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Josie falls into another fit of giggles, but when she checks the time on her phone she releases a groan. ‘We should probably go to bed.’
I want to stay up for five more hours. It’s so easy with these two. There’s no pretending.
But she’s right; we all need to be up in the morning. So between us, we carry the glasses and empty crisp packets to the kitchen, and then Josie leaves Max and me alone.
‘Is your spare bedding in the airing cupboard? Let’s set up the sofa bed.’ He leaves the room and returns a few moments later laden with pillows and blankets. Now it’s just the two of us, my focus is drawn back to his slight limp.
‘You okay?’ I ask, watching him pull out the sofa.
‘Huh?’ He straightens and looks at me, so I nod towards his leg. ‘Col, I’m fine.’
We slip into a tried-and-tested routine, putting the sheet onto the mattress together and prepping the rest of his bedding in theorder we’ve always done it.
When he finds a dirty glass on a side table and walks to the kitchen with it I can’t help but ask again. ‘You’re sure?’
‘I’m sure. Seriously. I’ve just been overdoing it recently.’
I wring my hands as he grabs a tea towel from the handle of the oven. ‘You’d tell me if there was anything to tell me, right?’
‘Of course.’ He smiles, but I don’t fully trust it. ‘Come on. You wash, I dry.’
I don’t bother telling him we have a dishwasher. So I wash up and he dries, just like we did when we were kids.
13
you could say my type has always been people who hate me a little
F I N N
‘I sent this reportto you and Greg earlier.’ I move my cursor over the table I’m sharing on the projector. ‘If I were you, I’d focus on fixing the easy stuff first, even though it probably won’t make as big of a dent in the overall ranking. But it’s your choice.’
‘I trust your judgement,’ says Miranda, glancing at her watch. ‘And I appreciate you going the extra mile with this. I know it’s not specifically what we hired you for, but it’s been really helpful.’ She closes the notebook she’s been scribbling in, slowly moving everything in front of her into a neat pile.
‘No worries,’ I say with a shrug, disconnecting my laptop from the projector and closing it with a snap. ‘I get that it’s chaos for you guys at the moment.’
She chuckles brightly. ‘You can say that again. But seriously, thank you. You do too much for us. You’ll be receiving nothing but glowing compliments in my testimonial.’ I grin and hold the door open for her to pass through, and we walk side by side down the hallway to the elevator. ‘Any update on the San Francisco job?’
The doors open with a clank in front of us and we step inside. ‘Nothing yet, I’m still only at the first stage. I haven’t actually applied to a full-time job in so long, I’d kind of forgotten what it’s like.’
‘You’ll get it, I’m sure,’ Miranda says. The doors open again and we shift to one side to make space for the people getting on. ‘How long have you been consulting?’
‘On and off for about four years. So this’ll be a nice change, I think.’
‘Well, we’ll miss you when your contract’s up. Although you’re more than welcome to stay on. You’ll have to let me know if there’s anyone you recommend to take over.’ The elevator makes a jovial ping and with that, she adds, ‘This is me. Enjoy the rest of your day, Finn.’
She heads off to another of her hundred consecutive meetings as I make small talk with the people who step in after her. I get off a couple of floors after she does, making my way to the building’s common area on the ground floor, which is packed with rock-hard sofas, standing desks and plug sockets, and is where I occasionally sit and work. But today it’s unusually loud. Rory’s over in the kitchen, leaning against the counter in a daydream as the coffee machine churns out its unappetising liquid.
‘Hey,’ I say, interrupting his reverie. ‘What’s up?’
‘Oh, hey. You looking for Julien? He just ran off to a meeting.’ He takes his cup and sniffs it before taking a sip.
‘Nah, it’s fine.’ I eye the machine, which I’ve been avoiding as often as possible ever since I discovered good coffee is available just across the street. Much to the distress of my bank account, unfortunately. I have to raise my voice to be heard above the din. ‘Do you know why it’s so busy in here today?’
‘I think there’s some event later for the design agency on the fourth floor? But I also might’ve just made that up.’
I look around and realise that with everyone milling about, there are no free seats available, which is the minimal incentive I needed to head to City Roast for the rest of the afternoon.
‘I’m gonna head over the road to finish some work. I assume you won’t be joining?’ I look at his sad coffee and my stomach silently screams at me in response.
