He shakes his head.
‘Because I took a kid-in-the-sweet-shop approach to getting dressed this morning.’
‘It works.’ He shrugs, like giving me a compliment is normal behaviour for him.
‘Areyouunwell?’ I ask as we step off the travelator.
‘Quite well, thank you,’ he says.
‘You are a man of multitudes,’ I manage.
‘Aren’t we all?’
My phone starts to ring and I’m pleased for the distraction, even though it’s yet another thing I hadn’t expected.
‘It’s Kat on videocall,’ I say, staring at it.
‘Are you going to answer it or just continue to look at your phone?’ Callum asks, amused.
I give him a hard stare.
‘This doesn’t usually … oh, never mind.’
I leave Callum to find the right gate while I meander off in the direction of a vending machine to take the call.
‘Hi, Kat.’
‘Darling Nina!’ she trills, all luminous skin and perfectly blow-dried bob, before instantly descending into a coughing fit. Kat used to be a hardcore partier with a devotion to cigarettes until she discovered wellness in her thirties. Her hacking cough is now the only giveaway that she once had vices.
‘Everything okay?’ I ask.
‘I was about to ask you the same thing. You didn’t reply to my email this morning which is most unlike you. I thought you might need a chat before you bump into Cal.’
‘Too late,’ I say darkly. ‘He’s here.’
‘Ah. Listen, you’re going to be fine, darling. I know you two don’t get along but I really think this trip together will be good for you. Use the time to thrash out your differences, capiche?’
I try to make it look like this is brand-new information.
‘Look, I realize that you and Cal haven’t seen eye to eye since he started at Kat Moretti. I don’t pretend to understand why things soured further after the Christmas party, but I do think it’s time to bury the hatchet.’
‘Bury the hatchet?’ I blurt out. ‘Honestly, I’ve no idea why you aren’t more pissed off about that whole incident.’
‘Why would I be pissed off?’ Kat asks.
‘I know he’s your nephew, Kat, which does make things awkward, but Callum left the Christmas party with one of the most junior, not to mention most drunk, members of the team. That’s pretty off in my book, don’t you reckon?’
Kat looks deeply baffled by this.
‘Darling, whatever are you talking about?’
Today, I am not in the mood for having big issues swept under the carpet. It’s time to rip that carpet up and polish some of the manky old floorboards underneath.
‘I’m talking about Ellie!’ I say, exasperated. ‘You know, your PA?’
‘Of course I know who Ellie is, Nina, there’s no need to be facetious. She’s here with me now, helping me set up for the day.’ Kat moves her screen so that I can see Ellie waving in the background of Kat’s office.
‘Hey, Nina!’ Ellie calls over. She’s wearing a neon-pink vest and some extremely shiny black trousers, her hair in plaits. ‘What’s up?’ she asks as she strides closer to the screen, treating me to a close-up of her perfectly applied neon-pink eyeliner. Ellie’s never not dressed like a highlighter pen.
