Olivia
‘I have to leave. I really have to leave,’ she told herself, throwing her barely eaten bowl of granola into the sink and downing the dregs of her espresso, before hurriedly shoving another capsule into the machine.
‘Right.’ She stood up tall and shot back the searing hot coffee. ‘I think
‘Please don’t be Phil with more changes … please
don’t be Phil with more changes,’ she prayed under her breath.
From the moment the board presentation had been announced, her boss Phil had been in overdrive. The entire team had been working on it for months now. In fact, they
had gone over it so many times that whenever Olivia closed her eyes, all she could see were graphs and data points. Surely there was nothing more that needed to be done?
She pulled the phone free, her stomach dropping at the name flashing up on her screen.
Don’t answer it. You can call him back later.
Olivia hesitated, her finger hovering over the reject button.
But he never calls this early.
In fact, he never calls at all …
Panic gripped her and she answered the phone immediately.
‘Kyle, what’s wrong?’ she barked.
‘Wow, that wasn’t the friendly greeting I was expecting this fine Monday morning.’
‘What do you expect? It’s like …’ Olivia glanced down at her watch. ‘Quarter to seven. Why are you even awake?’
As if on cue, her brother let out an exaggerated yawn. ‘I pulled a double shift at work. The kitchen was seriously understaffed, so I said I’d help out. You know me, always a giver.’
‘And always slightly delusional.’ Olivia rolled her eyes. ‘Is everything OK? Are you all right? Is Mum OK?’
‘Yes, yes, we’re all fine. Calm down. How many coffees have you had? You sound wired.’
Olivia felt the caffeine pulsing through her.
‘I’m not in the mood for messing around, Kyle. I have a big day at work, and I need my energy.’
She checked the time again, a nervous habit which only served to make her more anxious.
‘I know you do, that’s why I was calling.’
‘Huh?’
‘I wanted to wish you luck. You’ve got that big presentation thing today, don’t you?’
‘Yes …’ A spark of suspicion flared up inside her. It was a stretch for Kyle to wish her a happy birthday, let alone remember one of her work meetings.
‘So, I wanted to call and wish you luck. You seemed spun out about it the last time I saw you, so I knew it was probably a big deal.’
‘The last time I saw you, I was “spun out” about quite a few things,’ she fired back, a little too harshly.
‘Weren’t we all.’
A pang of guilt. A surge of grief.
‘I’m sorry – that wasn’t fair of me.’
‘It’s fine. We can blame it on the espresso hitting.’ He gave a sad half-laugh. ‘On that note, though, have you spoken to Mum and Dad?’
Olivia’s guilt grew in intensity.
‘No … I’ve been meaning to, but I … I’ve just been too busy with work.’ She winced at her poor excuse. ‘Have you?’
‘Yeah, they seem OK. Well, as OK as they can be, I suppose.’
‘I promise I’ll ring them as soon as this presentation’s over.’ Olivia bent down and hauled her bags up from the floor. ‘But right now, I have to g—’
‘Have you done it yet?’ Kyle interrupted.
‘Done what?’
‘Come on, don’t play dumb. It doesn’t suit you.’
Olivia closed her eyes and felt her heart sink towards her feet. ‘Really? You’re going to do this now?’
‘Surely not even you
can have this much self-restraint?’
Olivia’s eyes fell instinctively on the sealed envelope that was sitting on top of the microwave.
‘I think you’ll find I can.’
‘Just …’ Kyle hesitated. ‘Just don’t leave it too long, OK?
I know out of the two of us, I’m rarely the one that’s right. But trust me on this. You’re going to want to open that letter sooner rather than later.’
An uncomfortable thought dawned on her.
Does he know?
When Olivia had first brought the letter home, it had stayed hidden in her jacket pocket.
Then it got moved to the windowsill in her bedroom.
But staring at your dead sister’s handwriting first thing every morning turned out to be a rather triggering wake-up call.
After much shifting and rearranging around her flat, it had finally found its resting place on top of the microwave.
Not completely hidden from sight, but not screaming out for attention every five minutes either.
‘Anyway, Big Sis, I’d better leave you to it. I stink. I need a shower and a McDonald’s breakfast muffin, pronto.’
Olivia felt a slight ease return to her tight chest. No. There was no way Leah would trust Kyle to help her out with this. She loved her brother, she really did, but if you wanted a job done, the truth was you never went to Kyle.
But then who had been the one to place the letters on the mantelpiece the morning of the funeral?
Who had been the one her little sister had trusted with her parting words?
