Unforgettable Embrace (10 page)

Soon they had Liz on the phone who screamed for a full minute when she heard the news.

“
I'll bring my wedding album to your house one of these nights and we can look at all my ideas,” she offered.

“
Wedding album?” Jen and Rachel asked in amusement.

“
Yes, ever since I was a little girl I've had a wedding album, you know, a book full of pictures from magazines on wedding dresses, designers, flowers, hairstyles etc. Honestly, it's like a bible of wedding ideas. You'll have to have Vera Wang for your wedding dress, or have one especially designed by Emmanuelle, the designer who did Princess Diana's dress.”

“
Calm down, Liz, let's not get too ahead of ourselves. Why don't we all meet up at your house this Saturday, and we'll talk all things wedding,” Rachel suggested to Jen.

“
I'd really like that,” Jen smiled.

“
I'll bring the champagne,” Liz yelled down the phone.

Chapter 13

“
Why does Monday morning always come around so quickly?” Rachel groaned to herself as she looked out the window of the bus on her way to work.

It was a cold, rainy September morning. Everyone on the bus looked as miserable as she felt. “It's a day for the ducks.” Rachel was rudely interrupted from her dreary reverie by a rather large woman flinging herself on the seat beside her.

“
Yes, it is,” Rachel said stiffly, wondering why this woman decided to plonk herself next to her when most of the bus was empty. She shifted slightly in her seat, as half the woman's butt cheek was resting on Rachel's leg.

“
Off to work, love, are you?” the woman asked.

“
Yes,” Rachel replied.

“
Me too,” the woman continued, and gave Rachel a full account of how she'd spent her weekend in Galway, minding her grandchildren. She zoned out most of the conversation, just making a few “mmm” and “oh really” responses. She was not in the mood for a chat with anyone this morning, let alone a random stranger. The woman's overpowering perfume was starting to make Rachel feel slightly nauseous and she was glad when she saw the bus approaching her stop.

“
Excuse me,” Rachel said, “this is my stop.”

“
Oh, mine too!” the woman exclaimed, like it was the best news she'd heard in ages.

Rachel jumped off the bus, followed by her new friend.

“
Which way are you walking?” the woman asked.

“
I'm heading to the South Mall,” Rachel replied.

“
As am I,” the woman responded, “I'll walk with you, if you don't mind. There’s nothing like a bit of company.”

“
Indeed,” Rachel said shortly, “nothing like it.”

The two of them headed towards the South Mall together with Rachel's companion twittering on.

“
This is me,” Rachel said as she turned towards her office.

“
What a coincidence, I'm starting a new job here today,” the woman beamed.

She looked like all her Christmases had come at once.

“
I have to report to some woman called Rachel Jenkins.”

“
What?!” Rachel almost shrieked. “I'm Rachel Jenkins.”

“
Nancy Deloitte, pleased to meet you,” the woman smiled up at her, holding out her hand. “Likewise, I'm sure,” Rachel said, shaking Nancy's hand firmly. “You must be the new member of my team.”

“
So it would seem,” Nancy replied pleasantly.

“
You speak fluent French then?” Rachel asked as they made their way in the lift up to the fourth floor where the call centre was located.

“
I sure do,” Nancy said, “fluent in Italian and German too. My father was Italian, God rest his soul and my mother is German. I lived in France for many years when I was younger.”

“
I'm sure you'll be an excellent addition to our team,” Rachel said as she pushed the heavy glass doors open.

“
Everybody, this is Nancy Deloitte,” Rachel introduced Nancy to the rest of the team. “Susie, would you mind letting Nancy sit with you this morning, just so she gets an idea of how our systems work?”

“
Sure,” Susie jumped up from her desk and almost ran to find Nancy a chair.

Rachel made her way to her own desk and flung her bag in the drawer.

“
I see you've met Nancy,” Bettina smiled fakely over her computer at Rachel.

“
Yep,” Rachel replied. “When did we hire her?”

