Chapter Twenty-Eight
Finlay loosened the collar of his shirt as he approached the school. The heat outside was intense but thank god everywhere he’d been had air conditioning, including his apartment. As lodgings went, his place was pretty good – clean, reasonably spacious and surrounded by people in similar positions as him. Well, as in they were teaching abroad, not that they’d just suffered their third failed engagement. He didn’t expect to meet anyone else in that position – ever.
He approached the school building and allowed himself a grin. Photos hadn’t done it justice. The pure white fa?ade with domed mid-section looked almost like a temple and reminded him a little of the Harrington’s eco house. But where it had been all glass and balconies, this was plain. Instead of the Harrington’s cultivated rose gardens, palm trees grew around the front entrance and also lined the boundary.
He nipped up the front stairs and entered. The receptionist was already on her feet and seemed to be explaining something to another woman. They both gave Finlay a small smile. He wasn’t sure why it should surprise him, but so far everyone he’d met had seemed so normal – probably a stupid thing to think, but for some reason when he’d imagined it, he’d thought people here would be different somehow. Perhaps with larger-than-life personalities like Flora, or snooty in some way.
‘Hello,’ the receptionist said, when the first woman moved away. Her accent was English and filled with cheer. ‘I’m Leah.’
‘Finlay,’ he said.
‘Ah yes. I have your I.D. card here.’ She headed over to the desk. ‘Finlay McBride.’ She glanced at the photo on the card he’d emailed last month, then at him. ‘Perfect. Now, you take that.’ She handed it to him. ‘There’s a note here saying that the principal would like to talk to you before you start the development day. I’ll take you through to meet him. He likes to personally welcome new staff.’
‘Thanks.’ Finlay slung the lanyard around his neck and followed Leah along the quiet corridors. Blissful cool air breezed over him.
She stopped at a door and knocked. When a reply came, she opened the door with a smile. ‘I have Finlay McBride here.’
‘Thank you.’ The principal got to his feet and moved around the desk. ‘Pleased to meet you. I’m Nicholas Fairley.’
Finlay shook his hand.
Leah left them and Nicholas Fairley indicated for Finlay to take a seat. Even though the principal was smiling, Finlay had an odd feeling that something wasn’t right. This meeting itself was odd. While he liked the idea of being personally greeted by the principal, he didn’t think it was common, especially on a development day when they were likely to meet anyway.
‘I hope you don’t mind me calling you in here before you’ve met anyone else,’ Nicholas said. ‘But I have a small matter I want to discuss with you first.’
‘Ok.’ Now his brain was racing. What small matter?
‘I’m sure when you signed your contract, you made yourself aware of the stipulations regarding personal conduct, including the use of social media. As I expect you’re aware, this school has some very conservative families who expect staff to behave accordingly.’ He pulled a face. ‘Almost expecting us to be saintly and completely above reproach, which is unreasonable in some cases, but there are times when…’ Nicholas adjusted his tie and coughed into his hand.
Finlay’s mouth had gone dry. He could sense what was coming without using any of his mum’s psychic measures. Common sense told him someone had seen Genevieve’s social media account and flagged it to the school.
‘It’s not possible to be squeaky all the time, I’m aware of that,’ Nicholas went on. ‘But it’s been brought to my attention by a group of parents’ – he seemed to steel himself as if these particular parents were a constant source of irritation – ‘that you have appeared in some compromising ways this summer on social media. Almost as soon as I sent out the new staff list, I had a long message from one of them, detailing a very public proposal in which several bottles of wine were apparently visible.’ He glanced up. ‘Public drinking is, of course, a big no around these parts and viewed as criminal by these parents.’ He kept his eyes on his screen as he read this out and his cheeks turned slightly pink.
‘That’s been twisted,’ Finlay said, keenly aware it wasn’t that far from the truth.
‘Yes. I expect it has. I was hoping it would all have died down by the time you arrived and there would be no need to mention it, but I’ve had two more emails this morning.’ Nicholas steepled his fingers and peered across the desk. ‘I assume this fiancée of yours is here with you.’ He looked back at the screen. ‘Someone named Genevieve Harrington with social media accounts called The Vieve.’
What the hell? What lengths would some people go to in order to dish dirt? Did these people have nothing better to do?
‘Genevieve and I aren’t together anymore. We split up, so no, she isn’t here.’
Nicholas frowned and leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand. ‘You split up? Didn’t this proposal only take place a few weeks ago?’
‘Yes.’ His insides squirmed. Did everything and everyone have to remind him of his stupidity?
‘Oh dear.’ Nicholas sighed. ‘I hope the parents don’t get wind of that.’
‘Are you sacking me?’ Finlay asked. How could he help it? Wouldn’t it be just like his life to be sacked before he’d even started a job? Just like he’d been dumped three times before getting to the altar… though he couldn’t really count the last one. That was the strangest part of all. The last one hurt more than both the others. For a fleeting second, the idea of being sacked appealed to him and he saw himself rushing back to Genevieve, telling her how he felt and begging her to make this real.
‘No, you’re not sacked,’ Nicholas said. ‘That would leave us with a real problem. I won’t even call this a reprimand, just an informal chat, and a chance to put together an action plan for where we go next. To start with, please take care and ensure nothing else appears on social media. The parents play a powerful part in this school and I can only go so far to protect you.’
Finlay left the office some twenty-minutes later, his energy levels depleted. How much more could he take? Now he had to switch his focus to work and concentrate on learning about a new school, a different system, new colleagues and, all the while, panicking Genevieve might have inadvertently posted something else. He’d looked at her social media feeds more in the past few days than ever before. It was like a lifeline to her, but he couldn’t very well pull out his phone and start checking now. Hopefully she’d be as quiet as she had been since they’d split. Nothing new had been posted. No announcements, cookery films or product endorsements. It was like she’d disappeared.
Finlay had to keep reminding himself it was only a week ago he’d got here. With the jetlag and getting used to a new place, it felt like a lot longer.
Even at lunch, he didn’t want to appear rude and disappear into his phone, not when everyone else was chatting and getting to know the new staff.
When he finally checked later in the day as he walked towards his lodgings, nothing had changed. He would ask her to keep the news of their split quiet for now. Risking the stalker parents finding out anything else about his private life wasn’t worth it.
Before he could message her, however, he noticed a chat head had popped up with Elise’s picture in it.
With a sigh, he flipped it open and saw a long voice message. Pressing play, he held it to his ear.
‘Hi. I just want to say I cannot believe what you’ve done to Genevieve. I guessed right from the start you were only doing this to mess with me.’ He glanced around, hoping no one could hear this. Elise’s message continued. ‘I never thought you were like that and would use her in that way. It’s cruel.’
He hit the off switch and put his phone away without listening to the end. Seriously she had a nerve to say that to him. After the way she’d treated him. Talk about hypocritical, but his shoulders sagged. Cruel was a good word. Being so far from her felt cruel. This whole situation was cruel. He was here because of Elise when he actually wanted to be with Genevieve. That was twisted alright.
He let himself into his apartment building, took the lift, and headed inside. From the window, he had a good view of the city. The skyscrapers all squashed together reminded him of a game he’d played on his tablet as a teenager, where you had to build a city and the more money you earned, the bigger the buildings you could have. This place was like that, all money, business and noise. Unfamiliar. Hot, yes, but in other ways cold. He was alone and friendless and it wasn’t a state he was used to. Would he grow accustomed to it over time? His mum was right. He was always better when he had someone to hold his hand and right now, the only person he wanted to do that was Genevieve.