Finding Julia Chapter 16

By Julie D Cole

I looked across to confirm that Eve was still occupied. I didn’t think she’d mind if we sneaked away to have a chat so I nodded to Georgina and we excused ourselves.
As I followed her through the dining room I found it hard to believe ever been mistaken for a boy admiring the way she almost floated when she walked. She wasn’t quite as tall as Eve or me for that matter. But then she was wearing flats and I had a sandal with a heel that Eve said showed off my legs better. That made me think of work and I shuddered slightly. Several of the girls at work seem to tower over me that gave me a bit of an inferiority complex in Eves opinion that she tried to get me to overcome by wearing insets in my shoes.

I’d tried to forget all about work and especially my new boss who always stands over me when she is taking issue with my work and lecturing me. I couldn’t imagine anybody picking on Georgina. She seemed so sweet and I was so happy to have met her.
We headed across the hotel reception to the coffee shop that had an outside balcony that was unusually quiet for this time of day. That was better for us to have privacy so we could have a nice chat without fear of interruption.
The barista welcomed us and seemed happy for guests. He was one of the barmen from the previous evening and he recognised me and smiled. I felt myself blush and I looked away. He waited until we settled into two comfy chairs that gave us a view of the sea before welcoming us and taking our order. He even knew both our names. First ones of course. We selected house coffee with fresh cream on the side, as a treat and settled down to chat. I did my best to sit properly in the chair with my legs crossed like Georgina was doing. There was a nice gentle breeze over the balcony and plenty of air movement thanks to a large ceiling fan above our heads.
I couldn’t hold back any longer. ‘What did you mean when you said I had been in the same situation as you?’
Georgina didn’t respond straight away. She was obviously thinking about her response so neither of us spoke for a minute or so that seemed to be an age. Our coffees arrived to break the silence.
‘I’m sorry Julie. It’s not really my business and I didn’t mean to be intrusive or to upset you. It was just a comment. I don’t really know anything about you other than you are Eves girlfriend and she has asked you to marry her. Did you say yes?’

‘Yes it’s true that we are engaged and in fact it was me that asked her. I’m not her girlfriend. She is my girlfriend.’

‘If it helps to stir your memory at all I did overhear that you are receiving the same advice and treatment that I had after I met the professor that seemed to help me a lot. It’s really not my place to interfere in your life. Can’t you remember anything at all. You must have met the professor.’

‘Honestly I can’t remember anything and maybe it’s because I had a problem with anxiety attacks some months ago. I had trouble with high blood pressure, shaking and unexplained outbursts at work. I couldn’t sleep at night and I was having hallucinations. I was terrified of my boss and I was making more and more mistakes.’

Before I could reflect anymore I was distracted. I could see Eve entering the coffee shop and heading towards us. Georgina stood up and hugged her and she said she’d decided to come looking for us since she felt like taking a break from the tedium. She ordered coffee and took the chair next to me so that I was in the middle.

‘Julia was just explaining some of the difficulties she’s had at home and we were trying to work out where she might have met the professor. She has no recollection have you Julia.’

‘No. I don’t recall ever meeting her before but she seems to know me. She said as much whilst we were at the buffet.’

Eve responded much to my amazement. ‘ To be truthful you met her briefly once when your sister and mum sought her help. I gave them the contact details but didn’t go to the meeting. At that time you were in a terrible state and we couldn’t snap you out of it.’

‘I don’t recall anything. Are you sure?’

‘Of course I’m sure. I’m not surprised you don’t remember anything. That’s part of the treatment you received before we came away.’

‘But Eve I don’t recall any treatment.’

‘Probably not but don’t worry it’s par for the course. You were on the edge of a breakdown. It started with too much pressure at work and you went into a downward spiral. I couldn’t snap you out of it and neither could mum and your sis. I’ve told you that you know more the job than Liz Naylor will ever know. She is a con artist and a bully. I went with you for an appointment they made with the professor.’
‘I have no recollection whatsoever.’
‘The professor said that it was her opinion that I had some other issues and it wasn’t just work related. She recommended unearthing these with a hypnotherapist and she made a call to the one who helped Georgina recover from her depression.’

Georgina chipped in ‘And my desire to commit suicide even though the professor had stopped me from jumping from the bridge. You mean Dr Kerr helped Julia too?’

‘Yes she is helping her and whilst I wasn’t in the room on any of the 3 visits I agreed with her recommendations because I knew about your case through Biocon. It seems to be working quite well so far. But the real test is when we get home.’

‘But I can’t remember anything about any Dr Kerr and I’m your fiancé Julian. I know I am.’

‘Julia. Just sit still and calm down for a few minutes. You can see Georgina how lovely she is. Dr Kerr is an NHS therapist who specialises in hypnotherapy. She is not some hypnotist performing club acts.’
Georgina turned to me and spoke ‘ What caused your depression then? Was it the same problem that I had?’

‘Eva please. My problem was at work not depression or attempted suicide. I told you that I’d fix it.’

Eve chipped in again. ‘Look Julia it started at work and as things got worse you lost your confidence. Then Dr Kerr identified another key problem whilst you were being analysed. So your inferiority complex wasn’t helping.’

‘Well Eve I’ve not felt right since we arrived. Is it the medication?’

‘No they should be helping you and I can see the difference. Look at your complexion. You are calmer and less opposed to changes.’

