Harriet's Arrangement

Harriet's new job

Harriet's first day at C&C Events stretched out ahead of her like a golden beacon. She almost skipped down the stairs from her apartment and into the sunny London street. She'd delightedly accepted the job offer a month ago, and she'd been so keen to start that the month she had left of her temporary receptionist job (which she hadn't hated, but it hadn't been the most fulfilling six months of her life) ticked by remarkably slowly. Now, with the early summer sun shining down on her, she felt she'd never been more ready for this next stage of her life.

Harriet Kennedy was 28, and following a literature degree had since been studying a part time creative writing masters degree, working through various temping agencies for the past few years. She had adored the degree, but had quite quickly realised that she wasn't going to make a career of writing anytime soon, so she had taken the plunge and applied for several jobs in various different sectors, hoping to find a good fit. C&C Events managed corporate events for a number of hot-shot clients, and Harriet was joining the small Client Management team. She had met her direct supervisor, Kieran, and colleague Johnny the week before, and she had liked them both: she was looking forward to being able to build a meaningful working relationship that wasn't going to end in three to six months' time. Kieran, who she had met at her interview as well, was about ten years older than her, had been with the company for six years and had been heading up the Client Management sector for three of those six. Johnny was only a year or two older than her and had joined the company when Kieran took over Client Management three years previously. The third member of the team, who Harriet was replacing, had been offered a once-in-a-lifetime job in New York. It was a small team, and Harriet liked that: she'd always enjoyed close working relationships, and she'd clicked with these two pretty instantly.

She ducked into her favourite local coffee shop round the corner and waved at her friend, Tom, behind the counter.

"Morning, Hattie!" he greeted, grinning at her, "Happy this morning?"

"New job starts today!" she said, grinning back as he started to make her usual morning order – a skinny latte with an extra shot of coffee – "Very excited."

"I can see," he laughed, handing her the terminal so she could tap her card against it to make payment. Tom was a little older than Harriet and writing a novel whilst studying history at the same university Harriet had studied at, working part time at the coffee shop alongside teaching and writing posts at college. They'd met at university, and although Harriet knew not the first thing about his area of history, the two had clicked as they got to talking about writing – and since she also ordered coffee from him at least once a day, they found themselves often meeting for lunch. She enjoyed the familiarity and the ability to exchange comfortable words of greeting with a friend on her way to college or work every day – she felt cheated of her morning routine on his days off or if she arrived a little before his shift started.

"Well, have a great first day, I'll look forward to hearing about it next time we chat!" Tom said, handing her the latte, "I sneaked in a hazelnut shot for you – for good luck!"

She laughed, smiling that he'd remembered her syrup of preference that she only asked for very occasionally. "You are sweet," she said. She knew that they would very likely not discuss anything of the sort – the topic of writing, in one way or another, always took over any normal conversation, but she appreciated the thought. "Thank you. Have a lovely day, Tom!"

Twenty minutes later she stepped out of the underground station and took the first road that that led down to the Thames, glistening in the sun, pausing when she got there to savour the moment and to reply with a smile to messages of good luck from her two closest friends, Eva and Lily, and also to Danny, who she'd been sort of half-heartedly dating for a few months, and who she was  very surprised had remembered to message. Usually a u-turn in his ability to act like she would expect a boyfriend (which he definitely wasn't) to act would throw her off-course for a few hours – or at least until she could analyse it with Lily and Eva – but today it seemed like a good omen for the day ahead. She walked the rest of the way along the river to the office, and as she pushed open the door, she couldn't wipe the grin from her face.   

***

"Harriet, sorry – I know it's been a day of meeting people, and I promise this will be the last one!" Kieran said, ducking his head around the corner of the cubical she and Johnny were sharing.

"No problem," she said, smiling, standing up and smoothing her skirt, "My name-remembering capacity is not quite maxed out..."

He smiled, and stepped to the side to let her past, following as she did so, and speaking a little more confidentially now. "I just want to introduce you to a couple of the directors, Malcolm Crawford and David Cunningham – both retired now, but Malcolm in particular is still very much involved quite often, especially with certain clients."

"Crawford and Cunningham," she murmured, racking her brains, "As in... wait, as in C&C?"

"The very same," Kieran said, looking impressed, "But don't worry, they're both perfectly human."

He propped open the door to a meeting room and ushered her through, where she saw two older men dressed in suits and ties – both in their mid to late sixties, she supposed – reclining in two large, padded chairs at the end of the long table and chatting quietly together. The man on the left was short and squat, wearing round glasses towards the end of his nose, a neat, trimmed moustache framing his upper lip, and he held a traditional-looking, well-used briefcase loosely on his lap. The man on the right was quite the opposite – tall and lean and clean-shaven, his still-plentiful grey hair slicked stylishly back. The suit was clearly an expensive one, and he held a Starbucks coffee cup and an iPhone. They stopped talking as Kieran and Harriet entered and both stood.

"Malcolm, David," Kieran said, putting a light hand on Harriet's shoulder to guide her a little further into the room, "This is our newest recruit, Harriet Kennedy."

Harriet smiled at the two men, and shook each of their hands in turn. David, who was the short, squat man, smiled back warmly and shook briefly and formally. At almost six foot, Malcolm slightly towered over Harriet, and his intense gaze held hers for a moment and he had placed his coffee and phone on the table in order to clasp her hand in both of his for just a fraction too long, his smile lingering as he seemed to asses her. She shifted a little uncomfortably, consciously pulling her hand out of his grip, but finding herself unable to break eye contact until he did.

"Lovely to meet you both," she said, feeling a little frazzled, "I'm delighted to be here – thank you so much for the opportunity."

"Likewise, Harriet," said David, in an efficient, clipped, tone, "Where have you joined us from?"

"Oh, well, I've been studying for several years – I've just finished a masters in Creative Writing – so have just been temping for a while. I've always been interested in coming into the corporate events world though," she said, telling what was perhaps a small white lie, "And when this job came up at the right time, it was –"

"Rather meant to be," Malcolm interjected, and Harriet was taken aback slightly by his silky tone.

She nodded and forced a little laugh. "Yes quite," she said.

"Well, Harriet," he said, still in that silky voice, dipping his hand into his inside jacket pocket and pulling out a stiff white business card with neat gold lettering, "I'm always happy to answer any questions, so don't be afraid to pick up the phone."

She reached out automatically to take the card he was offering her, and glanced across briefly at Kieran, who was watching the exchange with no expression. "Uh... thank you, Mr Crawford," she said, "That's very kind of you."

"Oh please call me Malcolm, Harriet. And I'm sure I will see you again soon," Malcolm said, the intense gaze returning as he smiled, "It's been lovely to have the opportunity to meet you."

"Yes," David agreed, clearing his throat, "See you again, Harriet, and best of luck with getting your teeth into everything!"

Kieran and Harriet thanked them both and Kieran followed Harriet back out into the corridor, walking with her back to her desk. She wasn't sure whether to say anything. "Um...is Malcolm, is he...?" she tailed off.

Kieran smiled an easy smile. "Oh, sorry, he knows he's a bit of a silver fox and rather plays it up," he said, "Honestly, he's pretty harmless, but if it's bothering you, please let me know."

She smiled, relieved that this wasn't unusual behaviour from Malcolm by the sound of things. "That's fine," she said, "We all know someone like that. But I will, thanks."