Page 20 of Things We Need to Say (Second Chance Love Stories #2)

When Emma was sure that Jay had left the flat, she got out of bed and had a shower, which made her feel a little less hungover.

As she made coffee she took some paracetamol, hoping to dispel the headache, which was still lingering.

Then she made herself some toast, knowing that she had to eat something even though she didn’t feel like it.

As she was buttering the toast, a text message came in.

It was Jay saying sorry for last night and asking if she wanted to go out for dinner later.

She frowned at the message. Although she was glad for the apology, she was a little disappointed that he didn’t know she was working.

She always wrote her shifts down on the calendar in the kitchen, so he obviously hadn’t taken the time to find out what she was doing.

Then again, perhaps she was just being over-sensitive.

She texted him back to say she was sorry too, but she was working tonight so they’d have to go out another time.

When her phone rang a few minutes later, her first thought was that it was Jay. She really didn’t feel like a conversation with him, so she was relieved to see Liz’s name flash up on the screen.

‘Liz, hi. How are you? Are you feeling better?’

‘Much,’ Liz said to her relief. ‘In fact I’ve got some good news to tell you.’

‘You have? What’s that?’ Emma had been beginning to think Liz had something seriously wrong with her, so she was pleased that the news was good.

‘I’m pregnant.’

‘You’re pregnant?’ Emma repeated, stunned. Then the penny dropped. ‘So that’s why you’ve been feeling so rotten recently. It wasn’t a virus?’

‘No it wasn’t, and, Em, I really sorry I lied to you. Alex and I didn’t want anyone to know until I was past the twelve-week mark and we knew everything was progressing normally.’

‘Yes, I can understand that. Liz, I’m really happy for you both,’ Emma said, although part of her felt a little hurt that her friend hadn’t confided in her, and had, in fact, deliberately gone out of her way to deceive her.

‘I’m so glad, Em. You wouldn’t believe what a relief it is to be able to tell you. I’ve hated all the deceit. And I’m really sorry that I asked Jay to keep it from you too. I had to tell him because of work, but I’ve been really sensitive about anyone else knowing.’

‘Of course you had to tell him. You work so closely together, and it would have been difficult to keep it from him as you were feeling so poorly,’ Emma said. She might feel hurt, but she was still determined to be a good friend. At least that explained why Jay had been so secretive recently.

As she walked into the hotel a few hours later, Emma’s headache was still lingering.

She was dreading work today. She hated it when her boss was on an earlier shift, and wondered if she spent the time working out new ways to torture her.

Those afternoons were always the worst and Emma wasn’t sure she could cope with the mind games today.

They had a big function on later that afternoon for a seventieth birthday party.

Heather was supposed to be running it, but Emma anticipated that, as was often the case, her boss would have left it for her to do the donkey work in setting it up.

After that they had an awards evening for over a hundred people.

It was going to be a busy day. But it was her own fault.

She should never have gone out last night.

She also hoped she wouldn’t bump into Nick as the thought of seeing him again made her feel uneasy.

As she reached the office door, she pinned a smile to her face, and walked in.

The smile faded as Heather looked up from her desk and glared at her. What had she done now?

‘Oh, so you’re here, are you?’ Heather looked pointedly at her watch.

‘I’m not due in until two. It’s only quarter to,’ Emma replied, her hangover making her less patient than normal.

‘And yet you know how busy we are.’

‘Just tell me what you want me to do and I’ll get on with it,’ Emma snapped. ‘Just like I always do.’

‘There’s no need to take that attitude. I’m your line manager and I deserve some respect. I’ve a good mind to report you to the senior management team.’

‘Report me for what? Being fifteen minutes early for work?’

‘No, for your general attitude towards someone who is trying to teach you to be a good manager. You’ve come in fresh from a few years at college and think you know everything. Well, I’m not going to put up with your abusive behaviour.’

‘ My abusive behaviour?’ Emma asked, shocked at the accusation.

‘ You might try to pass things off as banter, but it goes much deeper than that. What’s banter to you is really hurtful to others.’

Emma frowned. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ Had Heather finally lost the plot?

‘Does the name “wicked witch” mean anything to you?’

