Chasing Daisy

he says, looking concerned.
    ‘Oh?’
    He gets straight to the point. ‘Your father has threatened to withdraw sponsorship if I continue to let you work for me.’
    ‘ What? ’ I’m shocked. ‘But isn’t he just a shareholder? Can he do that?’
    ‘Apparently, he can. He’s a major shareholder, and he has a big say in the company’s expenditure.’
    ‘But what does he expect me to do? I’m not going to go running back to New York if that’s what he thinks.’
    ‘I guess that’s something you’ll have to discuss with him.’
    ‘Fuck that!’ I snap, before apologising. Simon is still my boss, even if it’s only for a short while longer. ‘Is that it, then? Am I fired?’
    ‘I’ll write you an excellent reference,’ he replies.
    ‘Should I pack my bags now?’
    ‘Please stay until the end of the weekend.’
    I don’t suppose they have anyone to cover for me, my cynical side says.
    ‘There’s a big bonus waiting for you if you do,’ Simon continues.
    I’ll need it, at this rate.
    He shakes his head, sadly. ‘It just won’t be the same without you girls next year.’
    ‘Us girls? What, you’re firing Holly, too?’
    He looks taken aback. ‘She handed in her resignation this morning. Didn’t she tell you?’
    ‘No.’
    I back out of the room and run straight into Luis.
    ‘Hi!’ His face lights up, but falls instantly when he sees mine. ‘What’s up?’
    ‘Why should you care?’ I bite back angrily.
    ‘Hey, come on.’ He frowns. ‘Can I talk to you for a sec?’ He points to his room.
    ‘That’s what Will used to say to me. And no, you can’t.’
    I may as well have slapped him across the face. His features harden and he turns away. ‘Suit yourself, Daisy.’
    I storm into the kitchen and spin Holly around. ‘You quit?’
    She looks shamefaced.
    ‘When were you going to tell me?’
    She glances around the kitchen. ‘Let’s go to the bathroom.’
    I follow her in there and she explains. ‘It was a spur-of-the-moment decision.’
    ‘Why? How?’
    ‘Please keep your voice down. I don’t want anyone else to hear.’
    ‘Go on,’ I tell her bluntly, trying to oblige.
    ‘He just tried it on with me. I told him I wasn’t interested in shagging him again until he got a divorce. He actually laughed in my face.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Yes. Loudly. He said that was just ridiculous, he was never going to divorce the bitch, baby or no baby. But he didn’t see why we couldn’t carry on as we were because she was going to be – get this – even less interested in sex once she had a kid. Can you believe he said that to me?’
    I sigh in empathy.
    ‘So I told him I was quitting. I said I’d see the weekend out, but after that I’d find another position.’
    ‘What will you do?’
    ‘I don’t know. Maybe Frederick and Ingrid could hire me?’
    ‘Perhaps.’ I pause. ‘Do you know that I’ve been fired?’
    ‘ WHAT ?’
    I fill her in.
    ‘Oh my God, Daisy, I’m so sorry.’
    ‘It’s okay, I’m not surprised.’
    ‘I didn’t realise your father was as cruel as that.’
    ‘Oh, he’s worse, but that’s something I’ve had to learn the hard way.’
    ‘What will you do?’
    ‘I’m still thinking about it.’
    Norm can barely look at me. The other sponsors seem uncomfortable around me, too. A couple of them have managed a small smile and a slight nod, but my shifts have never been so quiet because so many people seem to be avoiding the serving table when I’m behind it.
    ‘Do you think I can work in the kitchen?’ I ask Frederick eventually, when I can stand it no more.
    He gives me a sympathetic look, which is so out-of-the-ordinary from him that I feel my eyes prick with tears.
    ‘Fillet the fish,’ he replies, pointing with his knife to the other side of the kitchen.
    I go to the counter and get on with the job at hand, quietly and diligently working away as I skin and debone a sea bass.
    My head is spinning with all that’s happened. It doesn’t feel real. None of it feels real. I don’t feel like myself, I feel like I’m in someone else’s body. Is all this really coming to an end?
    I work away in the kitchen for the rest of the afternoon, not taking a break to watch practice. Early that evening, I hear a couple of the front-of-house girls gossiping as they collect their things from the kitchen.
    ‘He was, like, properly shouting.’
    My ears prick up.
    ‘What was he saying?’
    ‘He said he had no balls!’ one of them whispers