‘Are you all right?’ Jane asked. ‘You’ve gone very pale.’
Emma looked up. ‘Yes, I’m fine, thanks. That was my boyfriend, Jay.’
‘The one that’s in the competition?’
‘Yes, that’s right. Sorry to take a personal call, but he was phoning to let me know that he’s made it through to the banquet.’
‘That’s wonderful news. So why are you looking so disappointed?’
Emma shook her head. ‘It’s nothing. I’m just being silly.’
Jane came across and sat on the edge of her desk. ‘I doubt you are. You’re a very bright young woman.’
Emma shrugged. ‘No, I am being silly. I was hoping he’d want to celebrate with me tonight, but he’d rather go out with his new friends from the competition. He didn’t even ask if I’d like to join them.’
‘Um, I can see your point. But I imagine people form bonds very quickly in that kind of situation. All that adrenaline. I suppose you’ll just have to be patient and see what happens.’
‘I suppose I will.’ But in her heart, she wasn’t convinced.
She was walking through Reception at the end of her shift when Nick called her name.
‘Hi, Nick,’ she said. She’d been doing her best to avoid him recently, not wanting to encourage his attention, but after speaking to Jay she was just happy to see someone who actually looked pleased to see her.
‘A bunch of us are going for a drink in the Lord Nelson. Care to join us?’
Emma thought back to the times she had gone out with them before. How much she’d enjoyed their camaraderie. What did she have to lose? The alternative was going home to pizza, an empty flat and a box set.
‘Yes, why not? What time are you going over?’
‘Some of the crowd are already in there. I’ve just got to get changed and then I’ll be good to go.’
‘I’ll meet you over there, then,’ she said. She didn’t particularly want to walk there with him. People might begin to talk. But her evening was starting to look up and she was determined to enjoy it. Life had been far too serious recently.
* * *
She was on her second glass of wine and seated next to Jenny who worked in HR when Nick said, ‘So, Jen, got any goss for us?’
Jenny smiled. ‘You know I can’t tell you anything. I don’t know why you keep asking.’
‘Because I’m nosey,’ Nick said, quite unashamedly.
‘Nosey Nick,’ Jen said and laughed.
‘Well, I did hear on the grapevine that Heather has resigned.’
‘Jumped before she was pushed more like,’ Brian the bar manager said. Emma suddenly felt sick.
‘I hope it’s nothing to do with me,’ she said.
‘I think the way she treated you was certainly a trigger,’ Jen said. ‘Faye was fit to burst and made a complaint about her.’
‘If you ask me, she’s been getting away with doing very little of anything for years. It was bound to catch up with her eventually,’ Nick added.
Jen smiled. ‘Well, Nick, you seem to know all the details already, so you don’t need me to fill you in.’
‘So, she has resigned, then?’
‘I can neither confirm nor deny,’ Jen said. ‘Now, Nick, I think it’s your round, isn’t it?’
