Page 67 of The Fallback

‘No, it wasn’t,’ Nadia said firmly. ‘It was about the disaster that seems to be unfurling under your nose and which you don’t even seem to be aware of.’

‘I am quite aware of it, thank you,’ Rosie said crossly, while simultaneously wondering how Nadia had found out about the fact Mitch was no longer talking to her. Realisation dawned gradually.

‘Oh,’ Rosie said. ‘You’re not talking about Mitch, are you?’

It was Nadia’s turn to snap. ‘No I’m not talking about Mitch,’ she replied. ‘Why would I be talking about Mitch?’ she asked in confusion.

‘Er, no reason,’ Rosie replied, keen to move Nadia off the subject before she had to explain.

‘So, we were talking about…?’ Rosie queried.

‘BioChem!’ Nadia exclaimed in exasperation.

‘Oh, right, right of course.’ Rosie pretended she understood. ‘Hold on, you know about the project?’

‘Know about it?’ Nadia exploded. ‘Of course I know about it. Rachel has been going on about what a brilliant project it is. And if you’re not careful itwillbe solely Rachel’s project and not yours anymore.’

Nadia started playing with the pens on Rosie’s desk and grumbled, ‘Honestly, I don’t know what’s got into you, Rosie? It’s amazing you’ve been offered this opportunity. The Women in STEM fanatics are going to go crazy with excitement when they find out that it’s your research that’s behind all this. How good is it going to look for them? It’s fantastic for their profile. Fantastic for women in science full stop.’ She pointed the pen threateningly at Rosie.

Rosie felt her heart lift, wondering exactly where the problem lay in all of this, and then Nadia said, ‘And what do you go and do?’

Rosie shook her head, waiting to be enlightened.

‘You fuck it up! That’s what you do.’ Nadia threw the pen at the wall in frustration.

Carefully Rosie reached over to retrieve the pen from the floor and wheeled her office chair back to her desk, placing the pen out of reach of Nadia. It was one of her favourite pens and she didn’t think it deserved to be treated like that just because of something Rosie had allegedly done…

‘Hang on, what have I done? How have I fucked this up? I don’t fuck things up!’ Rosie was indignant. Shedidn’tmake mistakes, sheneverfucked things up.

‘No, you don’t!’ countered Nadia. ‘And this is exactly why I am so cross with you! Where is your brain right now?’ Nadia tapped the side of her own head.

Rosie didn’t like to tell her where her brain was right at that moment; given Nadia’s mood she didn’t think admitting the truth would help the situation.

’Your data,’ Nadia continued, ‘it’s all over the place, it’s a mess! I can’t believe you had the nerve to even show it to Rachel, let alone expect her to accept it.’

Rosie tried to unscramble her brain. It was true, she hadn’t been paying the close attention in the lab that she usually did, but surely it wasn’t all that bad? And then she remembered that she hadn’t even checked the latest results before she sent them off to Rachel and to the BioChem execs.

‘Shit.’ Rosie’s face drained of colour. ‘What have I done? What have you heard Nadia? Was it really that bad?’

‘Really that bad,’ confirmed Nadia, examining her bitten nails. Now that she had Rosie’s attention, she seemed to have calmed down considerably. She looked up at Rosie. ‘And I am here as your friend to warn you of that. Rosie, does any of this ringanybells with you?’ she asked.

‘No, I mean, yes. I mean, I didn’t know it was that bad,’ said Rosie, spreading her hands out in front of her.

Nadia shook her head. ‘Have you even spoken to Rachel?’ she asked.

‘Well, not exactly. She sent me an email, in fact.’ Rosie swivelled in her chair to turn to face her computer, tapping the keyboard to bring the screen to life. ‘She might have sent me more than one,’ she admitted, turning back to face Nadia with a look of horror on her face.

‘Did you readanyof them?’ asked Nadia incredulously.

‘I read the first one,’ Rosie replied defensively.

Nadia sighed. ‘Rosie,’ she said, ‘has nobody ever told you that when you get an email from your boss you should read it immediately? Come on, this isn’t like you.’

Rosie was scanning the contents of Rachel’s emails, terms likesuspension,cancellation,diligent investigationjumped out at her.

‘God, Nadia, I think I’m about to be fired.’

‘No, you’re not.’ Nadia said pragmatically. ‘Honestly Rosie we’ve all been there, you’re not going to get fired, but you do have a lot of work to do to make this right. Rachel’s mainly furious because you haven’t responded to her already. Once you do, she’ll calm down.’

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