It wasn’t just Olivia who had been shocked by their presence; everyone had seemed completely taken aback by the final gift from Leah.
A series of perfectly sealed envelopes, one for each member of the family.
‘Charming as ever.’ She smirked, balancing the phone precariously on her shoulder whilst she attempted to open the front door.
‘Damn straight. You may have got the successful gene, but I won out on charisma.’
‘Again, delusional.’ Olivia hooked her bags over her
shoulders. ‘Right, I’m not messing around now, Kyle. I really
have to go.’
‘Fine.
Good luck and let me know how it goes.’
‘OK, bye.’
She hung up the phone, and just before she closed the door, she stole one last glance at the unopened letter.
Soon, Leah.
I promise, I’ll read you soon.
*
By the time Olivia sat down at her desk, she was already an hour behind schedule.
Of course, today would be the day that London’s entire transport system decided to turn to complete and utter shit; and then when she finally got to the office, the queue for the coffee shop was practically out the door.
‘Running a little late for you, Jackson. What happened?’ her colleague Rob sneered at her from across the floor. ‘Decided to get some beauty sleep before the big meeting?’
Don’t rise to it. You don’t have the time.
Olivia offered a pathetic half-laugh and threw her bags down.
‘Ooh, too serious to even have a little joke, are we? Someone’s nervous about the presentation! Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,’ he added rather bitterly. ‘You always are.’
Rob had been at the company for fifteen years and hadn’t taken kindly to Olivia’s rapid rise through the ranks.
He was older than she was and at least three levels below.
Olivia had tried to empathize with him – until she had discovered, when tasked with doing his review last year, that he was paid nearly double her salary.
‘Classic corporate bullshit,’ her friend Kate had shouted when Olivia had revealed her findings. ‘I don’t know why you stay working for such complete and utter tosspots.’
‘Because it’s—’
‘Part of your plan – I know, I know
,’ Kate had cried.
Olivia and Kate had been best friends since secondary school, and yet it would be hard to find two more opposite people.
For all of Kate’s carefree, restless creativity, Olivia was focused, prepared and detailed.
Olivia’s career path had been mapped out since she was sixteen years old, whereas Kate seemed to treat her jobs as carelessly as her boyfriends, never able to keep one for more than two years before getting bored and moving on.
Currently she was trying her hand at landscape gardening, but it didn’t seem to be going that well.
‘Shit!’ Olivia cursed, bringing herself back to the present moment and grabbing a pack of Post-it notes. Text Kate back ASAP
, she scrawled, underlining the words three times and sticking the note to the top of her computer screen. In her defence, she had been busy; but then again, she spent her entire life being busy.
‘Hope you’re ready, Jackson’ – Rob’s snarky voice cut through her thoughts – ‘because here comes the big man!’
Olivia snapped her head up to see her boss emerge, stomach first, from the corridor.
‘Liv!
’ Phil’s voice boomed, echoing around the office. ‘There you are! I was surprised you weren’t here at dawn preparing! I thought, it’s not like our Liv to be later than me.’ He chuckled, his belly wobbling threateningly at her. ‘Are we all ready to go?’
Olivia swallowed down the knot of emotions that had gathered in her throat. She wasn’t sure what was worse: her boss’s insistence on calling her Liv, or the nerves that were running their icy fingers against the inside of her stomach.
‘I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.’ She grinned falsely.
‘Good. Because you know how important this is, don’t you?
’ Phil bumbled, tucking his white and surprisingly unstained shirt into his trousers.
For a man deemed competent enough to manage a team of twenty people and a multi-million-pound budget, Phil seemed totally useless at keeping his clothes clean.
Every day, as sure as the sun would rise in the sky, a stain would appear on Phil’s shirt.
‘If we get their approval, we sign the biggest client in the past three years.’
‘Uh-huh.’ Olivia nodded, feeling a small wave of nausea crash over her.
‘And that means big bonuses – for you, and more importantly, for me.’ A grotesque Cheshire cat grin appeared on his face. Olivia’s queasiness intensified tenfold. ‘Got your laptop?’
‘Yes.’ She held the cumbersome silver computer aloft.
‘Fantastic.’ Phil’s piggy eyes flickered up to the large clock on the wall. ‘Shall we head up? It’s always good to be a little early, isn’t it.’
‘Sure. Let’s go,’ she agreed, standing up and adjusting her rather snug-fitting suit. There were many things Olivia enjoyed about her job, but wearing a suit was not one of them. The first thing she would do when she ran her own business was banish formal dress entirely.