The Reference
With just one day to go until my first antenatal appointment, I was brainstorming ideas for a dazzling press release and looking forward to telling everyone about the baby news. It would be ideal. I was due to call Mother to show her my progress with her wedding dress and I’d asked her to gather the whole family together for supper because I had more wedding planning news to give them. I’d casually tell them about the baby when we were all together. I figured that as we were right on top of Christmas an announcement would be the perfect gift for my family.
I actually did have updates about the wedding to throw into the equation because the venue for the wedding had only just been confirmed. Up until then the island in the Caribbean had been agreed but I was still choosing between two venues. Mother’s first choice was booked up and we were on a waiting list and, as luck would have it, there’d been a cancellation. I hadn’t told Mother yet; it was going to be part of the surprise.
In truth, my mind was only half on the brainstorming and the press release wasn’t exactly coming together. Honestly? My brain was all over the place, scattered between the several irons I had in the fire, so I was glad when Riley buzzed me from downstairs to tell me I had a visitor in reception. I trotted down merrily without even asking who it might be. I knew full well Riley wouldn’t have asked. She never looked at the reception duty checklist I’d made for her. Number One being, Ask For Name Of Visitor. I was just relieved to have a distraction.
When I got to reception I stopped in my tracks. Standing with her back to me, with her smooth red bob, was a short and feisty woman I never thought I’d see again.
‘Cassandra?’
She turned, slowly, to face me. Cassandra. A blast from the past who left her former employment under a cloud of accusations and controversy. To be exact, Cassandra had been my colleague at Shearman once upon a time. She’d worked as a secretary and receptionist for both Anthony and his father before him.
I should also tell you, so you can understand my shock and awe, that Cassandra had hated my guts. Ever since the day Anthony took me on as his PA, she did everything in her power to undermine me. She’d gone to extreme lengths to ensure her boyfriend and rival of the firm could buy Shearman out. Of course, I was the one who put a stop to that happening since I bought the company in the end. Since then, I’d suspected that Cassandra had run off to be with said boyfriend in Bristol. Her boyfriend being Niles Benson, my arch nemesis and a total creep. I could only imagine that since their plot to buy Shearman had failed they’d been up in Bristol taking part in Satanic rituals involving hot pokers and an effigy of me.
Cassandra’s eyes, behind her enormous glasses, dropped to my shoes. At her desk, Riley was looking at me with eyes bigger than any anime artist could ever have illustrated them. She mouthed the words, “This is Cassandra?” while pointing a finger at Cassandra’s back. I tried not to look at Riley.
‘Hi, Magenta,’ Cassandra finally said. ‘You’re looking good. But then you always did.’
I said nothing but my eyes flicked back to Riley who was doing a cut-throat action with her thumb across her neck. I’d drip-fed her the whole Cassandra story over time and Riley hadn’t been impressed by her antics.
‘I suppose you must be wondering how I have the nerve to even show my face here?’ She looked around, taking in the fact that the office had been repainted and most of the furniture moved around.
‘What can I do for you, Cassandra?’ I folded my arms trying to be standoffish and failing miserably because I was dying to know what had become of her.
She cleared her throat. ‘When I left I didn’t get a reference,’ she said.
‘I know. But then I didn’t think you needed one. Didn’t you go up to Bristol to work for Niles?’
‘That lasted all of five minutes.’ She finally met my gaze. ‘Okay, I’ll admit it, Magenta. I was an idiot. Niles charmed his way into my life years ago. I met him here, actually.’ She cast an eye around her previous office. ‘He’d had a meeting with the old Mr Shearman. We started seeing each other on and off. He used to come down to London a lot for business.’ She looked over her shoulder at Riley and almost caught her shaking her head and mouthing “OMG”.
But as hard-nosed as Riley was being behind Cassandra’s back, I found I couldn’t hate her. I’m not sure I really had. If anything I took pity on Cassandra. Her hard edges seemed to have been filed away. Beneath them and her power suits was an ordinary woman in a Next winter coat and a cute one at that.
