Iris caught Bjarkey’s expression out of the corner of her eye. She could probably hear Jay, but if not, she’d caught the gist of the conversation, anyway.
‘What would it take for me to stay?’
‘It’s not an option.’
He rang off, leaving Iris staring at her phone in disbelief.
‘Who was that?’
‘My boss.’
‘He wants you to leave? Now?’
Iris nodded.
‘Wow,’ Bjarkey said. ‘What’s gone on? For him to insist you leave when you could leave in a week with a thousand percent more information and data, there has to be something.’
‘It’s a long story.’
‘Come on, we have time,’ Bjarkey said, smiling. ‘Share the drama.’
‘I was at university with him. I was going out with someone else, a guy called Patrick. One night, I got really drunk. That’s not an excuse for what happened, but it is the reason it happened.’
‘What happened?’ Bjarkey still had her eyes on the road, but they were wide in anticipation.
‘I kissed Jay, and Patrick saw.’
‘Jay is the one who is your boss now?’
‘Yes.’
‘And did you secretly like Jay? Is that why it happened?’
‘No! God, if you ever met Jay, you would understand why that repulses me. Actually, that conversation we just had is a fair representation of what a dick he is most of the time.’
Bjarkey laughed, then Iris carried on.
‘We were at a party and it was dark. Jay came up behind me and slipped his hands around my waist. I turned, thinking it was Patrick, because he used to do that all the time. I was drunk and tired and my eyes were closed and I ended up kissing him, thinking it was Patrick.’
Bjarkey shrugged. ‘That is not so bad. It was an accident.’
‘Itwasan accident, but Patrick didn’t believe me. I don’t know whether he was using it as an excuse. Maybe he’d wanted to end things anyway. But that’s what he did.’
It still hurt to think back at how mortified she’d been when she’d realised what she’d done. How dismissive Patrick had been of her, making her realise he hadn’t been in love with her the way she was with him.
‘And then you ended up working for the man who ruined your relationship.’
‘It feels wrong to blame it on him, and if he was a nicer person, maybe I wouldn’t have.’ She gave Bjarkey a rueful smile. ‘But from that day on, he’s lorded it over me. You know what I mean?’
‘I think so. He has never let you forget it and is smug. Is that the right word?’
‘That’s it exactly.’ It was a relief to explain it to someone who understood. ‘And now that he’s my boss, he tries to control me, even though I have more experience than him in monitoring and especially in this field of experimenting with frequencies.’
‘That is what he doesn’t like. That you are more knowledgeable than him. He cannot control that, so he has to try and control you in another way.’
‘But making me go home now is bad for the project. That’s what I don’t understand. It’s as if his rivalry, or whatever, with me, is forcing him to make poor decisions.’
‘A man like that will always put protecting his ego ahead of anything.’
