“I would be seriously concerned about you two giggling if you’d been summoned here for some kind of wrongdoing.” She directed a warm smile at Steph and added, “Although your absence was a sore point this morning.”
Steph felt apprehensive again now and as she relived her altercation with Jack Baker in her office a sense of nausea washed over her as she considered what could have happened if Rosie hadn’t interrupted and also what she was going to tell Jon.
“Are you sure I can’t get you something?” asked Andrea as she smiled at Steph’s concerned expression, but before she had a chance to reply Jon’s door opened and as if her day couldn’tget any worse the gorgeous, blonde Mrs Brooker appeared in the doorway.
When she turned to kiss Jon on the cheek Steph actually thought she could feel sick in her mouth. She looked down and removed an invisible thread from her trouser leg.
As Mrs Brooker accepted her jacket from Andrea, she called back to Jon, “It would be nice to see you at the house at some point over the weekend.”
Steph looked back towards Jon who smiled at his wife. “I’ll see what I can do, but no promises.”
She turned and grinned at him which did nothing to ease Steph’s urge to vomit all over his reception floor, but at least Mrs Brooker was on her way out, maybe on her way home, their home.
Once Mrs Brooker was safely out of the office, Jon turned to face those waiting for him. “Steve come through and Andrea can you get Miss Pryor some sweet tea, she looks ready to keel over.”
Andrea sprang into action as Jon closed his door behind Steve.
She sat nursing the tea that she didn’t want and listened to the infeasibly loud ticking of the wall clock behind Andrea until Jon’s door opened again to reveal a laughing Jon and Steve.
“Keep me posted,” said Jon as Steve crossed the threshold back into the waiting area where Steph still waited nervously.
“Miss Pryor,” said Jon while Steve smiled at her as they passed each other. “Bring your tea,” he suggested.
“I’m fine, thanks,” she assured him, even if she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel fine again.
“Let’s bring it anyway.” He picked the cup and saucer up himself and carried it into his office behind her before placing it down on his desk then enveloped her in his arms, hugging her tightly. “You look like shit. So, what the hell is going on?” He kissed the top of her head gently.
“I look like shit because I feel it,” she replied bluntly and honestly.
“Are you ill? Is it from your head?” He bent down to look her in the eyes, his own showed only concern.
“No, although that started the week off as it was destined to continue,” she replied cryptically.
“Sit down.”
She did as he instructed her via a gesture towards the sofa behind them but shook her head as he offered her the sweet tea again. He placed it in front of her regardless before sitting next to her.
“Right, now tell me what the story is with your unpunctual team member sitting at your desk and then you can tell me why Rosie is with H.R. before you explain why I have not taken any calls or seen anyone since you called me this morning despite Jack Baker’s persistent attempts to make contact.”
She took a very deep breath and prepared to work through his list of requests.
“Jack told me last week that he planned to replace me this week, probably with Martin, to see how on the ball you were.”
“On the ball? He’ll soon see how on the fucking ball I am. We have a contract. This is business, so why the hell is he messing about? This contract is worth a huge amount to Baker and is a significant feather in their cap so why piss me about and risk me pulling the plug on the whole deal?” he asked curiously.
“I don’t know. He asked before about any job offers you may have made me and said that there were rumours that you were going to make me a very attractive offer, but you hadn’t and I told him that. I agreed that I would give him the opportunity to match any job offers I received. Then he said about substituting me with Martin and swore me to secrecy. I did say that he could be in breach of contract because you had me named in it, but he seemed unconcerned by that. I did wonder whether it was somekind of test to see if I would say anything here, but then I also wondered whether he suspected that something was going on between us and was trying to expose that in some way. Although, he warned me about Steve, so maybe not, but I did as he asked and said nothing to anyone about it, not even you.”
“Hence the cryptic question about whether I expected you to tell me what is said at work,” he said with a sense of understanding now.
“Yes.”
“What do we do with your man Martin then? Steve reckons he is sitting down in legal looking scared half to death.” Jon wore a confused expression.
“Steve said as much to me, but Martin is a good accountant. He just doesn’t have a clue about your contract. He had no input on it and he is the first to admit that legal jargon confuses him.”
“Mmm, leave that one with me, darling. What did Jack say about Steve?” he suddenly asked.
“Much the same as you, be careful, he is disrespectful to women although he claims to love them, ask his wife, no more,” revealed Steph.
