They worked side by side, standing in front of a big desk.
‘I haven’t seen you here before,’ Anna said. ‘Are you new?’
‘First day,’ the woman said. ‘Got here early and asked if there was anything useful I could do. I’m Sarah, I’m on the publicity team.’
Anna had forgotten someone new was starting. The early morning conversation with Nia had thrown her off a bit. Her head was in London.
‘Same team,’ she said, smiling. ‘Anna.’
‘Ah, Anna. David talked about you. Sounded like you’re his number one publicist.’
Anna felt her face redden. She didn’t know what to say to that. She looked down at the paper they were sorting.
‘Thank Christ the pages were numbered, right?’ Anna said, and Sarah smiled.
There was a warmth about her, Anna thought. She liked it. She could imagine them becoming friends.
‘Do you live in Manhattan?’ she asked.
Sarah shook her head. ‘Brooklyn.’
‘Oh, me too.’
‘But you’re from…’
‘London,’ Anna said. ‘Over here for a few years. Or forever, I don’t know.’
‘Are you married?’ Sarah asked.
‘No. I was, back home. But then it fell apart and that’s when I came here. Are you?’
Anna loved this back and forth, this getting to know a new person. She was never sure how far to push it, what was okay to ask, so she was glad Sarah was asking just as many questions as she was.
‘I’ve had a girlfriend for a while, but I don’t think it’s a forever thing. I’m not sure that’s for me.’
‘What about kids?’ Anna asked.
Straight away, she wished she could take it back. She hated it when people asked her. Do you have kids? Do you want them? Everybody wanting to know the whens and wheres and hows.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have asked that. It’s?—’
‘I don’t mind,’ Sarah said, shrugging. ‘I don’t have any. I don’t think I will.’
‘I don’t have any either,’ Anna said.
It felt good to say it to someone who you were sure wasn’t going to judge you. Over the years, Anna had been asked and asked, and she’d never quite found the right way to say that it was none of the other person’s business, or found a concise way of saying why she wasn’t a mum.
The sorting was finished. Anna lifted the pile and handed it to Sarah.
‘I really am sorry about that,’ she said.
And Sarah waved her hand as if to say that it was nothing. When they were leaving the meeting room, Sarah turned to her.
‘Listen, shall we get a drink one night after work?’
Anna smiled and nodded. ‘That sounds good. Maybe next week?’
‘Great.’