when I’d mentioned the whole month thing, and had straight away jumped to the conclusion that I was angling for compensation.
The truth was, as much as I needed money, and boy did I really need it, I also really needed to work—to have a reason to get dressed and leave the house every morning, to feel useful, and needed, and have a purpose. I knew from bitter experience that they were feelings that money couldn’t buy.
“Okay, got it. Sorry, give me one moment, I’m just looking again through Arianne’s notes here. Can I put you on hold?”
“Sure, of course.” I looked around the cafe furtively. Stupidly, I still kind of had the funny feeling that I was being Punk’d or something, and at any moment someone was going to jump out from behind a potted plant, reveal the hidden cameras, and let me know that the whole thing was a setup.
It was a dumb thought. I didn’t know anyone who’d set me up that way, and in fact, apart from the agency and Raine Davies, nobody knew where I was, so couldn’t set me up. Still, that seemed more acceptable than the fact that I’d just been treated the way I had for any other reason.
The hold music stopped, and Carla came back on the line. “Hi. Are you still there?”
“Yes I am.”
“Okay, great. Where are you now?”
“Umm...I’m just at the coffee shop right under the building. I’m sorry, I didn’t really know what to do, so I thought I’d take a minute to get my head together, and get caffeinated, then call you.”
“Absolutely. Great idea. I found some notes, but I need to speak with Arianne before I do anything. Can you do me a favor and just sit tight a while, please? Don’t go anywhere. If you haven’t already, order yourself something to eat, and another coffee, or whatever you want to drink. Enjoy it on us.”
“Oh, okay. Thank you.”
“Not at all. It’s the least we can do. Sit tight.”
“Okay. Thanks again.” I’d already browsed the menu, while on hold, and had decided what I was going to have for breakfast, while I waited. I’d been eyeing off the mega-pancake stack, with all the extras. It was probably about ten thousand calories, and cost almost as many dollars, but I figured I’d earned the stress binge, and someone else was paying, so it was an even sweeter deal.
I was about halfway through the stack—at the stage where I knew that I should stop before I felt too full, or too sick, but knew I probably wouldn’t—when the phone rang again. It was Carla.
I took a huge gulp of water to wash away the packed mouthful of food I was munching on, wiped my face on a napkin, and picked up, with the distinct feeling that I had blueberry skin firmly wedged between my teeth.
“Hi, this is Noa.”
“Hi, Noa, it’s Carla. Okay, so I spoke to Arianne, and it seems there has been some kind of miscommunication all around. Being her client, not mine, Arianne was aware of Mr. Davies’s... uh... requirements, and did leave me notes to that effect. Unfortunately, I do seem to have missed that specific point in the handover process, rushed as it was.”
Arianne had been scheduled to go on maternity leave a few weeks later, but in the event had to be admitted earlier for an emergency c-section. I didn’t know the specifics, apart from the fact that she’d safely delivered her daughter the previous week.
“At the same time, when I sent across your resumé, they saw your name and assumed you were a guy.”
“Yeah, Mr. Davies did mention that part.”
“Hmm... So, anyway, now the we’ve ironed out those miscommunications, we’ve also confirmed that we don’t currently have anyone on our books who fits the bill. At least nobody Mr. Davies hasn’t met already.” Reading between the lines, he’d chewed his way through what I was guessing was a scant pool of available males to fill the role.
The whole thing was so bizarre, I was still struggling to get my head around it. My immediate thought was that Raine Davies was gay. It would make some kind of sense of why he wanted males only. Not fair, or right, but no more unreasonable than the hundreds of thousands of straight men who hired women on the basis of their looks every day.
Then I remembered what he’d said about good-looking women. It would be logical to assume therefore that it wasn’t because he wanted male