for the job, but she didn’t have to make Robert feel better about what a coward he’d been. She hadn’t really believed in the whole glass-ceiling thing when she was at university, but the doubt she’d held so strongly about its existence was beginning to wane.
‘… and that’s why we’re very excited to invite Karen to join us as a member of the senior consulting team. What do you say, Karen?’
Karen shook her head slightly, convinced she’d misheard. ‘Sorry, what?’
Robert laughed, saving her embarrassment, as the rest of the team gauged each other’s reactions. Clearly they’d all been expecting this to be Travis’s coronation too.
‘Well, shock and disbelief is as good a reaction as any, I suppose.’ Robert grinned. ‘I’m sure you’ll all join me in congratulating Karen – assuming of course that she wants the position?’
Karen composed herself, smiled and nodded graciously. ‘Of course, I’m thrilled and honoured. Thank you both for the opportunity. I hope I live up to your expectations.’
Her colleagues all recovered as quickly as she did, none more so than Travis Yapp, who plastered a white-toothed poster-boy grin to his face and held up an invisible glass in toast. ‘Congratulations, Karen – it must be great to see all your hard work paying off.’
‘Congratulations, Karen – it must be great to see all your hard work paying off,’ Karen mimicked in a childish voice. ‘What a … a …’ She searched for a suitable word and remembered Bea’s creative command of the English language from just a couple of hours before. ‘What a cockblanket.’
Robert let out a laugh so spontaneous and genuine that Karen couldn’t help smiling through her fury.
‘I don’t know what you’re laughing at,’ she chided, her anger dissipating. ‘You realise he was insinuating that I’ve been sleeping with you to get a promotion?’
‘It’s standard Misogyny 101 – if a man gets a promotion it’s because he worked for it; if a woman gets one it’s because she slept with someone for it. They teach it on the first day of the “Aren’t You Glad You Have a Penis” course.’
‘Hmm, quite the feminist, aren’t we?’ Karen checked her watch. ‘I really have to get home. I just wanted to catch you to say thank you for the opportunity. I won’t let you down.’
‘I know you won’t.’ Robert smiled. ‘Welcome to the career of your dreams, Dr Browning.’
Karen descended the steps of the Cecil Baxter building, her mind reeling. Partner. Everything she’d worked for, everything she wanted was within her grasp now. She might not have the family she’d hoped for as a child but at least she had her career – finally she felt her choices were going to be vindicated.
As she made her way to her car she looked both ways down the street before she crossed but what she saw made her stop sharply at the side of the road. To her right, no more than a hundred yards away, was a silver Fiat parked up as though its occupant was waiting for someone. And sat behind the wheel, waiting, watching her walk from the building despite it being hours since their session that morning, was her newest patient, Jessica Hamilton.
5
Karen
‘Yes!’ She had been fumbling for her keys for the last five minutes, and as her fingers closed around them and she pulled them out of her bag, a crumpled piece of white paper followed them and landed on the doorstep. Grabbing it off the ground, she let herself in and threw her bag into the porch.
‘Hello? Michael?’ She resisted the urge to shout, ‘Honey, I’m home!’ and anyway, it would have fallen on deaf ears – Michael wasn’t here. Although the house was hers – well, the bank’s – he had his own key and treated the place as his own when he was there in the week. They weren’t like any of the other couples Karen knew, constantly checking in with each other, and although she found it hard at times, it worked for them. Mostly. She hated having to keep the nature of their relationship a secret, but telling those around her where Michael really went on his weekends ‘at work’ simply wasn’t an option.
She wandered through to the living room, smoothing out the piece of paper as she walked. A cheerful-looking yellow logo was emblazoned across the top; her old school and the one Toby attended now. The words ‘Keeping in Touch’ were written under the logo in large print. It was some kind of newsletter detailing