Page 15 of Love Me Ever After
I didn’t like their advice, and I think the problem I had with it revolved around the fact I didn’t want to.
Despite Ems protesting about how she wouldn’t goback there,deep down I suspected she might. Particularly if her reaction to Whit was anything to go by.
I ended up hiding out in my room the whole of Sunday with the hangover from hell.
When my alarm went off early on Monday morning, I was grateful to escape the house and leave my thoughts behind. At least with a busy day ahead, I’d be able to forget about my personal life and focus on my career development. On the train journey to work, I checked my calendar, looking over what I had planned for the day. The morning held a bunch of research and candidate mapping for a new Head of Software role I’d snagged with one of my favourite and long-standing clients. This sort of role was becoming bread and butter to me. I knew my candidate market, I knew their competitors, so it should be a simple case of joining the dots. In the afternoon, I had my weekly catch-up with Janine Helen—my boss and the one who had originally offered me the secondment. Obviously, she would have had reports on my performance and progress out there, but this was the first opportunity I would have to speak to her about it directly because she’d been away on an extended holiday.
Once I knew what the day held, I switched my attention to the socials. As I scrolled, the first thing to grab my attention was a post from Ems. She’d gone out with Sara, Noel and some of their friends on Saturday night. There was a series of pictures of them drinking shots in a club. One of the guys had his hands on Ems’s hips, and she was laughing and smiling back at him. A burn of jealousy shot through me. Without thinking, I hit the ‘like’ button, then instantly regretted it. I didn’t like it at all, not one single bit. I tapped it again to get rid of the like, then shut the app down and shoved my phone in my pocket, staring out of the train window.
Ems had said she wouldn’t get back with me. She’d been clear about that on Friday night.No second chances.Then why did I suddenly want one?
The thought nagged at me for the rest of the journey until I arrived at the office. The Lane & Parks office in Bristol was in the centre of town, close to the shops, bars and restaurants. Much like the New York office, although slightly less glamorous. Being just off Times Square had been amazing, the bright lights of the city there to tempt me every evening after work. The concrete jungle of Bristol’s centre didn’t hold quite the same appeal.
“Morning, Trevor.” I dumped my bag in the vacant seat opposite my colleague. The company operated a hot-desk system, whoever got in first got to choose where they sat. We had allocated lockers—just like being at school—or took our stuff home at the end of the day. I tended to operate light, with just a notebook and a file of paperwork in addition to my laptop.
“All right, Mason? Nice to see you back. Good weekend?” Trevor didn’t look up from his screen.
“Yeah, not bad.” He wasn’t in my close circle, so I usually kept our chats pretty vague. “Have you seen the emails about the conference? I reckon it’s going to be totally epic. The hotel’s awesome.”
“What do you know about the Ealynn Marina Hotel?” I sat down, pulled out my laptop and fired it up. Barbara had probably sent something about dinner menu choices.
“I was there a while back for a charity event. Fortunes for Favours or something? Fraser tried to set me up with his wife’s sister.” He shook his head. “She wassmoking. But nothing ever came of it.” Without looking up at me, he went on. “Hope the bird who was running the show will be there again. Hot. Dark hair. Great body.” He let out a low whistle.
Immediately, I knew he was talking about Ems. It would have been her job to run an event like that and she would have mingled with the guests, getting to know them better. The burn in my chest intensified. “Yeah? You think she’d be up for it?”
Trevor’s head snapped up. “Dunno, might have a crack though. What’s the worst that could happen?”
I could pound your head into the floor?
Maybe not.
Causing a scene in the office wouldn’t exactly help my exemplary record. “She could say no? I’m guessing Fraser’s sister-in-law isn’t your latest squeeze?”
“Sadly, you’re right. She ended up with some chef. Damn shame.”
I didn’t know Fraser’s sister-in-law, Georgie, at all, but it looked like she’d had a lucky escape. Trevor could be an absolute prick at times and his attitude to women was like something out of the dark ages. It was no wonder he was still single.
Turning my attention to my emails, I found the one from Barbara with the final details for the conference and scanned it to find the main points. We were to report to the main conference room at nine thirtysharp.No excuses, especially for those who were staying in the hotel the night before. Dinner choices had to be submitted to Barbara by midday today, making sure to mention any allergies or intolerances. Leaving the hotel during the event wasn’t encouraged, except for those not staying there. I suspected several of the senior management team fell into that category; they wouldn’t want the staff to see them getting drunk and misbehaving. The final point was the one that got me. In case of any issues during the event, the main contact was Emily Berry, the hotel’s Events and Marketing Manager. An unexpected pang of pride swept through me. This was a big thing for Ems. I had to make sure no one fucked it up for her.
Once I’d sent my dinner choices to Barbara, I turned my attention to research. The morning flew by as I went through my candidate lists, sent out some emails, made a few calls and even got to talk to one of them who was definitely interested in the opportunity. By the time lunch rolled around, I felt like I’d made good progress.
Fraser happened to be in the office and suggested we go out and grab a sandwich. We went to our favourite deli and got some food, deciding to eat in rather than back at our desks.
“So, what do you think’s going to happen at the conference?” I asked and then took a huge bite out of my BLT.
“The usual stuff.” Fraser shrugged. “Robert Lane will get up there and make some big speech about growth, then tell us that bonuses will be down this year. Someone will get ridiculously drunk after dinner and piss in one of the flowerpots in the foyer.”
“My money’s on Trevor for that.”
Fraser laughed. “Yeah. He kind of has form in that area. You should have seen what he did at my stag.”
“No, you’re all right, I don’t wanna know. I am sorry I missed it though.” I waved a hand in front of my face. “What made you suggest the hotel anyway? I mean, it’s great for us, no travel and everything. But why get them out of London?”
“It seemed like a good opportunity to do something different. How many times have we trekked up to London, only to sit in a second-rate chain hotel identical to the one we were in the previous year? When I heard rumours that they wanted to cut costs, I suggested the Marina. Plus Ems did such a great job with our wedding, I knew she could handle it. Darcy couldn’t stop raving about her.”
I had to admit, I was impressed. Fraser had always been fantastic at his job and had a great relationship with senior management. To have them listen to his suggestions made me a tiny bit jealous.
“I’m surprised they listened.” I took a sip of my espresso. “Even if costs were a factor.”
