Background: Angela is shocked when William, an old friend from her past, who she hoped never to see again, comes back into her life, after he applies for a role at her work and successfully secures the job. William’s sudden reappearance puts Angela on edge. She’s terrified he’s discovered her secret, which she needs to protect her family from. William’s convinced Angela knows what happened to his former girlfriend, Caz, who hasn't been seen for twenty years, and that something terrible happened to her. The only person, who can help Angela, is her once best friend, Michelle, but Angela hasn’t seen Michelle for more than a decade. Faced with the threat of William’s return, they know they’ll need to work together to save their future, even if this does mean reopening old wounds, and revisiting a past they'd rather keep buried.

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

I down the orange juice I’ve poured myself in one, and slam the glass onto the kitchen work surface. I run my hands through my hair. I don’t want to go into to work today.

Images spiral in my mind, making me want to reach out and punch them, shatter them into a million pieces. William asking Kirsty questions about me. The two of us in the lift together last night. I’m going to have to face him today, and Olivia. I swallow.

Olivia texted pretty much as soon as my alarm went off. She wants to talk to me. I’d read her words bleary eyed, wishing I could grab just an hours sleep. The exhaustion’s killing me.

I keep looking in my mirrors as I drive to the office, to make sure no one’s following me. As I climb out of the car, my car keys slip out of my hand as a car speeds past on the main road, they just miss a drain. I rub my chest as I retrieve them from the ground.

Kirsty doesn’t say anything to me as I enter reception. But then she won’t know the full story. She’ll be thinking I’ve gone mad, or that I’ve had some sort of psychotic breakdown. She’s purposefully keeping her head down, to avoid looking at me. I stride over to the lift, and play with the charms on my bracelet while I wait for it to arrive.

There are only a couple of people sitting at their desks when I reach the office, thank God. There’s no sign of William either, I’m sort of surprised. I would’ve thought he would’ve wanted to be here to see my reaction, or to try and hear what Olivia says to me. I’m early; I wanted to make sure of that. I’m about to pull my chair out from under my desk, when Olivia calls me.

‘Angela, could I speak to you please?’ So far she’s keeping her voice controlled, professional. This might not be as bad as I think.

‘’Course.’

I follow her into her office. I try to imagine Olivia’s going to be on my side that she’s going to say she’s made the decision to let William go, and she’s sorry she didn’t listen to me. Yeah, like that’ll be the case. It feels like my head’s about to split open.

Olivia sits in her chair and I take the seat opposite her. 

‘I had a conversation with Kirsty last night, before I left.’ I blink furiously as I try to stop the tears that threaten. I’ve never been called into Olivia’s office like this before. ‘William spoke to her about what happened between you. He was quite shaken up. Can you tell me what happened last night?’

Shaken up. I want to laugh. I bite down hard on my tongue to stop myself, and taste the metallic tang of blood.

I want to look out of her office window to see if anyone else is here yet, but I dare not remove my gaze from Olivia. It’ll only make her more annoyed with me if she thinks I’m not paying attention. Right now I need to get back into her good books. If that’s still possible.

‘We had a . . .  a slight argument in the lift last night, yes,’ I reply, shifting forward in my seat. ‘But it didn’t get out of hand.’

I kick myself.

She raises an eyebrow. ‘It didn’t get out of hand. If you think that’s . . .’ She shakes her head. ‘I thought you said there was no history between you and William, when I asked you. You said you only thought he resembled someone from your past, and he told me you didn’t know each other. I’m sick of the lies, Angela. It’s time for you to tell me what’s going on.’

I cross my feet. She’s sick of the lies, she has no idea.

‘He . . . he frightened me, that’s all. He, he said something about my family, and . . .’ It’s the best lie I can think of on the spot. ‘I shouldn’t have reacted in the way I did, and I apologise. Yes, it was stupid. It won’t happen again,’ I say. Even I can hear the bitterness in my voice.

I feel as though I’m going to have to plead with her to allow me to keep my job here. Is that even going to be possible?

There’s a brief silence before Olivia speaks. I imagine her evaluating what I’ve said inside her head. She places her elbows on her desk and leans forward, letting out a heavy sigh. I want to look away, but I can’t.

‘But the last couple of weeks, Angela, you’ve not been yourself. That’s been plain for everyone to see, and it all started on the day we had the interviews. I know you’ve been under a lot of stress recently, with taking on extra work, and I can imagine that must’ve taken its toll on you.’ Olivia’s gold bracelet clinks against a pen on her desk. ‘I think . . .  I think it would be best for you, and for everyone else, if you take some time off. We will of course, be conducting our own internal investigation, into what happened, and we will review this when you come back.’

‘Time off.’ I feel as though I’ve been slapped in the face.

Perhaps she’s hinting I should just hand in my resignation now, to save them the trouble of investigating.

William will have free reign to talk about me once I’m gone. I won’t be able to defend myself. He’s going to end up turning everyone against me. This is so unfair. It’s sickening that’s what it is. I wipe my eyes.

‘Just for a few days,’ Olivia replies. ‘I tell you what, it’s Thursday today. Why don’t you take an extra-long weekend and come in on Tuesday? We’ll have another meeting then. I will of course be speaking to William, to establish what happened, and I would also like you to write out a statement for me. This is something I would really advise you to do, Angela.’

So it isn’t a suggestion I have time off. If I say no, what will she say?

‘If . . .  if you think that’s the best thing.’ My voice croaks, I cough to try and hide the emotion. ‘I promise you, I am fine.’

‘Angela, you’re not fooling anyone.’ This time there’s a sharp edge to her voice as she speaks which makes me shrink back into my chair. Her eyes narrow. ‘Take some time off.’

I briefly glance at my wrist watch. It’s nine o’clock. Everyone’s going to be making their way in, and I’m going to be making my way out.

Under data protection rules she can’t tell them anything about what we’ve discussed, but that isn’t going to stop people from gossiping.

I stand up from my seat. Nervous energy is rippling through me.

‘I’ll speak to you on Tuesday then.’

I leave her office without another word, clutching the strap of my bag tight. I march out of her office in a daze and this time I opt to take the stairs, rather than the lift.  

I storm through reception, keeping my eyes focused on the marble floor.

‘Angela, Angela!’ Kirsty’s calling out to me.

I ignore her. Kirsty was the one to tell Olivia what happened.  

I go straight to my car. I haven’t even succeeded in getting that photograph of William for Michelle.

My phone starts buzzing. It’s Kirsty.

I wait for the phone to stop ringing, and then a text message comes through.

Ring me please Angela, I need to talk to you.

I can’t even bear to look in her direction. She spoke to Olivia about me, without speaking to me first. She’d taken William’s side. She betrayed me. This time I can’t stop the tears from falling.

I switch on the car engine. I’m not going to give her the satisfaction of ringing her back, just to clear her conscience.

She should’ve spoken to me first before saying anything. This is her fault.

************** 

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