Page 5 of All the Right Words
Olivia took a heavy pause, leaning back in Michael’s ornate leather chair. ‘I’d be surprised to see him ever set foot on these premises again, if I’m honest.’
Gina, standing in front of the desk, walked over to the sofa and slumped onto it. ‘Who knows?’
‘I don’t know, but it’s gonna get out,’ Olivia said philosophically. ‘I know I threatened everyone on day zero to shut up, but that won’t last long. It’s only a matter of time before this gets out. I mean, the board knows now. I had to talk to them, get officially appointed and everything. But we need to get ahead of it in public. Now. Have a meeting with the shareholders. Break the news ourselves.’
Panic flooded Gina’s system. ‘We?’
Olivia smiled kindly. ‘I was using the royal we. I only meant that I need you to get the thing organised, but I’ll be doing the talking, don’t worry.’
‘You’re just gonna handle this, take it all on?’ Gina asked.
‘I have to. Michael… He was like my dad.’ She sighed. ‘But he’s fucked us all. If I don’t try to sort this, it’s all our jobs. And I don’t know about you, but I love this place. I love what we do. I spend more time here than at home.’
Gina nodded. ‘Yeah, I guess I don’t want to leave.’
‘Exactly. So I have to unfuck it somehow.’
Gina looked at Olivia and felt gratitude for her very existence. She was capability itself. Michael had made a massive mess, but Olivia had rolled up her sleeves and grabbed a mop. Gina had promised to help her, but now, she felt the power of that promise. Whatever Olivia needed; Gina would see she had it. She had little to offer but that. She could organise. She would be a footstool that Olivia could step on to pull them all out of this.
Four
‘Harper, for fucks sakes, will you fucking well ring me back. NOW?’ screamed the dulcet tones of Brenda on Harper’s messages. Harper would have preferred she shout in text. It was pretty straightforward, you just had to double-tap for all caps, and the effect was the same. You knew you were getting yelled at. But Brenda was old-school. She preferred to scream in analogue.
Harper rang her back as she waited for a cab outside the train station. Her holiday was obviously over. Shame, it had been nice to get away from, well, Brenda.
‘Brenda, how’s-’ Harper began.
‘Oh, thank fuck!’ Brenda exclaimed. ‘Have you seen it?’
A cab pulled in front of Harper, and she climbed in, asking, ‘Seen what?’
‘Are you fucking joking? You don’t know?’
Harper gave her address to the cabbie before turning her attention back to Brenda. ‘I’ve been in the country for a few days, and I’m very strict about tech breaks when I’m away,’ she said as the car pulled out.
‘That’s bloody convenient,’ Brenda huffed.
Harper wanted to ask Brenda if she was allowed a holiday or should she just set up a dog kennel in Brenda’s back garden and curl up in there, waiting for the next crisis. Instead, she asked, ‘Brenda, what’s going on?’
‘Parker Press is going down the toilet because it turns out Michael’s a fiddler!’
‘He plays the fiddle?’ Harper asked, confused.
‘No, he’s beenonthe fiddle! The whole company is in crisis! They’re probably going to go bust any minute and take my deal with them!’
Harper was utterly confounded. She didn’t think it would do any good to get more details from Brenda. She was obviously in a state, and what was coming out was a garbled mess. Harper needed cold hard facts. ‘Look, I need to get up to speed. I’ll call you back in a minute,’ Harper said. She hung up before Brenda could argue.
She did five minutes of googling, three minutes of which was spent watching a press conference where Olivia threw Michael under a monster truck and vowed that under her new leadership, all would be well. She as good as said that Michael’s reign had been holding them back. It was quite a thing to see.
Once she’d gotten the lay of the land, she rang Brenda. ‘So obviously, none of this is great. But it doesn’t necessarily sound like they’ll go under.’
‘No?’ Brenda said, sounding like she was biting her nails. It was nearly funny because she’d always behaved like Parker Press was lucky to hang onto her and that she might jump ship any minute, and now they were a bit shaky, and she was clinging to the mast like her life depended on it.
‘Olivia sounded confident, and to be honest, I think that will sway people,’ Harper told her. ‘But let me set up a meeting with her, get some real reassurance.’
‘I’ll come,’ Brenda said quickly.
‘No,’ Harper said sharply. She quickly softened her tone. ‘Look, we don’t want to tag-team her. Let me talk to her alone. I’ll find out what’s going on. That’s what I do. Let me earn my percentage. You relax; I’ll call you back later.’