“
I interviewed her about a month ago, I think you had a half-day,” Bettina responded, “didn't you get my email?
”

“
No, I didn't get your email, Bettina,” Rachel said snippily, switching on her computer, “considering we work almost at the same desk, would it have killed you to tell me in person or was that just too much of an effort?”

“
I emailed you in case I forgot to tell you,” Bettina defended herself.

“
Oh, whatever, I need a Starbucks,” Rachel announced, grabbing her purse and making her way downstairs to the canteen where they were lucky enough to have a Starbucks coffee section on site, with a fully trained barista. She didn't bother asking Bettina if she'd like a coffee, and she didn't care if she was being rude, in fact she hoped she was being rude.

“
Hi Jo,” Rachel smiled, “
a large Americano please, with an extra shot.”

Jo, the Starbucks' barista, looked at her in amazement, “you do know that it already has four espresso shots.”

“
Well, I feel like I need the extra shot this morning,” Rachel sighed.

“
Heavy weekend?” Jo asked.

“
Not really,” Rachel said, “more like a heavy morning.”

“
Already?” Jo laughed. “It's only half past nine.”

“
My sentiments exactly,” Rachel muttered. “This Americano will be the drug I need to get me through the day.”

Rachel made her way slowly back to her desk. She savoured the strong aroma of the coffee beans and felt herself beginning to calm down a little. She opened her emails, mostly telephone reports and lots of meeting requests. She hardly got any work done some days with all the meetings she had to attend.

Her manager, Claire Dunbar-Jones had emailed her asking for a report on telephone times versus sales conversions. “How tedious,” Rachel groaned at the thought. A tap on her shoulder made her jump, which sent her large Americano spilling all over her keyboard.

“
Bloody hell!” she exclaimed, “what next?”

“
Oh dear me, no need to panic, I'll go fetch some paper towels,” Nancy offered, “I'm so sorry to have made you jump. My fault entirely.”

She bustled off to find some paper towels.

Rachel surveyed the mess on her desk, coffee everywhere. Her computer wasn't working, and she wasn't looking forward to calling the IT department to ask for a replacement.

“
I've just called Rob, he'll be up in a minute to fix your computer,” Bettina piped up.

“
Great,” Rachel replied, getting more and more irritated by the smug look on her colleague's face. Nancy waddled back with a bunch of paper towels and started mopping up the spillage. “Thanks Nancy,” Rachel took some towels and wiped her chair.

“
Whatever have we here,” a loud, booming voice bellowed in her ear. Rob Cashby. Mr. IT Department,
or so he thought. He was a know- -it all; a condescending, patronising chauvinist and Rachel liked him even less than she liked Bettina.

“
A simple spillage, Rob,” Rachel said, “no need to get too excited about it.”

“
Your third this year, Rachel,” Rob scolded.

“
Keeping count, are we?” Rachel asked.

“
Well, we did have a bet in IT to see how long it would be until you wrecked another computer. Anybody would think you didn't like technology,” Rob effused, laughing at his own joke.

“
I have to go to a meeting now anyway,”she said, “I assume it will be done by the time I get back,” and with that she strode off.

“
Is everything OK?” Greg asked. Rachel was the first person in the boardroom and Greg was still setting everything up.

“
Just dandy,” Rachel replied shortly, “apart from the fact I've destroyed another computer, and generally hate my life and my job,” and with that she burst into loud, uncontrollable tears.

Greg looked at her in shock. He stood there, staring at her, not knowing what to do. He and Rachel had started on the same day at Sherrington International. They'd worked their way up the ranks together, but Greg had decided to accept a position as a sales trainer, while Rachel preferred working in the call centre.

They really enjoyed each other's company and were very close at work. He came around the table and put his arms around her.

“
Hey, hey, darling, it's OK, whatever it is that's bothering you, you'll be OK.”

She clung tightly to him. He always smelled so clean and soapy, as most homosexual men did. She had a bit of a crush on him, even though she knew he was gay.

