Me. Her. Him - Chapter One

September 2022

I thought I was safe from you here.

I stare through the partially misted up window next to the revolving doors leading into reception. You’re sitting yards away from me, legs crossed over, phone resting on your knee. There’s a half empty cup of coffee sitting on the side table next to you. You’re once wavy brown hair, which always made me go weak at the knees, is now cropped. But it’s still you. It’s the scar under your eye that gives you away.

Thunder booms behind me making me jump; rains already thrashed down this morning, I can’t get caught in it again; I’m already soaked. What the hell are you doing here? I clutch the strap of my bag tight, willing you to look up, look up and face me. He continues to stare at his phone, a hint of a smile on his lips, like he’s doing this on purpose. Like he’s mocking me. He’s here because of her. He knows what I did.

Heart thudding against my chest, I step back. He can’t be here for the interviews, surely, but then I think back to the CVs I read last week, and now I know he is. I will the ground to swallow me up. He’s here to destroy me. I blast into reception, the cool air from the fan hitting in me in the face, making me flinch.

‘Get stuck in all that traffic, did you?’ Kirsty, my colleague calls from reception, half yawning; her glossy lips shining in the fluorescent light. Her pony tail droops over her shoulder, she flicks it back. 

I brush a strand of my red hair out of my eye. ‘Oh, um, yeah, took me forty minutes to get here from Hanningfield.’

‘You’re ten o’clock blokes here, you know, for the interviews,’ she says motioning towards the waiting room ahead of her.

‘That’s him?’ I say, turning my gaze towards the waiting room, even though I already know he’s here for the interviews.

Through the glass door I can see he’s still looking at his phone. I need to get a better view of him, I need to be sure.

‘Yeah, it’s William, nice that he’s here early, shows he must be keen. He’s not bad looking either, which is a plus, not that that's important, of course. I tell you what if he popped up on Tinder I’d be swiping right. Everything OK, Angela?’ Kirsty asks.

My shoe catches a crack in the marble floor as I switch my gaze back round to her. I fix my gaze on her hazel eyes. ‘Yeah, fine. I better head up to see Olivia. I’ll see you at just before ten.’

I race across reception to the lift and press the button more than once, like that’s going to help it arrive faster. Come on, come on. I keep expecting William to come out of the waiting room and see me standing here. He can’t know I work here, surely. This is just coincidence. Perhaps he won’t even recognise me when I see him. It’s been twenty years after all.

The moment the lift reaches the office floor, I sprint to my desk as fast as I can; sweat patches are forming under my arms. A group of my colleagues are huddled in a group by the kitchen.

‘Tea, Angela?’ Maxine, the grey haired lady who towers over everyone, calls out to me, raising her mug.

‘Um, no don’t worry I’m fine thanks,’ I say, removing my soaking denim jacket and slinging it over the back of my chair. I sit at my desk, fingers trembling as I log onto the computer.

‘Ah, Angela, you’re here,’ Olivia, my boss says, peering around her office door. Jesus, can’t she at least give me a few moments to get settled? I take in a steady breath. ‘Can we have a word about the interviews?’

‘Course,’ I say, forcing a smile. I stand up, and stride over to her office. Everyone else returns to their desks as I step through and close the door behind me. ‘Good weekend?’

Olivia sits back at her desk, and moves a couple of pens back into place so they’re in a straight line. She’s wearing a designer jacket, she always does whenever we’ve got interviews, Tom Ford, I think it is. Whenever she’s wearing her designer gear, it makes me feel like I’m wearing something I’ve just bought from Tesco.

‘Yes, it was good. Please sit, God, you’re looking a bit frazzled.’  

I resist the urge to bite my lip; she always has had the habit of saying what she thinks. ‘Oh, I just had a bit of a mad morning trying to get here,’ I reply, sitting in the seat opposite her, wishing I had a coffee to wake myself up a bit more. Perhaps I should’ve taken Maxine up on her offer.

‘Traffic lights I take it?’ she asks.

‘Yep,’ I say.

‘Nightmare, aren’t they? Right, so I thought we’d go through the CVs first before the interviews begin. William’s here already so we might as well crack on with him first, there’s no point in leaving him hanging about waiting until ten. Have a look through his CV again just to refresh your memory, I think it all looks pretty solid to me, but of course, it all comes down to how they come across when we talk to them.’

She passes me a document. I flick my eyes to the information on the page, concentrating on his details at the top. I’m not interested in his qualifications. I stare at his birthdate, 19th June 1973.  I swallow. I want to loosen my collar, but I resist the urge to. He’s listed City University in the education field. My feet begin to tap on the floor. None of this jumped out at me when I first reviewed his CV last week. Of course it wouldn’t have, I hadn’t seen him then. I hadn’t even spoken to him on the phone, if I had, perhaps I would’ve recognised his voice.

‘Um, yeah, all looks very promising,’ I say, half smiling at Olivia. I hand the CV back to her.

‘I actually spoke to him when he first came in,’ Olivia says, placing the tips of her fingers together. ‘He was already waiting outside the door when I arrived, he’s a charming man.’

This time I can’t help myself, I loosen my collar. ‘Did he say much to you?’

‘Oh we only had the briefest of conversations,’ she says, getting up from her seat and running a hand through her glossy dark hair. ‘I don’t think he realised I'm the managing director. He said he’s been out of work for a while, said he was trying to find a family member, who he hasn’t heard from in several years; unfortunately he’s not had much luck in his search. It’s such a shame when people lose contact, particularly family.’ My head swims. He’s been looking for her. Shit, shit, shit. He’s here because he thinks I know what happened. But why would he bother coming here for an interview, why not just stop me in the street? ‘Right, let’s go down and speak to him then.’

I pick myself gingerly up from my seat and follow her out of the office, trying to think of any way possible of how I can get out of this. I could say I’m not well, I could pretend someone’s phoned me and there’s been an emergency. But before I know it, we’ve reached the boardroom downstairs. Olivia’s calling out to Kirsty to show William through. The only way I can get out of this now, is if I run.

*************

Character List:

Angela Watkins - Protagonist 

Paul Watkins - Angela's husband

Rebecca Watkins - Angela's daughter 

Michelle Blake - Angela's former best friend 

Kirsty - Receptionist (Angela's friend) 

Olivia - Angela's boss

William Harris - Angela's former friend 

Caroline (Caz) - Angela's friend 

Hayley - Angela's former friend

Lauren - Angela's former friend