"Rise and shine… off to the mill to earn our keep."
Gillian laughed and hopped out of bed, feeling full of vitality and energy.
"Where did you two disappear to last night, we waited for you and you certainly missed a good dinner."
Jessica didn't reply. She looked at her pleadingly and said after a moment's thought, "Gil, don't say anything in the office, please, dear, about him and me, I mean. He is in a very important position but he's married and it wouldn't help our situation."
"I understand," she told her. "Are you in love with him?" she asked then.
"Well, darling, I've known Andrew for a long time, between my single lovers, but I keep coming back. He can never divorce his wife, so we have to take our moments when they arise. Hope I didn't shock you."
"No," Gillian said, trying to laugh, "I'm a big girl," but she wondered if Andrew's wife was the same as Peter had accused her of being, and whether Jessica was anything like the girl Peter had married.
The other woman, she thought bitterly. They were ugly and painful words!
Gillian Blake's second day at the office was less confusing as she got to know more and more what she was supposed to do and the people she was working with.
Jessica seemed to be in the clouds all day and told her that she would be seeing Andrew that night so she wouldn't be going home right after work. Gillian didn't like the idea of going right home so she decided that she would stop just for one drink at the same place she and Jessica had been to the night before.
She had never done anything like this in her life, but Jessica reassured her, telling her that a lot of secretaries went there for cocktails and it was all right if a single girl did stop by.
Her legs were shaking as she walked through the door and she found a table for two in a corner and ordered her drink.
She had never done this before and she hoped that she wouldn't look like a tramp, but she saw other girls at the tables without escorts, so she gulped down her first drink in hopes that it would relax her. She had not been there long when she heard a voice call, "Miss Blake!"
She looked up and was staring directly at Mr. Wiles!
"Why, hello," she said, taking another large sip of her drink.
"You with anybody?" he said, but not really waiting for an answer before pulling up a chair.
"No, I was supposed to meet a girlfriend," she lied, "but I guess she couldn't make it."
"It's still early," he commented, "and the six o'clock traffic in London can be rough. Maybe she'll get here late. Mind if I join you?" And he had already joined her!
She couldn't think of any reasonable excuse, so she just nodded and let him call the waiter.
"Two more." he ordered, "Hope you don't mind?"
"No, not at all, thank you," she stammered.
"How do you like your new job?" he asked, his face frozen in an obvious appraising grin as he openly admired her.
"It's very nice," she said in the same unsteady voice, "It's new, but I'm sure I'll like it very much."
She knew that her answer didn't hold much enthusiasm, but she didn't know what to tell him after only two days. She wished that Jessica would come in, because when her fictitious friend didn't show up, she wasn't sure what she could do.
"I spoke to Jessica yesterday afternoon after you started and she spoke very highly of you."
She knew that this could be a lie, but then again, Jessica would be the type of person to go to bat for someone she barely knew.
"She's a good friend," she answered, mainly because Jessica was the only friend she had in London.
"You seem upset," he continued, "is something the matter?"
"No… nothing," she barely whispered, knowing that her nervousness was showing through.
"Well, relax, you'll do just fine and a drink will cure any jitters you may have."
She finished her drink and started on the second, the alcohol warming her considerably. She wasn't quite sure what it was about the office manager that made her nervous and ill-at-ease, but his eyes seemed to look right through her, undressing her and baring her very soul.
"We're one big happy family over there," he said, gesturing to the gray limestone building across the street. "Anything that I can do to help, just let me know."
She had been warned about him and perhaps that was why she was on her guard, but more than anything, she didn't want him to think that she had come over to the pub to be picked up. He might get the idea of a frustrated divorcee that most people believed. She almost laughed at herself… frustrated… her husband had called her frigid!
"You're a very beautiful girl," Mr. Wiles said, staring at her voluptuous rounded figure. She wished that she had worn something a little less snug, but she had never worked in an office before and she couldn't afford a new wardrobe right now.
"Thank you," she muttered. "You're very kind." She couldn't understand the men in London, she had never come across anything like it in her life.
She was finishing her second drink and looked at the door nervously, hoping that a friendly face, someone she knew from the office, would come in and rescue her.
"Looks like your friend may not come," Mr. Wiles said. "Let me buy you another drink."
"No…. no, really, that's all right," she stammered.
"Come on, I know the salary I'm paying you and you can't afford to buy your own drinks."
He signalled the waiter to bring another round so she just sat there.
She did feel more relaxed, but she knew that it was just the liquor, and she couldn't afford to offend the boss right now, she didn't have another job lined up.
So, Gillian picked up a cigarette and put it to her slightly pouting lips, when he reached across the table to steady her hand as she lit it nervously.
"That's a man's job," he corrected her. "Never light your own cigarette when there's a gentleman around."
She laughed, because she never would have lit her own cigarette at home, but once again, Peter came back into her mind and she couldn't allow that.
"This is all so new to me, and everyone has been so kind. I guess that I'm just a country girl, so please excuse me."
"Don't worry about it, you have plenty of time to get informed, and I must admit that you're most refreshingly naive!" Mr. Wiles grinned at her.
She couldn't get over his rugged good looks, his savoir-faire as he spoke as though no one would dare contradict him. She had thought that Peter was the most sophisticated man she had ever met, but really, Loughborough wasn't much of a town and there wasn't much competition, and Mr. Wiles was so much more polished than any man she had ever met, so very expertly polished!
His very presence made her feel inadequate, but the drinks were making this tete~a-tete more of a game than anything else. She almost laughed aloud and asked him if he would like to go to bed with her. She knew his reputation, but maybe he was all talk. She knew that she could never follow through, and his reaction would probably be one of shock, but then she may lose her job, so she decided against it.
He didn't say much, but just looked at her. She knew that he found her attractive and this was a new, wonderful feeling. Peter had treated her so crudely ever since he had started his affair and finally had to marry his 'other woman', so that it was almost a challenge to her ego to prove to herself that she was still an attractive and desirable woman.