“No, she’s not,” Gabriella said.
Thanks for that. Foley gave Hugh a one-shouldered shrug and tossed off a, “Have fun,” and the whole thing was over, but it lingered, the bad aftertaste of marzipan when you thought the chocolate centre would be caramel. Maybe it was time for her to leave council, her one serious job, she’d gone as far as she was going to. Maybe what she needed was a new bunch of flavours in a new chocolate box less ordinary: chilli, ginger, wasabi, lavender, lime, banana, green tea, bacon, beer.
Back at her desk, after a meeting on the Winter Wonderland, she tackled her email inbox and checked in with the rest of the team. Things had been prickly there, her own fault. She’d made people nervous about the conflict between her and Gabriella and no one was stupid enough to openly take sides, especially as Gabriella had placed some of her old council colleagues in a couple of open jobs.
There was an email from Adro: Howzit?
She wrote: Good, you and looked up to see if he was watching email.
He was. She got back: PO
He was pissed off: At?
You know.
Coffee?
Out the front in 5.
She gave him an okay and rummaged for her purse. On the short walk to their regular coffee shop he said, “I hate my job.”
She was slightly scared to ask why. Once she might’ve been able to fix it, because their old boss trusted her to run her own team without his intervention. Those days were gone.
“We used to be a team, now we’re one of those competition cooking shows. We’re all love and peace a
nd pulled pork with, I dunno, caramelised artichoke, on the surface, and stab, stab, hatey hate, crush, kill behind closed doors.”
She had to ask. “Is it my fault?”
Adro fussed with his sunglasses. “Yeah, kind of. But I don’t exactly blame you, it’s just that it’s a no win for the rest of us. Gabriella is so suspicious of you, and you just won’t give her a break.”
“Crap.”
“You could give her a break, Foley. You didn’t get the job, shit happens.”
“Gawd, don’t hold back there.”
Adro ordered their regulars; his short black, her cappuccino. He pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head. “You can’t do anything with what I’m going to tell you, all right?”
Foley handed over her money. “All right.” This wasn’t going to be good.
“I’m on the shortlist for a job at the Opera House.”
“Holy shit, really. Wow.” If Adro left, odds on Gabriella would know the perfect person from her old council to take the role. “Oh no.”
Adro laughed. “Yeah, all of that and if I don’t get the job I’m still on the market. I used to love working here, now I feel physically sick about coming to the office, the atmosphere is so toxic.”
They took their coffees and walked back the way they’d come. “What can I do to get you to stay?”
Adro looked at her over the rim of his sunnies. “You’d have to give me your job, so nothing, there’s nothing you can do.” Which was entirely reasonable and everything they’d planned before Gabriella arrived. She hadn’t been the only one whose career aspirations were trampled.
“I could talk to Hugh.”
“I’ve talked to him and you know what he’s like, party line, told me to suck it up. Made me feel guilty for being unhappy. That’s when I knew it was time to go.”
Foley punched his arm. “You can’t go and leave me.”
“I’d say watch me except that would be arrogant and my mamma brought me up better, and I might not get this job. I’m telling you because I owe you and I trust you and Jesus, I’ll miss you.”