“It’s OK.” I smile at her. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Actually…” Kate looks awkward. “I’m a bit ravenous. I haven’t had a lunch break yet.”
“Oh God!” I say, appalled. “Go! Have lunch! You’ll starve!”
Kate leaps up, bashing her head on an open file drawer, and pulls her bag down off a high shelf. The minute she’s closed the door behind her, Sadie comes over to my desk.
“So.” She perches on the edge and regards me expectantly.
“What is it?”
“Are you going to ring him?”
“Who?”
“Him!” She leans right over my computer. “Him!”
“You mean Ed Whatsit? You want me to ring him?” I shoot her a pitying glance. “Do you have no idea how things work? If he wants to ring, he can ring.” Which he won’t in a million years , I silently add.
I delete a few emails and type a reply, then look up again. Sadie is sitting on top of a filing cabinet, staring fixedly at the phone. As she sees me looking, she jumps and quickly looks away.
“Now who’s obsessing over a man?” I can’t help a little dig.
“I’m not obsessing,” she says haughtily.
“If you watch the phone, it doesn’t ring. Don’t you know anything?”
Sadie’s eyes flash angrily at me, but she turns away and starts examining the blinds cord, as though she wants to analyze every fiber. Then she wanders over to the opposite window. Then she looks at the phone again.
I could really do without a lovelorn ghost trailing around my office when I’m trying to work.
“Why don’t you go sightseeing?” I suggest. “You could look at the gherkin building, or go to Harrods…”
“I’ve been to Harrods.” She wrinkles her nose. “It looks very peculiar these days.”
I’m about to suggest that she go for a long, long walk in Hyde Park, when my mobile trills. Like lightning, Sadie is by my side, watching eagerly as I check the display.
“Is it him? Is it him?”
“I don’t know the number.” I shrug. “Could be anyone.”
“It’s him!” She hugs herself. “Tell him we want to go to the Savoy for cocktails.”
“Are you crazy? I’m not saying that!”
“This is my date, and I want to go to the Savoy,” she says mulishly.
“Shut up or I won’t answer!”
We glare at each other as the phone trills again, then Sadie takes a reluctant step backward, her cheeks pouchy.
“Hello?”
“Is this Lara?” It’s a woman I don’t recognize.
“It’s not him, OK?” I hiss at Sadie. I make a shooing-away motion at her, then turn back to the phone.
“Yes, Lara speaking. Who’s this?”
“It’s Nina Martin. You left a message about a necklace? At the old folks’ jumble sale?”
“Oh, yes!” I’m suddenly alert. “Did you buy one?”
“I bought two. Black pearls and a red one. Good condition. I can sell them both to you if you like; I was planning to put them on eBay-”
“No.” I deflate. “They’re not what I’m looking for. Thanks, anyway.”
I take out the list and scribble off Nina Martin’s name while Sadie watches critically.
“Why haven’t you tried all the names?” she demands.
“I’ll phone some more this evening. I have to work now,” I add at her look. “Sorry, but I do.”
Sadie heaves a huge sigh. “All this waiting is unbearable.” She swishes over to my desk and stares at the phone. Then she swishes to the window, then back to the phone.
There’s no way I can sit here all afternoon with her swishing and sighing. I’m going to have to be brutally honest.
“Look, Sadie.” I wait until she turns. “About Ed. You should know the truth. He won’t call.”
“What do you mean, he won’t call?” Sadie retorts. “Of course he will.”
“He won’t.” I shake my head. “There’s no way on earth he’s going to call some loony girl who blagged her way into his meeting. He’s going to throw my card away and forget all about it. Sorry.”
Sadie is staring at me with reproach, as though I’ve deliberately set out to dash all her hopes.
“It’s not my fault!” I say defensively. “I’m just trying to let you down lightly.”
“He’s going to call,” she says with slow determination. “And we’re going to go on a date.”