Chapter 20
TWENTY
I was literally biting my own fist with excitement as I left the offices of Austin Marz Productions – my new place of employment! I couldn’t believe I’d got the job! Jeremy, my new boss, had to explain it to me, twice, before it sank in.
‘Really?’ I blinked at him, rapidly. ‘You’re definitely giving me the job?’
‘Yes,’ he laughed. He has a nice smile, it’s really warm and friendly. ‘We think you’ll fit in very well here, Erin, and we look forward to seeing you on Monday!’
So, a take-out and a film it is then, to celebrate! I practically float out of the revolving doors onto the street. I got the job! I fist pump the air. Yes!
For the first time since forever, I felt a tiny glimmer of hope that things were changing. Life was turning a corner, and this time I was following it – a sat nav to better places. Mum would’ve been proud of me today, I know it.
‘Errrrrin!’
I hear someone calling my name and spin round.
She’s hurrying towards me, her arms outstretched, like she’s greeting an old friend she hasn’t seen for ages.
It’s the girl I just met in the interview room, the one I was convinced would get the job on sight.
Lucky for me, it turns out I was wrong. I guess I really do need to work on my self-confidence.
‘Erin! Awww, congratulations, hun! I’m really pleased for you!
You got the job! Well done, you!’ She throws her arms around me, gives me a giant warm hug.
I feel myself stiffen in her embrace. I’m not used to such public displays of affection from virtual strangers. I’m not used to affection at all.
‘Thanks so much, er, Samantha, I… I’m in shock, to be honest.’ I break away, her perfume lingering on my shirt. ‘I really didn’t think I’d get the job, especially when I saw you.’
‘Ah well.’ She sighs, rolls and flutters her eyes, theatrically, as she clutches her chest. ‘I guess, in the end, I just wasn’t his type.’
I think I should maybe laugh right about now, so I do, though a touch awkwardly.
‘Oh, don’t look so worried.’ She gives my arm a soft, playful slap. ‘There’s plenty of other jobs out there! At the end of the day, the best girl won, right? Really, I’m genuinely happy for you!’
I smile at her, gratefully. I suppose she does seem it. ‘One must always be gracious in defeat,’ she says in a dramatic voice. ‘Though one should never consider defeat as an option in the first place.’ I laugh again. I have no idea who this woman is, but she’s definitely different, and engaging.
‘Come on,’ – she links my arm in hers – ‘let’s go and celebrate your new job at that fancy new rooftop bar in town.
It’s a beautiful evening and we must toast your good news and commiserate mine by getting suitably smashed out of our skulls.
’ She gives me a conspiratorial sideways glance.
‘Unless you have other plans of course.’
Some hours later, I find myself sitting in a fancy giant deckchair on a rooftop makeshift beach bar that boasts the most incredible view of the city I’ve ever seen.
I’m on my third Porn Star Martini, the DJ’s playing some uplifting house music and there’s impossibly cool people everywhere, drinking, dancing, and generally being gorgeous.
‘Wow, it looks so stunning from up here,’ I say, staring out towards the city below, ‘—all the lights! It’s like it’s covered in magic glitter.’ I turn to her. ‘Thanks for bringing me here, I never even knew this place existed!’
‘Ah well, stick with me, kiddo, this place turns into a club after 10 p.m.’ Her eyes twinkle, mischievously, like the very lights below.
‘You said you’d recently moved to the area?’ I ask, hoping to find out a little more about her.
‘Yes, my fiancé, Ari – I moved in with him not too long ago, at the new apartments over at Pengally Court. Do you know the ones I mean?’
I do. They’re in a great location, close to the city but surrounded by lush green, well-kept grounds, a private little oasis, tucked away in among the throng. Only rich people can afford to live in them.
‘Wow, lucky you!’
She gives me a strange look.
‘Yeah, lucky me.’ Though the way she says it makes me think that she doesn’t quite believe it.
‘Ari’s got a very well-paid job, basically, he’s loaded,’ she explains.
‘Though honestly, I swear I didn’t know this when we met.
He kept it quiet for a while, you know, to test me, see if I was a gold digger or whatever, which I’m not by the way,’ she adds from the corner of her mouth, comedically.
‘I’d never dig for anything, not with these nails!
’ I laugh along with her. ‘Anyway, I suppose what I’m saying is that I don’t actually need to get a job.
Ari is in favour of me adopting the more traditional role of stay-at-home wife, but I want something to do with myself all day while he’s off out making money.
I get bored and lonely, and we all know what the devil says about idle hands… ’
‘Of course, I understand,’ I say, though I don’t, not really. Everyone I know has no choice but to work to pay the bills and survive.
‘Who does Ari work for, what does he do?’
‘Rogan Hanley, you know, the big financiers in London? Equities or something… They have an office here in Leeds, so he goes between the two.’
‘Wow,’ I say again, ‘you hit the big time with him then. When’s the wedding?’
‘Next year, in Dubai.’
‘In Dubai. Wow.’ It’s the third time I’ve said ‘wow’ in quick succession. She probably thinks I’m a dick.
‘Tell me about your family.’ She changes the subject as she signals to the waiter for two more cocktails. ‘Do they live in Leeds? Are you guys close?’
I knew this question was coming – it always does eventually – but I have to get over it. I won’t ever make friends with anyone ever again unless I do. My therapist says, ‘Just tell the truth, Erin. If it scares people off then they’re not your tribe. What is meant for you will not go by you.’
‘I don’t have any family,’ I say, sipping on my drink simultaneously, as though a mouthful of Porn Star Martini would make it any less true. ‘Both my parents died and I have no brothers or sisters.’
She turns to me slowly then with a strange look on her face.
‘Well, darling, you do now!’