The Rival by Charlotte Duckworth

Author:Charlotte Duckworth [Duckworth, Charlotte]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781787470934
Publisher: Quercus
Published: 2018-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

THEN

Ash

Helena closes the door behind me, as though she’s trying to provide me with some privacy, but everyone knows why we’re in here. The meeting room is literally a goldfish bowl, for God’s sake, glass on all sides. It’s taken her four days to finally pluck up the courage to talk to me, and I’m keen to get it over with.

‘Have a seat,’ she says, gesturing at the chairs.

‘I’ve got a call with the catering team in ten,’ I say, but I know my voice sounds too aggressive. ‘Sorry, I mean . . .’

‘This won’t take long.’ Helena sighs, running her hands through her hair. As she does so, I notice the roots are slightly greasy. ‘I had an email from Toby.’

‘God, what a coward,’ I say, sitting back in my chair and crossing my arms.

Helena frowns at me.

‘That’s not the word I’d use to describe him.’

‘No,’ I say. Shit, me and my big mouth. ‘Sorry, I just . . . I just don’t understand why people don’t talk to people face-to-face any more. I read a really interesting article online about it yesterday, actually, how email is killing productivity—’

‘Yes,’ Helena interrupts. ‘Listen, you seem to know what this is about. I wanted to give you the opportunity to put your side across. Toby’s very upset.’

‘The discounts,’ I say, shrugging. ‘It was a misunderstanding.’

‘Really?’ Her voice is laced with sarcasm. ‘A misunderstanding?’

‘Yes. I misunderstood the priorities, that’s all. I thought, as it’s a launch, it was important that we filled the stands at the pop-up. As it’s the first event. You know, build long-term loyalty, get them excited so that next time they’ll be more than happy to pay full price . . .’

What does it matter about Toby’s paltry commission now, if it means we’ll be raking it in, in the future? I want to add. But I manage to contain myself.

‘That wasn’t your decision to make,’ Helena says. ‘The prices are fixed, and we made it very clear what they were at the beginning of this. It’s also unprofessional to undermine your colleagues in front of clients. Do you have a personal issue with Toby?’

‘No!’ I say, taken aback. ‘Not at all.’

There’s a pause. I expect her to back down, but there’s a hardness in the way she looks at me that I haven’t seen before. Perhaps I’ve pushed her too far this time.

‘I’m sorry,’ I say, even though it’s an effort. I smile at her, give her a ‘What am I like!’ eye roll. ‘I promise not to offer any more discounts. I’ll apologize to Toby. And if you like . . . the ones that aren’t fully committed yet, I can always go back and say there’s been a misunderstanding, that I got the price wrong?’

I watch her face as she considers this; see the way her mind rolls the idea around. She knows how humiliating it would be to have to go back to them all – I’ve promised cheaper rates to at least five major brands.

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