24. Twenty-four
Twenty-four
Harper
I was sort of awake, but not particularly functioning when I heard Thomas use the blender. I had no idea how he was able to stomach so much this early in the morning. I was a coffee-and-eat-at-ten-a.m. type of person, and to be honest, I was barely a person in the morning.
Thomas had left his bedside lamp on, which I appreciated, as he had very thick shutters that blocked out every single shred of light. This was usually a welcome feature on the weekend, but today, I had two important meetings. One where I was going to drop my resignation on my current boss out of seemingly nowhere, and two where I would accept a new job.
I was excited. Thomas had successfully dulled the anxieties I had about us working together, and he had even shared a little more of how he felt about me, which was always a nice thing to hear from someone you were in a relationship with.
After doing my morning skincare routine, hair, and minimal makeup, I made my way out to the kitchen where Thomas was sitting at the island bench, reading something on his phone, smoothie beside him.
“Morning, my beautiful princess,” he said, barely able to get the words out of his mouth.
I laughed. “Do not call me that again, ever. ”
Desperate for coffee, I searched for my favourite mug and noticed he already had it sitting out on the bench, alongside my oat milk.
“Please refrain from all conversions for another five minutes.” I looked up at him as I poured the oat milk into the frother, and he raised his hands above his head in surrender.
All jokes aside, it was an absolute pleasure to wake up and see Thomas in the morning. Most of our mornings together had been at races, and he would be suited and gone well before me.
I watched the milk swirl around the frothing machine and took a breath in to catch the earthy tones of the strongest coffee pod Thomas had as it dripped into my mug.
As I poured the milk, I attempted to make a pattern in the froth, a leftover skill from my early years as a barista. I warmed my hands on either side of the mug and took a long, glorious sip.
It ran down my throat, igniting a spark in my brain. I smiled at the smirking race car driver in front of me. “Good morning, Thomas. Thank you for getting my favourite mug out.”
“Morning, Harper. Nice to see you.” His voice was neutral, but his face was full of sarcasm, with eyebrows raised and the tiniest smirk in the corner of his lips. It was the sort of smirk I wanted to kiss away, impossible to get mad at.
As he read something on his phone and I sipped my coffee, I thought about how these moments with him were the ones I loved the most. No noise, no people around us, just us together. I leant my head on his shoulder for a few moments as we sipped our morning drinks in silence.
“Better not sit here for too long,” I interrupted our peace, my anxiety getting the better of me. “Have to choose an outfit. ”
Thomas laughed. “They know what you look like, Harps,” he replied as he placed his phone down on the counter.
“I know, but this is a job interview, and I want to look professional.”
“I think you look quite professional when you wear nothing,” he said, attempting to flirt. I scrunched my nose and rolled my eyes.
“Why are you saying cringey shit to me this morning, Thomas? Can you go back to being a dick already?” I laughed and kissed him again.
It felt natural to us, taking jabs and laughing. I hoped that side of us would always be there.
I packed my laptop into my shoulder bag and poured the rest of my coffee into a travel mug since Thomas would be driving us both today. He had tonnes of media and work to do leading up to the last race of the year, so we wouldn’t see a lot of each other during the day.
“Okay, Allenwright, what will it be? Architects or Parkway Drive?” he asked as we hopped into his car.
I rolled my eyes. His taste in music was something I was going to have to get used to. I didn’t hate it, I was just more of an indie rock and pop sort of girl.
“Architects, please,” I answered as I placed my travel mug into the centre console panel.
“Excellent choice. Good looks and taste in music. Aren’t I lucky?” he said, turning on the car and choosing a song. Now that he could say a million times and I would never get sick of it.
** *
“I can’t wait for you to meet my brother,” Thomas said as he parked in his usual spot outside the front entrance to Echidna. Having just finished a call with his mum, who called to invite us over for lunch the following weekend, I smiled.
“I’m excited, but one thing at a time today for me, if you don’t mind.” Nerves started to get a hold of me. I knew once I was sitting in front of Chris, I would feel more at ease with the whole situation.
Thomas kissed me on the cheek as we parted ways, him going to the canteen for a coffee and me to Chris’s office.
I knocked on the closed door, which was strange, as it was usually wide open.
Chris opened the door moments later. “Harper! So great to see you, come in, come in,” he said cheerfully as I followed his instructions.
“Can we get you anything?” he asked as he motioned for me to sit on the couch by the small outdoor balcony of his office.
I shook my head. “No, thank you!”
Chris sat down opposite me on the couch, with no notepad or laptop. He didn’t know what I was going to say, and I wasn’t sure if I was offended or not by his choice. Or maybe he wanted me to feel relaxed.
“So, tell me, Harper, you called this meeting. What would you like to talk about?” His legs were loosely crossed at the ankles and his expression was warm.
“Thank you for agreeing to see me on such short notice. I know there’s a lot going on at this time of the year.” He nodded in agreement but didn’t speak. “I’ve considered your offer, and I wanted to ask if I could make a few of my own terms to see if you would be open to that? ”
“Yes, of course. As I stated in my email, we are offering you the position of full-time Chief Communications Officer. Happy to match or increase your salary as per the Daily , and you’re free to start whenever you’d like.”
He had answered one of my questions already.
