Novel extract - The agency

 

Natalie

Finding George

The rays through the blinds of the window shone on her eyes.  Squinting she opened them shielding her eyes with her hand.  Looking at her watch she saw that it was 9am.  She stared at Kitt who was still flat out.  She felt like she owed Kitt everything.   She knew that to most people all she was given was some crappy temporary job in a back street agency but to her it was a lifeline.  In last few months she felt like she has regained a part of herself that was lost forever.  She was more confident, happier and she felt like she had reclaimed her identity, like she had become just Natalie again, not Claude’s wife or Pierre and Amelia’s mother, just Natalie, employee of Temps.  She sat there staring at Kitt, angry at herself for not spotting any of the signs.  There has to be some mistake, Shawna couldn’t be right.  Kitt couldn’t have tried to kill herself, could she?

 

She picked up Kitt’s mobile again and dialled Georges number.  She had left what felt like a million messages and he hadn’t replied or turned up at the hospital to be by her side.  Natalie felt angry that all Kitt had were employees who she had known for only a few months keeping her company rather than loved ones.  Maybe there were signs after all.  All she knew is that if she were lying there like Kitt was now, she would want Claude holding her hand.  As the phone rang she walked away from the bed and out into the corridor.  She willed him to pick up and to her surprise she heard his voice.

 

“Look Kitt! I don’t know what you want but you need to stop….”

“No it’s not Kitt,” said Natalie quickly, flabbergasted by his onslaught. “My name is Natalie Muller.  I work for Kitt.  I’m afraid there has been an accident.”

Natalie wasn’t sure how else to explain what had happened.  She could hardly say hello, your partner tried to kill herself, especially as she wasn’t sure that was true although more and more it seemed to be the case.

“An accident?  Is she alright?”

“Well, I think she will be.  She is in hospital. I think you should come down here.”

There was silence at the end of the line.  It was as though he was thinking about it.  Natalie’s mind was screaming out, what on earth is there to think about?  When someone you love is in hospital, you come to see them.

“I thought as her partner I should let you know.  It was quite a serious incident.”  Natalie felt as though she was trying to convince him.  Still there was no response.  She could hear him sigh, as though he had come to a decision.

“Right, er I’ll be there in half an hour.  What hospital is she in?”

“Besbury General on Williamson ward.”

“OK.  Thanks,” he said as the line went dead.  Natalie stood there leaning against the wall.  No loved ones, clearly Kitt and George are no longer together, how much did they not know about Kitt’s life?  She was always smiling and forceful as though nothing could get in her way and more and more it seems as though she didn’t have it together at all.  Natalie went back to her bedside and held her hand.

“You’re not alone,” she whispered as tears stung her eyes.

She sat there staring at her, stroking her hair waiting for George to arrive.  Her phone had umpteen messages and missed calls from Claude wondering where she was and when she was going to come home, but she couldn’t leave her.  She had promised Shawna that she wouldn’t leave her alone.  Besides she didn’t want to leave, at least not until he arrived. 

 

She must have dosed off because she didn’t here him enter or the sound of him dragging a chair from someone else’s bedside to sit next to Kitt.  But when she awoke, there he was, sat by he side, staring at her intently, his hands hanging loosely between his thighs.  He looked different to what Natalie had imagined.  Kitt wasn’t one for keeping photos and memorabilia on her desk.  It was a big empty space apart for the lonely desk organiser, which only held a pen.  Kitt was always such a vibrant character with her bold colours and shoulder pads which they had all convinced she bought and sowed in herself because the clothes were in great nick, so couldn’t have been carried over into the 80’s.  Natalie had imagined that whoever was her partner had to be just as vibrant just to keep up with her, but George was anything but.  He was the type of guy you would walk past without a second glance.  He was slender, his height she couldn’t tell whilst he was seated.  He was dressed a grey dull jumper with diamonds on it, his trousers she couldn’t see.  His hair was greying at the temples, evidence of the use of dye and it was slicked back with gel.  The most astounding thing she found was that he wore glasses.  In all her imagination she had never imagined kitt’s partner with glasses.  They hung on the tip of his nose.

 

“George?”

His eyes darted away from Kitt, looking at Natalie slightly startled.

“You’re awake.  Natalie I presume?”  His thick Scottish accent made Natalie sit up.  She loved the sound of it purring in her ears.  Suddenly this dull grey character had come to life.

“Yes.  I’m so glad you’re here.”

He smiled tightly, his eyes darting away from hers to floor.  An awkward silence ensued.

“Did you have far to travel?” Natalie could see him squirming as she stupidly drew attention to the fact that he had only just arrived.

“Not too far.  So what happened?  How did she end up here?  She looks like she’s in a bad way.”

“Well,” said Natalie her furrowing brow trying to conjure up the right words. “She was found unconscious at the office.  The doctors seem to think it was an overdose of some sort.  Probably accidental,” she said hurriedly hoping to soften the blow.

George’s forehead creased with the weight of lifting his bushy grey speckled eyebrows.  “Did the doctors say it was accidental?”

“No…”

“So they think it was deliberate?

“They…”

“That she did this to herself on purpose?”

“They haven’t said.  They just said she overdosed on some pills.  That’s all I know.”

George was standing now, pacing up and down at Kitt’s bedside.

“I can’t deal with this.  This isn’t my problem.”

Natalie’s mouth dropped open. “It is your problem!  She is your partner?”

“We broke up a month ago!”

“So!  Does that matter?  You loved her once?  Love just doesn’t die like that even if it is no longer that head over heels romantic love.  How can you stand there and say it’s not your problem?”

“Because it isn’t,” he retorted.  “I can’t deal with this.  This is her manipulative way of trying to draw me back in.”

“Draw you back in!”  Natalie was at a full volume whisper, visitors and patients alike from other cubicles glancing over.  “She nearly died!”

“Nearly….” He said his voice dropping.

“Please can you keep it down…” said a nurse doing the rounds.

“Don’t worry I’m going,” said George getting up from his seat.

Natalie eyes welled up on Kitt’s behalf.  “How can you be so heartless?”

George went to leave and then turned around.

“I’m not heartless.  I am sorry she is like this but I am not going to allow her to make me feel responsible for putting her there.  That’s what she wants.  I won’t be drawn in.  I’m glad she’s alive but I don’t think she ever meant to die, just to make everyone think she was going to.”

“You don’t even know that it was deliberate.”

George laughed lightly.  “She’s lucky to have you,” he said as he turned on his heels and walked briskly out of the ward, leaving Natalie staring at the space where he once sat.