Free Sleep Peacefully by NC Marshall Page A

to get off to the best possible
start that I can.
    I
approach the familiar glass doors to Wallis and Spoors, straightening my pencil
skirt and smoothing my hair over the fur collar of my coat before I enter,
using the doors as a makeshift mirror. My eyes have dark circles under them,
which a dense layer of the most expensive concealer I own has unsuccessfully
managed to camouflage. I am not surprised by my appearance, I know I didn’t
sleep a wink last night, my thoughts wouldn’t let me. I had tossed and turned
until my alarm went off this morning. I need to get a grip and focus on putting
this whole thing to the back of my mind for now, although I have a feeling that
this task will be easier said than done.
    I
walk across the large lobby. Strangely, I am not very nervous about starting
work today. I figure this must be because my mind is currently attending to
other matters of much higher importance. I head to the floor on which Mr
Wallis’s office is based and calmly prepare myself, ready to face the next few
hours, and hopefully will get through them in one piece.
     
    *
     
    Four
hours later, I sign out and leave the office behind. The first day hadn’t been
too bad and had passed a lot more quickly than I had anticipated. Richard was
in meetings all morning. For this reason, I had seen very little of him. So, it
had just been me and Sophie; Sophie is Richard’s other assistant, and the girl
I had met in my interview, as I had suspected.
    She’s
a sweet and friendly girl who appears incredibly bright and very competent at
her job. I now see that I was too quick to judge her on her looks, rudely
assuming that she would be a bit materialistic and superficial, when in fact
she is anything but. Sophie looks up to Richard. It’s clear from the way in
which she speaks about him that she holds him in very high regard. By the
sounds of things, the company is currently performing incredibly well. Because
of this, Richard’s current workload has multiplied, meaning that Sophie is
happy for the help I will provide her. The morning had been more of an
induction to the company, putting faces to names and getting to know a little
about my colleagues. It appears to be a good place to work. Everyone had been very
friendly and welcoming, but I was glad that it hadn’t been too full on. I don’t
think I could have coped today. At least I now know that I have a couple of
days before I have to return. Hopefully, by then this dream business will be
firmly cleared up and then I can continue on in normality and get on with my
life. At the back of my mind, though, I have a feeling that this won’t be the
case.
    I
climb into the car and pull away from the busy car park, but instead of heading
towards home, I swing back in the opposite direction towards the outskirts of
the city centre. I know Matt doesn’t start his new job until next week, so I
hope that he is home. We need to have a discussion that simply can’t be
postponed.
     
    *
     
    Fifteen
minutes later, I pull into the large car park of Matt’s apartment block. It’s
lunch time now, and I hope that he hasn’t gone out. I park the car and get out,
looking up towards the window that I know is his apartment. There isn’t any
movement. I may have to come back later. I walk over to the entrance and press
the button, calling through to his number, then lean back heavily against the
wall and tell myself that I'm stupid. Hasn’t the poor guy been through enough?
Does he really need his dead wife’s crazy sister worsening the situation?
    I
briefly contemplate walking back to the car and shift my weight off the wall
behind me. I start to move away from the door, back in the direction of my
parked car, but as I do, I hear Matt’s voice crackle through the intercom and I
know that I have to go through with this. It’s too late, you can’t back out
now, Nat.
    “Hello,”
says Matt, in a pleasant voice, waiting to hear who his visitor is.
    I
can’t get out of it now. He will