Where the Rain Gets In Read Online Free Page B

ago,” said Katie.
    “I know, but what could I do?”
    “Hang up on him, maybe? Have you been
speaking to him all this time?”
    Carmel blushed.
    “I told you, he’s really nice.”
    “But an hour, Carmel – what have you
been talking about? On second thoughts, forget it – I don’t want to know. Come
on; let’s go for coffee. If he’s still there when we come back, I’ll speak to
him then.”
    “He says his name’s Mike,” said Carmel.
“He said to tell you that it’s Nice Guy Mike, that you’d know who I mean.”
    Katie looked at Carmel.
    “Nice Guy Mike – he said that?”
    “Yes,” said Carmel. “Do you know who he
is?”
    “What did he tell you?” asked Katie. She
heard the harsh tone in her own voice and corrected it. “I mean, did he tell
you why he’s calling?”
    “Not really, he just told me his name.”
    “In an hour?”
    “Well…we mostly talked about me. What do
you want me to do?”
    Katie leant her weight against Carmel’s
desk and breathed in deeply through her nose.
    “I don’t know anyone by that name,” she
said.
    “He said you’d say that.”
    “I’d remember anyone calling himself
Nice Guy Mike.”
    “He said you’d say that too,” said
Carmel. “And that you’d ask for his surname, but that you know it already and
know why he can’t give it.”
    Katie looked at the receiver in Carmel’s
hand.
    “If he – if it is who he says it is, ask
him to call back in half an hour. There’s no need for him to keep holding on;
tell him I’ll take his call.”
    “He won’t believe me. He won’t hang up.”
    “Tell him – tell him if he doesn’t hang
up I won’t speak to him. Tell him that, and then you hang up.”
     
    Katie’s young team tended to share the
same table for their break each morning. A few people sat alone with a book or
a newspaper, but mostly it was an opportunity to chat or joke or flirt. The
canteen was shared by the whole building, and there was a loud buzz of
conversation among the different groups of employees.
    Katie was unusually quiet. Even when the
talk turned to one of her pet subjects – the crappiness of most TV advertising
– Katie appeared distracted and oblivious to the banter at the table.
    “I think the worst one I’ve seen
recently,” said Carmel, “has to be the ad – they’re a department store, I think
– that ends up by claiming that they’re ‘almost nationwide’. I mean, if you’re
not completely nationwide, you don’t mention it, do you? It’s like saying – we
know what we’re doing, almost, but not quite.” She spoke across Katie to
Ronnie, a recent arrival at the company, and one of Katie’s protégés.
    “I disagree,” said Ronnie. “The worst
one by far has to be for Irish Rail. You know, where they reel off how many
more carriages they’re running on each line, and then hit us with the punch
line – ‘And more to follow’?”
    “Yes,” laughed Carmel. “Like they’re
proud of something they haven’t even done yet, and want to tell the world.”
    “Somebody, somewhere,” said Ronnie,
“decided they should run with that ad.”
    “An advertising executive,” said Carmel,
“or a room full of advertising executives.”
    “Er yeah,” said Ronnie, “right, so we’re
all agreed then? We’ll run with the ‘more to follow’ promise?”
    “More to follow – almost nationwide,”
said Carmel.
    Katie was pleased to see Ronnie
confident and relaxed at the table – the likes of Carmel were quite
intimidating if you didn’t know them – but she couldn’t bring herself to join
in. A subject like this was often enough for a few Katie McGuire gems, but not
today; she smiled along, but was happy for the coffee break to be over. She
took the lift and walked back to the office with Carmel.
    “Are you mad at me over that phone
call?” Carmel was used to Katie being frank with her; if she was in trouble she
wanted to know.
    “What – no,” said Katie and walked on.
    “Then what the