‘Do you want to come upstairs?’ I asked her.
‘If it’s all right.’ She bit her lip.
‘Of course. Riley, would you mind putting on a brew of coffee?’
Riley’s jaw dropped but she snapped it shut when I gave her a look.
‘Right away,’ she said.
I led Cassandra into my office and gestured to the seating in the corner.
‘Wow. This has certainly changed.’ She took a seat on the sofa and I took the chair.
‘A lot has changed since you left, Cassandra.’
‘I see that. I suspected you’d keep the company on. I mean I know you bought it and everything but you could have appointed someone to manage it. I know what a party girl you always were.’ She gave a short laugh and caught herself. ‘But when it came down to it, you made the company what it is. I’ve been reading all about you. You are the company, Magenta.’
‘Well, it took a while for me to realize just how much I loved doing what I was doing. You’re right, I loved to party, still do really – in moderation. But we all grow up in the end.’
‘I certainly had a lot to learn,’ she said. A beat went by and her face became more serious. ‘I was jealous of you, you know?’
‘Because I took the job of PA and you wanted it? I did wonder why you hated me so much.’ Cassandra had made no secret of teasing me, my privileged upbringing, my middle-class accent, and don’t get me started on how much she resented my wardrobe.
‘It wasn’t the PA job so much,’ she continued. ‘It was you. I thought I could have assisted Anthony and still run reception, the way I did for his father. I thought you were surplus and I seriously didn’t think you’d last. But you did and you were brilliant and it only made my decision to leave a lot easier. I couldn’t top anything you did for the company. Niles offered me the perfect escape plan.’
She stared at the lilies in the vase between us on the coffee table. ‘I know, it was a horrible plan. Devious to say the least. But the way Niles sold it to me … I mean he convinced me that Anthony wanted out anyway. All he needed was a nudge. So the plan was: buy the company then move up to Bristol and swank around in his trendy town house all day or come and work for him if I wanted to. He said we’d be making so much money I wouldn’t need to work again.’ Finally our eyes met.
‘Well when buying the company didn’t work, what did you do?’ I asked. ‘What was your plan B? I mean you could still have worked for Niles couldn’t you?’
‘Oh, yes, the offer was there. But, as it turned out, Niles already had another plan of his own going with a Danish girl call Stine. She was twenty-three, housekeeper of his trendy town house, and baby-mother of his three-year-old son, Magnus.’
‘I see.’ Now I really did feel sorry for Cassandra. ‘Well, you wouldn’t have known. I guess he could have gotten up to all sorts in Bristol if you weren’t around to see. Long-distance relationships and all that.’
‘I should have known,’ she said shaking her head. I thought her eyes turned glassy behind her huge spectacles. ‘He was smarmy and cagey and when I went up to visit him it was practically by appointment only.’
‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t be. I’ve only got myself to blame.’ Cassandra wiped a tear away from her cheek and adjusted her glasses. ‘Anyway, enough about me. What happened between you and Anthony in the end? I always suspected you two had a thing.’
‘Still having a thing. We live together now.’
‘That’s wonderful. I’m sure you’ve made a lovesick artist very happy.’
‘We are happy. But back to you, Cassandra. A reference? Couldn’t you have asked Niles?’
‘I could but I wouldn’t trust him to come up with anything that could get me through the doors of the Launchester Group.’
‘You’ve applied there? Good for you.’
Launchester were a top PR company in central London. They had divisions in New York and Germany and handled some top names in media and entertainment.
‘I know it’s a stretch,’ said Cassandra. ‘I’m not sure I’d fit in that environment but the job is really only admin. I could do it in my sleep if they took me on. Fact is the money’s great and they’re the first company who haven’t looked down their nose at an applicant over thirty-five. And I really, really need to get off my sister’s sofa. I gave up my flat and everything to move to Bristol. Since I’ve been back nothing seems to be working out for me.’ Her face softened. I thought she might cry again.
