Читать книгу In The Boss's Castle - Jessica Gilmore - Страница 8

PROLOGUE

Hi, Hope,

Truthfully I was a little shocked when they asked me to job swap with you for six months. I thought I was way too far down the food chain, especially since I changed careers and found myself back at the bottom of the ladder again. But I’ve never left the US—so my bags are packed, I actually have a passport and I’m on my way to London before they change their minds!

I guess you want to know a little about the stranger coming to take over your life? There’s no big scandals you’ll be glad to know, so no need to warn the neighbours or hide the family silver. I’m Maddison and I’ve been working for DL Media for just over three years, I started out in the PR and events team before Brenda, my boss (soon to be yours) poached me for Editorial. It’s a step down in some ways—back to making coffees and booking taxis and a lot less managing my own time, but somehow she convinced me that it’ll be worth it. It’s nice to be wanted for my brains and not my contact list, at least that’s what I tell myself when I pick up her dry cleaning. Because, in between the taxis and the coffee pick-ups, she is teaching me a lot—you’re lucky to be working with her.

She’s very focused, doesn’t see the point of any life outside work and is absolutely obsessed with glass ceilings and reaching full potential, blah-blah-blah. It’s not that I don’t want all that, I’m as ambitious as they come in some ways, but I do want more. I want it all. I want to meet the right guy and settle down, picket fence, big dog, rugrats and all. Don’t tell Brenda that!

I thought I’d found the right guy. Bart. AKA Bartholomew J Van De Grierson III. But turns out he’s not The One or rather I’m not The One for him. At least not right now. He wants a break. Thinks we should ‘explore other options’. So this opportunity has come at the right time for me. I’m exploring other options on the other side of the Atlantic and putting my career first for a change. Maybe working with Brenda has influenced me more than I knew!

I do hope he misses me at least a little, though...

So—New York! It’s the greatest city on earth, I promise. My biggest advice? Pack light! The good news is you’ll be living in the Upper East Side and it is fabulous! The bad news? No one expects to swing a cat in a New York studio, but mine...? You couldn’t swing a mouse. But, hey, location is everything, right? And when you sit on the fire escape with your morning coffee and watch the sun rise over Manhattan you won’t want to be anywhere else.

Welcome to New York. City of reinvention, city of dreams...

Maddison.

* * *

Hi, Maddison...

Welcome to London and London’s greatest borough. I’ve compiled a ‘Welcome’ file which tells you absolutely everything you need to know, in alphabetical order, from where the boiler is—and the number of a good plumber—to the best place to buy coffee locally. There’s a guide to buses and Oyster cards (no Tube here in Stokey) under T for Transport, and a comprehensive section on work (W for Work) to help you find your feet right away.

I hope you feel at home here. Stoke Newington is pretty sought-after now, but when my parents moved here it was still a scruffy, community-minded part of the East End—and even with all the swanky bars and yoga studios I miss the place I grew up in. Not so community-minded when you are more likely to bump into nannies and cleaners than neighbours, and everyone is obsessed with extending and rainforest wetrooms. But it’s still home and I can’t imagine living anywhere else. Except maybe New York, of course...

I am so excited about moving to New York for a whole six months. I’ve always wanted to travel but never had the opportunity. Faith, my younger sister, is on a gap year and seeing the world, lucky thing—but living in a new city and progressing my career? That’s an amazing opportunity.

I’ve also been at DL Media for around three years. Before that I was working at a local solicitors’ firm which fitted in with Faith’s school hours. But as soon as she was old enough for me to commute to work I came to DL, at first as a general PA, before getting the opportunity to work with Kit Buchanan as an editorial assistant.

Brenda sounds like just what I need—a real mentor. Kit, your boss-to-be, is... Well, he’s brilliant. Everyone agrees with that. It’s just I’m not sure he ever sees me. Sometimes I feel like I’m just a piece of efficient office furniture.

In fact it’s been a really long time since anyone has seen me as anyone worth knowing. It gets a little lonely, to be honest, especially now that Faith is making it very clear that now she’s grown up she doesn’t need me to fuss over her.

Maybe she’s right. Maybe it’s time to put me first.

Starting with New York!

Enjoy London.

Love, Hope x