‘What changes? I have to admit that I’m feeling strange as if all this is not real. It’s a funny sensation and whilst I feel relaxed it’s as if I’m dreaming. It’s like being at work in the company of girls but without the aggro. Do I look alright dressed like this? You two don’t seem to mind and nobody makes fun of me here.’

Both nodded and smiled at each other and we sipped our coffees and I gazed out to sea reflecting on the problems I’d been experiencing in my job whilst they chatted about the Professor and Dr Kerr. Eve was then distracted by a call on her mobile and walked along the balcony to talk more privately without the barista overhearing anything.

Georgina then asked what job I did at home.
‘I was an office manager with a staff of about 20 women of various ages and one supervisor reporting to me. I had that job for 12 months even though I was quite young when I was appointed. Then I was cast aside because I allegedly took too much time off work. But I didn’t. I’d just used up my outstanding vacation because it was year-end.’

‘It seems strange. Didn’t you have any cover from the supervisor?’
‘Yes she took over whilst I was away. I’d been having problems with her ever since I started because she was jealous of me being given the job ahead of her. She was very disruptive always challenging my decisions.’
‘The company had no right to do that surely. You are entitled to take vacation.’
‘Yes but as a manager the job has to come first and we were missing deadlines because of the disruption and the way she was allocating work and then rejecting it before I had seen the summaries. She challenged my decisions and if I insisted she misled the staff with bad instructions. At times I just wanted to scream.’
I couldn’t speak for a while and Georgina reached across to hold my hand to comfort me. The memories came flooding back of an embarrassing argument after I criticised her. The next time I left my office she confronted me and said I didn’t focus on my job and let her do her job. Words were exchanged and it got heated in the open office. After a few expletives I was called a pervert by this woman.

‘So what happened. Did you lost your because of this woman?’

‘Yes I lost my confidence and the respect of the staff who were her friends. I guess I’ve never recovered since. I was so hurt that I broke down in front of everybody. It was such a shock after I had worked so hard to build up team spirit and efficiency.’
‘So what happened?’
‘When I returned to work after my vacation break I was raring to go. My office door was closed and it was clearly occupied with sign saying do not disturb. I knocked and went in to be greeted with get out and I’ll see you when I’ve finished. It was her supervisor Liz Naylor and my boss from Head Office was sitting across the desk from her.’

I carried on explaining trying to keep as calm as possible as I had flashbacks.

‘I was told to wait outside and close the door behind me. My boss was looking out of the window and he didn’t intervene. I wanted to tell her to get out of my seat and go back to her desk. It was like a stand-off and I just seemed to freeze. I know I should have asked what was going on but I was in shock. I went outside and started to shake with frustration. I didn’t know what to do. Should I walk out and go home or turn back around and stand up for myself. Some of the staff had arrived early and were making coffee clearly keeping out of the way.’

‘Poor Julia. This seems so unfair.’

‘After 10 minutes my boss came out and he didn’t even look at me. He walked straight past me without a word of explanation and this woman who I’d wanted to sack a number of times shouted for me to go in. She didn’t invite me to sit and she left me standing in front of my desk like I was a schoolboy being reprimanded. She told me that improvements had been made whilst I was away in line with her ideas that had worked so she’d been put in charge taking over the department with immediate effect.’

‘So no input from your boss or explanation?’

‘No it was left to her. She’d already decided I had a choice to resign or accept some re-training and she’d review my situation periodically. She even had a draft letter ready for my resignation. I asked to have a meeting with my boss that she declined. Then if I was to take over her role as supervisor reporting to her. She just told me I had to work in the open office doing admin jobs. She’d moved my belongings to a spare desk and another girl had been promoted to supervisor.’

‘That’s constructive dismissal.’

‘I couldn’t afford to lose my job so I decided to say nothing and call Eve as soon as I got the chance. When I was dismissed from her office I met Emelia the new supervisor who pointed to my desk and explained that I was to assist some of the girls and do menial tasks including filing and photo-copying. I was to be almost the office junior. I’d also have to take my turn covering reception duties. It was so demeaning. ‘

‘What did Eve think?’

‘I rang her as soon as I’d unpacked my things and cleared the box away. At least I had privacy in the mens room. She calmed me down and I told her that I’d had no notification of any changes. She told me to check my mailbox since I had told her I had lots of messages whilst off work. I went back to my desk and started my computer. I needed to call IT who came and set it up. I scrolled down my phone and found 3 e-mails from my boss and one dated a few days before said a letter had been sent to my home address explaining his decision and my salary and terms and conditions were being adjusted. I was no longer considered suitable for a management position and the Company was going through some re-structuring.’

‘ So that was it?’
‘My new Manager was a bitch and she instructed IT to give me a new password and to restrict access to management reports. I had no more access to the files I used every day in the job I’d been doing. Cast adrift.’

‘I’d have walked.’

‘Easy to say. The rest of the morning was a blur. I was the only male and some of the girls were sniggering and whispering and clearly they delighted in giving me jobs to do. I had a few urgent filing tasks and some photo-copying so one of the girls showed me how the copier worked. I never got chance to sit at my computer. I was kept busy through until the lunch break. ‘

‘How embarrassing. I bet you were livid.’

‘I was so I called Eve again and we agreed that I should call my boss and ask to meet him. I tried all through my lunch break but he didn’t pick up his phone. Eventually his secretary answered. She just said he had left on a business trip and she’d pass the message to him.’