Page 36 of The Three of Us
Molly has told him what she’s planning and he has to admit it sounds like something that might just catch on, although with more sensible fillings, obviously.
There are ideas and suggestions flying around the room as the small IT team meet on Monday morning to talk through their options. Two men who work in the insurance quotes department have been sounded out already and are quickly chosen to help with the testing, and a woman who specialises in renewals and has been there forever. It’s when someone says the name Carly Young that Jack is snapped out of his daydreams and back to instant reality.
‘We’ll need someone who’s really hot on the current invoicing system to try out the new…’
Jack’s brain has got stuck on the ‘really hot’ bit, as it so often does when he thinks about Carly. He’s like a schoolboy with a crush. Or an itch he isn’t able to scratch. Either way, there is unfinished business between them, and they both know it.
‘Yes, she’s our best bet from the payments team, I think.’ His boss is nodding. ‘Been here long enough to know the system inside out, and she’s got the personality to put her thoughts across. Forthright. Honest. If anything’s not quite right, she’ll spot it and make sure we know about it. She’ll need bringing up to speed though. A few one-to-one training sessions, to show what we need and how it all works. Jack, are you up for that?’
Jack grips his coffee mug and nods as vigorously as his boss. ‘Yeah, sure. My pleasure.’
There’s nothing Jack would like more than to show Carly what he needs, but there is a distinct line between work and pleasure and this is not the time or place to even think about crossing it. He has his career to think about, and a pregnant wife he really should be thinking about a lot more than he has lately.
He and Carly have already agreed that, whatever this unspoken feeling is that’s been gently rumbling away between them, it’s not going anywhere, that it can’t and it won’t. But he’s not sure he believes that, even if she does.
His boss is right though. Carly does have personality, honesty. Her opinions matter, even if her current opinion of Jack is probably that he’s a randy married man who tried chancing his luck while his wife was away and who should know better. Still, this will give him the perfect reason to spend some time with her, to show her that the real Jack Doherty is an okay bloke if he’s given the opportunity to prove it. Proper official time, at an office desk, that can’t be misconstrued or misunderstood. He finds he’s already looking forward to it, very much.
When the meeting ends, Jack grabs a coffee and goes back to his desk. The photo of Molly and her dog is still there, although it’s been pushed aside by mounds of paperwork and a half-eaten sandwich he didn’t get to finish yesterday and should have chucked away by now. He nudges it all even further towards the edge and rests his feet up in the middle of the desk. God, his shoes could do with a clean. He finishes the coffee, lifts his legs back down to the floor and leans forward, running his finger over the touch screen on his computer monitor and selecting the company phone directory. He doesn’t want to email her. He wants to talk to her. And now he has a reason to do it. Ah, yes, there she is. Carly Young. Extension 357. He picks up the phone and dials.
‘Hi, Carly. It’s Jack.’
He’s not sure quite what he expects. Not whoops of barely suppressed joy, exactly, but some sign that he’s been forgiven for the near-miss kiss and that she is ready to carry on as if it never happened, maybe. A hint in her voice that she just might be pleased to hear from him. What he gets is professional Carly. Work-mode Carly. Calm, matter-of-fact, as if she could be talking to anyone.
‘Jack. And what can I do for you this morning?’
He’s tempted to make a joke out of it, to make some mildly smutty remark about what she might do for him, but if she can play things seriously, then so can he.
‘I’ve got something I’d like to run by you. A proposition, you could call it.’ There is a small silent pause and he races to fill it. ‘Work-related, obviously. In case you thought I meant anything else…’
‘Of course not. Even you wouldn’t ring me on the work phone and suggest something so… inappropriate.’ Is there a hint of a giggle in her voice? He can’t be sure, but he hopes so.
‘Not sure I like the even you bit, but no, of course not. Look, Carly, can I pop down and see you, or we could find a spare meeting room somewhere to have a chat? We’re working on some big new software, as I’m sure you know, and I’ve just come from an IT team meeting. The thing is, we’d like your help. To see if you’d be interested in being a part of the testing process. We all agreed we need someone knowledgeable, honest, beautiful… Okay, I made that last bit up. Not that you aren’t beautiful, of course… Oh, hell. I’m making a mess of this, aren’t I? The truth is, your name came up and the whole team think you’d be great. Just the person we need. So, can I? See you, and talk about it? Sometime today?’
‘Let me just check my diary.’ He listens as she rustles some paper, puts the phone down, then rustles some more. Is she doing it on purpose? Making him wait? Who keeps an actual paper diary anymore anyway? She’s probably just flicking the pages of a newspaper or something. At last, she comes back on the line. ‘How about eleven fifteen? I can probably give you half an hour or so if that helps.’
‘Fine, yes. I’ll find us a room and send you the details.’
‘Great. I’ll look out for your message.’
And then she’s gone. Jack is not quite sure what to make of any of that. He’s never known her to be so cool, so offhand. Not that he really knows her at all, when he comes to think of it, much as he might like to. And he’s never worked with her, other than to pass the odd expenses claim through the system when he’s had to buy something the stationery cupboard has failed to provide, and she’s emailed him a standard reply.
He spends the next hour preparing some training notes to share with her, and printing off some screenshots to show her how things are going to look. Until now, this new software project has been really important to him, the chance to prove himself, to see something he has been such a big part of developing, moving towards fruition. This project is his baby. His career prospects, his reputation, his future rest on it.
But now he knows that his thoughts, his expectations, his energies, are all going to have to be shared with another baby, and the similarities are not lost on him. Being there right from the start, watching it grow, waiting nervously to see how it all turns out, so much of it out of his hands now, with all the responsibilities and worries that come with it. What if something goes wrong? There are two major projects running through his daily life now, side by side, each one just as important, just as life-changing, but only one of them that he chose to take part in, only one that he feels fully engaged with.
How do other men, men like Syd, cope? Diving into all this family stuff, sleepless nights, money worries, all the milk and mayhem and mess, and a wife who thinks and talks about nothing but babies anymore? It’s not what he signed up for, but it’s what he’s going to get.
At five past eleven, he makes two coffees in polystyrene cups, shoving some sugar sachets in his pocket because he has no idea if she takes sugar or not, tucks all the other stuff he needs under his arm and heads off to the room he’s booked. He wants to be there early, to show that he can be just as professional as she can. He has trouble with the handle on the door. It sticks and he almost drops the coffees as he tries to turn it using just his little finger. When the door finally springs open, he falls into the room, all hope of making a good impression lost.
Carly is already there. She’s brought coffees too, in posh white mugs, and a proper china plate loaded with chocolate biscuits, and she’s taken the better chair, the one by the window. He feels, for all the world, like the junior office boy walking into the boss’s office, waiting to find out what he’s done wrong.
‘Hello, Jack. Come and sit down, quick, before you drop something!’
He just manages to balance the coffees on the table, only spilling a few drops, as the papers slip from under his arm and onto the floor. He scrabbles about, picking them up, feeling utterly flustered, his gaze resting on her long smooth legs under the table and the incredibly shiny high-heeled shoes she’s wearing, reminding him again of how badly his own shoes need a good clean.
‘Right.’ He sits down opposite her, tucks his feet out of sight, takes a deep breath and gives her his best smile. ‘Sorry about that. Shall we get started?’
‘Oh, Jack, I thought you’d never ask.’ She has a wicked glint in her eyes. ‘Better close the door first though. We wouldn’t want anyone to interrupt us, would we?’ She reaches for the biscuits, picking one up and waving it at him, seductively. ‘And I do so fancy a Hobnob!’