“
What's wrong?” he asked, his voice full of concern.

“
My whole life is a complete mess, and nobody loves me. I'm going to turn into an old woman who smells of wee, surrounded by cats and I hate cats, they give me the creeps.”

Greg stifled a laugh, and handed Rachel a tissue. She scrubbed at her face, which was tear-streaked and puffy.

“
I think you should take the rest of the day off, pull a sickie, and I'll pop over this afternoon and we can have a proper chat then,” he soothed. “I'll let Claire know you had to leave, I'll say you had a migraine or something.”

“
OK, if you're sure you don't mind,” Rachel sniffed. “I don't think I can face work or anyone today.”

“
Course I'm sure, you get yourself home, have a snooze, watch some rubbish day time TV and I'll be around this evening.”

“
Thanks so much Greg,” she sniffed again.

Chapter 14

Rachel got a taxi home. She couldn't face standing in the cold and rain waiting for the bus home, trying to look normal, maybe having to make small talk with some random stranger. She just wanted to be home, alone, tucked up on her sofa, drinking tea with lots of sugar.

The taxi driver gave up trying to make conversation with her, and she sat in miserable silence all the way back to her flat. She struggled up the stairs to her front door and fumbled to put the key in the lock. Finally, she was inside, safe and secure.

She went to her bedroom and climbed into bed, leaving her coat, scarf, gloves and even her shoes on. She couldn't be bothered to get undressed. She wrapped the duvet tightly around herself and quickly fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

A loud knocking at her door woke her abruptly, several hours later. It was dark outside, she didn't have a clue what time it was, and she didn't care either. She felt so tired, an all-encompassing, overwhelming aching tiredness.

“
Go away,” she whispered at the banging, before she passed out again.

Next time she awoke it was her alarm clock ringing incessantly and noisily. She flung it against the wall and put her head under her pillow. She didn't want to get up. She didn't care if she got fired from her job. She fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

“
Who's that singing?” Rachel's sleep was rudely interrupted by Blondie's “Maria” blasting from her mobile phone; her ringtone. “Christ Almighty, why do people keep bothering me? I just want to be left alone,” she said angrily to herself under the covers.

Her phone beeped as a text was delivered. She couldn't go back to her blissful sleep cos she had worked herself up into a bit of a tizzy with the ringing of her mobile phone, and also the call of nature forced her out of bed and into the bathroom. She sat on the toilet for ages. It felt like too much effort to get up. When her legs started going a bit numb she hauled herself off the loo and dragged herself into the kitchen. She made herself some tea and toast.

“
I can't even be bothered to eat this,” she thought as she nibbled on a corner of the toast, “in fact, I can't be bothered to do anything.”

She threw herself down on the couch and started crying. Long, heaving sobs racked her body, and she soon fell into another deep sleep.

“
Rachel, Rachel, are you in there?”

Loud banging on her front door brought her back to consciousness this time. It was Jenna. “Open up, it's me, Jen.”

Rachel lay on the sofa for a few more minutes and contemplated ignoring her friend until she went away, but decided against it.

“
Coming, just a second,” Rachel replied. She pulled the door open.

“
What happened to you?” Jen asked, concern written all over her face. “We've been trying to call you, and we've left a million text messages and voice mails. Nobody's heard anything from you for days.”

“
Hardly days, Jen,” Rachel muttered, plonking herself down on the couch.

“
Yes, days, dear, it's Thursday afternoon.”

“
Who cares?” Rachel replied despondently.

“
Well, for your information, quite a few people care very much about you, actually,” Jen said, “Liz has tried getting in touch with you, she's even been outside your flat, knocking on the door, but you never answered. Your mom's been on the phone to me, wondering if I'd heard from you. I lied and said you had a cold; thought it best to come see you myself before I worried your mother. Even Greg has been on to me. He said you left work early on Monday morning in a right state, and that you haven't been in the office since. He's covered for you, said you had a stomach bug or something.”