Max grinned appreciatively as the CEO of the company, a man in his sixties who Josie had only seen once in the four years she’d worked for them, took to the stage—a little platform that raised him ever so slightly above everyone else. He cleared his throat, touching his glasses and nodding to the guy in black who was adjusting the microphone to his height. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to say a few words before we all get stuck in to the festivities.”
There was a shuffling around the hall as people found seats or quickly grabbed another drink, then turned their attention to the stage. “Thank you so much for joining us this evening, and for giving up your Christmas Eve to support our sponsored charity for the year.” He indicated a table behind him, which was home to various items—a bottle of champagne, a hamper basket, and photos of what looked like a helicopter and the Eiffel Tower, among other things. “Please do take the time to bid on the items here and show your support—Christmas is all about giving, after all.”
Laura made a derisive noise. “The whole charity thing was supposed to get us press attention,” she explained in a subtle whisper to the three of them. “That’s why it’s on Christmas Eve too, the board thought it would mean we got some mentions in the diaries, and that a few mags might cover it, which obviously they haven’t done because the whole thing has been handled terribly. I did try to tell Janice this, but instead of listening to common sense and years of experience, she chose to ignore me.”
“It’s been a good year,” the CEO continued, “and we’ve seen some growth, which is excellent news, but there’s still room for improvement and we’ve been looking for ways to expand and restructure each individual company to make sure that we stay strong players in the market.” Josie clenched her teeth at the word restructure. Here he was, talking about how good the year had been—if it had been so good, then why were they trying to make a bunch of people redundant?
“I’m going to let each company tell you their most exciting news themselves. First up, from Peacock PR, is the lovely Janice Evergreen.”
Janice swept onto the stage immediately, and Josie knew she must be loving this—the chance to stand up in front of everyone and prove how important she was. She went on again about the positive year and Josie took a gulp of her Prosecco, glancing at Max, who, though he was wearing a polite expression, had to be regretting his decision to come right now.
“But the most exciting thing we have to look forward to,” Janice was saying, “something which we’re so pleased to be announcing at last, is that we’ll be opening up a New York office early next year, which will be headed up by none other than our own Oliver Burton.”
It took a moment for the words to sink in, for Josie to notice that Laura was leaning in, frowning at her. “Did she say…？” But she didn’t need to finish the question because there he was, at one of the tables closest to the stage, raising his hand at the polite applause that echoed around the hall.
“Did you know?” Laura whispered. Josie could only shake her head mutely. No. She hadn’t known that while she was being made redundant, her ex-boyfriend was being made the head of a new branch. Across the other side of the Atlantic, no less.
Josie didn’t hear the rest of the speeches. Occasional words, like celebrate, congratulate, and financial, got through the dull ringing in her ears, but she didn’t bother to concentrate to make sense of the wider context. Laura kept flicking her glances, but Josie stared straight ahead, focusing on making sure she was blinking so that she didn’t look vacant or bored, if anyone important were to glance at her.
How long had he known? Surely he couldn’t have just found out? This was the kind of thing you knew for months before it was announced—you had discussions over the starting date, negotiated a better salary. Which meant he must have known while they were still together, must have been talking to Janice about it in private meetings at the office where they both worked, then just failed to mention it when they got home for the evening. He was planning to uproot his entire life, and he hadn’t even bothered to discuss it with her. She wondered if he’d known Janice was planning to make her redundant too, if that had come up in all their secret talks.
Her eyes were stinging now, though she couldn’t work out if she was angry or sad. She took a steady breath and tried to keep blinking. She felt a warm pressure on her right hand and looked down to see Max squeezing it. “Are you OK?” he whispered. Josie nodded, but couldn’t bring herself to look at him directly. God, what must he think? He’d come along for a fun Christmas party and here she was, trying not to cry. Laura shoved a drink into her other hand—Josie suspected it was Laura’s second, untouched glass of Prosecco—and Josie took a sip, grateful to have something to do.