Ella hadn’t wasted time once we’d entered the room either, immediately making a beeline for someone she knew from a previous role – they were on the same netball team, apparently. We both watched her act out what looked like a netball goal, face animated.
Harriet shook her head, smiling. ‘That girl is a force of nature. Those women speaking to Rory are the creators of GetThere.’
At that, my attention was piqued. GetThere had agreed to an initial meeting with us regarding a partnership. Clearly – I watched Rory gesture wildly – my co-founder was sealing the deal.
‘It’s good to see more women in here than last year.’
Harriet nodded. ‘We’re getting there. A lot more than when I first started out, believe me.’
The more I read up about GetThere, the more I wanted to rally behind them. And not just for our own sake – a partnership encouraging users to get home safely would be phenomenal for our brand – but also for my own. And Maeve’s. And every other woman in my life who waited up for an ‘I’m home!’ text at the end of the night.
‘He’s a bloody natural.’ Harriet laughed as we watched Ror win them over. He was making them laugh, with swooping hand gestures that could only mean one of his ridiculous anecdotes. He’d been the same at house parties during university, winning strangers over with stories that left you thinking ‘how could that possibly be true’, but believing him nonetheless. He came to the end of his story, a little bit out of breath, whilst the two women – Katie and Kirsty, if I remembered correctly – gave him a lowkey round of applause. I could see, objectively, why he got so much female attention at things like this. He was charming but not sleazy, fun but not obnoxious. I squinted, trying to work out what he saying. I was pretty sure that if I was Maisy – the ever-mysterious Maisy that he hadn’t elaborated on and seemed to avoid talking to me about – I wouldn’t have been happy about this. Harriet was still watching too.
I took another swig from my glass. ‘Are you about to tell me to put my charisma hat on too?’
Harriet was the queen of knowing what was best for our reputation, and the queen of a gentle nudge.
She gave me her side-eye now. ‘As if. I came over here because I can’t be arsed buddying up with some of these idiots in suits. You don’t need to be the loudest person in the room Penny, a lot of ground-breaking ideas go on in that brain of yours. The majority of the men in here would cower if they met you in the boardroom.’
I smiled, touched. And she was right.
‘How are you finding this thing anyway?’ Harriet was tucking into a prawn cocktail, somehow managing to keep her lipliner completely intact. She held up a finger when I went to answer. ‘Hang on. Neil is in the middle of a twin-sister meltdown emergency. I told him we should never have bought them different Barbie dolls for their birthday. Yoga Barbie with the top knot is clearly the best. I’m 37 years old and even I can see that.’ She tapped furiously on her phone, a woman on a mission.
Neil was Harriet’s husband, a sweet but quiet man that we’d met at last year’s Christmas party. He’d been in charge of school pick-up today, and Harriet had predicted in the taxi on the way over here that somewhere between carrot sticks and dolls, he’d encounter a snag.
‘Okay, I’m back with you. Crisis averted.’ She nodded for me to go on.
‘I’m scoping it all out before I swoop.’ This was not true. I was actually scoping out the safest place to sit in a corner and steal a full bottle of prosecco. What was the point in glasses? They just slowed you down.
‘That’s exactly what I used to say before I walked into a nightclub.’ Harriet flagged down a waiter, who was offering canapés to the crowd. I took one without thinking.
‘This looks disgusting.’ I offered the oyster to Harriet, who slurped it back, making me gag. ‘Where are all the mini pizzas at? The sliders?’
‘I think they’re that way’ – she pointed out of the front door – ‘take a left and you’ll find yourself at the 6-year-old’s birthday party.’
‘Hilarious.’
Harriet took my arm as she watched me neck a freshly filled glass. I was usually the sensible one in the office. ‘Are you sure you’re okay?’
I was well aware that I was a glass past fully in control. ‘Yes, of course.’
She took my arm. ‘You sure?’
Oh God. I felt tears prickling at the back of my eyelids.
‘Shall we go to the toilets?’ Harriet steered me in the direction of the swanky bathrooms near the entrance, rubbing my shoulder. ‘It’s okay. Nothing wrong with a wobble.’
I downed what was left of my glass and let her half drag me to the toilets. As soon as we got inside, I pulled myself together, getting out my red lipstick and reapplying to distract myself. The tears had surfaced now, running down my cheeks, and there was no way of stopping them.
‘Oh, Penny, what is it?’
I hiccupped, the rest of the prosecco racing to my head. ‘I’m worried the app doesn’t work.’
Now that I’d spoken it out loud, I started crying even harder.
‘Shit.’ Harriet was filling up a water glass from the tap. ‘You’re meant to be the easy one. It’s like my twins; one of them always cries in public, the other one is a sweet little angel. Here, drink this.’
She passed me the glass, gesturing for me to take more than the tiny sip that I did. ‘Let’s not make any hasty statements about our company.’
I glanced at my reflection, which looked a little manic. My hair had come out of its half up, half down hairstyle, framing my face with unruly, random pieces of hair.
‘Harriet.’ I reached out and grabbed the front of her dress.
She paled, taking a sip of water herself. ‘Yes?’
‘I’m being serious.’
She nodded. ‘I know, that’s why I’m worried. Penny Webber doesn’t do unserious.’ She took a breath. ‘The app does work, Penny. We’ve just fixed the glitch, and –’
I interrupted before she could continue. ‘I don’t mean technically. I mean’ – I waved my arms around – ‘our ethos. About the perfect match. The concept doesn’t work. We designed an algorithm for love, and it’s full of shit.’
‘Oh crap.’ Harriet started rifling through her bag. ‘Phone, phone, phone …’
‘Who are you calling?’ I watched out of the corner of my eye, leaning in really close to the mirror and trying (again) to maintain a steady hand and fill in the outline of red. Wow, they weren’t kidding when they said that bubbles had an immediate effect.
‘I’m calling Rory. This is a code red.’
I laughed and held up the lipstick. ‘Did you say that on purpose?’