Jessie Slaymaker's Rules of Engagement (The Jessie Slaymaker Series Book 2) (10 page)

‘And of this place,’ Jessie said wistfully to herself, quoting Elizabeth Bennet from
Pride and Prejudice
, ‘I might have been mistress!’

‘Did you say something?’ Rachel asked as she reappeared, handing Jessie an armful of folders.

‘Oh, no. Nothing,’ Jessie said automatically, shaking herself alert from her mini-daydream.

‘Have a look through these,’ Rachel said, standing over her and leafing through the files. ‘I’d like you to go through and rewrite any anomalies you find, then update them with the latest press releases or newest statistical information. Penny will show you where to find the files on the server.’

With Rachel standing so close, it was impossible for Jessie not to notice how well she wore her dress.
Her
dress. Rachel was a slip of a thing. And as for the shoes… they were positively the most gorgeous things Jessie had clapped eyes on in a long time. They were a classic nude pump, but they worked so well with the dress. She found herself wondering why hadn’t she bitten off Mr Chan’s arm and taken this job when she had the chance, the first time around. If she had, it would be
her
living in this office now, looking every inch the Hong Kong sophisticate.

‘Penny,’ Rachel called out to her assistant. Within half a second, Penny appeared at the door.

‘Yes, Ms. Horton?’ she asked, looking at her boss with awe.

‘Could you please help Jessie today with anything she needs to know?’

‘Of course, Ms. Horton. It would be my pleasure,’ Penny replied with a small smile as she eyed Jessie with visible mistrust. Jessie wouldn’t have been surprised if Penny had curtseyed to the great leader. Jessie smiled warmly at Penny, all the more determined to kill with kindness this instant dislike Penny had developed for her.

‘Oh, and could you give Jessie the tour?’ Rachel added as she sat back down elegantly behind her desk and began checking through her emails. Clearly their meeting was over, Jessie concluded, as she got up and was ushered out the door by Penny. Jessie wanted to turn around and say that she didn’t really need the tour, having already worked in the very same office for an entire week not that long ago, but she remained quiet and smiled politely at Rachel as she left.

Jessie got through the unnecessary tour and the rest of the day without any more career calamities befalling her. She worked on her first assignment from Rachel, finding it almost therapeutic to concentrate on the familiarity of work that was easy for her to do. When it came to Asian economies, Jessie really knew her stuff. She had a natural ability to retain huge amounts of legislative and statistical information, and had subsequently been able to find numerous mistakes and inconsistencies in the reports Rachel had given her. They weren’t bad reports, they just came across as rushed and lacking the detailed minutiae that Jessie would normally have included.

Jessie didn’t see any more of Rachel for the rest of the day, aside from the occasional flash of an awesome dress and shoe combination in her peripheral vision. She was probably just too busy to come and check on her progress, or even say hi, Jessie told herself. Plus, she had assigned the indefatigable Penny to babysit Jessie for her. Penny seemed to be taking her role seriously, even escorting Jessie to the toilets on one occasion. In fact, all day Penny had been watching her like a hawk, and Jessie got the distinct impression her every move was under surveillance, possibly even being written down.

Apart from her awesomely stylish wardrobe, Jessie didn’t really know what to make of her new boss, Ms. Rachel Horton. It wasn’t that she wasn’t nice, exactly. She just wasn’t very
warm
. All in all, Rachel seemed like a no-nonsense type of woman, which suited Jessie just fine. She came across as intelligent, hardworking, and ambitious. She spoke well, albeit in an upper-class British accent that Jessie had the feeling was cultivated rather than being a hundred percent genuine. So her only faults were being a little cold and having a penchant for speaking in acronyms whenever possible.

Then why didn’t Jessie like her?

Jessie went through life with a predisposition to like everyone. It was just her way. On present encounters she should like and respect Rachel Horton. But for some reason she just couldn’t. She knew part of it had something to do with the fact that Rachel was young, hot, and blonde with brains. She had her whole future mapped out for her. As far as Jessie was concerned, it was game over. She had no chance of ever catching up to someone like Rachel, which made Jessie fundamentally sad. Not particularly jealous, just sad that she wasn’t in Rachel’s position now. Especially knowing that if she’d made different choices in her life and taken different opportunities when they had been offered, she would now be living a different life. But still, she knew she had no one to blame other than herself.

