Wedding Night

Pharmaceuticals?” brochures out of my canvas bag.
    “Right.” Her eyes are darting about. “Well … as I say, I’d keep it nice and brief.”
    I feel tempted to snap at her,
We’ve come all the way from London for this!
For God’s sake. Most careers officers are
delighted
we’ll take questions.
    “So, normal pattern?” I say to Steve. “Me, you, clip one, me, you, clip two, questions?” He nods, and I hand the DVD to Deborah. “I’ll cue you. It’ll be pretty obvious.”
    The recruitment DVD is the worst bit about our presentation. It was shot like a 1980s music video, with bad lighting and bad electronic music and people with bad haircuts looking awkward as they pretend to have a meeting. But it cost a hundred grand, so we have to use it.
    Deborah disappears to set up the DVD and I lean back in my chair, trying to relax. But my hands keep twisting together. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Everything feels so crap. Where am I going in life? Where am I heading? What am I doing?
    And this is
not
about Richard, by the way. It’s absolutely unrelated. It’s simply my life. I need … I don’t know. A new direction. A different energy.
    There’s a book lying on a nearby chair and I reach for it. It’s called
The Reverse Principle: Change Your Business Strategy Forever
, and
10 million copies sold!!
is stamped across the cover.
    I feel a stab of frustration at myself. Why don’t I read more business books?
This
is where my life has gone wrong. I haven’t put enough effort into my career. I flip through, trying to absorb the information as quickly as I can. There are lots of diagrams with arrows traveling one way, then flipping over and going the opposite way. Clearly the message is: reverse the arrow. Well, I got that in about two seconds. I must be a natural.
    Maybe I should read all these books and become an expert.Maybe I should go to Harvard Business School. I have a sudden image of myself in a library, cramming my brain full of business principles. Coming back to England to run a FTSE 100 company. My world would be one of ideas and strategy. Cerebral, high-level thought.
    I’m just Googling
Harvard overseas students
when Deborah reappears.
    “So, the students should be assembled by now,” she gulps, sounding desperate.
    “Oh, OK.” I drag my attention back to her. What on earth is her
problem
? Maybe she’s new. Maybe this is her first-ever recruitment presentation and that’s why she’s so twitchy.
    I refresh my lip gloss, trying to avoid the sight of my bloodshot eyes. Looking suicidal, Deborah disappears through the double doors onto the stage. I can hear her indistinct voice rising above the hubbub. After a few moments there’s a round of applause, and I nudge Steve, who’s just bitten into a croissant. Typical.
    “Come on! We’re on!”
    As I stride onto the little stage and see our audience, I can’t help doing a double take.
    Recruiting for a science company, you get used to students who shamble in, hair unwashed, unshaved, with bags under their eyes. But this lot are stunning. There’s a whole cluster of immaculate girls at the front, with long shiny hair, manicured nails, and full makeup. Behind them is a group of super-fit guys, their T-shirts bulging with muscles. I can’t speak for astonishment. What kind of labs do they have here? Ones with treadmills incorporated?
    “They look great!” I murmur encouragingly to Deborah. “Top marks for presentation.”
    “Well … we do advise them to make an effort,” she says,reddening before she hurries off. I glance over at Steve, who is peering at the beautiful girls as if he can hardly believe his luck.
    “Welcome, everyone!” I head to the front of the stage. “Thanks for coming today. My name is Lottie Graveney, and I’m here to talk to you about choosing a career at Blay Pharmaceuticals. You’ll know us best for the range of global brands we sell at the pharmacy, from our Placidus range of painkillers to our bestselling Sincero baby cream. But a career with us is so much more than that—”
    “It’s an
exciting
career.” Steve practically elbows me out of the way. “Yes, it’ll challenge you, but it’ll
thrill
you. We’re working right at the edge of pioneering research and we want to take you on that roller coaster with us.”
    I glare at him. He’s
tragic
. First of all, that’s not the script. Second, where has that fake “sexy” voice come from? Third, he’s now rolling up his