Page 74 of Begin Again Again

“Absolute shitshow. Glenda just had a goagain. She’s obsessed with getting me back into the office.”

“Well…” Lara said delicately. “That’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Me going back into my office to be henpecked into oblivion?”

“No.” Lara gave her a wide, hopeful smile. “I have the perfect job for you.”

Beth struggled not to make her ‘what the fuck’ face. She’d expected something far more serious. “You… what?”

“A job. In the comms team at ESD.”

“That’s your…?”

“Parent company! I know a tonne of people who already work there and there’s a job coming up. Owen from my team said if I can get them a resume, you’re guaranteed an interview.”

“Oh.” Beth stood and wandered over to the kettle. “Aren’t comms jobs at the parent company a nightmare? That’s where you started, isn’t it?”

Lara seemed unhappy she’d remembered that. “It’s gotten heaps better. No one works in the office past six anymore. And you’d be able to get two days a week working from home. Maybe three.”

Yippee!Beth thought getting her favourite mug down from the shelf.

“Okay, maybe it’s not perfect… but it’s a good jumping off point. The starting salary’s okay, and you’re guaranteed to move upward.”

Beth dropped a teabag into her mug. She’d give a great deal of money not to talk jobs right now. Then again, giving away the money would only put more pressure on her to apply for a comms role at ESD…

Lara cleared her throat. “Beth, you’re not going to get a better offer. And I know you’re thinking about doing that podcast, but that’s a long way off.”

Beth snapped her head up. “What do you mean?”

“You’ll need to research it, plot it out, get sponsors, and you’ll need a steady income while you’re setting things up.”

Beth headed toward the fridge for milk. “Is this about me moving out?”

“Oh god no! You know I love having you here! I just know your contract is up soon and you need to get out of there before Glenda pulls you back into the office. You’re not exactly known for your poker-face, Red.”

Beth poured a slug of organic milk into her tea. “Cheers, other Red.”

“So, you’ll give me your resume? Today?”

“I don’t know…”

Lara’s face shifted, the irritation Beth sensed beneath her peppy tone coming to the fore.

“Why not? Why don’t you want to work for ESD?”

“I dunno.” Beth sipped her too-hot tea. Her tongue prickled in protest, but she kept on drinking, avoiding Lara’s gaze. Once upon a time she’d have just told Lara the job sounded thankless and shit, but this version of her friend seemed extremely likely to blow the fuck up about it.

“I wouldn’t be telling you if I didn’t think you’d be great at the job. It’s a really good oppor—”

Angus let out an extremely timely wail from his highchair. Lara picked up her son and Beth wandered back to her laptop. She pulled up the YouTube video she played every day—lo-fi beats 24/7 radio. As long as it was on, her laptop, email and Microsoft Teams stayed active, protecting her from further Glenda attacks.

Bethany Myers; ESD comms officer.It wasn’t as though she couldn’t see it. She’d wear pencil skirts and go to the gym every morning to correct the hours she spent hunched over strategic media plans. She’d talk about ‘consumers’ and how to effectively explain pricing changes and she’d wake up in the middle of the night feeling like she was stuffed full of crazy pills because her job was fucking stupid and fake.

After years of doing comms part-time while she focused on her podcast, it sucked to be back in a full-time role. After a particularly stupid Teams meeting—the one where everyone workshopped a template email for forty minutes before deciding it could stay the same came to mind—Beth seriously contemplated whether she might have a more satisfying and productive career selling her asshole for money.

How much more cynical would she become running on the hamster wheel for ESD? But then what was she supposed to do? She wasn’t cut out to be a receptionist and journalism was dead and PR would probably feel as hollow as strategic comms. She could try and move up in her current role, butwhy? She didn’t want to do office work, she wanted to focus on her podcast. But Lara was right, it would take weeks if not months of unpaid research and even if she managed to pull everything together, where would she record? In her new share house? In Nathan’s office? Beth took a big swallow of tea, blistering her throat.

“Do you have any more meetings today?” Lara asked, jiggling Angus. “We could go for a walk at ten?”

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