Chapter 8 Nancy
I STARED UP AT THE STAINED-GLASS PYRAMID that enclosed the atrium of the top floor.
Each beautiful panel depicted a different season in breathtaking detail.
It wouldn’t have been out of place in a National Trust property it was so classic, but somehow the contradiction worked in this corporate setting, like cheery flower baskets decorating a high street bank.
I followed Evelyn and David into the glass-fronted secure room, already set up with two futuristic-looking consoles and a pair of Aeron office chairs.
“The transaction data is available on these machines, which you can log into with your keycards,” Evelyn explained.
“There’s no Wi-Fi or mobile connection in here for security reasons, but you can use the meeting room for anything personal.
” She gestured to a display panel. “This controls the air conditioning, lock, and privacy glass. Other than that, I’ve set you up with tea and coffee on the side, and there’s bottled water and milk in the fridge below. ”
David smiled. “You’ve thought of everything, Evelyn.”
“Lord Toverton has; I just facilitate,” she said graciously. “But if you have any problems, just grab me at my desk.”
I’d been assigned the console facing the atrium, which was at least more interesting than facing the wall.
Apparently, security extended to window access, which was a shame, given we were based at the top of one of the tallest towers in London.
Instead, I had a clear view of Alex working directly opposite.
How am I expected to concentrate with him parading in front of me all day?
I already felt shaky after he’d taken my hand in the lift.
I didn’t like a stranger’s touch and, over the years, I’d learned how to avoid it if at all possible, which wasn’t always easy in a busy capital.
That was why I never took public transport at rush hour.
I’d been groped on packed buses and tube carriages since my boobs first started showing.
It was a depressing part of life that had never become normal, only more unbearable.
But with Alex, the contact felt...good. It was so unnerving, I withdrew as soon as my thoughts kicked back in.
I looked over at the door panel and considered turning on the privacy glass, but that would probably come across as anti-social.
“Right, coffee first, then we’ll dive in,” David interrupted.
“Sounds perfect.”
The next three weeks passed by in an easy routine as I settled into the audit. Each morning, I entered my code and parked in the basement, changed, then used my keycard to access the private lift to the seventy-first floor, where I found Alex already working.
The man was all business from morning to evening: tapping away at his computer, conducting meetings on the colossal conference screens, or confidently pacing around the boardroom table, talking on his headset.
On a couple of occasions, I’d caught him staring at me through the glass as I ate my bag-squashed sandwiches and own-brand lemon slices, but when our eyes met, he’d turned away.
When Alex wasn’t working, he was exercising.
But rather than use the employee health centre, he worked out on an elite-looking rowing machine set up in his office.
Since the second week, he’d left the smart glass clear, meaning I had a full view of him in shorts and a tight tee pistoning away for half an hour until he was coated in sweat like a walking thirst trap.
It was obscene. After he’d gone for a shower in his private bathroom, the thought of him stripped and soapy had me turning the temperature control down to cover my flush.
Every afternoon at exactly four p.m., Alex checked in with David to see how the audit was progressing.
It surprised me how close the two were. Even if they’d gone to university together, their backgrounds were so different I couldn’t understand how they found anything in common.
But they bantered and bickered like long-time friends.
With David, Alex seemed much more relaxed and down-to-earth than I’d expected.
I’d kept myself to myself as they recounted their many drunken stories from Cambridge, but Alex had a knack for coaxing me into conversation.
He was so damn charming the whole time, I couldn’t help it.
His humour was like mine, a little dry and self-reflecting.
That surprised me, too. Weren’t men like him meant to be self-assured all the time?
Wasn’t that what private school was for?
Yet, there was something I couldn’t lock down about him.
There was more going on in the background he was going to make damn sure no one could see. It was like looking in the mirror.
My observations built the picture of a considerate guy, governed by routine and always on the go, to the point of being a workaholic. I wondered if it was a distraction.
Once Evelyn and David had left for the evening, Alex’s persona would slowly unravel into something different as his meetings wrapped up and the phone stopped ringing.
It was fascinating, if a little sad. He’d stand by the windows in his office, taking in the view of the capital, his shoulders slumped slightly forward, revealing another side to his otherwise composed exterior.
With Mum at work most evenings, and Kim and Jem busy during the week, I had nothing to go home for except crappy TV or a good book.
After nine hours at a monitor, I couldn’t face either.
My life had become so different from a year ago, when I was consumed by finals and picking up waitressing shifts whenever I could.
Then, every minute was filled, but now, nothing took up my evenings except a sea of time alone.
And by the look of it, Alex didn’t have anywhere to be either.
When he stood at the window deep in thought, it was like he was trying to communicate something that couldn’t be put into words.
I didn’t know if those moments were for me.
They couldn’t have been. It was self-involved to even think it, but equally, he knew I was sitting right across the atrium.
I wasn’t invisible…or maybe I was to him.
It felt almost voyeuristic to stay and watch, like I was witnessing something deeply intimate, but still, every evening, I stayed put.