‘Yeah, see you in a wee while. And please, unpack your case, Katy,’ I added. ‘It’s giving me the boke how you’re living!’
‘What?’ She grinned, backing out the door. ‘Can’t hear you!’ she called down the corridor, singingLa, la, launtil I heard the lift door shut.
*
Once they left, I slumped forward, forehead on the desk, letting exhaustion and pain wash over me. As the office grew quiet, my thoughts spiralled. Was he with someone else before I left? Maybe that was why it was so easy for him to walk away? Was this new girlfriend who he was on those constant calls with? But surely he wouldn’t be so shameless? My head was spinning with unanswered questions until a loud knock on the door broke me from my thoughts.
‘Normally I’m the last man standing.’ Jimmy hovered in the doorway, his jacket draped casually over his arm.
‘Not tonight,’ I snapped back, reluctantly raising my head.
‘Are you all right?’ His voice sounded concerned, and I couldn’t help but cringe at what he must have thought of me. First, I screamed in the office and now I was face-planting my desk. Great.
‘Hmm?’ I questioned. ‘Oh, yeah. This is how I think my best thoughts.’ I shrugged my dramatic behaviour off casually, knowing how ridiculous I must have looked.
‘Right.’ He grinned. ‘Because you have a Post-it stuck to your forehead.’
I rubbed my throbbing head, making the bright yellow sticky note fall to the desk. ‘Why are you so late?’ I asked, keen to change the subject.
He let out a puff like he couldn’t be bothered to even discuss it. ‘I was going over some numbers with Travis. And .?.?. I got the email about your article with Tia. It was very .?.?. insightful,’ he concluded tactfully.
‘Really? Which part?’ I questioned, holding my head up high.
Jimmy’s face twisted. He took another step further into my office and whispered, ‘Do you really think all men are cheats and liars? Or is that a PR angle?’ He seemed genuinely interested in my opinion.
‘That was Zola that said that.’ I smirked, remembering how bolshy she’d been.
‘And what do you think? Honestly.’
‘Honestly?’ I paused. ‘Then .?.?. yeah. I think Zola’s right. Men are all selfish, blood-sucking bastards who take and take, then when something better comes along, they vanish.’
Jimmy’s eyes widened as if I had just dropped a fat brown one in the middle of the office floor.
‘Wow, Ella! Don’t hold back.’ He laughed. ‘But you don’t think that, not really? Notallmen?’
I thought back to all the men I knew – Curtis, Philip, my ex, Joshua. Fuck, even my own father messed about in his heyday.
‘I’m serious. Unfortunately, I do,’ I admitted.
‘Wow, I’m sorry you feel like that,’ he said. ‘But in my defence, I have met a few truly crazy women in my time.’
‘And that is precisely the kind of gaslighting statement a man would make, Mr Link,’ I shot back.
‘Ouch!’ He raised a brow.
I held my hands up. ‘Toxic masculinity. It’s probably not your fault. I’m thinking that it’s the way men are encouraged to behave these days.’
Jimmy shook his head, looking disappointed. ‘I guess you’ve experienced some truly sketchy men, Ella. And I can see you don’t trust easily. For what it’s worth, I’d like to apologise on behalf of us all.’ He patted the door frame in an awkward attempt to say goodbye and stepped out of the office.
‘Wait. Jimmy!’ I called out after him. He turned back. ‘How bad was the article?’ I asked, knowing how fired up my friends were.
Jimmy gave me a look that I couldn’t quite get the measure of. ‘It will make .?.?. an interesting read.’
I threw my head back and sighed. What a shitty day.
‘I mean, look, it wasn’t what I imagined, but it will get people talking, put it that way. And I’m sure Britney will be kept busy with PR calls.’
‘And you’re not annoyed?’ I asked, knowing my old boss Andrea would have had us lined up with our drawers at our ankles, ready for a severe arse-whipping if we pulled a stunt like that under her.
