Chapter 5
Jake had been waiting impatiently for the lift doors to open. He’d begun to sweat. Despite appreciating Faye sorting his tie, he’d had to loosen it. He hated confined spaces, and had done ever since the skiing accident the previous Christmas.
Jake did not want to think about that. He’d followed Faye into the lift that morning without thinking; he always took the stairs. The lift jerking to a stop on the floor below hadn’t helped, although he had appreciated the unexpected upside – Faye being thrown into his arms. He could have held her in his embrace all day.
Free of the lift, Jake headed straight for his desk in the staff room, while Faye hung back, removing her coat and placing it on the rack behind the door. Jake sat down and glanced out of the window at the early summer morning.
Mondays were good.
Work was good.
He reached for the first exercise book, ready to start marking the ever-increasing pile. Faye sat down opposite him. He wondered why she hadn’t gone straight to her office, although the Monday morning staff meeting was due to take place in the staff room, so he imagined that was why she’d followed him in.
For a long moment, he watched her looking out of the window and wondered what was on her mind. Something about her demeanour told him he’d better not ask. Besides, he knew she wouldn’t tell him – they weren’t speaking. At least, she wasn’t speaking to him.
He sighed and turned his attention to the exercise book. He glanced at the clock on the wall. Time was limited; they were due to start lessons soon after the staff meeting, and he always endeavoured to return the previous day’s work to his students marked. He had never spared a thought for how much paperwork was actually involved in teaching, with every lesson bringing a deluge of paperwork. He had honestly thought he had left his desk-bound, pen-pushing days behind him.
Jake reached for his pen. He looked up. It wasn’t there. He drew the plastic pen-holder closer and peered into the little rounded compartments; the pencils, eraser, sharpener and ruler were all there in their appropriate places, but somebody had borrowed his silver Parker. Jake looked around the staff room. It hadn’t been long, and the room had quickly filled up with teaching staff. They all had their heads down and were quietly catching up on their paperwork, preparing for another working week.
At the far end of the room, a young male teacher caught his attention. Jake watched him whisper something to his colleague, a woman who, like Jake, had started Initial Teacher Training. They both looked in Jake’s direction. He caught their eyes flickering to Faye, and then they whispered something else, clearly about them.
Jake sighed. With Faye sorting out Jake’s tie in the lift, one could easily mistake them for a couple who had come into work together. Everyone knew they weren’t together – didn’t they? Had the head said something? He couldn’t imagine it, but then perhaps because of the many times he’d babysat over the lastfew weeks, it was giving them something to talk about, like the possibility that babysitting was just a euphemism for something else – an excuse to spend time together.
One of them, the young man, gave him a thumbs-up. The young woman saw the gesture and frowned.
Jake sighed heavily.
‘What is it?’ hissed Faye across the table.
Hoping Faye hadn’t seen the little exchange, Jake tipped up his pen-holder for Faye to see. ‘Somebody stole my pen!’
Faye whipped a biro from her pen-holder and held it up. ‘Will this do?’
‘That’s not my Parker.’
Faye leaned forward and slammed the pen down on top of Jake’s desk. She held it there. ‘It’s a pen. Do you want it?’
‘Yes,’ he said meekly.
She lifted her hand from the pen, sat back in her seat and resumed looking out of the window.
Jake stared at her for a long moment before reaching for the pen. It was quite a nice biro, as biros went, but he still wanted his Parker. Jake took another look around the staff room only to find more heads were now turned his way, more eyes were on them both. The two members of staff who had been talking about them exchanged a glance, raising their eyebrows. Jake imagined they were going to have a field day now it appeared that they were lovers who were having a little tiff.
Jake made one more sweep of the staff room, wondering which sneaky person had stolen his pen, before starting to mark the exercise book with the biro. No sooner had he put pen to paper than his mobile phone rang. Jake looked at his watch. He couldn’t imagine who would be phoning him on a Monday morning – or any morning, for that matter. He’d stopped working with the Ross Corporation, and anybody trying to get in touch with him should know that by now. Either that, or it wasthe wrong number. In any case, he chose to ignore it. He got the phone out of his pocket and swiped the decline icon. Whatever it was, he was no longer their man. Besides, he needed to get his marking done before the school day began. He knew he should have taken the exercise books home with him at the weekend.
His phone rang again. This time there were murmurs of disapproval in the staff room. Jake wasn’t the only one furiously catching up with work before the start of the school week.
Faye took a file from her in-tray, throwing him aWell, aren’t you going to answer that?look.
Jake answered his phone. He didn’t bother leaving the staff room because he knew he wouldn’t be on the phone long.
‘Yes – who is it?’ he said curtly. He did not recognise the number. But he should have.
Jake listened and sighed heavily; he could well do without the call.
‘No, I haven’t seen him, Lydia.’
Faye looked up from her paperwork.
