The next morning Imogen woke up sick to her stomach, so ill in fact that she considered calling in sick, before reconciling that she just couldn’t let Eve get the best of her. She stretched on her back and then rolled over onto all fours on the bed, trying some cat and cow yoga poses, hoping to stretch the knot in her stomach away. When that didn’t work she tried the breathing exercises Ron recommended. She breathed in for eight counts, held her breath for ten, then let it out for eight. Each time she held her breath Eve’s smirk popped into her mind.
Eve won this round. Imogen had trusted her to play fair. Until yesterday she believed that despite all of Eve’s shortcomings, they were actually on the same team. Now she knew that was the furthest thing from the truth.
She rubbed her hand along the indent that had been Alex just an hour earlier. She estimated he was getting maybe four hours of sleep a night. The actual trial was starting next week, which meant his hours might be a little more regular.
Imogen paid less attention to how she dressed these days. For years she had meticulously planned her outfits. Now she threw on whatever had just come back from the dry cleaner. She was still pleased with how she looked in her black pencil skirt, turtleneck and sling-back pumps, but it wasn’t the same as taking the time to think about her outfit every single night. She used to feel like she was dressing for success, dressing up for the others in the office. Now she was competing with a bunch of young women in tight dresses and high heels. Most of her colleagues were gone. There was no longer anyone to truly dress up for except herself.
Something wasn’t right in the office. You could always hear a pin drop, but now the mood was actually morose. Eyes were downcast, the typing not as frantic as usual. Eve was nowhere to be found when Imogen walked through the doors at eight thirty. Shortly after she turned on her computer, Ashley knocked on her door.
‘Is something going on?’ Imogen asked tightly. Ashley nodded her head.
‘After you left yesterday some of the investors came by. They sat with Eve for a long time in the conference room. All I gathered was that the site hasn’t reached some of the traffic benchmarks it promised for the first couple of months and they were disappointed.’
‘Were you eavesdropping?’ Imogen tried not to sound accusatory. Ashley looked a little like Annabel with her sheepish look.
‘Yeah, I can hear everything that happens in the conference room from the kitchen.’
‘So what happens now?’
‘Nothing. We still have plenty of money. It hasn’t been that long. They just wanted her to know they weren’t as happy as they could be. I think she took it pretty hard.’
‘Why do you think that?’
‘Because she came out and screamed at everyone, told us that none of us were really doing our jobs. Demanded everyone work through the night, put up more content, better content. She was crazy-pants. Then she left around midnight and everyone else has been here pretty much since, taking turns napping in the beanbag chairs.’
‘Those poor girls. Do we have coffee here?’
‘We ran out a few days ago.’
Imogen handed Ashley her credit card. ‘Can you call Starbucks and ask them to deliver enough macchiatos – or coffee or cappuccinos – for the entire staff? Have them bring some snacks too.’
‘I don’t think Starbucks delivers,’ Ashley said.
‘Everywhere delivers if your order is big enough, darling.’
Imogen decided that if she was ever going to give this office a pep talk, now was going to be the time. She ran her hand over her hair, smoothing the bits that had sprung wild as she got out of the cab. This was her staff now too. She may not have chosen many of them, but they worked for her and it was her job to take care of them. She clapped her hands together. Barely anyone looked up. Imogen realized they all had their headphones on. Ashley hadn’t moved from the spot at her side. She was typing on her iPhone.
‘I’m sending them an email to let them know you’re going to make an announcement. That will get their attention.’ Sure enough, as the email pinged through, dozens of heads popped up from their desks.
‘Good morning, ladies. I know you’re exhausted. And after I talk we are having coffee brought in. Anyone who pulled an all-nighter and feels like they need to get home for some sleep is more than welcome to do so and then spend the rest of the day working from home.’ Imogen clasped her hands together.
‘Each of you has been working so hard for the past three months and all of you deserve to be commended for that.’
The women looked at her with their zombie eyes, unused to someone in this office saying nice things about them out loud.
‘Seriously. Launching anything is never easy, but you have given it your all and I am proud of each and every single one of you.’ She finally saw some smiles.
‘We still have a lot of work to do. We have goals to meet. I know we’ll get there.’ She heard a few scattered sighs of relief. She looked at Ashley, who gave her a thumbs-up. No one was making a video of her and no one was snapping her picture. None of them had the energy. She didn’t know how to close out her announcement, so instead she just gave another clap of her hands. ‘Let’s get back to work for a little while. Have something to eat and then go home if you need to.’ With that, the women diligently went back to their desks. Imogen went to her office, half expecting Eve to pop out from behind her desk and scream at her for daring to let the staff go early, but Eve was still nowhere to be found.
Many of the young ladies in the office perked up after having the coffee and only two or three girls, who looked like they were in dire need of their beds, actually left to go home, poking their heads into Imogen’s office to let her know they could come back that evening.
‘Get some rest. Tomorrow is a new day. I’ll see you then.’
For the first time in a long time, Imogen felt like she was back in charge. With Eve gone people came to her with questions. She answered them to the best of her ability. When she didn’t know the answer she asked someone to explain it to her. It ended up being her most productive day since she had returned to the office in August.
Look at her. She was running a website.
Eve walked in around five and looked no worse for the wear. She had obviously gotten enough sleep the night before and judging from the ruddiness in her cheeks she had been at the gym or a Spirit Cycle class before coming into the office.
She glanced around at the few empty desks.
‘Where is everyone?’ Imogen heard her ask from a half dozen yards away.
One of the remaining girls dared to answer.
‘Imogen said it would be all right if some people went home to get some rest.’
Everyone expecting some kind of volcanic explosion was disappointed. Eve only walked toward Imogen’s office and shut the door.
‘We have to fire six more people tomorrow,’ Eve said flatly.
‘What?’
‘We need to get rid of about six employees tomorrow.’
‘I heard you, Eve. Why? Why do you want to get rid of anyone when you have your existing staff working around the clock?’ Imogen asked.
‘Because I need to double my staff. I need to get rid of the majority of these girls who make more than fifty thousand so I can hire more workers at thirty-five or forty thousand. More workers equals more content, equals more traffic.’
‘But doesn’t it matter if that content isn’t good? Some of these women are really good at what they do.’
Eve looked at her with a pity that showed she couldn’t imagine Imogen would ever understand.
‘More is always better.’