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Angie Carter turned her perfectly symmetrical face to me and gave me a gleaming smile, a manicured hand reaching out to take my nail-bitten one.
"It's nice to meet you." I smiled, wondering if PAs usually kissed their bosses on the cheek? Maybe. Maybe if your boss was Mr Tell.
"Pleasure," she said, smiling sweetly just as Mr Tell's phone rang.
"Excuse me," he said to Angie. To me he just said, "Stay."
I arched an eyebrow but he was already gone and seeing as I had no idea where we were holding our meeting, I had no choice but to do as he said and stay put. My pride flared again but I squashed it. I had to stop letting him get to me.
"So," Angie said, crossing her arms and tapping a red fingernail against her bicep, "you're the horticulturist? You look a little young."
"No, my colleague, Mark Tafferty, is the horticulturist. He was supposed to be here today but he had a family emergency so I came in his place." I smiled at her and she returned with her own kind smile, putting me at ease.
"I see, so you are an apprentice?"
"No." I suddenly had the urge to make up an impressive job title. "I run the office at the nursery," I managed, finally. She laughed a little and I felt myself relax.
"Ah, I understand. You do the filing!" She laughed again, a tinkling little sound. Nothing in her words was openly rude but the cold glint in her eye unnerved me. My relaxation faded away and my guard went back up. I felt like I was back in school having the mean girls throw gum at my head.
"Have you worked for Mr Tell long?"
"Almost ten years. He usually prefers to have me with him at all times but he had to stay an extra day in New York so he sent me on ahead." She was still smiling at me, that sweet smile that I no longer trusted.
"Miss O'Connell." Mr Tell's voice echoed to me across the vast room.
I said goodbye to Angie and all but ran to him, unsure whether I was eager to get to him or just desperate to get away from her.
"Are you ready?" His hand came to my lower back once more and I let him lead me out of the ballroom.
"Yes I'm—where are we going?" I frowned as he led me towards the staircase.
"To the roof. Riley's already there. It will give us a more complete view of the land and will be easier to discuss the spec from up there." He looked down at me as we began to mount the stairs. "Not afraid of heights are you?"
"No, not at all." I climbed the stairs as quickly as my sister’s ill-fitting heels would allow. I'd never been on a rooftop before and the prospect was exciting. He led me along a series of corridors before finally coming to a ‘staff only’ door which led to a very narrow, poorly-lit stairwell.
"Are you claustrophobic?" he asked. I shook my head and stepped into the dark stairwell without hesitation. "You're not afraid of much are you?"
"Nope!" In my excitement, my earlier tension and annoyance with Mr Tell was completely forgotten. I was about to step into the first important meeting of my budding career. I was nervous, but I couldn't wait.
I burst onto the roof and was drenched in sunlight. He'd been right. You could see everything from up here.
It was incredible.
Four
Standing on the rooftop of Harrington House was like standing on a great ship in the middle of the ocean, except this ocean was field green and Mr Tell was my captain. Luckily, I had Riley Fitzpatrick for a first mate.
A smart oak table and chairs had been placed near the southern safety wall that ran the roof’s perimeter. The wall came up to just below chest height and after a preliminary run-through of the grounds from Riley, we each took a seat and got down to business.
Mr Tell had been silent during most of the meeting, choosing instead to watch me like a hawk whilst I did my best to focus on Riley and pretend like my heart wasn't about to hammer out of my chest. He seemed completely disinterested in the project, yet anytime Riley had put a question to him, he answered it easily.
Riley was busy going over the plans for the pair of five acre woodlands that bordered the grounds. His chair squeaked as he moved closer to the plans and Mr Tell grimaced, the noise clearly bothering him. I had a feeling that whomever was responsible for these squeaky chairs was going to get a spanking once this meeting was over. In the meantime, I decided to test my luck. I shifted in my seat, and it squeaked. Mr Tell grimaced again, andI tried to hide my smile. I shifted again, only slightly, but there was the squeak and there was Mr Tell, narrowing his eyes at me.
"As I said," Riley continued, "we've had contractors maintaining the grounds in the year since the property was bought. However, they were mainly agency workers. As far as I'm aware, the woodlands haven't been properly managed at any time in the last twenty years, so we have our work cut out for us there." Riley paused to push his glasses up his nose. "My plan is to get the work done during the summer, ready for planting up next spring. I have tree surgeons and forestry workers coming in a few weeks."
I nodded and flicked through my documents to find his supply list and found his section for the woodland.
"None of the plants on here are native species. Viburnum lantana, salix herbacea, salix laponnum…none of those are on here." I trilled off a few that came to mind as I browsed his list which consisted mainly of wild flowers. "I presume that you've surveyed the woodland to make sure those are already intact? All of these here are decorative or naturalised species." There was a pause and I looked up at Riley with raised brows. He looked somewhat surprised.