Page 98 of When The Night Falls

All I could offer was a nod.

‘Well,’ she said, ‘now that I’ve written the first draft of the report, I’ll have to do some polishing. We should probably do it together. Will, Fred and Vi are likely to want it on their desks by the end of the day.’

‘Sounds good. Can I use the loo first, though?’ My voice had a pleading tone because I was anxious to clean up the mess that William had unwittingly made. Would I have to bring spare underwear to work from now on?

‘Of course.’

§ § §

When Ellie had read through my polished version of the report, she leaned back with a grin. ‘This is actually really good work, Cara. Well done.’

I huffed with relief. Initially we had planned to do it together, but she had been called to attend another meeting with Frederick, so she had told me to attempt it by myself using her notes. I had appreciated that. I always learned faster when I was simply thrown into a situation and forced to sort it out on my own. Being guided was one thing, being micromanaged was another, and I was not a friend of micromanagement.

Her opinion made my day. It truly did. After all the chaos I had endured with regards to William being my boss, I was in dire need of positive feedback. During the meeting earlier, I had been genuinely concerned about my performance, seeing as I hadn’t had the mind to notice anything but him. Thankfully, it would seem I had managed to compensate for what I had lost by completing this report.

‘Thank you.’ My shoulders relaxed, and so did my heart. Not even my final exams had left me as battered as my first day here. I was glad I had reached the end of it.

‘Why don’t you print it and hand it over to Will?’ Ellie said. ‘After that, I’m sure he’ll let you leave for the day.’

‘Sure.’

Nervous hardly covered how I felt when I stood outside William’s door some minutes later, mustering up the courage to knock. My hand was trembling when I raised it to the dark brown wood.

‘Yes?’

I sucked in a deep breath and opened the door. Poking my head through the gap, I said, ‘I’ve finished the report.’

William ripped his gaze from the screen of his desktop Mac and gave me his undivided attention. ‘Have you? Well done. Let’s have a look, then.’

Stepping in, I closed the door after myself and approached him with some vigilance. I desperately wanted to impress him, so I hoped he would approve of the report.

Amusement crossed his face when I extended the document to him.

‘Your hand is shaking,’ he said, and I hated that he noticed.

‘Caffeine overdose,’ I lied.

He raised a brow as he grabbed the report. ‘Perhaps you should consider reducing your intake.’

‘I’m an addict.’

‘Typical law student,’ he murmured and fixed his eyes on the document. When his brows eventually furrowed, my heart clenched in panic. Had he spotted something? Taking his sweet time, he turned the page and slowly began nodding to himself.

‘This is excellent. Great job.’

Air stormed out of my lungs, and I didn’t care if he noticed. ‘Really?’

He studied me with some surprise. ‘Really. Are you all right?’

‘I’m just a bit anxious. I want to get this right.’

His gaze softened. ‘Cara, calm down. You’ll do fine. I’ll make sure of it.’

His calm demeanour was strangely contagious. ‘Thank you,’ I said, finally relaxing.

He dropped the report on his desk. ‘You’re free to go. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

‘Right, thanks. How long do you intend to stay? Just curious.’

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