Felicity, the PA, called me to say that Boo Williams was waiting for me in reception.
Ki disintegrated rapidly at twenty-five. She had felt a lump in her leg while she was away travelling but decided it was nothing. By the time she came back it had spread throughout her whole body. There was nothing anyone could do. I pretended it would be fine; didn’t even see the head scarf and the dribbling mouth and the weight loss. She whispered lots of things to me and I made a whole heap of promises to her. I’m not sure exactly what I said, I wasn’t really there so couldn’t remember any of it. Not until that moment, the moment I sat at my computer thinking about how I’d not taken responsibility for anything.
What I had promised her was that I would live my life passionately and do all the things I really wanted to, not just for me but for her.
The day she told me about her condition she dropped it in like it was something she forgot to mention on a shopping list. Ki had got back from Thailand a couple of weeks earlier, and we had spent virtually every day together since. That day we were off to Brighton, and her dad was in the driveway cleaning his car.
‘It’s hot weather, na?’ he asked.
‘Good, isn’t it?’ I replied.
‘Makes me want to go and visit some bitches.’
I looked at him as Ki came out. He continued, ‘Na, beta, saying to Nina we must visit some bitches.’
‘It’s beaches, Dad, beaches. Yeah, we’ll visit loads and we’ll make sure we do it soon.’
I remember thinking that comment was strange as she normally took the piss out of his mispronunciations.
‘Yours is into bitches, mine thinks I’m into porn,’ I said walking back in with her.
‘What?’
‘I didn’t realise that the Sky box downstairs was linked to the one upstairs, and I was flicking through it and lingered on a few porn channels and this lesbian talk show.
She looked at me.
‘It was just out of interest, didn’t know I was interrupting Mum and Dad watching their Zee TV. Then in the morning I heard my dad tell my mum to talk to me, to have a word, maybe marriage would straighten that out. So she just left a couple more CVs on the table.’
‘When will you tell them about Jean?’
‘Soon,’ I said.
‘Tell them soon, Nina, it’s not worth the wait. Do what makes you happy. You’ll make sure you’re happy, won’t you?’
I looked at her. Where did that come from?
‘I’ve got cancer, Nina, and it’s bad. Phase three, that’s what they called it. Don’t think they can do much with chemo but they’ll give it a go.’
She said it just like that, like she had bought some new trousers from French Connection and had forgotten to tell me.
She hadn’t told her parents. Outside, her dad was blissfully ignorant; bucket in one hand, sponge in another, cleaning his shiny silver car and talking about bitches, unaware that shortly his life would change forever.
I deluded myself that chemo would sort it. I knew if I bargained hard and made a whole series of promises, it would be all right. Right until the last minute I believed that. Even when she died, I held on to her, not letting go. Her dad had to pull me off her.
The phone went again. ‘Ms Williams is waiting for you in reception, Nina.’
‘I heard you the first time,’ I snapped.
My colleagues turned and looked at me. I never lost it. No matter what, I was always calm. Calm and reliable Nina, who worked twelve hours a day if necessary. Calm and dependable Nina, who did what was asked of her; who went to the gallery openings that nobody else in the firm wanted to go to.
I got up and went to reception to meet Boo. She was dressed in black and wore bright red boots, the colour of the dried tomatoes she had put into Venus de Milo’s sockets.
‘Sorry to have kept you waiting.’
‘Quite,’ she replied.
And that was it, the word that tipped me over the edge.
‘Quite,’ I mumbled.
‘Yes, I’ve got better things to do with my time,’ she replied.
‘Like make apricot statues?’
Felicity looked up from behind the reception desk, shocked.
‘I don’t like your tone, Nina,’ Boo said.
‘I don’t like your work, but there’s nothing I can do about that, is there?’
‘Nessun dorma', which was playing in reception, seemed to be playing unusually loud in my head as Boo started ranting. I wasn’t really listening to what she was saying but just gazed blankly at her, watching her lips move and hearing the Guru’s words telling me again and again that I was cursed. The only thought I had was to get out of there.
‘Boo, Nina has been under the weather recently, haven’t you, Nina?’ Simon said, hearing her shouting and coming out of his office to try to placate her.
‘Yes, under the weather, under a cloud, a dirty grey sky. I have to go, I have to leave.’
There was silence: the kind of silence that is desperate to be filled.
And Simon didn’t stop me. Over three years at the firm, sweating blood, pampering over-inflated egos and making him money and he didn’t even say, ‘Come into my office, let’s talk about it.’
Maybe if he had I would have stayed, because all that I needed was some reassurance that I was worth something.
‘Right,’ I said, getting my coat. ‘I’ll come back for the rest of my things later.’
‘I’ll make sure Felicity sends them on to you,’ Simon replied.
I splashed through puddles, wandering aimlessly, feeling numb. I should have been elated, relieved at least that I had left work; but the way it had happened was out of my control, he was essentially showing me the door. After everything I had done, that’s how much I meant. What would I say to my parents? Not only would I crush them by saying that I was marrying Jean but now my dad’s biggest fear of me losing my job had come true. Perhaps it was better to break it to them all at once: if I didn’t have a job I couldn’t go through with their list system anyway so that didn’t matter, and at least I had Jean. Jean would be there no matter what. He would return home later that evening and between us we could find a way to break it to them so that it wouldn’t completely crush them. Things weren’t that bad, I tried to convince myself. I’d just attempted to put the whole Guru thing behind me – there were good things to look forward to. Jean and I could finally settle down. I felt excited at the thought of seeing him again, having him wrap his arms around me and reassure me that everything would work out. As I had time on my hands I decided to go to his flat, make us dinner and wait for him: he was due back around six.
A short time later, my shopping basket was bulging with colourful vegetables. I had no idea what I was going to do with them but anything that had any colour went into the basket. Jean liked chicken so I decided to throw one in and figure out how to cook it later. I picked up a recipe book, some wine, flowers and candles and made my way to his apartment.
I smiled at the concierge as I entered the building, but instead of smiling back he glanced down at his feet.
‘Busy morning, John?’
‘Yes, miss,’ he replied, calling for the lift. I could sense that he wasn’t in the mood for chatting so I waited in silence for the lift to come down.
The