Page 18 of The Riviera House Swap

‘Well, yes,’ she said. ‘It’s all in the letter… I…’

‘Take a seat,’ said Jemima, still not making a move to touch the envelope.

‘Well, OK,’ she said, sliding into the white and chrome chair facing the desk. ‘But if you read…’

‘So, why are you leaving us?’ Jemima said, fixing a cool, blue gaze in her direction. ‘Because if you’ve had a better offer, I’m sure we could come up with some sort of deal.’

This was a surprise. She’d felt sure that Jemima would have grabbed her resignation letter with glee. Been unable to disguise her delight.

‘Oh, no. It’s not… I’m just going to. I’m sort of having a bit of time out. To travel,’ she said. ‘So I’m not going anywhere else.’

‘Oh?’ Jemima’s lip curled.

‘Yes,’ Nina said, trying to smile.

‘Do excuse me,’ her boss said, leaning forward slightly. ‘But could you not simply take a bit of annual leave? You still have three weeks…’

Nina shook her head. ‘It’s more than that,’ she said. ‘I’m looking to… well, change things a bit. My life, I suppose. You know. Make a new start.’

‘You’re moving?’

‘No, just going away for a bit.’

‘What? Safari? Thailand? A retreat?’

‘Well, just to France. For starters, that is,’ Nina added hastily.

Jemima leaned back, her hands now clasped together across her torso like a villain in a movie, or a doctor, delivering bad news. ‘It’s just that it’s not the most convenient of times. You do realise this?’

‘Um…’ Nina struggled to think how to respond to this. Was she meant to take this sort of thing into account when makinglarge life decisions? The effect on ‘the firm’? It wasn’t as if she was a brain surgeon or a teacher or someone who would be actually missed.

‘Yes. I mean, I realise your contract only obligates you to give a week’s notice – it’s something I need to review, on reflection – but it’ll take us at least a month to recruit someone new. Then there’s the training… and we’d need to really familiarise any replacement with our systems. In effect, we’d need you in role, overseeing any replacement.’

‘Well, yes but…’ Nina wanted to say,How is thismyproblem?but stopped herself.

Jemima was silent for a moment. A moment in which Nina could feel her heart thundering. Why was she still made nervous by this woman? She’d literally just quit – all Jemima’s power over her was redundant. She wanted to tell her boss to OPEN THE LETTER in which she’d spelled everything out.

‘OK, here’s where I’m at,’ Jemima said, smiling a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. ‘You’ve worked here for what, fifteen years?’

‘Yes.’

Jemima nodded as if this confirmed something specific. ‘Perhaps we could have done more in that time to make you feel valued,’ she said, as if this had only just occurred to her. ‘Because you know, Nina, you are the backbone of this firm.’

‘I am?’

‘Well, one of several backbones.’

How many backbones could one entity have?

‘Oh.’

‘But,’ Jemima said, leaning forward, a little lipstick on her bright white teeth, ‘my main concern in this is for you, Nina.’

‘For me?’ Nina put a hand to her chest as if confirming this was who she was.

‘Yes. Oh, I know we don’t know each other that well, personally. But believe me, I understand what it’s like to be a woman in business.’ She nodded conspiratorially at Nina and tilted her head to one side. ‘It’s not easy, is it?’

‘Well, no,’ said Nina, although to be fair, she’d never really considered herself to be in business at all.

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