Second chance

The Meeting Part 3

"Claire, I made you an appointment with Mark. Tomorrow at 11:00" Anna said quickly, as soon as I answered the phone.

"Uh..." I was starting to repeat my worries, but Anna hung up equally quickly, not giving me the chance.

I dialed her number. "Anna, I can't!"

"It is already arranged and he is happy to hear you are back" Anna reassured me. "I can't talk now, but trust me. It's been more than a month since you returned and this is your best chance for a good job."

She was telling the truth. Occasional online freelancing did not bring me enough for a decent living. I was spending too much of my time doing assignments that went paid enough.

"Thank you" I whispered and let her go back to her work.

I took in a deep breath as I hung up the phone. I might have my old job back. And, my heart was much better than month ago. Things seemed to look good for me.

I woke up unsurprisingly nervous the next day. I showed up half an hour early in front of the Globe HQ and wandered around until meeting time arrived.

I straightened my skirt nervously as I walked towards Mark's office. He definitely upgraded, I thought as I remembered his cubicle in our joint office area.

I pushed heavy doors in front of me and suddenly saw Mark sitting in his desk. It took him millisecond to recognize the sound and look up. I smiled: "Hi".

He stayed serious, his face unreadable. His body leaned back in the black leather chair. "Well, look who's back" he said with a wry smile and I immediately knew this meeting was not a good idea. "Have a seat!" he pointed me to the chair opposite him.

I did and seconds later we were eyeing each other over the desk. He looked almost the same, his eyes dark as ever and hair cut even shorter than before.

"Now, Addams, how are you? How have you been?" he stood up and came near, leaning on the edge of his desk. His eyes sparkled with...amusement? I was not sure, but I was truly hoping that he was not going to start mocking me. I was already embarrassed enough with everything that happened with James.

"I am fine, thank you" I said as politely as I could, sounding like a robot to myself. My palms were still sweating and I tried to keep them close to my lap. Why was I so nervous?

"I am fine, thank you" he mimicked my voice, slightly laughing "I heard that you are not fine. Broke, right?" I immediately jumped from the chair, feeling deeply offended. "Come on, sit down. I have been waiting for months to have you in that chair again".

"Well, if you are going to mock me, I better leave" I remained standing, my nervousness suddenly disappearing. His attitude awoke old Claire, the one who knew how to fight back, instead of cry.

He laughed even more. "That's how I like you. Fighting not scared. I must tell you, you looked like you were heading to electric chair when you came in" he winked. "I don't bite" he stopped as if to emphasize next sentence "Unless you want me to".

"I am not here to entertain you Mark" I replied seriously. "I thought we had a business meeting."

His smile disappeared as he crossed his arms on his chest. His shirt tightened around his arm muscles. Did he have such strong arms before? "Business meeting? Well, I thought we had meeting where you apologize and ask for your job back" he looked straight at me.

Was he really holding a grudge against me? I wanted to tell him to go to hell. I wanted to get away from this man who so directly poked at my broken ego.

"I feel no need to apologize. I didn't do anything wrong. I gave you two weeks notice" I said.

"Two week notice? You took your annual leave and acted as if that was two week notice! You left in the middle of one of the biggest stories we ever worked on! Your carelessness directly endangered the newspaper and you colleagues! Do you know how difficult it is to find good journalist so quickly? Do you know that Anna covered your work for weeks?" he stopped for a second before he continued, showing his hand through his hair. "And you know what bothers me the most? You risked all of us so you could run around the world with that little photographer!"

I was shocked by the anger Mark showed. "I am sorry, if I brought you in bad position. But I did wrap up my work" I said quietly but firmly. "People leave companies all the time."

"I came here to see if it is possible to get my job back. But not on the account of you humiliating me. I have been through enough already and I don't need your hatred as well" I turned around, ready to leave.

"Addams!" he called out and I stopped. "I can't give you your job back. We already filled in that position".

My hopes disappeared.

"Oh..." I let out sigh of disappointment. Why did he call me then?

"You were so determined to leave; I never thought you would return" he shrugged his shoulders.

"People make mistakes..." I almost whispered not wanting to get all emotional by going into the details of the whole James story.

Mark went to his desk and took folder from top of one of the piles that stood there. "Look, I am working on one research for journalist department at State University. I need someone to help me with the data gathering and analysis" he handed me the folder.

"You are asking me to help you out with the research?" I repeated, hope awakening inside me. This was a good start.

"Obviously yes. The deadline is in three weeks" he said "In case you meet some photographer and decide to ran away again, annual leave does not go into two weeks notice" be added. I opened my mouth to complain, but decided to skip it and let him continue. "Overview of the research is on the top. I will be e-mailing you draft of the contract tonight" he went back to his desk. I felt like this was his way of saying the meeting was finished.

I went to the doors. "Mark.... thank you" I said and quickly left.