Forty-five minutes later, after he’d had his breakfast and a bracing shower, James sat down in his office to go through some work. It was clear from the mountain of emails and texts he’d received that Emily had done an excellent job of broadcasting his personal details far and wide.
He was going to have to change his phone number and his email address. It didn’t seem like something Dee would be able to sort out without significant input from him, so he might as well just do it himself. Such a waste of time.
He actually would call the police if Emily posted his home address online. You couldn’t easily change where you lived, and he really didn’t want to. He liked it here.
Mid-afternoon, the doorbell rang.
On his way to the door, he took a look at the security camera to check that Emily hadn’t somehow made it back in again. Nope. It was a man he didn’t recognise. Probably a delivery. Sometimes people left parcels downstairs; sometimes they brought them up. Had he ordered anything online in the past week? Had he asked Dee to order anything for him? He couldn’t remember. He swung open the door.
‘James.’ The man wasn’t in normal delivery driver garb. He was wearing a suit. He looked vaguely familiar now. Probably late forties, maybe early fifties, shortish, pleasant face. ‘I wondered if I could have a word? About the job?’ His voice was shaking, and his eyes were staring. He had to be one of the employees James had made redundant this week. Clearly, he had no idea how many people James had spoken to. How could he seriously remember any of them as individuals? More importantly, how the hell had the man found James’s address? Via Emily? ‘Could I possibly come in?’
Come in? No, of course not. James’s home was his sanctuary. He did work from home sometimes, in his study, but what work he did and when was his choice. He never invited anyone except his closest friends over. And, occasionally, women, and that had just been shown to be a huge mistake, so he wouldn’t be doing that again any time soon. And he certainly wouldn’t be inviting this guy inside. He could be as off the rails as Emily, for all James knew. He certainly had to be desperate, or he wouldn’t be here, and James did not want desperation over his threshold again.
James patted his jeans pocket to check that he had his keys, moved outside and pulled the door closed behind him.
‘I’m sorry. I can’t talk. There isn’t anything else to say, unfortunately.’ He took a couple of steps round the man, to indicate physically that the conversation was over. The man turned so that they were still facing each other. James started to walk towards the lift. The man followed him.
‘I don’t know if you remember my name. Tim West.’ Of course James hadn’t remembered. ‘I did some detective work to find your address. I hope you don’t mind. It’s just very important that I speak to you.’ James did mind. It was better than if Emily had been sharing his address, but it wasn’t great.
‘I hope you understand that like everyone I have to have a line between work and home, and I can’t have people calling on me here in person.’
‘Not to worry,’ Tim said. ‘I wouldn’t tell anyone else and they won’t find you. I actually went to your office yesterday and followed you home and noted the address.’ Woah. Stalker-like andadmittingto it. Doubly unnerving.
Tim was ploughing on with his obviously pre-prepared spiel. ‘I’ve been working at Leadson’s for twenty-nine years. I love my job. More importantly, I’m good at my job. I have ideas about how we can improve the business. I understand that some streamlining’s necessary but I think you’re making a mistake in letting the entire division go. It never works as well if you bring outside management in without retaining some of the people with knowledge.’ His voice cracked. ‘And I need this job. I don’t know how I’d get another one. My knowledge is very specific. I’m at twenty-nine years and eight months. After thirty years of service I’d have been able to take early retirement and access my pension.’
Christ, if you allowed yourself to think about things like this and you weren’t shaken by the invasion of your personal privacy, you could feel very sad. But you couldn’t let sentiment into business. Ultimately that made for poor decisions, lower profits and more job losses in the future.
James pressed the button for the lift and cleared his throat.
‘Sorry, sorry,’ Tim rushed on before James could speak. ‘I didn’t plan to mention the personal side of things. That’s irrelevant. What’s relevant is that I can help you and you’re making a mistake in letting me go. Please? Could we at least talk this through?’
James hadn’t made a mistake in making Tim redundant; he’d made a rational business decision. He did make a mistake in looking down at Tim’s face and seeing the pleading in his eyes. Hard to ignore that.
‘I can’t intervene personally, I’m afraid,’ he said. ‘I hope you understand that I wouldn’t be able to do this for everyone, so I can’t do it for anyone. Your best bet would be to work on your CV and submit it to HR. There’s a possibility that some who are at risk of redundancy will be considered for other roles within the business. Very few people, though. Please don’t get your hopes up.’ The lift door opened and James nodded at Tim. ‘Goodbye and good luck.’ He stuck his hand out.
Tim shook it fervently and said, ‘Thank you,’ before he got into the lift, which really didn’t make James feel good.
‘I’ll speak to HR on your behalf as well,’ he told Tim as the doors closed. James shook his head. He’d had no choice about the redundancies last week. It was hard not to feel awful, though, when you witnessed the fallout.
* * *
James arrived early for beers that evening with Matt and a couple of other university friends.
He’d received a message from Emily’s mother late afternoon telling him that he was ‘a shocking commitment-phobe’ and ‘a wolf in a handsome sheep’s clothing’ and that he’d ‘ruined Emily’s life’; and had decided that he’d rather be in the pub than at home.
He chose a table for four in a corner and sat down with a pint of low alcohol lager and a packet of smoky bacon crisps.
He hadn’t felt like this in a long time. Not at ease in his own home and his own daily life. Time for a holiday, maybe, except he was only just back from skiing last month and he was very busy with work. He and his private equity partners had discussed recently the idea that one of them might spend some time out in the States, working with their Boston and New York offices. There were a lot of opportunities out there that they wanted to look at, including ecotourism.
Maybe he should think seriously about a stint in the US.
He munched crisps, staring at a very odd picture of a crowned frog on a cushion above the mantelpiece. He probably should broaden his horizons. Thirty-five years old and he’d lived his entire life in London. He’d come a long way since childhood, from the small high-rise flat in a crowded estate, but by distance it was actually only about two miles.
Yeah, a temporary move to the States was genuinely tempting.
‘You should, mate,’ Matt told him later on when James had finished describing where his thoughts had taken him. ‘And rent the flat out. Give you peace of mind.’
‘Tricky to find the ideal renter, though?’
