6. Six

Six

Zack and I had never spent much time together at work, but it still felt odd him not being there. Anna strutted around like the cat that got the cream since she’d moved into his office, which was one of the bigger ones. Other than that, everything was normal. The fuss had died down about the engagement now, and, in all honesty, I missed people asking to see the ring. I often found myself in a daydream as I gazed at it, my manicures had never been so up to date.

Margaret stopped at my desk. I think I was just about forgiven for the ‘emergency leave’ episode earlier in the year. Her face was ageless, but I don’t think it was due to botox, or any other surgical enhancement, more likely due to the fact that she never showed any emotion. No danger of laughter lines on this woman. Her black hair was cut in a sharp bob, and she always dressed conservatively. If I had to hazard a guess at her age, I’d say late fifties, but it was impossible to tell.

“Lily, can you come to the boardroom in ten minutes please?” she asked in her usual abrupt fashion. Maybe I wasn’t forgiven after all.

“Of course.” She stomped away. This would be a long few minutes while I stressed on what she wanted.

I straightened my dress, flicked my hair back and knocked on the boardroom door. “Come in,” I heard Margaret say, her voice devoid of emotion as ever.

I gulped as I looked around the room. I’d always found this place intimidating. It was old school. Bookshelves full of ancient legal tomes lined the walls; an imposing oak table took pride of place in the middle of the lushly carpeted room and was surrounded by high-backed luxury office chairs. The chairs we had for our desks were not that fancy, or comfortable. Margaret sat at the head of the desk, flanked by Peter – our senior family law solicitor. A man not far off retirement with a genuine, friendly face and outlook. On the other side of her sat Gavin, who headed up PR and Marketing. He was your atypical hipster and had a stunning yoga teacher, named Sienna, for a wife, who wowed at all the staff parties. I wondered what I could have done wrong to need all three of them to speak to me in such a formal fashion. Pretty sure I hadn’t brought the firm into disrepute. I’d brought a lot of cakes in recently, maybe they wanted me to stop ?

“Sit down,” Gavin smiled. “Don’t worry, you look like we’re about to fire you.” They all laughed. Funny how Margaret could crack a smile suddenly. I joined in, but the sound was high pitched, like a silly little girl.

Peter coughed and took a drink from a porcelain teacup that was much too dainty for him. “We’ve been instructed to represent a high-profile case. I can’t say too much at the moment. There’s an application going through for this to be kept out of the press, but I don’t think it’s set to succeed.”

I nodded at him and continued to listen.

“Our client will generate an unprecedented amount of media interest. Perhaps I could mention he likes to kick a ball about at weekends for a local, world-class club. He received correspondence from a legal firm yesterday, I can’t recall the name, but I’ve never heard of them. This documentation informed him of legal action with regards to a child, whom he didn’t know was his. Obviously, the first step will be to verify it is, indeed, his child.” He waved his arms around with an air of courtroom drama. “Sorry, I digress.”

I poured a glass of water from the chilled, expensive bottle in front of me, it was usually only for clients. Margaret began to speak.

“Peter will be the lead on this case, and he’ll need someone full time to support him. It would be a huge opportunity, Lily, hard work, but you’re just the person for it, particularly with your family law experience. I need you to be dedicated to it though, not distracted.” She glanced at my ring finger, and I immediately felt protective. Was she implying being engaged would affect my quality of work?

“Absolutely. I’d be more than happy to help.” I was excited that Zack wasn’t the only one with good career news and determined to prove to Margaret that I could do this.

“Your normal duties would be shared out between the others, and we’d put you up to the salary of Peter’s executive legal assistant for the time the case takes. As we said, it’s certain to be high profile and could run for a long time. Think about it, and let us know on Monday, if that’s acceptable?”

I nodded. “Of course, thank you for considering me,” I smiled at Margaret. Nobody said a word, and an awkward silence settled; I guessed that was my cue to leave.

Back at my desk two minutes later, I sent a message to Zack.

