The Night Watch ✓

12 / reveal all

With her hair tied in a tight, professional ponytail, Bree sat at her desk with her knees crossed beneath it, and tapped her heel against her calf as she typed out a response to an email. Her eyes kept shifting to the clock as she typed away, willing the last fifteen minutes to go a little faster. The day had dragged, after cramming eight viewings into four hours with little time to race from house to house, and the estate agency had extended its working day by an hour. Normally, Bree would be home by now, or chatting with Nick, but instead she was stuck sorting through her work inbox at four forty-five on a Friday afternoon.

At the sound of the bell above the door ringing, Bree glanced up and swallowed her scowl when she saw Petra return. The bitter older woman had been out since lunchtime and Bree had hoped she wouldn't return, but with thirteen minutes to go before it was time to clock out, she had come back with a vengeance.

"Goodness," Petra said as she sat down behind her computer, a few feet in front of Bree's. "You're still here. I thought you would have found some excuse to leave by now."

Bree responded with a smile that pained her lips and beneath her breath, she muttered, "Fuck off, you old cow." Finishing her email, she hit send and opened the next. Four to go, and twelve minutes. It was an easy job, but tedious: Bree had a series of templates she filled out for the majority of replies, but she hated the mundanity of it all.

Ten minutes to go. After a bitchy look from Petra, which she tried her hardest not to mimic, Bree returned to her emails and rushed through them as fast as she could, until, with just three minutes until five o'clock, she was done. As though to congratulate her on finishing the workload, her phone buzzed on the desk and her thoughts raced immediately to Kit. Ignoring the glare that Petra shot her at the vibration, she turned over her phone and swiped to view the message.

Evan: heyo brie i know this is late notice but are you around?? I'm near farnleigh for a conference and i don't finish til eight, any chance i can crash at yours tonight?

Bree leant back in her swivel chair and held her phone in both hands as she responded to her brother, whom she had quietly favoured since she was a child. Though she adored all of her three brothers, there had always been a closeness between her and Evan that probably came with age, hardly two years between them. After Saul and Jake had moved out, he had been there. Even after his daughter's birth, when his time had been split a million ways while he was still a teenager, he had always had time for his sister.

Bree: of course you can, it'd be great to see you! We could go for a meal when you're done?

Bree: don't you have a daughter to get back to though?

Evan: zara's staying with a friend tonight. I should be with you by ~8:15

Bree: see you then!

Two minutes to go. Bree always kept her computer logged in until the hour on the dot, in case Petra ever tried to accuse her of dropping out early, so for the next six minutes she had nothing to do as she sat waiting to leave. She planned to take her brother to the Wetherspoon's that she relied on for an evening meal, easy and hearty food that meant she wouldn't have to cook. While she could make a half-decent meal, she despised slaving over the oven.

The seconds ticked down as drummed her fingers on her thigh. Until now, she had had no plans for the evening other than slouching in front of the TV with Gaia, but now she looked forward to seeing her brother. Her family had spread itself around over the country, and after having him around almost every single day for the first sixteen years of her life, Evan now lived almost four hours from her.

The clock hit five, and Bree logged out. Swinging her bag over her shoulder and dangling her keys from her finger, she was out of the door within a minute without a second glance in Petra's direction. The woman rubbed her up the wrong way, and had done so ever since she had first joined the company. What could be a tolerable job was rendered a daily grind because of the woman who just couldn't seem to given Bree a break. With a deep sigh, she shook off the day as she headed to her car and threw her bag on the passenger seat, twisting the key in the ignition.