a seat, she wasn’t glad that the driver was clearly fresh out of training. As they approached stations, the brakes were harshly slammed on and everyone pitched forward. When they left, they sped up so quickly that passengers leaned in the opposite direction.
She tried to anticipate the movements, but often failed and ended up hurtling into the person beside her. Who fell into the person beside them, and so on. They were human dominoes.
Usually Fiona would have found this intolerable and would be huffing in annoyance. But she was too focused on her phone. She stared at the two words she had managed to come up with.
* * *
Dear Nicola
* * *
It wasn’t a great start. But considering calling the woman had proved fruitless and that Fiona wasn’t about to try to grovel on a voicemail, this was all she had.
She’d been working on her typed apology the previous night and throughout the morning. She’d written plenty of options. But they all ended up being deleted. No matter what she wrote, it seemed to come out wrong.
Often it turned into a sarcastic sort of non-apology. She just couldn’t understand why she did it. Why did communicating with Nicola always bring out the worst in her? Why couldn’t she just act like a normal person?
She started to type again.
* * *
Following the unfortunate episode yesterday…
* * *
Too formal.
The train screeched to a halt, and she fell into her neighbour.
“Sorry,” she muttered.
The person on the other side of her mumbled a half-felt apology.
She slowly deleted each letter of the sentence.
Fiona blew out a breath and looked up. Everyone looked stressed. The heatwave continued and being underground at eight in the morning with hardly any oxygen wasn’t where anyone wanted to be.
At least she should be grateful for Wi-Fi. It was a relatively new and welcome addition to her commute. Previously, people had been forced to read books or play Candy Crush. Now they all had their noses buried in their phones, presumably dealing with emails.
She knew that she probably had an inbox of over a hundred messages that could really do with her attention. Unlike previous mornings, she hadn’t even looked at them. She knew that this one was the most important. Not just because Helen would murder her if she didn’t fix it, but because she knew she had overreacted. She had shown the worst of herself. Because she was stressed, overheated… and jealous.
She looked at the screen again. Words often failed her when it came to Nicola, but the moment she was on her own she often felt the same thing. That she had acted foolishly. And that she wanted to apologise for it.
Maybe it wasn’t about creating the perfect excuse for her unacceptable behaviour. Maybe it was time to say what she really felt.
* * *
I’m sorry. I’m an idiot. I can’t seem to act like a human being around you. I apologise from the bottom of my heart for being a rude, inconsiderate arse.
* * *
She hit send and let out a deep sigh.
It probably wasn’t going to solve anything, but at least she had finally said what she had been thinking for months.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Darcy loitered in reception. It had to be her. Rose was running late, and Kim was talking Helen down from a murderous rampage.
While she usually didn’t enjoy work drama, this particular incident was timely. It meant that her utter failure to bump into Celia the previous evening wasn’t going to be the topic of discussion. Not for a while anyway.
She’d never actively hope for someone else’s day to come crashing down in flames, but she’d certainly take advantage of the opportunity to move the subject away from her.
Fiona breezed into the office. She paused only upon seeing Darcy in reception and raised her eyebrow in a silent question.
“Just waiting for someone,” Darcy said, suitably vaguely.
It was true. She was waiting for Chloe. Waiting to warn her that all hell was about to break loose. But she didn’t want to tell Fiona that. Fiona probably wouldn’t approve of Chloe being given any such warning.
Luckily, it looked like Fiona was unaware of what had transpired the night before. Sadly, that ignorance wouldn’t last long. It looked like it might be another tense day at the Honey office.
Fiona nodded and walked towards the inner office. Darcy looked at her watch. There was another half an hour until the workday technically started. She hoped that Chloe would arrive soon.
“Blithering idiot!”
Darcy jumped. She turned around to see Pippa almost take the door off its hinges in her hurry to enter the office.
“Where is she?” Pippa demanded. “Or has she seen sense and decided to not come back?”
Darcy stood tall. “Who?” she asked innocently.
Pippa narrowed her eyes, trying to ascertain if Darcy knew what she was talking about.
“New girl,” Pippa spat out.
At least she hasn’t learnt her name yet, Darcy thought. Less chance of a murder at Chloe’s personal address.
“Not seen her.”
“Well, when you do, tell her that I want to see her. Preferably, her head on a spike! I see Helen has put together a statement, fat lot of good that will do! No one reads the bloody things anyway.” Pippa stormed into the inner office.
Any chance of a quiet day at Honey had now been well and truly blown out of the water. In a few minutes, Fiona would be aware of the situation. Open-plan offices were nice and bright and easy to navigate, but news travelled fast. Fiona wasn’t stupid, she’d put two and two together and quickly realise that Darcy was waiting for Chloe.
Her only hope was to find Chloe and get her out of sight, so they could have a conversation before anyone from management had a chance to kill her.
Darcy opened the door and stepped out into the communal area. As she did, Chloe stepped off the elevator. She was whistling a happy tune and swinging the satchel in her hand.
