Read Online The Year of Taking Chances by Lucy Diamond - Free Book Online
Authors: Lucy Diamond
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doughnut shop, diesel fumes and cigarette smoke – disgusting, all of them. Flavours tasted weirdly different, too, all of a sudden. Coffee, for instance, her own
personal rocket-fuel, now repulsed her with its bitterness, her mouth shrivelling and crimping in disgust whenever she tried to drink it. How had she ever been able to stomach the stuff?
Once in the office (ravenous already – how would she survive the morning without constant snacking?), Saffron opened her emails to an avalanche of ‘Dry January’ and
‘Wonder Diet’ spam. Oh, the irony.
‘Saffron! There you are!’ came a plummy voice. ‘I was starting to think you were avoiding my calls.’
Charlotte Hargreaves was the director of Phoenix PR; a large, commanding woman with big hair and stentorian tones, whose entire existence revolved around the agency and her role at its
epicentre. She was also the sort of boss who had no qualms about taking all the credit for any success achieved by the agency, whether she’d had a hand in it or not. Saffron had often
fantasized about marching out dramatically – ‘I quit!’ – and setting up her own rival agency, which would win awards and make Charlotte look a complete amateur. The sooner
she plucked up the courage, the better.
Yeah, but hello? What about the baby? Maternity leave? Think about it!
snapped a voice in her head.
Oh, yeah. The baby. She’d overlooked that tincy-wincy factor.
‘Happy New Year,’ she said, putting on her dazzling PR executive smile as Charlotte approached.
‘What? Oh. Yes. Anyway, I don’t know if you’ve seen the email yet, but the Yummy Mummy baby-food account is now yours. They want a full PR strategy plus visuals by mid-month,
so I said that would be fine. I trust you’ll be able to manage it?’
Saffron blinked, trying to process this deluge of information. ‘Um . . . yes?’ she said tentatively, then frowned. ‘I thought Kate was handling the Yummy Mummy thing?’ Kate would be a good person to talk to about the baby, she realized just then, but when she glanced around she noticed that Kate’s desk was empty, and the photos of her flame-haired,
gap-toothed kids had vanished.
‘We had to let her go,’ Charlotte said briskly. ‘Too much time off for school consultations and doctors, and whatnot.’
What? Was this some kind of joke? Saffron’s insides clenched with the injustice. Admittedly Kate had been in and out of hospital with her accident-prone younger son, who seemed to be on a
quest to break every bone in his body, but she’d always managed to get her work done on time – and consistently good it had been, too. ‘Oh,’ she said faintly after a moment,
fury for her friend mingling with fear at the thought of Charlotte finding out she was pregnant. Just like Kate, she’d be pushed out of the agency in a heartbeat.
We had to let her go. Too
much time off for midwife consultations and childbirth, and whatnot.
‘So you’ve got the brief and the contact details. Joseph’s handling the artwork, so you two can liaise on progress. I’ll leave it in your capable hands.’
As soon as Charlotte had marched back to her office, Saffron furtively fired off an email to her friend:
From: Saffron@PhoenixPR
To: KateMcKay@jetmail
Subject: WTF?!
Hi Kate
Just heard the news – so gutted for you. What happened? Are you okay?
S x
Then her phone rang. ‘Phoenix PR?’
‘Hey, Saff, it’s Max. Happy New Year!’
She swallowed. ‘Hi, Max, same to you.’
I’m carrying your baby, by the way, Max. Whoops! Contraception-fail!
‘Um . . . ’ She pulled herself together.
Act
normal.
‘Good Christmas?’
‘Great, thanks. The usual complicated children-passing, but we muddled through. How about you?’
Children-passing? She wrinkled her nose. He made them sound as if they were an inconvenience to be managed. If she had his baby, would he speak about it in such careless terms? He’d better
bloody not. ‘Er, yeah, good,’ she replied after
personal rocket-fuel, now repulsed her with its bitterness, her mouth shrivelling and crimping in disgust whenever she tried to drink it. How had she ever been able to stomach the stuff?
Once in the office (ravenous already – how would she survive the morning without constant snacking?), Saffron opened her emails to an avalanche of ‘Dry January’ and
‘Wonder Diet’ spam. Oh, the irony.
‘Saffron! There you are!’ came a plummy voice. ‘I was starting to think you were avoiding my calls.’
Charlotte Hargreaves was the director of Phoenix PR; a large, commanding woman with big hair and stentorian tones, whose entire existence revolved around the agency and her role at its
epicentre. She was also the sort of boss who had no qualms about taking all the credit for any success achieved by the agency, whether she’d had a hand in it or not. Saffron had often
fantasized about marching out dramatically – ‘I quit!’ – and setting up her own rival agency, which would win awards and make Charlotte look a complete amateur. The sooner
she plucked up the courage, the better.
Yeah, but hello? What about the baby? Maternity leave? Think about it!
snapped a voice in her head.
Oh, yeah. The baby. She’d overlooked that tincy-wincy factor.
‘Happy New Year,’ she said, putting on her dazzling PR executive smile as Charlotte approached.
‘What? Oh. Yes. Anyway, I don’t know if you’ve seen the email yet, but the Yummy Mummy baby-food account is now yours. They want a full PR strategy plus visuals by mid-month,
so I said that would be fine. I trust you’ll be able to manage it?’
Saffron blinked, trying to process this deluge of information. ‘Um . . . yes?’ she said tentatively, then frowned. ‘I thought Kate was handling the Yummy Mummy thing?’ Kate would be a good person to talk to about the baby, she realized just then, but when she glanced around she noticed that Kate’s desk was empty, and the photos of her flame-haired,
gap-toothed kids had vanished.
‘We had to let her go,’ Charlotte said briskly. ‘Too much time off for school consultations and doctors, and whatnot.’
What? Was this some kind of joke? Saffron’s insides clenched with the injustice. Admittedly Kate had been in and out of hospital with her accident-prone younger son, who seemed to be on a
quest to break every bone in his body, but she’d always managed to get her work done on time – and consistently good it had been, too. ‘Oh,’ she said faintly after a moment,
fury for her friend mingling with fear at the thought of Charlotte finding out she was pregnant. Just like Kate, she’d be pushed out of the agency in a heartbeat.
We had to let her go. Too
much time off for midwife consultations and childbirth, and whatnot.
‘So you’ve got the brief and the contact details. Joseph’s handling the artwork, so you two can liaise on progress. I’ll leave it in your capable hands.’
As soon as Charlotte had marched back to her office, Saffron furtively fired off an email to her friend:
From: Saffron@PhoenixPR
To: KateMcKay@jetmail
Subject: WTF?!
Hi Kate
Just heard the news – so gutted for you. What happened? Are you okay?
S x
Then her phone rang. ‘Phoenix PR?’
‘Hey, Saff, it’s Max. Happy New Year!’
She swallowed. ‘Hi, Max, same to you.’
I’m carrying your baby, by the way, Max. Whoops! Contraception-fail!
‘Um . . . ’ She pulled herself together.
Act
normal.
‘Good Christmas?’
‘Great, thanks. The usual complicated children-passing, but we muddled through. How about you?’
Children-passing? She wrinkled her nose. He made them sound as if they were an inconvenience to be managed. If she had his baby, would he speak about it in such careless terms? He’d better
bloody not. ‘Er, yeah, good,’ she replied after
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