‘Wicked witch?’ And then the penny dropped. The name that had been bandied about in the pub. And while she had laughed with the others, she hadn’t brought it up in the first place. Was it her fault Heather made herself so disagreeable to everyone that they retaliated?

‘Ah, yes, so it’s true. I can tell by the look on your face. You know exactly what I’m talking about.’

‘Yes, but it wasn’t me who—’

‘Don’t try and wriggle out of it,’ Heather interrupted her. I heard it straight from the horse’s mouth. Your friends were laughing about it in the staffroom. They didn’t know I was outside. And I know it was you who called me it.’

‘I... I...’ Emma didn’t know what to say. Should she drop the others in it by telling Heather that was what they all called her? She couldn’t do that even though, right at this moment, she was absolutely furious with them.

‘You see, you can’t deny it, can you?’ Heather continued, her rage mounting. She pointed her finger at Emma. ‘You’re nothing but a bully in the making.’

‘Me? ’ Emma was incredulous. ‘ I’m the bully?

’ Something inside her snapped. ‘Well, I suppose you should know what a bully looks like, because you’re the biggest bully I’ve ever met.

’ She reached into her handbag and pulled out her notebook.

‘And I have the evidence to prove it.’ She waved the book at Heather.

‘In here is a detailed list of every time you’ve bullied or belittled me since you’ve been my line manager.

Believe me, it covers quite a few pages. ’

Heather tried to snatch it off her, but Emma was too quick and pulled it back.

‘Oh, no, you don’t. Because I’ve had enough and it’s me who’s going to report you. I’ve put up with it for so long because I was hoping that one day I’d finally impress you and you’d back off. But now I can see that’s never going to happen.’

She strode towards the door.

‘Where are you going?’

Emma stopped and turned back to face her. ‘I’m going to the general manager’s office. And we’ll see what he has to say about bullies.’

Before Heather could protest, Emma strode out of the office and down the corridor.

After her outburst she was literally shaking, and knew she needed to calm down if she was going to put a rational case forward to senior management.

She made a U-turn and headed towards the staffroom.

They had so much to do this afternoon that she didn’t really have the time to waste, but she was so hyped up she didn’t think she could work in the state she was in.

She switched the kettle on and as it rose to the boil she thought about what had just happened.

How dare that woman accuse her of being a bully after all she had put Emma through.

Yes, she had been complicit in calling her a witch, but she hadn’t actually said it out loud before last night and she hadn’t come up with the nickname.

But she had condoned it and maybe that made her as bad as the rest.

Emma spooned coffee into a mug and poured the boiling water over it. As she put the kettle down, a noise behind her made her turn. It was Nick. She really didn’t want to see him right now.

‘Feeling rough?’ he asked.

She reached for the milk. ‘Not the best.’

‘It was a good night though.’

She nodded her head. The actual evening had been good, but she wished she’d left the pub on her own and definitely wished she hadn’t drunk so much. She wouldn’t be doing that again in a hurry.

‘But the after-effects maybe not so much?’ he asked.

She didn’t want him to think that it was just a hangover that was affecting her. ‘No, especially when I’ve just got it in the neck from Heather for calling her names.’

‘What?’ He looked confused, but she wasn’t going to let him off the hook. Nick had been the first one to call Heather the name and she wondered if he’d been involved in the gossip that morning.

‘She overheard a group of you talking about her. Calling her the wicked witch. Somehow she got the impression it had come from me.’

‘Oh, shit! Sorry. Yes, we were talking, and we did mention your name, but only because you’re the one she picks on the most.’

‘Well, she definitely heard my name because she’s holding me responsible for calling her that. She even said I was a bully.’

Nick laughed. ‘That’s rich. Coming from her.’

‘That’s what I thought, which is why I told her that I was going to report her to the general manager.’

Nick’s eyes widened. ‘Shit! You said that?’

‘I did.’

‘And are you really going to do it?’

‘I think so,’ Emma said slowly. ‘But not today. I need to think it through properly before I do. Rehearse what I’m going to say first.’

‘Well, I wish you luck with that,’ Nick said. ‘Only don’t be surprised if you don’t get the outcome you want.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s happened before and it didn’t turn out well for the person who accused her.’

‘In what way?’

‘Let’s just say that, after she made the complaint, Heather made her life even more of a misery. In the end she couldn’t take it and left.’