How She Came Home

Chapter Two

It wasn't until a few days later that Becca received a phone call from Freen. 

The sun was just setting, the sky the colour of a bruise beyond the skyline as a thousand pricks of yellow lights lit up the dark, the city never sleeping, not even in the cold of mid-winter, when the nights were bitter and there was a palpable feel of laziness in the streets.

Not for Becca though, who holed up in her air-conditioned office for at least twelve hours a day, snapping on the phone and arguing with board members while she redrafted the Irine plans over and over, until they were perfect. 

A warm breeze cut through the chill of her office, sweeping in through a vent as she cranked up the heating, and she was busy at her desk, illuminated by fluorescent lights as she read the numbers for the last quarter, left on her desk by Irin, her CFO.

She'd already sent Alice home for the evening, thinking it pointless to make her assistant suffer unbearably long hours to be at her beck and call, and Becca was free to spend all night there, finishing up the latest figures and working on a proposal. 

No one but the janitors and security occupied the building past five, unless there was a department deadline, and Becca liked the quiet of the office.

Until her cell phone started vibrating on her desk, an unknown number lighting up the screen. 

It was Becca's private number, given out to important employees, clients and acquaintances, and Becca was irritable as she picked up the phone and answered it.

"Hello?" she bluntly answered, her tone betraying her curt impatience at being disturbed.

There was a moment of silence on the other end before a voice hesitantly spoke her name. 

"Becca?"

Feeling as if she'd been doused in cold water, Becca immediately straightened in her chair as familiarity shot through her. 

Opening and closing her mouth as she fumbled, Becca softly cleared her throat and raked a hand through her hair, silently cursing herself.

"Freen?" Becca cautiously replied, her tone much warmer as a shy smile curled the corners of her mouth.

"Hi! Look, I know it's a bit last minute, but I was thinking of catching a movie and wondered if you wanted to come? If you're busy, I can call back another time-"

Becca's stomach lurched and she opened her mouth to butt in, but Freen was still babbling nervously and she had to wait for her to trail off. 

Her palms felt clammy and her heart was beating rapidly and Becca felt utterly foolish as she bit back a smile, listening to the sound of Freen's voice.

"I'd love to, I'm actually just on my way out of the office," Becca lied, closing her laptop and climbing to her feet.

She was doing no such thing, until that very moment, quickly snatching up the piles of paperwork and dumping them in the top drawer of her desk. 

Removing her bag from one of the cupboards seamlessly built into the walls, she shoved her laptop inside and made sure she had everything, Freen still on the other line as she gave her directions.

"Great. I'll meet you outside the cinema on Thirty-Third Street."

They hung up and Becca made sure everything important was locked away, excitement making her breaths shallow, and with slight concern, she wondered what was wrong with herself. Here she was, leaving work early for perhaps the first time in a long while, for a woman she didn't even know.