?Nope, can?t find it.?
?It must be there,? I beg. ?Look again. Look under . . . I dunno, try ?magazines? or something.?
Still nothing.
Suddenly I have a brainwave. ?Try ?strategy,? ? I suggest.
?Okay, what about ?Management Strategy Review Documents???
?Yes!? I squeal. ?I bet it?s there.? And indeed it is.
?You want me to e-mail the report to you??
?I do love you, you know,? I grin. ?Any time you want me to take you away from all this, just say the word.?
Suddenly out of the corner of my eye I see Nigel and Guy coming down the corridor.
?Quick, he?s coming.?
Unflustered, Denise hits a button and picks up Nigel?s phone. As he turns into the office, Denise?s dulcet Essex tones can be heard on the phone to an imaginary customer.
?No, absolutely, Mr. Bingham, I?ll arrange that for you.?
By the time Denise has carefully put the phone down and written an imaginary name and number on a bright yellow Post-it note, Nigel is hovering over his desk looking at her.
?Hi Nigel,? Denise says calmly. ?Your phone was ringing and I was on my way back from the Ladies, so I picked it up for you.?
?Very kind of you. Anything important??
?Oh, no, just someone wanting a sample copy ofAccounting Facts, Part Two .? Denise winks at me and takes the Post-it note back to her desk.
I race back to my desk and open the e-mail Denise has sent. The report is attached, one hundred questions ready to go. I quickly go into Edit and replace ?Investment Analysis? with ?Pensions Bulletin,? then print it out.
?So, Georgie,? Nigel turns to me. ?I assume you have the Pensions Bulletin research ready for Guy??
?Absolutely, just printing it out.?
I move over to the printer, which is churning out page after page. Feeling utterly pleased with myself, I hand the report over to Guy.
He looks at it briefly. ?Looks very impressive. You must have worked very hard,? he says, handing it back to me. ?Would you mind e-mailing it to me??
Nigel is staring at me. ?Yes, well, Georgie has had the project for a while,? he says.
?Really?? replies Guy. ?But we only commissioned the research last week. I think it?s a great effort from your team.?
Nigel smiles thinly as Guy strides back down the corridor. ?Well done, Georgie,? he finally manages as he sits down.
?Oh, it was definitely a team effort,? I say, raising my eyebrow at Denise, who splutters into her coffee.
I leave work on time and get home in time to have a hot bath before ?Buffy the Vampire Slayer? starts on BBC2. I know I?m probably not the target age group for this program, but I like it, and anyway, no one has to know. Not that I?m a Buffy nut, or anything. I mean, I haven?t even watched its spin-off, ?Angel.? It?s just something I do if I have the time. And I generally make sure that I do. Have the time, that is. Anyway, Buffy has just managed to pin down a particularly nasty-looking demon when the phone rings.
?Georgie Beauchamp.? I am so engrossed in the fight action that I answer the phone as if I was at work. ?Sorry, I mean, hello??
?Hello Georgie Beauchamp. It?s Mr. Bradley here,? says David, mocking me.
?Oh sod off, I?m just have a bad day. How are you??
?Busy. But missing you. Do you want to do dinner later??
?When you say later, just how late do you mean?? I?m looking at my watch and it?s already gone seven.
?Eight-ish.?
?I have a better idea. How about you come round here at eight-ish with a take-away and we can watch the Paramount Comedy channel??
I love television. I mean, I do other things, it?s not like I just sit on my own and watch TV all day long, but there?s really nothing better than curling up on the sofa with a good take-away and ?Friends? or ?Cheers? or something.
?Sounds perfect. See you then.?
When I first started going out with David we went out constantly. I was so pleased to finally have a boyfriend who would actually do some of the things I wanted to do, instead of Mike, who always told me where he was going and asked if I wanted to come, too, which just isn?t the same at all. It was so great to be asked what I wanted to do that I got a bit carried away. In one week we would go to the cinema twice, check out two exhibitions, go to the theater, and eat out at any new restaurant that opened. After a couple of months we were both exhausted, but neither of us wanted to admit it, so we carried on for another month. I think it was me who finally broke, and one night suggested staying in rather than going to an Albanian film night at our local arts club. David thought it was because I thought he didn?t want to go, and spent twenty minutes trying to convince me of his enthusiasm for film as an artistic medium and the importance of emerging cinema from countries like Albania. I was all ?no, really, we don?t have to go,? and David was like ?I really want to.? Finally I told him that I didn?t know anything about Albanian cinema, didn?t care about it, and wanted nothing more than to watch reruns of ?Friends? eating takeout. As I said it I
