Me. Her. Him - Chapter 54

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.

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I’m surprised Olivia hasn’t been in contact with me over the weekend, before I return to work on Tuesday. I would’ve liked to have had some sense of what I’m going to be in for this morning, when I do see her. I’m glad I’ve had Sunday and Monday to recover from my accident. I was hoping to get some idea of what I’m in store for, when I went to the pub to see Kirsty sing. Of course, that went out of the window. The thought of Saturday night makes me seize up. At least the pain in my neck’s gone away. The damage to the car wasn’t actually as bad as I thought it was going to be. Paul’s spoken to the local garage and arranged an appointment to get it fixed this week. He’s told me I can borrow his car for the next few days, despite my protests, saying he’ll get the train in.

I’m looking at the office from the car park. It stretches up high and dominates my entire vision. In my mind now, the building wouldn’t look out of place on the cover of a horror novel. It makes me want to turn back out onto the main road and not come back. I don’t feel welcome here anymore. Dread curls in my stomach. I need to get it over and done with.

‘Morning,’ I say to Kirsty as I step through into the reception area, putting on the biggest smile I can.

Kirsty looks up from her desk. She stares blankly at me for a few seconds as if I’m a stranger. Did she see me leaving the bar on Saturday night, after I spotted her with William? Surely she would’ve raced out after me if she had, unless William advised her not to. I curl my fist.

‘Oh Angela, you’re back.’ She almost sounds surprised. ‘Heads up, Olivia’s going to have a word with you.’

I want to reach out and grab Kirsty’s desk to steady myself. Of course she’s going to want to speak to me. I’m going to be sacked.

‘Oh right, of course. I thought she would. Do you . . . do you fancy grabbing a coffee at lunch?’

My voice comes out fast. It’s like I can see my lifeline ticking down, like how it can be displayed in front of you in a computer game. My brains telling me I might not be here later. I might be walking out of that door in the next few minutes, unsure what to do next.

‘Yeah sure,’ she says, looking back at her computer.

My forehead creases. There’s something in her voice that doesn’t sound right. It’s not bubbly like it usually is. She’s still sulking because I didn’t respond to her last week, that’s it. She knows what Olivia’s going to say, another voice tells me. She already knows my fate.

I opt to take the stairs rather than the lift. As I reach the top, my eyes scan the office for any sign of William. A rush of air escapes my lips as I realise he isn’t here.

On his first day he’d been allocated the desk two behind me. It had been suffocating being in such close proximity to him.

It doesn’t even look as though there’s a cup of tea on the desk, which would indicate he’s here. Perhaps he’s in the bathroom, or in the kitchen making a drink.

My spine’s stiff as I sit at my desk and log onto my computer. The office is quieter than usual. Normally people are chatting first thing in the morning. I would’ve been the hot topic on everyone’s lips over the past few days. So far no one’s said good morning to me. Perhaps everyone’s nervous, or waiting with anticipation to see what’s going to happen to me.

I glance towards Olivia’s office. She hasn’t yet asked to see me. Perhaps I should be the one to make the first move. It might give me the upper hand. I haven’t really got anything to lose.

I imagine my colleagues murmuring behind me, as I make me way to see Olivia. In my head I hear them giggling amongst themselves. I resist the urge to look back at them. Come on, just do this now, and it’ll all be over and done with.

I knock once on Olivia’s open door, my chest ballooning inside me.

‘Morning. I was told you wanted to talk to me,’ I say, without waiting for her to answer, as I step inside her office.

Olivia looks up from her computer. Her neutral facial expression doesn’t change.

‘Ah, Angela, you’re back. Of course, today’s Tuesday, my mind is all over the place. Please take a seat.’

So far there’s no menace in her voice, but it does nothing to calm my beating heart. Was that a hint of concern I heard? It seems surreal that a few short days ago I was in here with her discussing the interviews and hoping the position would be filled by the end of the week. It feels like another lifetime ago.

‘How’s everything been?’ I ask, in an effort to try and break the ice.

‘I’m afraid there’s been a rather unfortunate development since I asked you to go home on Thursday,’ she says, leaning back in her seat. My heart rate increases even further. I can’t turn around now and go back to my desk. ‘William contacted me by email, the day after you left, and said he couldn’t work in such a hostile atmosphere, so he handed in his resignation, which is very unfortunate as he really was the best person for the job.’

Sparks dance around in front of my eyes. My head spins. I’m going to be sick. I clutch my stomach. I see him in my head, laughing and joking with Kirsty on Saturday night. Didn’t want to work in a hostile environment, like hell.

‘What?’ I say, surprised I’m even able to say anything.  

‘He’s not coming back, Angela. I tried to plead with him to change his mind, but he’d made it up. I think he just wants to forget about what happened. Believe me, I’ve been thinking over the weekend about the possibility of terminating your contract with us, but it’s obvious to me that something is going on in your life right now. I think you need to get some professional help, before I consider anything that extreme, and we’ll review this situation again in a few months’ time.’

‘I . . . I, I don’t know what to say.’

I want to crawl into a ball. No one’s going to treat me the same as they once did.. Everyone’s going to think I’m getting some sort of special treatment if Olivia lets me keep my job.

‘We won’t say anything more about it at the moment. But we do still need this job filling, so I’m going to give Claire a call to see if she’ll take it. It’s lucky for you that two people did apply for the role; otherwise we would be re advertising. But I suppose you have gotten your way now. I know you preferred Claire over William.’

She focuses back on the computer screen and begins to type something. Was she seriously thinking I reacted in the way I did towards William, to get him to leave, because I wasn’t happy with her decision?

If that’s what she thinks, it’s clear our friendship’s been seriously damaged.

I take it her last sentence is her cue for me to leave.

I lift myself up from the chair and leave the room.

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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