It’s got to be something big …
Olivia
Olivia checked the time. How was it half past six already?
‘I have to leave. I really have to leave,’ she told herself, throwing her barely eaten bowl of granola into the sink and downing the dregs of her espresso, before hurriedly shoving another capsule into the machine.
‘Right.’ She stood up tall and shot back the searing hot coffee. ‘Ithinkwe are good to go.’ She grabbed her laptop bag and slung it over her shoulder, the weight of it nearly causing her to stumble. Phil had been promising her a new computer for the past year, but so far he’d managed to spend all their technology budget on a gigantic flat-screen TV for the office, and Olivia had remained lumbered with this brick. She hoisted her handbag up and was about to open the front door when her phone began to ring.
‘Please don’t be Phil with more changes …pleasedon’t be Phil with more changes,’ she prayed under her breath.
From the moment the board presentation had been announced, her boss Phil had been in overdrive. The entire team had been working on it for months now. In fact, theyhad gone over it so many times that whenever Olivia closed her eyes, all she could see were graphs and data points. Surely there was nothing more that needed to be done?
She pulled the phone free, her stomach dropping at the name flashing up on her screen.
Don’t answer it. You can call him back later.
Olivia hesitated, her finger hovering over the reject button.
But he never calls this early.
In fact, he never calls at all …
Panic gripped her and she answered the phone immediately.
‘Kyle, what’s wrong?’ she barked.
‘Wow, that wasn’t the friendly greeting I was expecting this fine Monday morning.’
‘What do you expect? It’s like …’ Olivia glanced down at her watch. ‘Quarter to seven. Why are you even awake?’
As if on cue, her brother let out an exaggerated yawn. ‘I pulled a double shift at work. The kitchen was seriously understaffed, so I said I’d help out. You know me, always a giver.’
‘And always slightly delusional.’ Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘Is everything OK? Are you all right? Is Mum OK?’
‘Yes, yes, we’re all fine. Calm down. How many coffees have you had? You sound wired.’
Olivia felt the caffeine pulsing through her.
‘I’m not in the mood for messing around, Kyle. I have a big day at work, and I need my energy.’
She checked the time again, a nervous habit which only served to make her more anxious.
‘I know you do, that’s why I was calling.’
‘Huh?’
‘I wanted to wish you luck. You’ve got that big presentation thing today, don’t you?’
‘Yes …’ A spark of suspicion flared up inside her. It was a stretch for Kyle to wish her a happy birthday, let alone remember one of her work meetings.
‘So, I wanted to call and wish you luck. You seemed spun out about it the last time I saw you, so I knew it was probably a big deal.’
‘The last time I saw you, I was “spun out” about quite a few things,’ she fired back, a little too harshly.
‘Weren’t we all.’
A pang of guilt. A surge of grief.
