April
New Year’sOngoing resolutions
1. Consider exercise an act with actual benefits – both mental and physical – not merely grim punishment for pizzas consumed.Have a proper go atContinue letting Greg drag me to yoga, provided he refrains from making snide comments re Jack/me and Jack.
2.Also re-downloadComplete Couch to 5K running app andactually do the programme.Keep running at least twice per week –alwaysbeing careful not to perv on anyone improper.
3. Apply for promotion at work at first chance. Move to bigger account and try to get pay rise. Avoid, if possible, further projects concerning dog biscuits, disinfectant, high-quality printer ink cartridges, ‘miracle’ grass seed, organic vegetables, etc.
3a. Try to hang on to job (and temper) despitepresence of evil ex-boyfriendhideousnesscontrol-freakery of certain clients.
3b. Ignore everyone who keeps banging on about how fitheJack is.
3c. Ignore how fit he is.
3d. Ignore the fact he keeps trying to be friendly/nice/possibly quiteflirtatious.
3e. Ignore the fact he is getting divorced.
4. DO NOT agree to further dates with Laurence. Remember: it’s no use having a boyfriend who is good on paper if you do not actually fancy him.
4. Forget that Laurence even EXISTS (despite usefulness of overblown ‘romantic’ gestures for creating illusion of deeply devoted boyfriend. Try not to spin any more tales re ‘boyfriend’, though – don’t want story to get too complicated … ).
5. Try to remember Mum means well, even during phone calls where sheimplies I am doomed to a lonely life of penury because I am thirty with no partner, hardly any savings and no mortgageinsists on talking about the babies/breasts of people I went to school with.
6. HOWEVER,do not(!!!) speak to Mum when suffering PMT. Set phone alerts for likely spells based on period tracker intel.
7. Try to address ‘hardly any savings’ situation.(If promoted, set aside extra earnings for future house deposit instead of spaffing it all on ASOS.)(Do not spend entire pay rise on‘cheer up’ treats to distract from heinous ex-boyfriend mess.)hot new outfits for work – see 3c.)
8. Try to eat my five-a-day. (Remember horrid rule that potatoes do not count.)
9. Start using proper night cream with retinol.SERIOUSLY.
10. Do the best possible job helping Tom with exhibition. Be supportive and discreet re Oscar. Avoid arguing with Tom about Jack.
11. Be a good friend (and bridesmaid) to Anna. Help with wedding organisation and keep selfish, sad worries about how much I’ll miss her to myself.
22
Olivia Mason was almost half an hour early for the Lighthouse UK pitch meeting. It was 9.48 a.m. on the first Tuesday in April and she wasn’t due until 10.15 – but she was already sitting in one of the armchairs next to Donna’s desk, her hands folded neatly in her lap as she looked around the room.
‘Damn,’ Jack said. ‘I bet she’s done this deliberately. I hate being caught on the hop. I’ll go and get the laptop set up in the meeting room. You go and chat her up for a few minutes while I sort it.’
‘Me?You wantmeto go over there and talk to her?’
He looked at her like she was an idiot. ‘Yes, Rachel. Isaac’s on a call, so one of us has to go and pretend it’s absolutely fine that Olivia’s turned up way ahead of schedule. This is atest. It’s an attempt to see how easy we are to fluster, how ready we are to jump to it and present her with our plans.’
She gaped at him, still not understanding.
Jack sighed. ‘Whoever isn’t cosying up to her and making coffee needs to handle the technical stuff: getting the right cables into the correct sockets so our presentation displays properly on the big screen … And while I’m generally better at both cosyingandcomputers, even a man of my talents can’t be in two places at once. You’re challenged by anything electronic, Ryan, so I’m afraid it falls to you to be winsome and witty with the client for a few minutes. I know you can do it.’
He nodded his head in Olivia’s direction as if to say:Off you go, then.
Rachel huffed at him, decided that introducing herself to Olivia was probably the lesser of two evils, then turned on her heel and marched away.
She wasn’t looking forward to meeting Olivia or talking to her for an hour about bereaved families, and the sight of the woman herself did nothing to quell Rachel’s nerves. The Lighthouse UK CEO was dressed in a mint-green skirt suit – the kind that Rachel remembered her school headmistress wearing in the late 1990s. Beneath it was a crisp white cotton shirt, buttoned all the way up to her pointed chin. She had salt-and-pepper hair cut in a sharp bob that fell just to her jawline – a strong, defined slope that put Rachel in mind of someone she’d met before. She had no idea who.
Olivia wasn’t unattractive, but she looked as though she gave no consideration whatsoever to whether she looked nice – as if such musings might be beneath her. Her aim, Rachel guessed, was to appear tidy – competent and respectable rather than appealing. If she hadn’t been so thrown by Olivia’s general air of austerity, Rachel would have liked that about her.
