Page 85 of One Night in Edinburgh

‘No, you stay right where you are.’ She plucks the microphone from my hand and addresses the room. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, may I take a moment to extend my heartfelt thanks to you for helping us smash our fundraising target tonight.’

She stays quiet as the room erupts into delighted applause, and lets it peter out before continuing.

‘When I set up Edinburgh Youth Kickstart, I couldn’t have imagined it would grow into what it has become today, and I certainly couldn’t have done it alone. I am eternally grateful for the hard work and dedication put in by our team: our key workers, many of whom are actually volunteers, and all those who keep things running behind the scenes.’

She glances at me and I beam back at her.

‘Many of you I’ve gotten to know over the years and your loyalty as donors is more than appreciated. I do hope that you will continue to support us when I step down as director in the summer.’

Wait.What?

‘I’ll be passing over the reins to someone who is more than capable, and who has shown herself to be an all-rounder with a heart of gold.’ She turns to me and I blink at her in shock. ‘Steph here will be taking over from me at the end of July. I’m relieved to be leaving the charity in such safe hands, because, with the economic and social challenges of recent years, the need for our services is greater than ever. So, if you’re willing, please can I ask you to show Steph that you’re behind her.’

The room immediately bursts into another round of applause as I break into a sweat and try to regulate my breathing.

‘Lizzie, I thought you were meaning a couple of years, not a couple of months,’ I say in her ear while at the same time nodding my appreciation across the sea of smiling faces.

‘Why on earth would you think that?’ She looks at me quizzically. ‘Oh, did I not mention the timings earlier?’

‘Eh, no.And I don’t know that I would have agreed to them. I’m nowhere near ready.’

‘Sorry, give me a moment.’ Lizzie wraps up her little speech with some closing words and wishes everyone an enjoyable evening to more applause, then guides me away to the side of the room.

‘Ah, what am I like?’ She pulls an apologetic face that tells me her forgetfulness is not down to her accidentally omitting something in haste. ‘You’ll be ready. I’ll make sure of it. And anyway, I told you I’m only stepping back. I’ll mentor you for as long as you need – but I don’t expect that will be long.’

‘You’d bloody better,’ I eyeball her and then remember that I’m talking to my boss. ‘But… um… thank you.’

‘You’re welcome. Off you go and see your “hot man” then.’ She gives me a little wink. ‘He’s quite the looker.’

I give her one last mortified look and then shuffle across to my table, from which Calum is watching me a little too eagerly.

‘Congratulations on your promotion. Shall we go for a drink at the bar?’ He gets up from his seat before I even have a chance to sit down. ‘I get the impression you could do with some time out of the limelight.’

‘How did you guess?’

‘Call it intuition.’

‘Sounds good, but give me a moment to send a quick message first.’

Despite my disdain of my family and their attitudes towards my life choices, this revelation about my career is something I’m keen to share with them. I’m thinking it might even make them proud, because I am going to be a director after all. I send a short message to our WhatsApp group with my news then wait. Within seconds, the first response pops up on my screen.

Kayleigh:

Ooh, what kind of pay rise are you getting? Directors earn shedloads.

Shaking my head, I realise I should have expected that to be the first question. I quickly type a reply to shut that avenue down.

Steph:

I don’t expect I’ll be making megabucks, Kayleigh. I do work for a charity so it would be unethical for the salaries to be sky-high. Plus, not everything is about money. I want the job because of what I’ll be able to do for the disadvantaged young people of Edinburgh.

I’m hoping that will get the message across and that some positive acknowledgement of my news will follow. At this stage, I’d even settle for lukewarm. Unfortunately, even that is too much to expect.

Kayleigh:

Sounds like you’re being treated as cheap labour to me.

Mum:

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