“Hello, I’m Felix. Have I come to the right place?” The voice belongs to a dark-haired guy, hard to age, he could be roughly the same as me, but the scant scruff of hair on his jaw makes him look younger. He’s not tall, around five-seven, maybe a couple of inches shorter than Simon. But something about him makes me warm to him in a way that I haven’t to the others.
“Yes, we’re expecting you,” Simon replies. “I’m Simon and this is Charley. We’ve just made a coffee, can we offer you one as well?” I turn to look at Simon. He must be getting the same vibes as me, as we’ve not offered a drink to any of the earlier candidates. He gives me a little smile and a wink, which confirms it.
“Thank you, that would be great,” Felix replies, and Simon goes back to the staffroom to make it while I show Felix to the table we’ve been using.
“This is an interesting building.” He looks around, taking everything in including the beamed and vaulted double-height ceiling in the reception area. “What was it before?”
“Stables and a hay barn. Gabriel wanted to keep it as original as possible. So much so that if you look at the beams on the mezzanine floor you can still see where he and I carved our initials into them when we were kids.” I don’t know why I told him that detail but it came out anyway.
“That’s pretty cool.” He grins and accepts the mug Simon hands him, and I invite him to sit. He answers all the questions about his experience and qualifications. All the time there’s something niggling at the back of my mind. A familiarity I can’t place.
“Why do you want this job?” I ask.
“I had been offered the bar manager job at the Rainbow Room,” he explains. We knew he worked there from his CV. It’s a gay club in Oxford and one of the reasons we shortlisted him, not that I’ve ever been there. “But my mum is sick and I want to be close to her, so I’ve moved back home to help my dad care for her.”
“I’m sorry about your mum,” I say and he nods, acknowledging my words. “Are you local, then?”
He smiles. “You could say that. I grew up in Larchdown.” The strange niggling feeling gets stronger but I can’t place him.
“I grew up in Larchdown too. Have we met?”
“We went to school together, in the same year. I think we might have been in the same English class.”
I frown. I don’t remember a Felix at school. Granted, I didn’t make many friends there as I had Gabriel for the holidays and helped Pete the rest of the time. School was just something to be endured. But Felix is a distinctive enough name, surely I would’ve remembered.
“I’m really sorry, Felix. This sounds really bad but I don’t remember you. Though, since you walked in, I’ve thought I’d seen you before somewhere.” I can’t keep the confusion from my voice, but Felix doesn’t look bothered. Instead he gives a little laugh.
“That actually pleases me. I don’t expect you to remember me. But do you remember Fiona?”
“Fiona?” I scrunch my face up, forcing my mind back. Flashes of memory come to me. I do remember Fiona. A quiet girl, never mixed with the popular girls. A bit of a loner like me. She always looked sullen and weary, so many people stayed away from her. I look at Felix again and the dots finally connect in my brain that he was once Fiona.
“Fiona West? Wow, I mean . . .” I don’t know what I should say and I don’t want to be rude, so I say the first thing that comes into my head. “You look happy.”
“Thank you,” he laughs. “I am very happy. I’m still on my journey but now I feel like me.”
“That’s amazing,” Simon says, and he somehow manages to bring the interview back on track and we close it out with a tour.
“Thank you, Felix. We’ll be making a decision later today so I’ll give you a call then.” I offer my hand and he shakes it firmly before leaving.
“Do you want some lunch and we can discuss everyone we’ve seen?” Simon asks and I agree. Although I liked Felix a lot, I think talking about them would be a great idea.
“Give me fifteen minutes then and see if you can find Gabriel. We should talk about it as a group.” He’s already pulling out his phone, no doubt texting Andrés. I shoot off a quick text to Gabriel and he says he’ll be there, then I quickly go to my office to check if anything urgent has come in during the morning and get caught up with emails until Gabriel knocks on my door.
“Good morning?” he asks as I follow him to the restaurant where Simon has set a table.
“I can’t wait to tell you,” I reply and he grins. I don’t know what sort of magic Simon possesses, but in just a short time he’s managed to make a Moroccan style dish of chicken and couscous with flatbreads.
Andrés joins us, and as we eat Simon and I talk through each of the candidates with them. They both pull faces when we talk about the arrogant prick.
“We don’t need people like that,” Gabriel says gruffly.
“Simon managed to scare him off, though,” I say, and they laugh when we describe it.
“I like Felix a lot,” I say. “Not only because being trans I think he’ll fit in here—for us as well as him—but also he gives off a friendly yet competent manner as well. He has an interest in staying in the area with his family, and he’s also worked his wayup to almost being bar manager at the Rainbow Room, turning down the job to come back home.”
“The Rainbow Room?” Gabriel asks.
“Yeah, do you know it?” Now my curiosity is piqued.
