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I was an educated person. I knew famous and cultured Leonardos, I did.
‘The ninja turtle?’ I muttered. I scrunched my face up and I was lucky it made him laugh, possibly relax.
‘It’s just Leo,’ he told us.
‘Do I detect an accent?’ I asked him.
‘I’m from Kendal, in the Lake District.’
‘Where the mint cake is from?’ I said, quite proud of myself.
‘Indeed,’ he told us. ‘I didn’t bring any though.’
‘Oh, it wasn’t expected but please, if you get the job, that would be a daily prerequisite. I do like cake.’
‘Any cake?’ he replied. ‘I make a mean lemon drizzle.’
‘We can plan out a rota,’ I joked. We both laughed. Unfortunately, the rest of the interview panel were less interested in the cake chat and looked at me sternly for driving the session off-course. I looked over to them. I’d made an effort; I’d worn a suit. I looked over to Leo and raised my eyebrows and I always remember the look he gave me. It was a look of reassurance. A look that said, I don’t think you’re a fool. I got the ninja turtle joke. I also like cake. On that alone, I’d have hired him on the spot.
‘So what brings you to London?’ a humourless board member who’d already eaten six biscuits asked him, trying to take over where I’d obviously failed.
‘Work, really. It’s why I’m here.’
I thought that was funny at least.
‘You’ve always stayed in the North though,’ Jan said, thumbing through his CV, ‘University in Edinburgh, work in Manchester. It’s a big move. What attracts you to London?’ He looked at me at this point and I remembered being a little embarrassed so I looked down at my interview questions in front of me.
‘There’s a wider scope for IT jobs in the South. I’d like to broaden my horizons with a company such as yourselves and I like the way you’re using new technologies to adapt to changing operations. I think whoever’s steering that is pretty ingenious.’
I blushed at that point. I think that was me but it would have been strange to have put my hand up there and then. He continued to talk about the companies he’d worked for, his experience and extra credentials, and it was all above board. He sounded hugely competent. I was just trying to work out in my head whether he’d fit in the rather rough-edged jigsaw that was Jasper, Frank and myself.Do I mention the basement now?
‘And any questions from you, Maggie?’ Jan suddenly asked, turning to me. Oh. They were allowing me to chat. That didn’t go so well when I opened the interview.
I pretended to write something on the paper in front of me. ‘Python?’ I said randomly. ‘It says here you’re proficient in Python, and that’s certainly what we need in our department. Any experience of any other programming languages?’
He stopped for a moment to hear me talk shop. ‘I have some experience of C,’ he told me. ‘Tricky but certainly easier to use than Malbolge.’
I tipped my head to one side, widening my eyes at the reference. We both laughed and again the panel were quiet. I think Jan was trying to work out if Python and Malbolge were references to body parts.
‘So I’d be working alongside you?’ Leo asked me. ‘You said you were head of IT?
‘Yes, I’d be supervising so basically you’d be working…under me,’ I said nervously.
And with that, I remember he took a very long sip on a glass of water and I didn’t ask any more questions.
‘So you named the foxes after us…’ Leo asks me, looking at some photos on my phone, slightly bemused.
‘There were three of them; it kind of made sense,’ I say, looking across the table at him. ‘That’s the one who bit me,’ I point, holding up my thumb with a plaster on it.
‘And which one is me?’ he asks.
‘The one on the end, playing it cool,’ I tell him and he smiles broadly.
I guess from a layman’s perspective, even though we’ve not labelled it as such, this is a date. A first date. Four years after that first time we met, in that interview, the one and only time I’ve ever seen him in a suit. And since he joined my department, even though it is the four of us, we’ve sometimes splintered away from the pack. We’ve shared chips in the work canteen together, we’ve eaten sandwiches on a bench in the summer. I think back to all those moments we had together, just the two of us, alone. In lifts, saying goodbye in Tube stations, in the server room working out where plugs go, and in all that time we could have been kissing.
After that kiss, we walked down to the South Bank, one of the best London spots at Christmas – garlands of lights line the path and along the way are wooden huts, set up like a Christmas market, the scents of hog roast and mulled wine drifting through the air. It’s a more subdued side of London, couples walking slowly hand in hand to theatres and art galleries, taking in the sparkle of the river and looking up and out over the London Eye and Big Ben. We walked in complete silence, and I smiled, taking in that moment and what it meant until I suggested pizza.
‘Quattro Stagioni to share?’ the waiter says, and he places the pizza on a wooden board in front of us. As far as first dates go, Leo’s certainly ticking all the boxes. He knew my favourite pizza anyway but he suggested we share and go all in with dough balls, olives and calamari too. It sounded perfect. Heeven talked of ice cream. And now he sits opposite me by the window, in this Italian restaurant set back from the river, filled to the brim with people but with little Christmas trees and candles on the tables, carols trickling through the chatter. Given this is all very spontaneous, it’s the only place I want to be right now.
