Chapter 3
Sam walks into the reception of JKL Advisors a few minutes late and heads straight for the elevator without so much a nod to the receptionist. It is unlike him to be late in, and being stressed out about Zoe and the
pressure she is putting on him at the moment is making him edgy and absent minded. On arrival at his desk, he picks up his mail that Jackie his PA has left hovering over his keyboard. Flitting through, he sees nothing of interest. This morning there is a staff meeting at 11 so there are a couple of hours to catch up on the file he was working on until late last night. He sits at his large expensive mahogany desk, and instead of getting stuck in, finds himself a few minutes later staring out of the window. The view from his office is stunning. He can see the London Eye, London Bridge, the sleepy thames, the M15 building. Instead of it's usual overcast gloomy self today London is all sunshine, and the windows in the buildings along the river are shimmering in it's reflection. He can't quite put his finger on the state of mind he is in, but it's slightly negative and he wished he could snap out of it. He thinks about Zoe, imagines what she would be doing right now. Probably grabbing a latte and a croissant at Parsons Green Station he assumes, before heading to her pilates session. Zoe often jokes that being free in the daytime is literally the only perk to her poxy job, and Sam couldn't help but agree with her. It didn't bother him that she just a waitress when they met 7 years ago, life was just about the weekend back then, and a lot of hers and his friends were also in crappy jobs. But slowly Sam moved up in the financial world and along the years his responsibility doubled as well as his pay packet. Zoe's best friend Mona moved up in the world of fashion, becoming an editor at a glossy magazine in Paris. Her other friend Caroline opened her own florist, and eventually owned three shops across London. Their mutual friend Ed had done pretty well for himself in property management…. and well Zoe, she was still wiping peoples dirty plates into the bin, still being stuck with weekend night shifts and having to deal with screaming kids parties and yummy mummies, still coming home at 3 in the morning with only a couple of pounds tips and at the end of the month a salary that frankly made Sam wince. Sam resolved to talk to her later tonight about her career, her goals. That out of his mind, he started on his clients file and worked without pause until the staff meeting.
