“No one is stepping down, Evie.” Abby’s tone was urgent. “I admit that I don’t really have a full picture of what’s going on here. If I did, I would share it with you.”
“You said you were supposed to give the board a full and honest picture.” Evie folded her arms. “So what form does that take?”
“I send reports directly to the boss.”
“The boss who is also your mother. I’d like to see those reports,” Evie said. “I have a right to know what you’ve been saying about us.”
Her insides quaked a little. Did she really want to read what Abby had written about her? About the whole team? Presumably it wouldn’t make easy reading. Still, she might learn something about herself, and it was important to take on feedback, even negative feedback.
Abby hesitated and then nodded. “Yes, of course. I’ll forward the emails to you.”
“And now that you’ve finally been honest with me, whatdoes that mean? Are you no longer working here?” Something tapped at the edges of Evie’s brain. “Wait a minute. You were supposed to be here for the whole summer. Two months, that woman from head office said. So why are you telling me this now? Today? You’re not even halfway through your assignment.”
“Because last night when I called my mother and left the message, Tristan overheard me talking.” Abby reached for the glass of water and drank.
“And he made you promise to tell me the truth today.”
“Yes, but I was going to anyway.” Abby put the glass down. “I don’t expect you to believe me, but that’s why I called my mother. To tell her I wasn’t going to stay under-cover any longer.”
“But the fact that you thought better of it doesn’t really change anything, does it? Do you know what hurts most?” Evie gave up trying to sound professional and distant. “The fact that you were great to be around. When you first arrived I wasn’t sure—you were distant and a little intimidating, but then you threw yourself into work and opened up. I don’t really have anyone I can talk to here—they all see me as ‘little Evie’ or ‘our Evie.’ I’m not Evie the manager, and never Evie the colleague we should listen to because she has great ideas. But you—” she felt her voice crack and hated herself for not being able to hold it together “—we talked about everything. And I couldn’t believe how lucky I was having you working with us, even if it was only for the summer. I felt as if we were friends. Real friends. You ate in my kitchen. You sat in my garden and listened to me spill my fears and worries. You encouraged me to open up, and I did. I thought you were interested. I thought you liked me. But the whole time we were together, you were mining for information that you could use against us.”
Abby swallowed. “That isn’t—”
“But it is though, isn’t it?” Suddenly she felt exhausted. Betrayed. “I’d tell you to go home, but we’re short-staffed so I can’t afford to do that. You can join the housekeeping team for the day. We’ll talk later.”
Abby stood up but she didn’t make a move to the door. “Before I leave, there’s something else I need to say to you.”
Evie wasn’t sure she wanted to hear anything else. She felt as if her emotions had been rubbed raw with sandpaper. “As I say, we can talk later.” She needed time to think things through. To work out what to do for the team.
“I need to say this.” Abby gripped the back of the chair. “You were right when you said I could have said no to my mother. I could have refused to be under-cover. And I didn’t do that, and it’s true that part of the reason was because my mother isn’t an easy person to say no to—when she has made up her mind about something, she’s hard to shift. And it’s also true that I could see the benefit of being able to observe without people knowing who I was. But that wasn’t the only reason I agreed to do it.”
Evie’s head was throbbing. “What then?”
Abby’s fingers were white on the chair. “I don’t have a close relationship with my colleagues in Boston. They don’t trust me.”
“If you lie to them the way you lied to me, then that doesn’t surprise me.”
Abby flinched. “This was a one-off. They don’t trust me because of who I am. I’ve never been part of a team before, not really. When I walk into a room, people stop talking. When people go for drinks after work, I’m never invited. I work twice as hard as most people, but it makes no difference—people still assume I’m only where I am because of my mother. Nepotism. It’s fine, but—” She paused and gave a faltering smile. “Actually, it’s not fine. I tell myself it’s fine becausethere’s nothing I can do about it, but it’s pretty lonely. Sometimes I feel as if I’m back at school with no friends in the playground. When I was asked to work here under-cover, I saw a chance to reinvent myself for a short time. To be someone other than me. To be judged for what I do, and not who my mother is.”
Evie felt a spasm of sympathy and squashed it down. She didn’t want to feel sympathy! She needed to toughen up.
Channelling her tough side, she scowled. “Are you trying to make me feel sorry for you?”
“No.” Abby shook her head. “I’m trying to explain why I agreed to it. Yes, I was uncomfortable with the principle of being under-cover, but the chance to work in a place where people weren’t prejudging me was appealing.”
Evie didn’t understand the point she was making. “Why are you telling me this?”
Abby swallowed. “Because I want you to know that the past few weeks have been the best of my whole working life. The moment I walked into this place, you’ve all treated me as if I’m one of the team, you especially. You’ve included me in the conversation. People laugh with me, instead of making me the butt of the joke. You’ve all made me feel as if I belong, and I’ve never had that before. I didn’t actually know it was possible to feel this happy at work.” Her voice wasn’t quite steady. “And those things you said just now—you’ve been a real friend, Evie. Part of me doesn’t even understand it, because I don’t find it easy to get close to people and yet I felt close to you in a way I’ve never felt before. As if we had a bond. A connection. It felt special, and I never meant to damage that.”
Evie felt something tighten in her chest. Why did she suddenly want to hug Abby? She should be mad with her.Furious.
Abby’s deception at work was inexcusable, but Evie knewthat the real reason she was so upset was personal. She’d enjoyed Abby’s company. She thought she’d made a friend. Deep down she knew that the prime reason she was feeling terrible wasn’t because of the work implications, although that was bad enough, but because she’d thought Abby was a friend. She’d assumed she could be trusted.
This wasn’t only a business betrayal, it was a personal betrayal.
But that wasn’t what mattered right now. Her own feelings, her personal feelings about having made and lost a friend, were going to have to wait.
“I—what you did was wrong.”
