Our Stop(24)

‘You will not believe the arse I just made of myself,’ Nadia cringed. ‘I hit on two men, neither of whom were Train Guy.’ She took a sip of the coffee Gaby had handed her. ‘Thank you for this, by the way.’ She took another sip. ‘I say neither were him – at least I hope they weren’t. I made such a twat of myself that I’m not sure I can ever get on the underground again. I looked like a desperate, man-hungry old bag with no life. It was awful.’

‘Oh god,’ said Gaby laughing, and then, realizing laughter probably wasn’t the best response given how genuinely upset Nadia seemed, said, ‘I mean. I am laughing in solidarity with you. Love makes fools of us all!’

‘I’m sad about it!’ Nadia said, laughing too, now. ‘I waited all of last week to see if he would write back, and he finally did, and then I couldn’t find him!’

‘It was a cute advert – I saw it.’

Nadia looked at Gaby, who shrugged.

‘I am a tiny bit invested in this,’ Gaby said. ‘And I am glad you are too. I wasn’t sure which way it was going to go at first.’

Nadia took another gulp of coffee. ‘Oh shut up. You know as well as I do that I love love, and would die if a man put an ad in the paper for me. I’d decided to hope this was all going to be gloriously romantic and a story I told for years to come until I started to hump the leg of any thirty-year-old with a beard on the commute. It’s shameful!’

‘Nadia, you are hilarious.’

‘I’m pathetic!’ Nadia laughed. They got into the lift together and rode up to Gaby’s floor.

Gaby checked the time on her phone. ‘I’ve got an 8.30 a.m.,’ she said. ‘Which is so inconvenient. Meetings should be afternoons only. It fucks my whole morning up when I have to take time out. I hate it!’

‘I’m just in the lab all day,’ Nadia said. ‘Where I belong. I can’t degrade myself in front of robot code.’

The lift opened. They both registered him at the same time. A man in a navy suit stood in front of the reception desk, his back to the two women as he leaned forward towards the receptionist, seemingly deep in conversation. Even though she could only see him from behind – or perhaps because it was from behind, his bum pert and round in his suit trousers – Nadia lowered her voice and whispered, ‘I’d let him fuck my morning up.’

Gaby swatted at her arm.

‘Nadia!’ she giggled. ‘I won’t be able to concentrate now! I think that’s my meeting!’

‘I hope it is …’ Nadia said, as Gaby got out. ‘Bloody hell.’

Gaby turned and shot her a dirty look and the doors closed, and Nadia laughed. The laugh forced the man at the reception desk to turn in her direction, his profile becoming prominent over Gaby’s shoulder.

Oh! Nadia thought, racking her brain. I know you!

The doors closed before Nadia could place him. Up the lift went.





11


Daniel


Daniel waited in the lobby of the twenty-first floor for his 8.30 meeting – a favour to a friend he knew through a ‘City Professionals’ networking group, designed to get mid-and high-level workers to talk to each other across disciplines, because you never knew when it might come in handy, especially when everyone had shifted into a ‘gig’ economy or portfolio career these days. When nobody had true job security – nor a desire to stay with one company for too long – it helped to keep everyone connected.

Daniel had been roped in to sitting on the social committee, and had been sent to a fellow member’s office to discuss the numbers for the next networking event. It was to be held in the basement of the Marriott off Grosvenor Square, and had somehow ended up costing one hundred and twenty-five quid a ticket. Daniel thought that was outrageous (‘Who has a spare hundred quid for NETWORKING!’ he’d said to Lorenzo, ranting about it one night. ‘Well, to be honest with you mate, if I didn’t get off my tits every weekend, I would,’ Lorenzo had unhelpfully replied.)

‘Daniel?’ said the woman walking towards him down the corridor. He shifted his gaze to the left of where he’d been looking, towards the elevator. He thought he’d heard somebody laughing, and it was such a joyous, child-like giggle he felt compelled to see who it belonged to.

The woman calling his name continued: ‘I’m Gaby.’

‘Gaby,’ said Daniel, reaching out a hand in greeting. ‘Michael has said such great things about you,’ he lied, smiling.

Gaby laughed, and motioned for him to follow her.

‘We both know that isn’t true,’ she said.

Daniel said nothing in response, sensing danger, as he was led into a corner meeting room. The only noise was the shuffle of their feet along the cheap office carpeting, until the maze of glass partitions ended in Gaby’s office. It took up a huge corner of the building, with a north-west view that looked out across the River Thames and towards Parliament.

‘So, I gather we’ve got a little problem,’ Gaby continued, barely taking a breath between her welcome and getting to the point of the matter. Her bum hadn’t reached the seat before she’d launched in. She looked like a newsreader, with the city splayed out behind her that way.

Daniel laughed. ‘I don’t deal in problems, Gaby, I’m a solutions man.’ He smiled widely. ‘So I come in peace.’