You aren’t the only one with exciting job news. Hope it’s going well, and you haven’t frozen yet xx

I knew he’d call me as soon as he got back to the hotel, like he had every night, and then again at bedtime. We always spoke just before we fell asleep. I twisted my engagement ring around on my finger again and smiled. I heard an angry sigh as Anna walked by, obviously she wanted to be noticed, that woman thrived on attention. It only made me smile wider, anything to annoy her. She stopped and stepped back towards the desk.

“I hear you might be coming in on this case?” Anna said.

“The new one? Yeah, possibly. Why?”

“I’m working with Peter, I’m experienced in damage limitation. So, if you’re on it too, you’ll need to be on your toes to keep up with both of us.” Her tinkling laugh echoed around reception, bright, breezy and utterly insincere. I knew there was no friendship in her. “How’s Zack?”

“He’s fine, he’s in Iceland at the moment,” I replied.

“Coming for a drink after work then?” Anna asked. This was weird.

“Erm, sure, OK.”

Anna flounced away, her blonde extensions bounced over her shoulders as she went. Maybe she wanted to start afresh if we were going to work together? I wasn’t convinced.

By five thirty, I was squashed into a booth at the bar around the corner from the office with Anna, Amira, and Jake, who were all from corporate law, and one of their secretaries, Ella, who had only started work in the last couple of weeks.

This bar was a regular haunt for the Caddel I missed that face. Not just his face...

Before I could speak, Jake grabbed the phone off me. “Zack!” he yelled into the phone. “Bad news, buddy, I stole your fiancée.”

I grabbed the phone back off him. “Ignore Jake, the prosecco went straight to his head. Just a few of us having a drink. I’m actually about to head home. How’s today been?”

“Amazing.” He looked relaxed, no worry lines on that forehead. “Miss you like mad though.” Anna pretended to gag, and I glared at her.

“Miss you too. Shall I call you when I’m home?”

“We’re going out for dinner in a few minutes, but I’ll call you when I’m back at the hotel tonight?”

“You better had,” I said, as I flashed my best smile. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” He blew me a kiss before he ended the call.

“Aww,” squealed Ella. “Yep, I need to get me one of those.”

I blew out a frustrated breath. “Amira, you OK? You’ve barely spoken.”

She looked up as she pushed her glasses up her nose. “Yeah, I was just looking into the other side, they seem to be a brand new firm. I can’t see this case taking long.”

“Right, well, I’m off. See you all at work tomorrow.” I ignored all protests and jumped into an Uber, glad to be out of there but sad that I was heading home to an empty house. I really could have done with Zack’s arms wrapped around me, holding me tight.

We continued our old tradition of steamy and delicious bedtime video calls. I missed him like crazy. We briefly discussed my work decision and he agreed it was a good opportunity to take. I’d decided to speak to him when he returned about the egg donation idea. Everything finally felt like it was falling into place. We could do this; we could absolutely do this.

Luke’s absence from my life still struck me unexpectedly, at the strangest of times, but I was better prepared for it now, more able to cope with it. I wondered what he was doing, who he was with, but I knew I needed to stay away for both of our sanities.

Sometimes, though, I swear my brain went into overdrive and began to conjure him up in front of me. As I got off the tram that Friday morning, I headed to the coffee cart; a regular stop for me. My phone betrayed me by playing a very special song to Luke and I directly into my ear buds - The Scientist by Coldplay. There was a point I would’ve had to skip it, but that day I simply listened and smiled at the memories. Remembering us side by side, singing along. It hurt me, but I equally didn’t want to lose those happy memories that the song pushed into my mind.

A long shiver ran down my spine; I shook my head from side to side to try and disperse it, my ponytail flicking across my shoulders as I did so. But goosebumps crawled up my arms; something was having a huge effect on me. I pulled out the ear buds and looked around, suddenly feeling exposed. But everything was normal, nothing was amiss. It must’ve been the song playing tricks on my mind.

I had just over fifteen minutes to get into work. With a final shiver as I paid for my coffee, I sighed and walked away from the station. My mind thinking about what might have been, what so nearly was.