Page 15 of The Photograph

“Where’s James?” I blurt.

“Oh! He had something personal to attend to this morning. He said he’d be in about 11 a.m., I think.” She wrinkles her freckled nose, and I sigh, pursing my lips as my Java code throws up fifteen exceptions. This security update has to be delivered in eight weeks and everything is moving like molasses.

When James wanders in three-quarters of an hour later, he’s remarkably disheveled for Mr. Unflappable.

I peer at him over my screen. “All okay there, Jimmy-boy?”

Nodding, he places his bag on the floor carefully before flicking his monitor on and rolling his shoulders.

Can we chat?

I message into our Slack channel, glancing at Jo. His fingers fly over his keyboard.

Give me ten minutes.

I type back:

Meeting room in ten.

Standing up, I pop my spine. “Anyone want a coffee?” I say, and James shakes his head as Jo gives me a thumbs-up, so I head down in the elevator to the café down the block.

When I return with two lattes, James is already in our glass meeting room talking on his phone, so I deposit Jo’s cup on her desk and slide in the door.

“Yes, I know it looks like that but …” he says, pacing across the floor but turning as the door clangs behind me. He nods and holds the bridge of his nose. “I’ve got to go, Jane.” Then, “Yes. Yes, I will.”

He ends the call then places his phone on the table before sinking into the seat next to me.

“All okay?” I ask.

He shrugs. “Jane’s going through some problems at work.”

I nod and then grin at him. “Time you made a decent woman of her.” They are the cutest couple.

His mouth drops open. “A decent woman? Where are we? The 1950s? She earns more than I do.”

I laugh.

“Anyway, what did you want to chat about?” he says.

“Oh God, the team. I mean …”

He nods. “Yeah, I thought it might be that. They’re gelling appallingly. The number of arguments is insane.”

Just as the words are out of his mouth, a raised voice travels through the glass walls of the meeting room and I look out over the desks. It’s Rodrigo. It’s always Rodrigo.

“This is not my fault,” he shouts, gesturing at his screen. Amy is standing beside him, red-faced.

“Oh Jesus,” I say, rising from my chair, but James puts a hand on my arm as Cath gets up and goes over to them. I sink back down again.

Scanning over their bent heads, he says quietly, “He’s rude to everyone. Have you thought about letting him go?”

“He’s got a lot of experience, but we can’t have someone behaving like that in the office. I don’t know whether it’s me or …”

He raises his eyebrows. “It’s not you, Des. You’ve always been amazing with people.”

“At the first briefing meeting, I was flustered, just back from Korea. Probably jetlagged. I didn’t handle him or anyone else in the best way.”

Cath and Amy are leaning over Rodrigo’s screen now. It’s quietened down, but a flare-up like this happens most days. “They’re all so different. What do I do with them? Some of them are so young; some are real family people. Some have a problemwith me.” I gesture down my body, then fill him in on the conversation in the bar.

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