What a crap day
, Jessie sighed to herself as she gave up on trying to do anything further under Penny’s ever-watchful gaze and headed for home. She decided to avoid the scrum to find a taxi, choosing to walk instead. It would give her time to reflect on her day and her time in Hong Kong so far.

Her personal life was going so well, but her professional life had suddenly gone so wrong. As she weaved her way through the mass exodus of people in the city, the same question kept presenting itself to her: was it possible to have both things at the same time? Or was it a case of having one or the other, but never both? The news from Mr Chan this morning was completely unexpected, and had really taken her by surprise. Her dream of a promotion had evaporated before her eyes, and now she was effectively doing exactly the same job she had been doing back in England—just surrounded by taller buildings.

She’d been demoted before her promotion had even taken effect. Twice. Six months ago, Mr Chan offered her the job of a lifetime: to relocate to Hong Kong, establish and run her own team, and make what Jessie considered to be an obscene amount of money. Six weeks ago, he offered her a role as a senior economist with added responsibilities and managerial duties thrown in. It hadn’t been as juicy an offer as the first one, but it was still considerable progress, and a move in the right direction. And then today, six hours ago, he offered her… her old job. No promotion, no pay rise. And a boss who’d had to be pressured into taking her on, who had done so only reluctantly.

Through no fault of her own, she’d been forced to take a purely sideways step—which, had she known that was what awaited her, would never have been sufficient reason for her making the move to Hong Kong. Not really. She’d wanted a change of scene, yes, but she’d also been hugely looking forward to a fresh professional challenge. Something to really sink her teeth into.

With hindsight, Jessie knew it had all been too bloody easy. When was life as straightforward as making a phone call and then having a job ready and waiting for you as soon as you could start? Life just wasn’t like that.

‘Oh how the mighty have fallen!’ Jessie moaned as she trudged up the steps to her serviced apartment building. She thought she heard a snigger, and quickly turned and searched the street, but no one was paying her the least attention. Convinced it was just her weary mind playing tricks on her, she continued up the steps. At least she still had a job, she told herself as she desperately searched for a positive.

She realised she must have been wearing rose-tinted spectacles the last time she’d visited the office. Either that, or it really was a different place now. The office just hadn’t been quite the same as the place she remembered from six months ago. During her earlier week on the job, she had been welcomed with open arms by everyone, her work appreciated and applauded. Now, the faces weren’t at all familiar, aside from Mr Chan, and the people hadn’t been overly friendly either. The atmosphere seemed so competitive.

At least she had Jack. Lovely Jack would be waiting for her as soon as she got through the door. That was her one shining positive in an otherwise crappy day that couldn’t be over fast enough, as far as Jessie was concerned.

‘Hi honey, I’m home,’ Jessie called as she opened the door, liking the way it sounded. It was nice to come home knowing someone would be there. Maybe with a home-cooked meal in the oven and a glass of wine freshly poured with her name on it.

‘Hi,’ croaked Jack from the living room. ‘How’d it go?’ he asked, followed by a series of coughs.

‘Fine,’ Jessie replied automatically. Now she was home, she suddenly didn’t feel like launching into a full-scale deconstruction of what her day had really been like. She’d tell him over dinner.

‘That’s good. Any thoughts on dinner?’ he asked, followed by more coughs.

‘Dunno,’ Jessie replied, slightly deflated as she dumped her bag and slipped out of her shoes. Obviously no home-cooked meal waiting for her then. Jessie did a quick scan of the living room to see if any wine was on the go. Nope. No wine either.

‘There goes another fantasy,’ Jessie said under her breath as she plastered on a smile to hide her disappointment. It would be unfair of her to take out her shitty day on Jack. He was sick and probably hadn’t had much fun himself. At the moment he was sprawled out on the sofa watching the television, looking every inch the sick person.

‘How’re you feeling?’ Jessie asked as she slid into his lap. She felt instantly soothed by the contact. She studied the rash on his arm, noting that it didn’t look quite so angry as it had that morning.

‘Not so good,’ he replied, sliding her into the seat beside him with a grunt and a grimace.

