“Are you sure, Miss Fields?”
“Absolutely.”
This is my fresh start.
New job, loving boyfriend, and a whole new me.
Chapter Ten
Subtle differences
“Wow! That’s fantastic,” Kim says as I fill her in on my conversation with Mr Collinson.
“I can’t believe it. I mean, I never expected a promotion.” I’m still in a state of shock.
“You deserve it.” Kim embraces me in a hug.
“What’s going on over here?” I hear Michael say as I break away from Kim and turn to face him with a great big grin plastered on my face.
“Lucy has just been offered a promotion,” Kim says excitedly before I can tell him.
“Kim,” I scold her gently.
“Sorry, I’m just so excited for you.”
I can’t be mad at her. She’s my closest friend and only wants the best for me.
“Seriously? A promotion?” Michael says, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
“Yeah. Mr Collinson said that he was pleased with my work and that he wanted me to become the marketing manager of this department.” My voice is high-pitched with excitement as I speak. “I get to run my own team and I get a pay increase.”
“Isn’t it great?” Kim says to Michael.
“Uh, yeah,” he says, no excitement to his tone whatsoever. Kim’s smile fades, as does mine.
“What’s wrong?” I ask him, wondering why he appears to be unhappy with this turn of events.
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m happy for you.”
“You don’t seem like it,” Kim says, and I whirl around to face her.
“Kim, that’s enough.”
“I’m sorry, Luce, but he should be ecstatic for you,” she replies, not bothering to keep her voice down at all. “This is an amazing opportunity and he has no right to make you feel shit about it.”
“He’s not making me feel shit,” I argue.
“Oh really? So why have you gone from elated to downcast since he came over here.”
“Kimberly––”
“I’m gonna leave you two to it,” Michael says interrupting us.
“Michael, please don’t listen to her,” I say, needing him to know that I don’t agree with what Kim is saying.
“I’ll speak to you later,” he says before turning his back and walking to his desk.
I feel a sense of dread fill me as I watch his retreating form. Instead of focussing on his reaction, I turn to Kim, my blood boiling at how she behaved.
“What the fuck was that?” I say, not bothering to hide the irritation in my voice.
“What? He was behaving like an ass,” she says as she rolls her eyes and folds her arms across her chest, becoming defensive.
“You didn’t even give him a chance to speak.” I keep my voice as low as I possibly can seeing as I don’t want the whole office to hear us.
“He didn’t seem like he wanted to say anything to congratulate you.”
“What the hell is the matter with you?” I ask her, outraged that she could have upset Michael for no good reason. “For all you know, he might have had a shitty day or maybe he didn’t want to cause a fuss in the office, or maybe, just maybe, he might have wanted me to be the one to tell him about my promotion but instead he heard it from you, because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut.”
I take a second, my breathing a little heavy as I pause my rant at Kim. She has the decency to look a little sheepish in response.
“I don’t know what your issue with Michael is,” I continue. “And to be quite honest, Kim, I don’t really care right now. You were fine about him until you spoke to fucking Nancy, and now all of a sudden my word isn’t good enough.” I’m mad. Fucking raging in fact.
“Luce, I didn’t mean to––”
“Save it,” I say as I hold my hands up in response to her. “I’m going for a walk. The least you can do is cover for me if Mr Collinson comes in here and asks where I am.”
I take my jacket off of the back of the chair and turn on my heel, marching for the exit, keeping my head down as I do.
Chapter Eleven
The start of the breakdown
I’m sat in the park, which is a five-minute walk from the office. I have been gone for half an hour, trying to calm myself down, but I don’t feel any better.
I watch as kids run around, screaming and laughing without a care in the world. Parents are sat on the benches, chatting amongst themselves, enjoying the adult conversation. I close my eyes and wish that I could rewind the last hour. Kim had no right to act the way she did. I know that she is just looking out for me, but she hasn’t even taken the time to get to know Michael. If she did, then maybe she would see that he is a sweet, caring guy. I’m still not bothered by what Nancy has said, what bothers me is that it is affecting Kim’s view of things.
“Hey,” I hear Michael’s voice say.
I open my eyes and turn my head to look at him. He has a soft smile on his face and his hands are in his trouser pockets. He looks so handsome, but even that can’t distract me from the anger that I am feeling.
“Mind if I sit?” he asks, nodding to the empty bench beside me.
“Sure.”
He sits down and takes my hands in both of his. “I didn’t mean to sound disappointed by your job offer.”
“You have nothing to apologise for. Kim is the one who should be apologising.”
“She’s your friend and she expected me to react differently,” he says sounding so bloody reasonable about her behaviour.
“That’s no excuse.”
I’m not having him sticking up for her. She was totally out of order.
“I guess I was just a little shocked that she was the one that told me,” he admits.
“I didn’t want her to. She blurted it out before I had a chance to.”
“I know.”
“I wanted to tell you tonight, over dinner.”
“Dinner?” he asks, his eyebrows raised in question.
“Yeah. I was going to suggest going out after work, but she ruined it.”
“She’s just excited for you.”
“I know that,” I say with a sigh. “But it was still inappropriate.”
“Does she have a problem with me?” he asks, and I immediately tense up. He sees the change in my body language before I can hide it. “She does.”
“It’s not you,” I say sounding like a fucking cliché. I was hoping to keep this from him, but I may as well be honest now. “It’s Nancy.”
“Nancy?” His eyebrows knit together, and I know that what I am about to say is going to annoy him. Hell, it would annoy me if it were the other way around.
“Kim and Nancy were talking the other day and Nancy told her a load of bullshit.”
“Like what?” I grimace at his question. “It’s okay, Luce, you can tell me.” I love that he uses my nickname now. It makes me feel like this is familiar, comfortable, and for keeps.
“Nancy told Kim that things didn’t work out between the two of you because you started to become possessive.” His eyes widen but I continue to speak before he can say anything. “I told Kim it was all rubbish and that Nancy was the one who ruined things between the both of you, but she clearly still has reservations.”