I did know this.
‘Sorry,’ I say, placing my phone into a grey tray along with all my other bits, and sliding them along the rolling conveyor belt.
By the time my bags and I are scanned I am itching to get hold of Kat.
‘Darling!’ she answers.
‘Kat, sorry it’s so early,’ I begin.
‘Nina, it’s nearly six o’clock in the morning!’ Kat chuckles as if this is practically midday. ‘You’ve just caught me, actually. About to whip up a green juice before I get the kids up. Is everything okay?’
‘Oh yes, no major problems,’ I say hastily, not wanting her to worry that there’s an issue with the job. ‘I just read your email and wanted to catch you really quickly before you dispatch poor old Callum off to the airport too.’
I think on my feet, aware that I need to tread lightly given that she’s my bossandhe’s her nephew.
‘He really doesn’t need to come,’ I say decisively. ‘As much as I’d love to “collaborate” on this, I’ve totally got it covered. You know me! Nothing will go wrong and this way, you can keep Callum in the office, save on the cost of another flight—’
‘Nina, let me stop you there,’ she says, pausing for a coughing fit. ‘I know you’ve got this covered, but I want Cal to come and that’s the end of it.’
‘But—’
‘No arguments,’ Kat cuts me off. I can hear her chopping vegetables in the background. ‘Don’t think I can’t see what you’re doing. I know that you and Cal don’t get along.’
‘What?! Ha! That’s not true!’ I protest, making some shocked noises for good measure.
The loud whirring of Kat’s industrial juicer fills my ears.
‘You don’t like each other,’ she insists. ‘You try to pretend that you do, but I am neither stupid nor deaf. You’re the only person in the world who addresses him by his full name, for a start. You mutter under your breath every time he has something to say in meetings, Nina.’
Idodo that.
‘And then there was that weird atmosphere after the Christmas party,’ she continues.
Urgh. Callum and the Christmas party. Now there’s a thread I do not want to pull at right now. The wordsChristmas partyhang like a cloud over the conversation until Kat finishes some loud juice slurping and continues.
‘Darling, it all boils down to this. I need my heads of department getting along. Think of this as an opportunity to learn and grow. To open yourself up to new voices. By the time you and Cal get back into the office next week, I want you to be best friends. Sympatico. I want you finishing each other’s sentences, sharing lunches, innately knowing when the other one needs a coffee, that kind of thing. Because Kat Moretti needs a team that gels together.Capiche?’
(The ‘capiche’ thing is also a smidge annoying).
I am standing stock still, people bustling past me on their own quest to get to duty-free, with my mouth wide open in shock. There’s really no way out of this, is there? Kat wants Callum and me to become ‘sympatico’ by this time next week.
‘Capiche?’ Kat presses, more loudly this time.
I sigh in frustration.
‘Capiche,’ I echo with a grimace.
‘Excellent!’ she says. ‘He should be with you shortly. Right, we’re eating into my five-minute juice window so I must dash. Keep me updated?’
‘Of course.’
‘Ciao for now.’
‘Bye, Kat,’ I say dejectedly. Damn it.
TWO
There’s nothing like the impending arrival of your arch nemesis to take the edge off a bit of duty-free shopping. I’m in Harrods eyeing up a selection box of chocolates that costs one hundred pounds – no joke – and I find myself vaguely wondering if I could expense it. They do look delicious! Will Jan allow me to push a hundred quid’s worth of chocs through on the company dime? I’m going for no. Besides, I can’t even enjoy looking at all the wildly expensive things in here because Callum Bang has ruined my airport buzz.
