2. Chapter Two
Chapter Two
J ames’ demeanour changed as soon as his eyes alighted on Evie. He switched from grinning at the members of staff, smiling and nodding, to a frosty, altogether different response to her.
What was that about?
If anyone had the right to be cold it was her. It wasn’t James who had been left to wait on his parents’ porch as the minutes turned to an hour. It wasn’t James who had arrived ninety minutes later than everyone else to their prom, alone. Save for the company of her dad. Her wonderful, every present father who had told her James wasn’t good enough for her anyway so he’d be her date.
Evie cringed at the memories of that awful night. Her two best friends had been sympathetic but, happily coupled up had found it difficult to give her the shoulders to cry on she so desperately needed. After a couple of cursory hugs they had returned to their boyfriends, safe in the knowledge they weren’t the one whose night had been ruined.
Grace, Evie’s best friend nudged her in the ribs, waking her from her reverie. ‘He’s a bit of an improvement on Malcolm. I wouldn’t say no to him line-managing me,’ she said in hushed tones as Malcolm continued to drone on about a high profile client Evie had zero interest in as she wasn’t on the account.
‘Shush,’ Evie whispered back, reddening despite the welcome chill of the air conditioned offices. ‘You’re not meant to talk about people like that, remember?’ she reminded her friend about the awkward as anything ‘sexism in the workplace’ training the team had attended a month ago, which had become shorthand for all things awful.
Fixing her with a look that would make most people disintegrate under, Grace raised a perfect brow at Evie. ‘Someone got out of the wrong side of bed today…or should I say wrong person’s bed?’
‘So I would just like to say thanks to all of you for your hard work, it has not gone unnoticed,’ Malcolm’s raised voice and pointed stare in Evie and Grace’s direction hushed the two as they attempted to focus on what their boss was saying. ‘Don’t forget, we’ll be reviewing bonuses at the end of this quarter. Impress me everyone,’ he finished off as he always did, with a knowing wink and Evie did everything to prevent rolling her eyes. Immediately the staff began to disperse, heading to their desks, offices or the café, depending on seniority and caffeine needs.
Looping her arm through Evie’s, Grace lightly touched one of the graduate designers who was walking past them on the shoulder and gave him a full wattage smile that showed off her perfect pearly white teeth, ‘Conran, would you be a darling and pop downstairs to grab Evie and I an oat flat white each?’. Conran, who had barely spoken a word to Evie since he’d started three months ago, responded to Grace’s request as everyone who met her did, with an obvious thrill at being part of her orbit. ‘Sure, want me to get anything else? Cakes?’
Evie, who’d not had the chance to have breakfast was about to ask for a fruit pot but Grace decided for the both of them.
‘Just the coffees. Bring them to our office, thanks.’ Grace steered Evie down the wide airy corridor that showed glass after glass fronted office, where people were settling into their work for the day. Halfway down Grace pushed Evie into their office. A sanctuary away from the glass, white and industrial exposed beams in the rest of the building, the two women had made their space their own. They had decorated their suite, which comprised a light filled studio with everything that inspired them, alongside designs for clients. Aside from the one glass wall which they could do little about, as Malcolm was keen for everyone to be able to be seen from the corridor, they had decorated the other walls with interesting fabrics and photos to inspire them, whilst swatches of fabric and samples overflowed in boxes that were stacked neatly against the far wall. Ready at a moment’s notice to be added to a client’s board.
Off from the studio was their client space. It was a cosy area with two chestnut brown chesterfield sofas, a glass topped table, and enough plants to begin a gardening centre, painted in a calming sage green. Malcolm would always shake his head at the set-up, forever keen to have everything back to the sterile white, but Evie and Grace knew he wouldn’t change anything. They were his top designers. The ones everyone went to if there was a difficult client or a particularly tricky design requirement. So they got their way with most things.
