Gemma Townley - When in Rome...

Nigel intervenes just in time. “The presentation this morning was most enlightening,” he says, getting up and herding Guy toward the coffee machine. “The strategic alignment does seem to be exceptionally favorable, and . . .”

As soon as they have turned their backs on me, I grab all the printouts and take them back to my desk, hiding them under myMarie Claire .

Denise comes back from lunch. “Bloody Nigel,” she mutters to me. “We could all be about to lose our jobs, and all he can do is smarm up to Guy and talk about business process reengineering or what have you. They’re standing by the coffee machine now, talking about downsizing like it’s not human beings who’ll be affected. He’s got no emotion, that man.”

I nod sympathetically and put a few more files on top of myMarie Claire , just for good measure.

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Nigel doesn’t come back as expected five minutes later. I try to get on with some work, but keep wondering if Guy saw what I was printing out. Maybe he’s issuing my termination notice right now. Maybe he’s keeping Nigel busy while he calls the police and we’re both going to prison and . . .

The phone rings. It’ll be them! Oh God! The police are calling me and I haven’t thought up any excuse!

I pick up the phone tentatively.

“Hello?”

“Hello?”

“Hello, who is this please?”

My voice is faltering and my palms are sweating.

“Georgie?”

Oh, thank God, I recognize the voice.

“Mike,” I say with relief.

“I knew you’d be pleased to hear from me.”

“No, it’s not that . . . I thought you were someone else.”

“My, your life is full of little intrigues, isn’t it. So, who am I up against? What’s his name? I’ll have him.”

“No, you idiot. It’s a work thing.”

“Right.” Mike has never been interested in what I do at work. I wish I’d let him think it was another man now.

“So, anyway, about Rome.”

I hold my breath. For a moment I think he’s going to say it’s all off, that it was a mistake, that he’s taking someone else and no hard feelings. To my astonishment I’m almost relieved. I suppose it’ll be one less thing to worry about.

“What about Rome?” I say, trying to sound cool.

“Well, how do you fancy meeting me there on Friday instead of us going together? I’ve got some business stuff to do first, so I thought rather than you having to hang around on your own, I could get it all done on Thursday and Friday, and then meet you in the evening.”

Well, that’s okay then. Actually I’m really pleased we’re still going. Obviously I wasn’treally relieved when I thought Mike might be calling it off. This trip is going to be the best.

“Sounds good to me,” I say enthusiastically.

“So, I could meet you at the station at nine-thirtyP.M . Italian time. There’s a Eurostar at five and you change at Paris. Sound all right to you?”

“Okay, I’ll just book the tickets shall I?”

“You’re gorgeous. Oh, one other thing. Would you mind taking a bag for me? I have to go straight from the airport to a meeting and I don’t want to be lugging loads of stuff with me. I thought you could maybe pop round to my offices later and pick it up.”

“But . . .” I’m about to tell him that I’ve got enough luggage to bring myself and won’t have room for any of his stupid papers, but then decide against it. I mean, one bag—it’s not that much to ask, is it?

“Okay, that’s fine.”

“You’re a star, thanks Georgie. I’ll see you later then? I’ll e-mail you the address of my office.

Bye, honey.”

And he’s gone. I am sufficiently buoyed up by the prospect of a weekend in the city of romance to ignore the fact that now, apparently, I am buying my own ticket, which isn’t quite what I had in mind when Mike said he’d “take me.”

As I put the phone down, Nigel reappears. He walks over to my desk and bends down so his face is at the same level as mine. I meet his eyes, but, as always, my attention is drawn by a large red protuberance just to the right of his nose. What a nightmare to still get loads of spots at Nigel’s age. I mean, I get the odd one or two every so often, but Nigel’s skin is truly adolescent.

I wonder if he’ll have really young-looking skin when he’s older—you know, because of all the natural oils. It occurs to me that I have no idea how old Nigel is. Somewhere in thirty to forty territory I would imagine, but who knows?

“Georgie,” he says in a loud, jovial voice, “Guy was very impressed with your report on Pensions Bulletin. Do you have another copy you could give me?

“Pensions Bulletin?” I look blankly at him. I’ve already e-mailed the report to Guy, and who knows where I saved it to on my computer. Me and filing don’t really go too well together.

“Um, couldn’t you just use Guy’s copy?”

“No. Could you just give it to me now?”

Nigel is looking at me strangely. Why does he want it? I thought we’d finished with all that mundane sort of work now. And anyway, doesn’t he know that I totally ripped off his report?

“Nigel, could you, um, just give me a while to dig it out, and then I could e-mail it to you?”

“I want thehard copy.”

He wants me to give it to him now, and he wants the hard copy. Is Nigel flirting with me? Is this his idea of office banter?

“Nigel, really, I had no idea . . .” I grin at him. But he doesn’t grin back.

“The report that we were working on earlier,” he hisses, and I suddenly twig.

“You mean the HG stuff?”

Nigel looks at me as if I am a complete idiot. Humbled, I pass over the printouts, sandwiched between myMarie Claire and a random pile of files.

“Thank you, Georgie, much obliged,” says Nigel loudly in a “nothing untoward going on around here” kind of voice, then he gives me a thin little smile before going back to his desk. I’m not entirely sure I’m wild on this “getting to know Nigel better” lark. Still, at least he’s going to be absorbed in those files for the rest of the afternoon, which means I can get on with more important things.

My trip to Rome is proving problematic. I can’t get a seat on Eurostar—apparently there is some special offer on or something and all the tickets have gone—which means I’ll have to fly instead.

Flying’s okay; actually it will be quicker than taking the train, but there aren’t many cheap flights to Rome, and I also need to get from the airport to the train station in time to meet Mike.

Nigel looks over and I give him a big smile. The great thing about the Internet is that you can be buying flights for a fab weekend away, and as far as everyone else is concerned you’re sitting at your desk working incredibly hard. David thinks a constructive day in the office is one where he’s performed really well and got things done. I think a constructive day in the office is one where I’ve paid all my bills online, booked a holiday, and compared ten different horoscope readings.

I find a flight for ?60 that gets in at 8P.M ., which will give me loads of time to get to the station in time to meet Mike. Relieved, I fill in my credit card details and press “Buy Now.”

It’s only when I’ve pressed the button that what I’m doing really hits me. I’m going to Rome with Mike. I’m going to Rome with the person David hates and has asked (okay, told) me never to see. If David’s cross with me now, he will be livid if he ever finds out. He’ll probably never talk to me again. The horrible guilt I felt on Sunday begins to wash over me again. I need to rationalize the trip to myself. The truth is, I decide, that I’m only going away with Mike because David hasn’t ever managed to get a free weekend. If he took me away I wouldn’t need to go with other men, would I? And anyway, he’s going to Geneva, isn’t he? And he won’t take me with him. So in a way, it’s pretty much his fault that I’m going to Rome.