“Okay, fantastic. I was going to say if the salary was less than the Daily , then I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to accept. Everything’s just too expensive these days!” He nodded in agreement.
“Does that mean you accept?” His face was hopeful.
“Yes! Please send me the contract details. I don’t have a start date yet because I need to resign from the Daily. Might take a little more time off, but other than that, I am so excited. Thank you, Chris, for this opportunity!” I was officially excited now.
As we stood up, Chris extended his hand out to me and shook it, a warm smile on his face. I couldn’t help but beam back at him. This was an incredible opportunity for me, one that I would not take lightly.
“I’ll show you to your office then! And you’ll have the contract by the end of the day. If you have any issues with what’s written in there, please let me know and we’ll work it out.
Chris led me down the hallway past Thomas’s office, where he was sitting on the phone, before revealing my own office. Just two doors from Thomas’s.
His and hers offices. Cute, Harper.
I was impressed to see all the junk that was in there cleaned away. The office was smaller than Thomas’s but had a desk by the window and a small balcony, whereas his didn’t.
“Welcome,” Chris said as I saw a beautiful orchid sitting on the desk with a note, before leaving me to assess my new office alone.
I read the card attached to the beautiful phalaenopsis. Harps, congratulations! Now you can boss me around outside of the bedroom too xx Thomas . His note made me laugh and blush at the same time.
I placed the orchid against the window where it could get some sunlight and took out my laptop. I would need to resign now, whilst working out of my new workplace, what an odd sensation.
As I waited for my laptop to start up, I noticed a familiar figure in the corner of my eye leaning on the door frame. “Office swap? I didn’t realise how nice this one was,” Thomas said with a wink.
I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Thank you for the lovely plant and no, absolutely not.” He kissed the top of my head, and we stood there for a while, not speaking, until he finally broke the silence.
“I am so fucking proud of you, Harper,” his voice shook a little at the end. I dared not look up at him, knowing that if I made eye contact, I would cry. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be working as a journalist at a racing garage. That was the thing about life, right when you thought you had it figured out, it threw something completely amazing and left field at you.
***
Thomas let me be so I could write my email to Harry. I felt a little disheartened to be leaving my very first job in journalism, but it was time for a change. This would be an exciting step up for me.
I leant back in my chair after hitting send, the last line of my email replaying in my mind.
I want to thank you for taking a chance on a journalism graduate straight out of university. Your faith in me was encouraging and gave me a fantastic start in my career.
It was true. Harry did take a chance on me; however, his recent attempt at forcing me to out the Echidna team was less than savoury. I knew Harry would oblige me with a positive reference, so I wanted to end things on the most professional level I could. Sometimes, you just had to play the game. I had given Harry three weeks’ notice, as I had a few pieces I needed to complete for publishing. I also wanted to be fully present for the last race of the year. Funny to think that by then, I would be an actual member of the team.
I walked out to the balcony of my new office and looked out to the small park across the road. No one was there, only the trees swaying in the breeze, birds trying to get food off the ground, and an endless stream of cars going by. I made a mental note to walk over there one day on my lunch break.
I felt I had made the right choice, that this was a step forward in my career and regardless of Thomas’s whereabouts, Echidna was a good fit for me. On top of that, I could confidently say that I was now a motorsport fan.
***
At the end of the day, Thomas and I walked hand-in-hand to his car before splitting to get into our respective sides.
“This could be us every day,” he said as he started the engine.
“I’m sorry, I haven’t given that a thought at all yet. There’s a lot going on.”
“No, no. No reason to be sorry. I just like having you stay with me at my place.” He offered no further comment. It was lovely how excited he was to have me live with him. I just needed more time to consider what it meant to be living together. Our feelings for each other were clear but working together and living in the same house sounded like a huge commitment, and I wanted to make sure I was making the right choice for me.
Sometimes, it surprised me how sure he was about the whole thing.
“Thomas?” I asked, halfway through the drive back to his place.
“Yeah, Harps,” his reply was gentle, while he continued to look out into the traffic.
“Thank you for asking me to move in with you, but I don’t think I’m ready yet. Can we see how working together goes first?” I asked looking across at him, trying to work out his thoughts from afar. The afternoon sun behind his head highlighted his features, making him look golden in comparison to the dull grey interior of his car.
He considered his reply for a moment.
“I get it, Harps. Yeah, of course. We’ll just keep staying at each other’s places and have our own time. All good.” I could hear the disappointment in his voice. I didn’t want to hurt him, I just wanted to be sure.
“It’s just that seven months isn’t a lot of time, don’t you think?” I asked as he turned off the road to meet the gates of his property.
He reached out his window to check the mailbox, before coming back empty-handed.
“I guess it’s not long, no. I just got carried away. I’ve never felt about anyone the way I do about you.”
His honesty always sprung up in the most unlikely situations. How could checking the mailbox seem like such a romantic moment all of a sudden?
“You know I love you, right? I’m not saying no, just not right now.”
He stopped the car halfway up his driveway and turned to face me as best he could.
“I love you too, Harps. Sorry if I pressured you, I didn’t mean to. Just started to think of having you beside me every night.”
“You got greedy,” I said with a wink.
“Can you blame me though?” he laughed.
I shook my head. “Not really. I am quite the catch.”