Just then Riley came in with a carafe of coffee, some milk, and sugar on a tray. She looked at me with a face that said, “Are you sure about this?”
‘Thanks for that, Riley.’ I grabbed the tray and eyed the open door.
‘How is the new me getting on?’ Cassandra asked when Riley had gone. I looked at her. ‘Don’t worry, I wasn’t here to get my old job back … although …’
We both smiled and then laughed out loud. That was never going to happen. I wondered if I could ever have got along with Cassandra when we were both employees of Shearman, if the circumstances had been different. The person sat in front of me now, smiling and tipping milk into her hot cup of coffee, was a far cry from the she-devil receptionist I’d encountered on my first day at Shearman.
We made small talk for a while and I let slip to Cassandra about a few of my plans to rebrand Shearman. She leapt at this.
‘That’s totally amazing. I’d love to get invited to the party.’
‘Only if you get Launchester to take me on as a client and give me a discount on their exorbitant PR fees – just kidding, of course.’ I gave a short laugh, hands in surrender.
‘I’m pretty sure you’d do well enough without them,’ said Cassandra, a genuinely warm smile spreading on her face. ‘I was always impressed by what you did with the company and I’m sure it’s only getting better and better. Am I right?’
‘We’re doing very well. I’m happy and so are my silent partners. Mother and Father leave the running completely to me.’
‘I wish I had parents like yours,’ she said. ‘But having rich parents doesn’t take away the fact that you have an absolute flair for what you do. I could never do it. I could assist, but …’
‘Are you totally sure you don’t want to come back to Shearman as the PA after all?’ I had one eyebrow raised.
‘I should be so lucky.’ Cassandra looked wistful. ‘That ship has sailed.’
There were several moments of silence.
‘About the reference, Magenta, will you be able to write one for me? I know things ended pretty badly, well more than badly. But I put in so many years with Arthur before Anthony took over, I would have asked him but I thought …’
‘It’s fine, Cassandra. I’d be happy to do it. Could you give me a few days? I’ve got a bit of a deadline on at the moment. I need to get some designs to my manufacturing team so that they can run off some samples.’
‘Who’s the designer?’ she asked.
‘You’re looking at her.’
‘Why am I not surprised? But a few days is perfect. I’ve still got time to get the application form in. Applications close the middle of next week and they insist on an accompanying reference at the time of application so …’
‘No, it’s fine,’ I said, happy to help. ‘Leave your address with Riley and I’ll post it on. Two copies do you?’
‘That’s perfect, Magenta, thank you. And if you don’t mind, could you get Riley to call me when it’s ready. I’ll pick the copies up because it’s a bit of a squat where my sister lives. Things go missing all the time so, just to be on the safe side, I’ll come by for it. I can come any time that’s convenient for you. All I do is job hunt by day and work out how to sleep on a battered sofa by night.’
‘Sounds awful,’ I said pulling a face. ‘But you know what: I’m sure you’ll get the job, Cassandra. Wait until you see the reference I’ll give you.’
We both stood and Cassandra threw her arms around me, almost knocking me off my feet. I awkwardly hugged her in return, patting her back and never imagining for one moment that I’d ever have physical contact with Cassandra of all people.
‘I’d better go,’ she said, ‘let you get on. Before we go all mushy.’
She waved as she left and for the next half hour I kept asking myself, Did that just happen? Did the woman who had been such a bitch to me for a whole year and who wanted me to fall flat on my face after just one day, really just ask me for help … and hug me?
Riley came in directly after Cassandra left, wanting the dirt on her but from what I could see, there was none. Cassandra had come completely clean about everything.
Once Cassandra had left the building and I was over the shock of how easily my former enemy had become a reformed character I was finally able to get back down to some work. In between times I thought about the antenatal appointment scheduled for the next day.
How I had been able to keep the secret until my first appointment I had no idea but that would all change in twenty-four hours’ time. I couldn’t wait.