Conran appeared with their coffees, which Grace took off his hands. ‘Off you go now,’ she said, shooing him out, then turned to Evie. ‘Okay. What’s going on?’ she pushed Evie down on the shoulders a little to encourage her to sit on one of the sofas, whilst Grace did the same, rubbing her swollen stomach as she lowered herself down. ‘If I’d known pregnancy was going to be this uncomfortable I’d have gone for a puppy.’
‘We both know that’s not true,’ Evie corrected. Grace had recently turned thirty and had been with her partner Bellamy for three years. They were exactly what Evie imagined a perfect couple would look like, happy, content and always beaming when in each other’s company. It had been of no surprise when Grace announced she was pregnant three months ago, having kept it quiet for the first four months, and until recently had shown no signs of slowing down.
Grace waved her hand around to dismiss her. ‘Whatever. Come on, out with it. You’re not answering the question,’ she sipped on her coffee and closed her eyes in bliss. ‘I can’t wait to have more than one of these a day.’
‘I just had a late start,’ Evie said, then gulped her own coffee.
‘Oooh, because?’
‘Because nothing. Because I overslept.’
‘Is that because you were…’ Grace left the implication hanging as Evie snorted.
‘No nothing like that.’
‘What happened to Mr Last Night?’ The issue with having a settled pregnant friend was that she wanted to live vicariously through Evie. Wanted to experience Evie’s love life. Or lack of.
‘Him? I turned up and he was at least ten years older than he’d claimed,’ Evie recalled with a shudder. ‘I think he was married too, there was a bright band on his finger where a ring had been until very recently. And he was so boring. I left after two drinks.’
Grace laughed. ‘It took you two drinks to decide?’
‘I was being polite.’
‘That’s your problem.’
‘What’s Evie’s problem?’
Both women turned quickly around to see Malcolm leaning in the doorway. ‘Good to see you hard at work,’ he raised an eyebrow at them both. Before they could reply, he stepped aside and James appeared from behind him. ‘I wanted to properly introduce you to James.’
Evie’s mouth dried up completely and her heart beat so hard she wondered for a moment what the start of a heart attack felt like as she watched James enter their peaceful sanctuary. He extended his hand to shake Grace’s.
‘Don’t get up,’ he said warmly to her and Evie watched as her friend grinned up at him. ‘My cousin's pregnant, she’s reached the swollen-ankles-can’t-wait-for-it-to-be-over stage,’ she heard him say and couldn’t believe it when Grace giggled like a schoolgirl.
‘I’m not quite there yet, but I’m sure it’ll be as fun as you make it sound.’
Malcolm, who was hopping from foot to foot in an obvious level of impatience did the introductions. ‘This is Grace. She’s working on the Cyan project. She’ll be your designer and go-to on everything to do with her. She’s particularly…’
‘Discerning,’ Grace finished for her boss, ‘or difficult. Depending on what day of the week it is.’
‘Got it,’ James said, grinning then finally, achingly, turned to face Evie whose entire body had gone rigid with nerves. She was gripping her coffee cup so tightly she was certain she would crush it given a second longer.
‘And this is Evie. She works on all the other projects Grace doesn’t. We try and split it so they don’t tend to overlap, but they can of course pick up where the other leaves off if needed.’ Malcolm turned, his involvement in the introductions over with. ‘I’m going to be in my office, come on down when you’re finished here and we’ll go over plans,’ he said to James, then left.
‘Hi,’ James said, all warmth gone from his previous exchange with Grace as he stuck his hand out and clasped hers. Evie couldn’t help it. Just the touch of his hand on hers was enough to make her breath quicken as she remembered the many other times they’d done the same.
‘Hi,’ she managed, looking into his bright blue eyes, the memories of him flooding back. Evie cast about for something, anything, to say. But was at a loss.
It wasn’t an issue though as he withdrew his hand and left the room quickly, leaving the faintest trace of his cologne in his wake.
Evie hesitantly looked over to Grace who was sat with confusion etched across her face.
‘What,’ she emphasised, pointing her cup at Evie, ‘was that all about?’