Ed stared at her.
James stared at her.
She wanted to crawl under the table and forget the meeting ever happened.
‘Rachel, is everything all right? I’m sensing there might be an issue here and, honestly, I need to know that nothing’s going to derail you. You and James will be working closely together on this project. Is there a problem?’
She was so incensed at Ed that she hardly heard what he’d just said.
‘We’ve got a shot at the design?’ James asked, finally stilling his pen.
‘You’ve got it. Congratulations. Sorry it’s taken so long, but I guess they’ve got a lot on. They just got back to me yesterday. They want to see your preliminary design on the,’ he consulted his notebook, ‘the twenty-first of next month, so you’ve got five weeks.’
Well not really, thought Rachel, since the office would shut down for Christmas in a few weeks. Ho Ho Panic Ho.
‘It’s all yours,’ Ed said. ‘Well, both of yours. So I need to know if there’s going to be any issue with working together. Rachel?’
‘What? No, no, of course not. That’s awesome, Ed, thanks!’ She couldn’t wait to call her mum.
‘James, what about you? All okay?’
He nodded. ‘Absolutely fine, Ed. Oh, and by the way, it really was Rachel who came up with the mood board, not me. And she’s a whizz at using the software and all the details that made the clients feel comfortable. If I wasn’t so literal – You want me to design? Okay, I design,’ he added in a simpleton’s voice, ‘I’d be good at all the touchy-feely stuff like she is.’
The unimportant stuff, he meant. By implication, the actual designs were his. That was bullshit.
‘Well as long as you deliver one great design next month, I don’t care how you divide up the work.’
Surely, Rachel thought, he meant one design each. ‘Ed, we’re each submitting our own ideas, aren’t we?’
There was that ‘me’ again. Maybe she did sound like she wasn’t a team player.
He shook his head. ‘No, you’ll submit one concept. You’re working together on this. Okay?’
‘Sure, fine,’ Rachel said. She felt anything but fine.
* * *
As soon as Ed left the conference room, James stuck his hand up for a high-five.
So he definitely wasn’t expecting Rachel to punch him in the arm.
‘Ow, Jesus, what was that for?’
‘I’m good at the touchy-feely stuff? James, you made me sound like your assistant.’
He looked stunned. ‘I did not, Rach. What are you talking about? It wasn’t fair that Ed was giving me credit for work you did. I was just setting the record straight. I was defending you.’
That was exactly the faux-chivalry crap he used to pull when they were seeing each other. He’d always known how to play a room. And the last thing Rachel needed was him wading in with his ‘help’ when it came to her job.
‘I don’t need defending, James. I can stand up for myself. I’m here because I’m a good architect, just like you, not some charity case who needs your protection.’
She felt so humiliated. The damage was done in Ed’s eyes. No matter what she said, now he’d think she was just trying to grab some credit. She didn’t want to have to fight for it. She shouldn’t have to.
All the happiness she’d felt at the beginning of the meeting was wiped away. Now she didn’t want to ring her mum. ‘You made me look like an idiot.’
‘I … what?’ He shook his head. ‘I’m really sorry you think that. You don’t look like an idiot and I really didn’t mean to make you feel bad. I’m not trying to protect you. I know you don’t need it. I just wanted to set the record straight with Ed, that’s all.’
The fight went out of her. ‘Can we please just get on with our jobs?’
He shrugged. ‘Are we good, Rach?’
‘Yes, we’re good.’
‘You’re sure? This isn’t one of those times when you say we’re good when you’re really still mad?’
She smiled. ‘So you do sometimes pay attention. No, I’m not mad. I might have overreacted.’ He’d never been malicious. Clueless and exasperating, yes, but not malicious.
‘Well, I am sorry. Do you want to go through some ideas now? I’ve been working on a few things, just some rough thoughts.’
‘I’ve got time. My office?’ she asked.
‘Or mine. Whatever.’
‘Okay, I’ll just run to the loo. See you in five minutes in my office then?’
She caught his smirk as she turned toward the loos.
Fine, she was being petty. She still had some power to win back.
She’d composed herself by the time James approached her desk with his pad.
‘I see you’ve been sketching too,’ he said, trying to get a look at the drawings already on her desk.
‘Just a few ideas,’ she said, covering the pages as he sat down.
‘I guess if we’re working together now we should probably stop seeing each other as competitors.’
‘I don’t think we’re competitors.’ She smiled sweetly. ‘Do you?’
He shook his head. ‘Nuh uh, we’re a team. Just like Ed said. So let me see what you’ve got.’
‘Let me see yours first.’
If they were feral dogs they’d be circling each other with menace. Grudgingly, they traded books.
Suspicion hadn’t always been the cornerstone of their relationship. There had been a time when she’d trusted him with, well, if not her life then at least her naked sleeping person. For much of that year they were as close as two people could be. How could they not be? They were great friends nearly from day one in the office together. And they’d made good lovers nearly from night one in bed together. Rachel felt like she’d hit the lottery – a boyfriend that she could kiss at work. Bonus.
But the relationship kept mucking up the rest of it, so of course it wasn’t that easy. If it had been, they’d be swapping notebooks over breakfast instead of treating it like a hostage situation.
Rachel scanned his drawings to get a feel for the overall look. It was that first glance that set the tone for the client’s impression. You only got one chance to make it.
Then
