‘Course I do. Every bloke in the building does. Well, apart from Charlie, and he doesn’t exactly count. She’s gorgeous . . .’
Chloe made a noise she hoped sounded like a giggle, but inside, the arteries and veins that led to her heart were being tightened like guitar strings.
‘. . . for an old bird.’
Ewan grinned, and it was like the sun coming out after a long grey winter. Everything inside had unfurled.
Thinking about that moment now, as she carefully felt-penned Gill’s leaving present on a large padded envelope, Chloe once again had that dissolving feeling she’d experienced when she sat down at her desk on that first day in the office in front of an unfamiliar computer, squinting nervously at the yellow Post-it on which the guy from IT had written down her new ID and password. She had been trying to get up the nerve to turn the computer on when Ewan had looked across at her from the next desk and smiled, and something somewhere had gone ping.
It was only 8.50 a.m., still a full ten minutes before the official start of the day, and the office had that eerie living-museum quality you find in stately homes where the rooms are empty but the family is still in residence, subtle traces of them everywhere. Rachel Masters had already been installed in her office when Chloe had arrived five minutes earlier. Did that woman even have a life outside work?
A few members of the sales team whose desks were hidden behind a grey padded partition were already in, and Chloe decided to begin her collection there, slipping discreetly behind the screen with her envelope to a welcome of mock groans. By the time she emerged a few minutes later, her envelope clinking reassuringly, the office had filled up. Sarah was there, looking flustered as usual. Amira was clutching a large cardboard takeout cup – it always took her at least two strong filter coffees before she could function properly. Disappointment twanged at the sight of Ewan’s still empty desk but then she heard a familiar roar of laughter and followed the sound to the boss’s office where the object of her affection was standing in the open doorway, leaning casually against the frame.
‘Wonder if he brought an apple in,’ whispered Charlie as he dug around in his pocket for some change to chuck into the envelope.
‘Apple?’
‘You know, for the teacher.’
Charlie was looking at her as though she was being particularly dense. After a rocky start, Chloe had come to like Charlie, but she wished she didn’t always feel so stupid around him.
Amira pulled a ten-pound note out of her wallet.
‘Really hate to be tight, but can I ask for a fiver back?’ She looked embarrassed and kept her voice low. ‘It’s just that we’re so skint at the moment and Tom keeps making me account for every single bloody penny.’
‘Sure. No prob.’
Chloe felt for Amira. She didn’t know how much she was earning, but even though she knew it had to be way more than her, it was never going to be enough to pay mortgages and gas bills and Council Tax and God knows what else. Chloe’s dad had once sat her down and gone through his bank statement to show her how much he paid out each month. ‘You’re an adult now, it’s about time you realized just how much things cost,’ he’d said, but her eyes had glazed over before they’d even gone through the first page of figures. Still, she knew it added up to many times more than the paltry sum that went into her bank account each month.
‘Chloe!’ That distinctive high-pitched voice cut like a knife through her thoughts. ‘I’m curious. Care to tell me what you’re doing?’
Rachel Masters was standing outside her office with her hands on her hips. Ewan was back at his seat and turned to see what was going on, along with everyone else. A horrible hush fell over the office.
‘I’m just taking a collection for Gill.’
‘What time is it?’
Chloe swallowed and glanced over to the clock on the far wall.
‘Five past nine.’
‘Actually it’s seven minutes past nine, which means you’ve been doing that for seven minutes since the working day officially began. I take it that means you’re up to date on all your stuff, like that mailing list you’re doing for me.’
Chloe stood frozen as if her legs had grown roots and dug down into the floor. Her face was on fire and she wasn’t sure she trusted herself to speak.
‘No, but . . .’
‘Actually I asked Chloe to do the collection.’
Paula’s voice sounded strange and unusually gravelly in the tense air. Chloe felt weak with gratitude as Rachel Masters’s attention shifted suddenly to her deputy.
‘And you specifically asked her to do it on company time?’