Page 89 of Power Moves
‘Or is it just that you don’t have time for anyone?’ Archie continues. ‘Because you’re working too hard?’
My eyes flash with fury. ‘I like my job,’ I snap. ‘And the guy I end up with willlikethat I work so hard.’
‘So you’re going to date your boss?’
‘Shut up!’ Only Archie could find a way to weave Boss’s cheating narrative into this argument. ‘I’m serving.’
‘Fine.’
I smash the ball towards him, my fastest serve of the day. I feel like Serena Williams; there’s enough fire in my body to power a Scud missile. The ball rockets across the court and lands on the line. I’m about to raise my fist in victory, when Archie’s tree-trunk arm somehow reaches it and sends it diagonally across the court. I lunge for it, Mum’s voice ringing in my ears—distractable, distractable. The ball floats as if in slow motion and with a sickening drop in the pit of my stomach,I realise I’m not going to be fast enough. My feet are scrambling, my arms are extended, and in desperation I chuck my racquet at the ball, but the ball lurches past before bouncing uncontestablyin-court. I gasp. A sour poison is leaching through my body, and it’s not the lactic acid. I can’t look at him. I don’t believe it. Mum was right. I’m too distractable. And now Archie’s won.
CHAPTER 40
‘I don’t see how it’s a big deal.’ Boss is swirling a malbec around an ostentatiously bulbous wineglass. We’re at Wagga’s swankiest wine bar and the $11 toasts in front of us are lathered with artisan butter and European anchovies. If not for the dusty LandCruisers parked outside, we could be in Surry Hills.
‘I lost,’ I repeat. The words are playing on a loop in my head. It’s my new mantra.I lost, I lost, I lost.The corollary (Archie won) is still too painful to consider. I’m furious with myself for being shocked, but I am, and that only makes it worse. Why am I surprised Archie won? He wins everything. I’d literally just told him that.
‘But no one saw,’ presses Boss. ‘The only game they witnessed was an absolute flogging. You were the one who taught me it’s all about optics. They’ll remember what they saw, not what they’re told.’
I harrumph into my anchovy toast. ‘Archie might tell them, though.’
‘Who cares?’ Boss takes a deep sip of his wine. ‘They don’t matter.’
‘Yes, they do. They’re literally the voice of the nation.’
Boss chuckles indulgently. ‘Yeah, but they’re bogans. Larry can’t even iron a shirt.’
I squint at Boss. ‘You realise I’m on the phone to them every day? That I work with those journos almost as much as I work with you?’
Boss smiles. ‘You misunderstand what I’m saying. Even if they do believe Archie, you shouldn’t care because you don’t need people like that, Mill. They’re losers.’
I choke slightly on my toast and beat my chest with my fist. Even after all these years, Boss still has an extremely cavalier attitude to the people who can bring down his career by simply tapping on a laptop. I suppose it’s because I’ve always kept him at arms-length from the journos. He doesn’t know that Kendra managed to win a Walkley Award while singlehandedly raising three kids, one of whom has a disability. He doesn’t know Larry volunteers at Meals on Wheels when he’s not on the late shift. Their professional goals may be diametrically opposed to ours, but they’re good people. Which reminds me …
‘Have you smoothed things over with Nancy? We’ll need her vote if the teacher payrise is going to get through after the election.’
Boss crinkles his nose. ‘I’ve decided the payrise isn’t my priority at the moment.’
I frown. ‘But all the policy advice points to it being a great investment.’
Boss’s voice is unapologetic. ‘I know, Mill. But the Nancy thing has changed the dynamics in the party room.’
I huff. ‘So because of Archie’s story, you can’t win over the party room, so our teachers won’t get their long-overdue payrise?’
Boss lifts a shoulder. ‘Yet another reason to hate Nancy Miller.’
Or Archie.
I scowl into my wineglass. The malbec has already settled a fuzzy haze around my temples. ‘Do you ever worry we’re too similar?’ I ask suddenly.
‘What do you mean?’
‘It’s a risk, isn’t it? The most successful people have staff around them who balance them, and who bring out their hidden sides, widen their perspectives. We basically have the same brain.’
‘No.’ Boss shakes his head and has another sip of wine. ‘We’re nothing alike.’
I set down my wineglass and hold up my index finger. ‘One, we have the same coffee order. Two,’ I say, extending, another finger, ‘we both unfailingly choose Smooth FM over KIIS.’
‘Because we have ears.’
