‘One,’ I say, ‘a long term thing. We were together for a whole year. Since then, I obviously have myboyfriend-repellant on.’ I’m onlyhalf-joking.
‘Guys are unsure of you,’ Lois says. ‘That kooky arty look scares them off. Plus, there’s the black nail varnish.’
‘True. I had to get rid of it for here.’ I gaze at my nails with their badly applied layer ofsee-through pink. With black, you just slop it on and it always looks right.
‘If you want a job, look like the person they’d want to hire,’ we parrot, courtesy of one of the Getting A Job seminars we went to.
‘It worked, though,’ says Lois. ‘I’m wearing a blouse instead of a DoorsT-shirt and you’ve cornered the market on white shirts and skirts. Skirts! You’re Charlotte.’
‘Am not!’
‘Yes, you are. You want one lovely man, not a string of lovers. And you lookCharlotte-y in thoseon-the-knee numbers.’
Like Mum, I’ve always seen myself as a free spirit in the world and I have to fit into the legal world with my conservative clothes. But one day, in a smaller firm and with my own clients, I can be myself.
When we get back to the office there’s a buzz in the air. Alex Quinn, one of the company directors, has been on holiday, somewhere hot and expensive, and he’s just returned to the office, the reek of Chanel’s Eau Sauvage and a hint of After Sun flood the place. I sneak a peek from behind my partition and see amiddle-aged guy withwhite-blond hair, a handsome face, and a tan that looks as if only rich people can buy it.
‘Hello, team,’ he says loudly.
Even his voice is rich and Michelle, second year there, rolls her eyes and yet stands up and says, ‘Hello, Alex, welcome back.’
Like a celebrity visiting a disaster site, he tours the office, a laughing comment here, a pat on the shoulder there, a shake of Lois’ hand when he reaches her corner.
I notice him looking her up and down appraisingly, but Lois doesn’t smile at him.
Some Samantha, I’ll tease her later.
‘And you must be Sidonie, our other new intern.’
Suddenly he’s standing in front of me, and I feel something sparkle inside me: this man, he’s one of the company’s partners and he’s noticing me, an intern. Maybe he’s heard I’m good at what I do!
‘Yes,’ I say, beaming. ‘It’s really lovely here, Mr Quinn, everyone has been so nice.’
‘Oh, call me Alex,’ he says, and he smiles. He’s forty, definitely. Which is like miles older, even Stefan isn’t forty, Mum isn’t quite forty. But this guy, forty seems younger. He’s got this vibrant energy and something else, I can’t put my finger on it ... charisma, that’s what it is.
He comes around behind the partition and leans against it, one long leg crossing the other.
‘So,’ he said, ‘how do you like it here?’ He’s got a low deep voice. And I feel very flustered by all this attention. So far I’ve been treated like a normal young member of staff and there has been a lot of coffee runs, shouted commands to get files, boring document searches, and ‘Can somebody work out where my phone charger went?’ Stuff like that. The sort of thing you get to do as an intern.
Lois, somehow, doesn’t do most of those jobs.
‘If you do those jobs, people will think that is all you are capable of,’ she’s told me, firmly. ‘You’ve got to show them you are here to work, not to be a run around. You didn’t go to law school to find that bitch Michelle’s phone charger.’
‘I know,’ I say, but there’s a part of me that’s always been built in to what I’m supposed to do, helping out. I help people, that’s what I do. That’s how I got on in school, I worked hard and made Mum proud of me and then Vilma and Stefan. I’ve always been a good girl.
‘Good girls finish last,’ Lois said.
‘That’s just wrong, the world doesn’t work like that,’ I pointed out.
And now here’s Alex Quinn, smiling down at me like I’m the only person in the world. It’s a heady feeling. I think he must have heard that I’ve been working really hard and he’s come over to say thank you. And I know I’ve done the right thing. I’m proving myself an important part of the business and that’s what I want to do.
‘It’s been lovely working here, and I’m really here to learn and I’m so grateful for the opportunity,’ I stammer.
‘Well, that’s good to hear,’ he said. ‘I’ll have to bring you out to lunch to talk to you about this; I like to bring all the interns out to lunch. I think you lovely girls need to get out of the office and see the real world we are dealing with.’
‘Oh, well, I do lunch from half twelve to a quarter past one, so I don’t know how we could do that. But I’ll ask Michelle.’ Michelle is in charge of myself and Lois.
‘Oh it will be fine with Michelle,’ says Alex. ‘Anyway, we’ll work it out, put it in our diaries. Anyway, nice meeting you.’ And he pats me on the shoulder, his hand for a moment touching my hair. And I feel that frisson of excitement at having been noticed by this demigod of a person. Oh wow. I sit there for a minute in silence staring at my computer. And then Lois pokes her head around the partition.