‘My head aches and I’m sore all over, and this blinking rash is itchy as hell,’ he moaned, looking pathetically sorry for himself.

‘Well, at least you’re up and about. And dressed. That’s progress,’ Jessie said, desperately searching for a positive.

‘Probably not for long,’ he said miserably. ‘I’m exhausted and am probably going to hit the hay soon.’

‘I thought you were hungry?’ Jessie semi-protested.

‘Nah, I changed my mind.’ He leaned over to give her a quick kiss. ‘Think I just need to sleep,’ he added as he raised himself up off the sofa slowly, moving like a man twice his age. Jessie watched him silently cross the living room towards the bedroom door. Then he seemed to remember something and hobbled over to the kitchenette instead.

‘What are you doing?’ Jessie called over to him.

‘I’m fixing your dinner,’ Jack replied simply as he pulled a plate of pasta out of the fridge and hefted it into the microwave.

‘You didn’t have to do that,’ Jessie said, her heart melting as she shot off the sofa to help. And to think, she’d been thinking frustrated thoughts about him.

‘Yes, I did. I made it earlier when I had a bit more energy, but it’s still kind of fresh.’

‘You go to bed. I can manage,’ Jessie said, gently stroking his arm.

‘You sure?’

‘Yes. Go and rest.’ She gave him another peck on the cheek. ‘And thank you.’

So, Jessie got her home-cooked meal in the end. And although Jack wasn’t well enough to share it with her, the day had ended on a marginally more positive note. She’d wanted to explain to him how things were not as she’d hoped at the bank, but that could wait until tomorrow, when he was feeling better. It was just
one
bad day, after all, Jessie told herself. She shouldn’t take it personally.
Tomorrow will be better
, the eternal optimist in her voiced. It simply had to be, because it simply couldn’t get much worse.

Bored and emotionally drained, Jessie decided to go to bed early and end the disappointment of the day. Plus, maybe Jack would still be awake and they could finally talk.

But Jack was already asleep, snoring gently.
Tomorrow
, Jessie told herself. She would feel better in the morning. That’s what her mother always said, and she really hoped she would be right in this instance.

Jessie’s tomorrow
was
better. Marginally. At least she didn’t walk into the office to suffer another humiliating demotion. Indeed, by the middle of the week, things were positively looking up: she received a few positive comments on her work from Rachel. Of course, it was all via email and not to her face, but still, it seemed things had settled down. Penny even appeared to have downgraded her surveillance of Jessie, limiting herself to a few cursory disapproving glances whenever she left her desk, rather than the constant nitpicking looks she’d dished out initially. Apparently Jessie was no longer considered a serious threat, requiring the gatekeeper to be on constant high alert. Penny even cracked a smile when Jessie brought her back a piece of cake one lunchtime.

Another reason for Jessie to feel more chirpy was that on Thursday her missing luggage finally arrived. Her humungous suitcase was waiting for her when she got home from work. It was dirty, battered, and bruised, but the contents had survived and would live again after a thorough airing out. Jessie almost cried when she saw all her familiar things staring back at her from the bed. All the things that she’d selected so carefully to bring with her, back when she’d been so optimistic and hopeful.

She sighed with relief when her eyes clapped eyes on her Victoria Beckham dress. It was crumpled to hell but otherwise unharmed. Then she realised, sadly, that it wasn’t like she was going to wear it anytime soon—Jessie wouldn’t feel comfortable rocking it into the office knowing full well that
her
awesome VB dress was exactly the same as her boss’s. What if they turned up to the office wearing the same bloody frock on the exact same day? Of course it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it wouldn’t exactly endear her further to her boss. Plus, she didn’t want to play the who-wore-it-best game with Rachel. Jessie knew who would win.

‘So, how was your first week?’ Rachel asked brightly come Friday, as she waltzed over to Jessie’s desk and leaned on the partition like she owned the place. Throughout the course of the week, Jessie had admired how confident the woman was, seemingly at all times. Rachel was wearing another pair of fabulous shoes and had teamed them with a stylish, yet office-appropriate dress. Jessie hadn’t seen her repeat any of her dresses, shoes, or accessories during the course of the week. Not once. And she’d been paying particularly close attention.