My first day was madness. It was non-stop from the minute I arrived through the revolving doors to the moment I was finally allowed to leave around 6pm. My new boss, Holly, was nothing like Scott either; where Scott was laidback, funny and intuitive, Holly was frenzied, erratic and blunt. I felt like she was both oversensitive to everything I did, but at the same time never listened to me.
'My most humble apologies that it took so long to get you here,' were her opening words to me. 'Our HR is absolutely appalling, it was probably the same in New York I'd bet. Hi Terrence.' She passed a young man, who must have been in his mid-20s, on the chrome steps to the first floor; she touched his shoulder delicately as he passed. He bowed his head as though she were a supreme leader.
'That's absolutely fine.' I replied, frowning at their odd exchange. 'Sorry I was a bit late this morning, I-'
'No problem at all, dear.' She said flapping her hands and leading me into her office. She took a seat behind her desk. The room was smaller than Scott's, but still similar enough to assure myself that I was definitely in the right place. 'Do you prefer Ronit or Ronnie?'
'Ronnie, unless you're mad at me, then it's Ronit.' I joked, but she didn't laugh.
'Well we're incredibly happy to have you here Ronnie. You know, when Scott mentioned it, I practically leapt down the phone.'
'That's very kind.'
'Nothing to do with kindness, my dear.' Holly puffed on a vape cigarette; her pouting lips funneled the fruity-smelling smoke into the space between us. 'Your name is big, we want to keep it; that means keeping you happy. Sit down, please.'
'I wouldn't say that, I-'
'Are you kidding?' Holly laughed. I couldn't work out her accent, she sounded faintly European, but it was hard to decipher. 'We had heaps of offers from other agencies for you. Scott didn't tell you?'
I shrugged. 'It must have slipped his mind.'
'Well,' Holly took another long drag and it made me want a cigarette. 'He was probably right to; I wouldn't have told you either.'
I took a slow look at her while she called the IT department to sort out my laptop. Her hair was a shimmery silver, though she didn't look a day over forty, her brows were dark and sculpted perfectly, and her dark red lips took up most of her lower jaw. She was wearing expensive clothes and five-inch, black Louboutin's.
Once she'd settled the IT issues, she showed me to my own office. In New York, I didn't have an office of my own, which was progress I suppose. But I had been in a soaring, high-rise building, sitting at the very top of Manhattan. Now I was in a comparably squat building in Kensington; it still had high ceilings and a view of some pleasant deciduous trees and a river in the park opposite, but it wasn't exactly the Hudson River. The first thing I did in my new office was put the photo of Esti, Daniel and I on my desk.
'How sweet. Is that your sister?' Holly asked, pointing at the photo with her vape in her hand. She was shaking slightly.
'No... no. My partner and her son.'
'I see.' Holly said, her face unchanging. 'She's pretty.'
The rest of the day was filled with meetings with other staff, our big clients (some of whom I recognised from their visits to New York) and the tech team to discuss editing software and camera specifications. I had small periods of the day when I would remember to text Esti, but our discussions were short.
How's it going, beautiful? She'd sent me mid-morning.
Hectic! New boss is intense. How was Daniel at nursery?
