Lucy pulled up to her office car park in her shiny black Z4. A luxury she probably didn’t need but, hell, you were only young once and she shared the costs with Max.
Her heart leaped as she spotted the dress hanging in the corner of the office. It was by far her favourite gown from any of the shoots she’d been part of since joining the magazine. The model had had to have it pinned to fit her tiny frame. Today there would be no need for pinning as Lucy was a good two sizes bigger. She just hoped it wouldn’t be too small.
‘Lucy, Colin and Sherman are ready for you.’ Lucy turned round and saw Sarah smiling. Lucy was suddenly nervous, her stomach tight. Head up, chest out, as the little one would say.
‘Hello.’ Lucy smiled at the men, who looked unusually casual, dressed down in jeans and jumpers. They had clearly come into the office just to meet with Lucy. She had opted for bootleg brown-moleskin trousers she’d picked up from a trendy Kings Road charity shop, brown LK Bennett ankle boots and a coffee-coloured lambswool polo neck.
The men kissed her cheeks and wished her a belated merry Christmas.
Colin, a Mr Darcy-style character, always immaculately dressed, pretty posh and terribly polite, perched on his desk. As managing editor, he had overall control of staff matters on Lucy’s magazine as well as a couple of other publications in the company. He was married with young twins, much to the disappointment of half the female staff.
Sherman, the editor, sat opposite Lucy on a two-seater sofa. He was a charismatic Liverpudlian, with floppy dark hair and big brown eyes. He had been quite the ladies’ man a few years back, with rumours of female staff receiving generous redundancy packages after their office romances had turned sour. But since being appointed editor, Lucy guessed he’d been warned off any more indiscretions. He was now engaged and displaying the early indications of being in a comfortable relationship: the beginnings of a belly and a few grey hairs.
‘Lucy, thanks for joining us,’ Colin said warmly.
Lucy hoped she didn’t look nervous. She’d had few dealings with the men. They met regularly with Genevieve, to discuss fashion ideas for the mag, as well as with the heads of the various departments, health, travel, beauty and so on. With Carlos too, of course, who was paid so well in part to offer advice to the men on matters of PR, celebrity relationships and marketing. Why speak to Lucy? Were they going to sack her?
‘First, we want to say how well we think you’ve managed while Genevieve has been on holiday,’ Sherman told her.
Bugger. The blow of a sacking was always cushioned by a compliment – everyone knew that.
‘Yes, absolutely,’ Colin agreed. He paused before continuing. ‘The thing is, Lucy, we’ve been watching Genevieve for a little while now. The bottom line is that we’re not happy with her performance. No doubt she’s a talented woman but she is not delivering the ideas we need to put us head and shoulders above the competition.’
Sherman took the baton.
‘That’s right. Word reached us that she had taken a freebie holiday and promised to write about it. As you can imagine, Liza, the travel editor, was none too happy when she found out. It compromises her severely as it’s her job to do such deals with holiday companies.’
Lucy nodded. She understood what they were saying but had yet to fathom how it involved her.
‘It was quite wrong of Genevieve to arrange her own deals like that,’ Sherman told Lucy, Colin nodding in agreement. ‘But, to be brutally honest, we would have turned a blind eye if she was a fantastic fashion editor. The point is, she’s not. We suspect that any good ideas she has in conference are those of her staff, though she rarely gives them credit. We’ve voiced our concerns to her and she’s been defensive. We have concluded she’s out of her depth.’
Lucy couldn’t shake the feeling she was part of some conspiracy, talking about Genevieve behind her back. Though why Lucy should feel bad in any way, given Genevieve’s general vileness towards her, was beyond her.
‘We met with Genevieve this morning,’ Colin offered. ‘We voiced our concerns and offered her a very generous deal. A pay-off, if you like.’
This was typical of the media world. As soon as someone displayed signs they were either past their best or failing to live up to expectations, they were seen as dead wood and disposed of in haste. From what Max had told her, newspaper editors were even more ruthless.