She has no idea, Darcy mused.
She walked forward and grabbed Chloe’s arm. She turned them both around and marched towards the ladies’ bathroom.
“Um, what’s going on?” Chloe asked.
“You’re about to be murdered,” Darcy mumbled under her breath.
They both entered the bathroom, and Darcy quickly checked the cubicles to make sure they were alone.
“What do you mean?”
Darcy folded her arms and looked at Chloe. She looked baffled, big doe eyes at a loss.
“The podcast,” Darcy explained. “You’re in a lot of trouble. Helen is furious. Pippa wants your head on a spike. Fiona doesn’t know yet, but she’ll probably want to kill you as well. Or at least maim you.”
“Why?” Chloe sagged against the sinks. “I was just trying to give Honey more exposure, let people know about it.”
“You implied that Honey was in financial trouble,” Darcy said.
Chloe’s cheeks flushed. “Well, not really… I mean, I didn’t really say anything.”
“They said Honey was in trouble, whether or not you said it directly… that was the takeaway from the show.”
“But Honey is in trouble,” Chloe argued. “I know everyone is trying to keep it from the new girl, but I know we are.”
“We are,” Darcy agreed. “But it can’t be made public knowledge. No business wants people to thin
k they are in trouble. Even a whiff of financial problems creates big shockwaves. Advertisers will pull their ads, worried that the magazine won’t make it to print. Shareholders and investors might try to pull their money out, meaning cashflow problems. It’s a really big deal, Chloe.”
Chloe’s mouth hung open as she processed the situation.
“Not to mention that you gave a very public interview on behalf of Honey without telling anyone,” Darcy added. “If you’d let Fiona know, she would have briefed you. Given you some kind of media training.”
“I… I thought someone might try to go in my place,” Chloe admitted. “And it was my friend, my contact, I wanted to take the credit.” She stared at the ceiling and blew out a breath. “And now I’m going to lose my job because of it.”
“You won’t lose your job,” Darcy said. “No point. The news is out there. Can’t put the genie back in the bottle. You’ll get a slap on the wrists and be told not to do it again.”
Chloe pushed away from the sink. She wrapped her arms around her middle and started to pace.
“I listened to the show this morning, they cut so much stuff out. I talked about the digital edition and the great new deal we have running. I talked about the upcoming interviews and reviews. But they cut all of that out,” Chloe said. “I just don’t understand.”
“I think your friend just wanted the inside scoop on Honey,” Darcy said. “You say she was a friend?”
“Yeah, I knew her from university. We weren’t exactly friends, but I knew her…”
“Did you ever upset her?” Darcy asked. “Because she really screwed you over. There’s no way she wouldn’t know that it would have a serious impact on Honey, and on you.”
Chloe continued to pace. “I-I don’t know. I don’t think so. I… I hardly knew her.”
Darcy wondered if there was something Chloe wasn’t telling her. Or if Chloe genuinely didn’t know. She seemed sincere, it was certainly possible that the host of the show had it in for her without her even realising. She resolved to do some research on Donna Hayward.
Chloe leaned against a wall. She tilted her head to the floor. “What do I do?”
Darcy shrugged. “Apologise. A lot. And ride it out. There’s not a lot you can do. Hope that Helen and Fiona can convince people that we’re not in trouble.”
Chloe looked up slightly. “Pippa’s going to be a nightmare, isn’t she?”
“Yes,” Darcy admitted. “Luckily, I know that she’s due to leave the office for interviews around mid-morning. So, you only have to dodge her blows for a couple of hours.”
“Thanks for warning me. I would have walked in there without a clue,” Chloe admitted.
“It’s okay. Just… be strong. And meet us for lunch in the kitchen and we’ll cheer you up.” Darcy had put her foot in it once or twice during her tenure at Honey. Not to the epic proportions Chloe had, but she knew a friendly face was essential to getting through those tough days.
“I owe you one,” Chloe said.
“You do,” Darcy agreed. “I’ll let you know my payment terms when the occasion arises.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kim was typing when she saw Chloe arrive. Chloe didn’t so much walk into the office as quietly slink in, sliding into her chair as if hoping she had miraculously shrunk to an inch in height.
A split second after she had sat down, Kim’s phone rang.
An internal call.
From Helen.
She picked up the handset.
“Get her in here,” Helen said before Kim even had a chance to speak.
The line went dead. Kim put the handset down and stood up. She walked over to the digital department. Natasha hadn’t arrived yet. Thankfully, Pippa was in the meeting room with Tess on a conference call. Fiona was on the phone, as she had been solidly since she got in. All good news that meant Chloe was still in one piece.
As she approached the desk, Chloe looked up at her sadly.
“Hey,” Kim greeted.
“Hey,” Chloe said miserably.
“Helen wants to see you.”
“Yeah, Darcy said she would.” Chloe stood up. “Shall we get it over with?”
