‘Laurence,’ she wrote.
I don’t know what you’ve been smoking but it has clearly caused hallucinations. You appear to believe I’m desperate to go out with you, when in actual fact I finished with you LAST YEAR becauseI didn’t want to see you any more. Given your new lady friend is apparently a possessive psycho, perhaps it’syouwho should stop contactingme.
Rachel.
Her finger hovered over her mouse, which was positioned right next to theSendbutton.
God, it was tempting to click it. But what would that really achieve? Rachel took a deep breath and drew her hand back towards the edge of her desk. She knew that even acknowledging receipt of this email would, in Laurence’s mind, reopen their dialogue; it might make things worse rather than better. Laurence was certainly arrogant enough to convince himself that any response to his diatribe must imply she still cared – even a response that pointed out he was demented and demanded he never bother her again.
She deleted what she’d written, watching every word disappear from the screen with faint disappointment. Then she moved Laurence’s email to her junk folder, put her head in her hands and took a few yoga-style breaths to try to calm down. She was livid, but she knew she’d done the right thing.
‘Are you all right there? Have you seen Isaac’s email?’
Jack put a takeaway cappuccino down next to Rachel’s left elbow, then lingered.Too close. And he had that Don Draper-y fragrance on again. She tried not to breathe it in.
She looked up at him. ‘No. I saw it come in but I haven’t read it yet. How haveyouread it already?’
He waved an oversized, expensive-looking rectangle at her. ‘Rachel Ryan, the smartphone. Have you met? I was bored in the coffee queue.’
She rolled her eyes, then opened Isaac’s message.
‘Fuck, fuck,fuck,’ she breathed.
‘I thought you might say that. Or something along those lines.’
‘She wants us to stay on the account? You said this would work just like BHGH – like with Horrible Humphrey.Yousaid we’d end up staffing this with juniors and overseeing from a distance. This sounds like she wants us on the project all the time – three or four days a week!’
Rachel was aware that the pitch of her voice was rising; every word she uttered sounded more frantic than the last.
‘Calm down,’ Jack murmured. ‘It’s okay. It’s not as bad as it seems. Yes, she wants us on the build phase of the project – and for more time than I could have anticipated. But once the new platform is up and running and we’ve populated it with content, the day-to-day stuff can be handed over.’
He crouched down next to her desk so he could look at her properly – talk to her with their eyes level, the way you’d speak to a small child in distress. It annoyed her.
‘It’ll just be a few months, Rachel, and Olivia asked for you personally. She might not want your editorial ideas, but she wants your talent; she knows you’re the best writer we have.’
‘Can I say no?’
‘Maybe. I don’t know. It definitely wouldn’t be easy. If you refuse to be involved, Olivia might pull the account – she’s very used to getting what she wants. Losing us Lighthouse wouldn’t do you any favours with Isaac, let alone Toby or the people up in Manchester.’
‘Wow, thanks.’
‘I’m just being honest. Like I said before, I can talk to Isaac about this if you’d like me to – but the situation now isn’t much different than it was then. If anything, the stakes are higher because we’ve won the pitch.’
‘You’re right,’ Rachel sighed.
She slumped in her seat and he placed a hand on her shoulder. She wished he wouldn’t touch her like this, even though it felt good; people could see, and it only threw fuel on the gossip fire.
‘I’ll be with you all the way,’ he said, standing up and moving around to his side of their adjoining workspace.
‘Yeah. I know.’ Rachel nodded, not sure how helpful he would be. ‘Thanks for the coffee.’
Come to the boys’ flat from work, Anna’s WhatsApp message instructed.They’re cooking for us, apparently.
Rachel:WTF? Do we trust them to cook for us?
Anna is typing …
Anna: It’ll probably be student food – pasta bake or something. Even Will can’t mess that up.
