“Thanks. He told me you got a new job too.” He hesitated. “Do you want to drive? I know you hate being driven.”
She laughed. Was there anything he didn’t know about her? “That’s true, but oddly enough you’re the exception.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment, but if you want to drive at any point just let me know.” He reversed out of the space and headed out of the car park. “So how’s that going? The job I mean. I haven’t seen so much of you this year so I assume it’s keeping you busy.”
“It’s great.”
“Mm.” He paused while the barrier lifted. “So which part specifically do you hate? Or do you hate all of it?”
She sighed. “Am I that bad an actor?”
“No, but I know you. I’ve known you since you were—I don’t know how old you were. I don’t even remember a time when I didn’t know you.” He emerged from the car park and joined the flow of traffic leaving the airport. Snow swirled in front of them, reducing visibility. “Let’s just say that I’ve known you long enough to be able to tell when you’re lying.”
He was right. She loathed everything about her new job. She missed her old colleagues and the fun they’d had together. Missed the familiarity and ease of it all. She’d been with the same company since college, and she was known and respected there. Starting somewhere new had proved to be a massive culture shift. And her boss was a problem. The fact that she was a woman should have been a positive in theory, but in practice it wasn’t turning out that way. But the thing she found hardest of all was something she couldn’t talk about.
But Will was waiting for her to share details, so she gave him the only detail she was willing to share.
“My boss doesn’t seem to care about the quality of anyone’s work,” she said, “it’s all about who is present in the office. Whojoined in the team lunch. Who went on the team awayday to an escape room. It’s just not me. I hate that kind of thing.”
He shot her a sympathetic look. “I don’t blame you. I’d hate it too.”
“I had my appraisal recently and she saidthere is no problem with Becky’s work, but she needs to join in more.” She snuggled deeper into the seat. It was so comfortable she could have closed her eyes and slept for the whole journey. It made her realise how tired she was. “It’s mandatory to work in the office three days a week, so I do that. But I don’t see why it should be mandatory to do group activities outside work. I loved going out with my colleagues in my last job, but that was different. That was our choice, because we liked each other. It wasn’t compulsory.”
Will slowed down to allow a car to pull in front of him. “Sounds as if it’s time for you to find another job.”
“I haven’t even been there for a year.”
“So what? You have skills, Becks. You won’t have any difficulty finding another job.”
Maybe he was right. She had to be able to do better than this. But what if the next place was as bad?
“I probably should have picked it up in the interview, but I’m not great at understanding humans. They’re my least favourite animal.”
He laughed. “Your favourite animal being a lesser spotted laptop?”
“Something like that. But I also like dogs. And horses. And most cats. Red squirrels. I like red squirrels.” But he had her smiling too. And thinking. “So if you’re such an expert on the human condition, tell me how I can convince her that I don’t have to be partying until dawn to do my job well.”
“Not much you can do. It’s her problem.”
“Sadly that part isn’t true. It’s very much my problem.” The brief lift in her mood dissipated.
“Do you wish you’d never changed jobs?”
How did he always know exactly which questions to ask? And why did they always get her deep in her gut? Yes, she wished that. She wished she’d shoved all those complicated feelings into a box and ignored them.
But it was too late for regrets. There came a point where you just had to live with the decision you’d made. Remind yourself of the reasons you made that decision in the first place.
“I don’t wish that.”
He glanced at her. “I never thought you’d leave your old job. You loved it. Did you really have to?”
She felt her insides flip over.
“Yes.” This was it. This was the moment she’d been dreading. He was going to ask her the one question she didn’t want to answer. She dug her fingers hard into her leg and waited.
She wanted the car to somehow swallow her whole, but although it was a masterpiece of engineering she doubted that particular trick was within its specification.
He was silent for a moment. “Are we going to talk about it?”
