Behind Office Doors

Chapter Four: Imogen

"Excuse me?"

"He prefers to go by Stafford."

"His surname?"

Maya shrugged, her eyes flickering over my facial features as if looking for some sort of clue. For a moment, I felt as if she suspected I had something to hide. But that was ridiculous. Nobody knew about Jason and me, except Jason. Nobody knew how I'd lied my way into this role, except Jason.

And if Maya did know, I doubt she'd be inviting me to departmental meetings. She'd be sitting tight, waiting for my inevitable dismissal, so she could move onto a different, more deserving employee.

"Only those close to him can get away with calling him Jason. I wouldn't want you to accidentally stick your foot in it."

"Right. Thanks."

"I assume Ian didn't mention it?"

Had Ian mentioned it? My first day had been a blur, a torrent of information that I'd tried to absorb. Despite that, I'd have remembered something as significant as Jason's name, particularly when I was already so sensitive to the fact it had apparently changed since our summer in Greece.

"Maybe he did and I forgot."

If Maya could sense I was lying, she didn't call me out. Instead, she continued down the corridor. I followed, trying to get my head around calling my old lover by a new name that had been unknown to me up until three days ago.

The atmosphere inside the boardroom felt relaxed as Maya and I took our seats. Ian sat towards the head of the table, talking football with a woman to his right, while the two men opposite me were engaged in deep conversation about a new Netflix series. Maya had grabbed the left hand of another colleague to inspect a beautiful diamond ring on her finger, immediately launching into questions about how the fiancé had proposed.

"You'll have to get tips from Ian," she said. "Honestly, the detail that goes into planning a wedding..."

"I haven't even started thinking about the wedding," the woman replied, her beaming smile almost infectious. "I'm just enjoying the engagement."

"I bet."

My stomach flipped when Jason strode into the room, his tall and commanding presence holding my eyes captive. I'd expected his appearance to silence everyone. It didn't, though. The chatter merely died down, only stopping completely once he'd taken a seat at the head of the table and opened his notebook.

He surveyed the room, his gaze landing on me. For the first time in three days, we locked eyes. His stare still lacked recognition, but it brought back a memory of him demanding I look into his eyes as I came.

Clearing his throat, he gestured towards me. "For those of you who haven't had the pleasure of meeting her yet, we have a new starter among us. Imogen Saunders has joined the company within the Editorial department."

Everyone smiled and offered me polite nods. Being singled out when I already felt severely underqualified to be in the room at all did not help my conscience, but I forced a smile in return.

The meeting started with each departmental head giving an update on the past week's events within their team. Maya had suggested I attend so as to push me, but I found myself benefitting from the vast amount of knowledge shared around the table. I'd been thrown in the deep-end, and every piece of information I absorbed helped me to tread water.

"We're not seeing much traction with the email marketing," Ian said. "Unsubscribes are at an all-time high and today marks the third week without a click."

"Any advice from Editorial?" Jason asked, his eyes falling on Maya.

"We're refreshing the content each week," she replied without a second's hesitation. "New subject lines, experimenting with the copy. We know it's been tough, and it's a priority for us."