Page 80 of The Retreat
Imogen clapped her hand over the phone. ‘What are you doing? They’re going to let it go.’
Talia shrugged. ‘I’m not playing this game. If they want to sack me, let them.’
Imogen looked like she wasn’t sure if Talia had completely lost it, but she moved her hand.
Talia shot her a wink, then looked back down at the phone. ‘Look, Celeste, I’m not interested in staying. Fire me. Or I’ll quit. Whatever works best for you.’
There was a beat of silence, and then Celeste spoke again, her voice gentler now. ‘I understand why you might feel that way. But… before you make any final decisions—’
‘There’s nothing else to say,’ Talia interrupted, her words hard and precise. ‘What I did was crazy. But I thought Ihadto. That’s not great, is it?’
Celeste exhaled slowly. ‘I’ve been thinking about that. Maybe the company needs to change. Maybe the culture has been… wrong.’
Talia looked at Imogen. Imogen looked back at her. What the fuck was happening?
‘Would you consider staying? At least for now?’ Celeste asked. ‘We want to try to do better. To make things right.’ A pause. Then she added, ‘Also, your billables areinsane.’
Talia swallowed. ‘I don’t know. Everyone thinks I’m barking mad now, so I just think I’ll be too uncomfortable.’
‘I’ll talk to everyone,’ Celeste said quickly. ‘Don’t worry about that. Just give me time to figure out how to speak to everyone about this.’
‘I could do a seminar!’ Rebecca chimed in far too brightly.
‘No,’ Talia and Celeste said together.
Rebecca went silent.
Celeste cleared her throat. ‘So, would you stay? We could even leave the conversation open about that partnership. I mean, not right away. We’d need to let the dust settle…’
Talia hesitated. Her heart thudded with a strange clarity. ‘I don’t want it.’
The silence on the other end was almost comical. ‘You’re turning it down?’
‘I need to take a breath, Celeste. My work-life balance is in the toilet as it is. Partnership, now? I’ll have a heart attack before I’m fifty. But I’ll stay. For abit. To see if it’s salvageable there.’
Celeste’s relief was audible. ‘Good. Good. Thank you, Talia.’
Talia nodded, even though Celeste couldn’t see her. ‘OK. Well, thanks for calling.’
‘Of course, and if there’s—’
Talia hung up. She looked at Imogen, who was already smiling.
‘You’re mad. She wasstillconsidering promoting you.’
Talia smirked.
‘But you said no? I thought… I thought—’
‘I’ve got time. What’s the rush?’ Talia said.
She barely recognised this relaxed version of herself. But she didn’t mind that. She didn’t mind it at all.
‘But it’s everything you want,’ Imogen said.
Talia raised an eyebrow. ‘Not quite.’
Imogen frowned. ‘What?’
