Prologue
I walk into the sea and feel the warm water lapping over my toes, then creeping up my legs, as I go further before diving in beneath the gentle waves. I feel so alive swimming here, surrounded by the pine forests, without a care in the world, as the hot sun beams down on me. I imagine living in a place like this where you could do this every day and wonder how you could ever get tired of it. It’s pretty much my idea of heaven. Maybe I have a subconscious desire to up sticks and run away. And when I think about the way my life is panning out back home at the moment, that might not be such a bad idea.
One
‘What do you think this meeting is about then, Anna?’
My friend and colleague in the sales department of Unity Ethical Banking Group, Roz, pushes a strand of her shoulder-length lilac hair behind her ear as she peruses the food on offer in the staff canteen. I love her current hair colour, suggested by yours truly, and was thrilled when Roz gave it a go. It suits her colouring perfectly and complements her almost violet blue eyes. Occasionally, I think I should actually consider a career in hairdressing, as I have a feeling the time to plan a new career might be approaching faster than I think.
‘Dunno. Maybe we’re all going to get a pay rise?’ I raise my arms in a silent cheer, though really, I think the opposite might be happening.
‘Yeah, right. There’s probably more chance of Channing Tatum turning up here and spoon-feeding me my dessert.’
‘Stranger things have happened,’ I say, raising my eyebrow suggestively.
‘What kind of weird world do you live in?’ Roz shakes her head at me and laughs. ‘Do you reckon some of us will have to move over to the other site? It’s just that Lacey from the fraud section was telling anyone who’d listen, that might be the case.’
‘Lacey from fraud? Didn’t she tell everyone last month that Linda was pregnant?’
Linda is sixty.
‘Oh yeah, she did, didn’t she? Point taken.’
All the staff have been summoned to the conference room for an impromptu meeting this afternoon and the rumour mill has gone into overdrive. Is the bank in trouble? Some have heard whispers over the last few weeks that the business is being relocated to a business park several miles away. Me? I have my own suspicions, but beyond hoping that we aren’t being moved to a soulless industrial space off the motorway, I am struggling to engage with the rumours. I was one of the first people to join the bank when they started up twelve years ago, and the thought of change now, after all that has happened over the last few weeks, makes me want to bury my head in the sand. I am settled in my weekly routine; the sales department is in a good location, on the third floor of a beautiful Victorian building on a busy high street near Deansgate, and my lunchtime brownie from the swanky independent coffee shop next door is a daily staple. I haven’t really got the energy to think about anything else right now.
I stifle a sigh as Roz eyes the tasty-looking lasagne in the warmer before settling on a Caesar salad and a bottle of mineral water. I choose an aubergine and tomato bake, as I do every time it’s on offer, and we carry our trays to a window table that overlooks the busy street below.
‘You will just have to wait half an hour for the meeting,’ I say in a mature fashion. Truly, after something one of our managers let slip to me last week, I think redundancies may be on the cards, but there’s no sense in making Roz miserable when I don’t know for sure. Roz is not one to wait for anything and she’d burst with the news if I suggested it.
I glance at the large clock on the white wall of the canteen that hangs over the black and chrome furniture and potted plants. I’ve had so many chats with colleagues who have become friends over the years in this room. Corner tables have been host to private conversations where we have comforted each other, spilling our innermost thoughts, along with tears sometimes. If walls could speak, they could fill a thousand books with tales of ordinary people’s lives, their innermost secrets ingrained in the plaster. There’ve also been some pretty hilarious moments. Take