Page 42 of If We Were Young

I got up from the bed and dropped the chocolate bar next to her. “I’m sorry, Han, I’ve got to go now to do some urgent work.”

I was at the door when she called me. “What happened with the man you wanted to punch?”

“Oh, I still do.” And maybe I wanted to kiss him too. Really, really badly.

From the look on Matthew Carling’s face today I’d say that would never happen.

Hannah laughed, a sound so strange it took me by surprise. She snatched up the chocolate bar. “I’ll make the deal, but then you have to get help too if you still need it.”

Pinot Fog

Four days into the two weeks to save Supersaver Foods and I couldn’t take much more.

“Stewart.” I sidled up to his cubicle and leant against his desk.

“Yes, uhh, Ronnie?”

“Question.” I re-crossed my legs hoping to stun him with some thigh into giving me the answer I needed. “If we don’t complete this job for Supersaver Foods and don’t get paid, exactly how viable are we? How many months can we bankroll ourselves for?”

“Have you got any more tenders coming in? You’ve been pretty focused on Supersavers.”

They really needed to change that name… but no… no to everything.

“Well not straightaway. Maybe I should relaunch the social media advertising, see if we can get some clients in that way.” I chewed on my bottom lip while I thought. “Maybe I’ll get Fred to load up some fresh designs onto the website and I’ll get Natalie to work on the Google analytics to see if we can push ourselves higher in the search results.

“Or maybe we should consider that the market is slow, things are unsteady everywhere, people aren’t spending and hold on to our own cash?”

I tried my very hardest not to pull a face.

“The money from this job will see us through the summer. Hopefully the market will pick up by then. Maybe if Matthew Carling puts out a good word for us, more people will come along. It hasn’t always been this quiet.”

He reached up and placed a hand on my arm, squeezing.

“I don’t think I can work with him,” I whispered.

Stewart sat up a little straighter. “Who?”

“Him,” I whispered again. “He makes me want to bang my head against the wall.”

“Mr Carling seems pretty focused on you.”

“He hates me. That’s the focus.”

Stewart nodded his head either side, his hand still on my arm. “We could…” He gave me the ‘go out for dinner with me’ puppy dog eyes.

I cut him off quick. “Sorry, Stewart, I shouldn’t lumber this all on you.”

“Anytime.” His hand squeezed my forearm.

Straightening from his desk, I tried to wrestle his grip from where it lingered when the familiar clack of Natalie’s heels landed on the tiled floor. “Oh, sorry to interrupt.”

My gaze slipped straight from her to the brooding man behind. I’d liken it to staring into Medusa’s hair; his furious expression could turn any warm-blooded woman to stone.

“No need.” I broke free of Stewart and waved to my office with what I hoped was a warm smile. My stomach sank as Stewart’s words shifted themselves on the Scrabble board in my head. We really couldn’t afford to fuck this job up.

“Natalie, could you call Fred down please? I believe he has some ideas to share.”

“Hm.” Matthew’s shoulders were as rigid as a board.