Gone - first chapter

*

Her shoes made a sharp clicking sound as she crossed the hard tiled floor of the cavernous foyer. 

She needed all her energy today, she thought, as she joined four others in the lift for her ride to the eighth floor of the tower block. 

Soon, she padded along the thickly carpeted corridor and unlocked the glass-panelled door, before switching on the office lights.

Setting down the newspapers on top of her desk, she plonked the wheeled carry-case next to it, the portfolio alongside, finally sliding her handbag into the bottom drawer. 

After organising the coffee percolator, she extracted the paperwork for the meeting, stacking it in a neat pile on her desk. 

Strolling to the large artwork station on the other side of the room, she stared at the drawings upon which David and she had been working so hard these past few weeks.

Would it all go according to plan?  Would they sign?  Why did she continually worry about everything, she asked herself?

Only this morning, before she’d left for work, Joe had tried to settle her nerves, warned her to calm down. 

How could she when so much depended on this deal?  But had he been right?  He was always saying, what would happen would happen; no matter how much she pulled at her hair or paced the floor.

 “Morning!  I see coffee’s started.  Now go…sit,” said the newcomer, hands flapping as if shooing a wasp.

Charley followed Anne’s bidding, biting the corner of her lip as she at last sat down behind her desk.

“And there’s no need for that look, we’ve been friends too long!”

She watched as the short, rounded figure bustled around the rooms, her French plait already showing signs of rebellion, while indigo eyes flashed with buoyant optimism as each task was ticked off her list; sorting the mail, watering the jade plant and partially opening the blinds.

“Here, now relax and drink this,” she commanded, passing Charley a mug of steaming coffee.  “And we’ll see what Mystic Belle has to say!”

Perching her backside on the edge, tucking her right foot under her, her left barely touching the floor, Anne flicked through the pages of the morning’s tabloid, after chucking the broadsheet onto the chair to the side of the desk.

Folding the paper in half then smoothing the correct page, she read aloud, “‘Change is in the air for Leos today and it’s no time for indecision or negative thinking.  It’s time for these sun lovers to shine at their best, dazzling those around them.  Lucky number 5’.  There, you see, it’s fate!”

“You’re making it up!” Charley countered through a fit of laughter.

“Nonsense, read it for yourself,” rebutted Anne, yet didn’t spin the page for her to see.

“That stuff’s utter nonsense!”

“When has she ever been wrong?  Remember when you decided to start this place…wasn’t she spot on?  ‘Leos mustn’t delay in taking new opportunities’…I remember…clear as day.”

“You should have become a full partner then, David said so too.”

“What me?  No thanks, I like what I do…organising you two.  And I can’t draw a straight line!”

“Stop with the clichés would you?  And there’s more to this place than that, you know it…I don’t know how we’d manage without you.”

“I’m happy with the way things are, I can work with my friends, doing a job I enjoy and sleep at night.  All work and no play…and you know how I like to play!  You on the other hand…”