Looking back, it really was only a matter of time before this happened. Genevieve talked a good game but rarely delivered any dynamic ideas. Even her organizational skills left much to be desired; she often forgot to put an important event in the diary and relied on agency writers and staff to cover it for her.
‘So,’ Colin continued, looking at Sherman, ‘we have talked it over and decided to offer you the job of fashion editor.’
He let the words hang in the air, gauging Lucy’s response.
‘Yes,’ Sherman said. It was quite a double act they had going. ‘As we say, we’ve been impressed with your work. We’ve been watching you for a while. You’ve got on with things quietly, you haven’t sought glory and we think you will be a fantastic fashion editor.’
Lucy hadn’t expected this.
‘Thank you. I’m very flattered.’
‘Of course,’ Sherman said, ‘it is a demanding job. You’ll be in charge of six writers and you’ll have a shared PA. As you know, our standards are high.’
Lucy nodded.
Sherman and Colin stood and offered their hands, congratulating her on her new job.
She couldn’t help but ask: ‘And Genevieve? Has she left?’
‘Yes,’ Colin said. ‘We’ve told her that we will, of course, give any help we can. But there’s no need for you to feel bad. We wanted her out. It was time she went. And, well, we do feel you are much stronger for the role.’
And there it was. No more being sent out for lattes and watching publishers’ nieces take the plum jobs. Lucy was the boss. She couldn’t wait.
‘You should know how well thought of you are on the floor,’ Sherman told her. ‘ “Professional” is a word that often crops up with staff when talking about you. And Carlos Santiago, well, he is well and truly the leader of your fan club – and he’s not a man who is easily impressed. We asked him for his thoughts on how you would compare to Genevieve as head of fashion and he left us in no doubt as to your attributes.’
Colin laughed. ‘I think the comparison in taste and style he made was Ugly Betty with Claudia Schiffer.’
That sounded like Carlos. He’d kept that one quiet, but maybe he hadn’t wanted to raise her hopes. Then again, she did remember a recent conversation when he’d winked and told her that great things lay ahead for her.
Lucy shouldn’t be giving Genevieve a second thought. She had no doubt she wouldn’t consider Lucy’s feelings if the ankle boot was on the other foot. But Lucy resolved to call her former boss and offer to buy her lunch, to show there were no hard feelings.
Fergal had always told her that making it to the top required guts and drive, but she should never compromise who she was. And that was a good person, he had told her. One who knew how to treat others well, no matter how badly her peers behaved.
She would tell Genevieve she could call her any time, perhaps offer her articles on a freelance basis. In truth, Genevieve had been lucky to land a cushy cash package from the magazine. She’d failed to deliver and been paid to go. Lucy had no doubt that within a few months Genevieve would turn up on another mag with a fancy title. That’s the way it often worked: the good workers stayed and grafted their way up the ranks while others who talked a good game flitted from one publication to another, landing great jobs by trading off their last title. More often than not, new employers took their CV at face value. They would assume they were up to their last job title and hire them with high expectations. So often they had been forced out of their last job too, either sacked for poor performance or under pressure to leave because they felt out of their depth.
When staff didn’t deliver, they were brushed aside within a year.
Yes, Genevieve had been vile but how much of that was down to crushing insecurity?
‘Oh we’ve decided to double your current salary,’ continued Colin. ‘You were overdue a hefty rise in any case but this will bring you in line with the other heads of department. Hard work deserves reward. We are very excited about this, Lucy, and if things go as well as we hope, we have plenty more ideas about how you can rise further within the magazine.’
She felt a little dizzy with all this information. Her dream job. The money was beyond her expectations. Maybe she’d be able to treat Max to outfits and dinners now. But it was the opportunity more than anything that was so exciting. She’d had no idea she was being watched. As she shook their hands, Lucy beamed at them.
‘Thank you so much. I won’t let you down,’ she told them.
She felt like she was walking on air when she left the office. She couldn’t wait to celebrate at the Hogmanay Ball.