Kim nodded. They both walked towards Helen’s office. Chloe’s cheeks were bright red and her eyes were wet with unshed tears. Kim wanted to hug her, tell her that it would be okay. But she knew that Chloe was barely holding it together.
They approached Helen’s open office door. Chloe hesitated. Kim stepped around her and into the office.
“Chloe’s here,” she announced.
Helen continued to focus on her monitor. She lifted her hand and pointed to a chair opposite her desk. Chloe hurried into the room and sat down.
“Kim, did you hear the podcast last night?” Helen asked without looking up.
“Yes.”
“Then you should be here, too. Close the door behind you.”
Damn, twice in one week, Kim thought. She stepped into the office and closed the door. She took the seat beside Chloe. Helen continued typing, finishing up whatever she was doing.
The office was quiet except for the loud clacking of the keyboard, each letter pierced the silence like a gunshot. Chloe’s knee started bouncing.
Finally, Helen reached for the mouse and clicked a button. She removed her glasses and turned to face Chloe.
“I didn’t hear the podcast,” Helen started. “I’m not one of the tens of thousands of people who apparently listen to it. While I’m aware that I should now listen to it, I sadly don’t have time to. Because I’m receiving around five emails a minute from investors, shareholders, sister publications, advertisers, journalists, and more.
“From what I understand, you were interviewed on a podcast last night? One with a very large audience. And it was said that Honey is in financial difficulty, is that true?”
“The host pushed her,” Kim jumped in. “Chloe didn’t actually say anything like that. Not directly.”
“I said that all magazines were experiencing a dip in sales,” Chloe confessed. “And I said that Honey had experienced a decline in readership. I’m so sorry.”
“Do you understand why we wouldn’t want that information to be public knowledge?” Helen asked.
“I didn’t. But I do now. I was just trying to help; my friend runs the podcast. I thought if I could speak to her about Honey, the word would get out there and more people would be aware of it and hopefully buy it.” Chloe ran her palms over her skirt.
Helen leaned back in her chair. “It was a very irresponsible thing to do. You do not speak for Honey. And it goes without saying that private financial information is not to be shared outside this office.”
“O-of course. I would never give information like that. I was… I just wanted people to know about Honey. The show was edited to make it sound a lot worse than it was.” Chloe stopped and sucked in a deep breath. “As I say, I’m very sorry. I… I understand if I’m fired.”
Kim wanted to melt into the floor on Chloe’s behalf.
“You’re not fired,” Helen said. “You made a mistake. If we all got fired for making mistakes there wouldn’t be a solvent company in the world. But there will be a lot of work now; damage control.”
Chloe nodded. “If I can help in anyway—”
“You can promise me to never do a podcast ever again.” Helen’s stare was hard and cold. She may have decided to give Chloe a second chance, but it was still clear that she was furious with her.
“Oh, trust me, I’ve learnt my lesson. I don’t think I’ll even listen to a podcast ever again.”
Helen stared at her for a few long moments. The tension in the air was thick. Kim had never seen Helen so angry in the office. Irritated, sure. Peeved, definitely. Angry? Never. It wasn’t something she wanted to see again.
“Go back to your desk. Don’t contact your friend anymore. Don’t speak to anyone without my permission,” Helen instructed.
Chloe jumped to her feet and rushed out of the office, closin
g the door behind her.
“Her heart was in the right place,” Kim defended.
“Clearly her thought process wasn’t.” Helen leaned forward and interlaced her fingers. “You heard it; how was it?”
Kim winced. “Not good. She wasn’t on for long and the host, Donna, kept pushing that Honey was in trouble. Chloe didn’t exactly confirm or deny anything, but by then the damage was already done.”
“She said it was edited?” Helen asked.
“Yes, the show was recorded last night and then edited and uploaded. Obviously, I don’t know what was edited out, but I felt it sounded like the host was fishing for dirt. I don’t think Chloe is stupid, I believe her if she says it sounded a lot worse than what she said.”
Helen nodded. “Very well. Do you know if Lucy heard it?”
Kim nodded. “She immediately started drafting replies to the messages she knew she’d get today. I think a couple of her new clients are considering pulling their advertising, but I know she’ll get them back.”
Kim hoped she sounded confident. She didn’t feel it. Lucy had been in a blind panic the night before, convinced that her job was really hanging by a thread now.
“I hope so.” Helen stretched her arms in the air. Her back popped. She slumped back into her chair. “I have a meeting with Celia this afternoon, apparently she listens to the show, which I don’t mind telling you surprises me a great deal.”
“Is she angry?” Kim made a mental note to tell Darcy about Celia’s expected visit.
“Celia doesn’t really get angry. She’s… concerned. She’s an investor, and while she’s not stupid enough to panic and pull her funds, she could be caught in the crossfire if other investors do.”
Helen’s attention was caught by something on her screen. She sighed. “I’ll be happy to get away from my emails for an hour. You’d think the world was ending.”
Climbing the Ladder Page 11
