Chapter Two: Sharing an Office

Sometimes the smallest decisions end up changing everything.

Welcome back 🌹

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on the last chapter. They really meant a lot to me.

If you’ve only just found our story, you can start at the beginning here:

Chapter One: Just an Office Enquiry

I hope you enjoy the next chapter. 🌹

I picked up the phone straight away, hoping it would be an office enquiry. In those days I spent much of my time juggling viewings, paperwork and trying to keep the business centre as full as possible. Empty offices didn’t pay the bills.

The voice on the other end of the phone was warm, confident and friendly.

He introduced himself as Tim and explained that he and his business partner had recently started a telecommunications company. They were looking for a small office to rent after seeing my advert.

I looked through the window at the empty office across the car park.

“Yes,” I said. “It’s still available.”

We chatted for a while about the office and what they were looking for.

He asked all the usual questions about the rent, the lease and what was included. I explained how the business centre worked and told him a little about the office itself. Although it was only around four hundred square feet, it was self-contained with its own little kitchen and toilet and had two parking spaces directly outside.

As the conversation continued, I realised we seemed to be talking far longer than a normal enquiry usually lasted. We just seemed to chat effortlessly.

For a fleeting moment I caught myself wondering what he looked like. Was he tall? Fair? Dark? Then I immediately gave myself a mental telling off.

“Don’t be so ridiculous, Georgina,” I thought. “He’s only ringing about an office.”

“So, when would you like to come and have a look?” I asked.

“I could come this afternoon,” he replied.

“Perfect,” I said. “I’m here all afternoon, so just pop in whenever suits you. I only need to leave at half past three to collect my daughter from school.”

“Great. I’ll see you later.”

“See you then.”

To be fair, I probably sounded a little more enthusiastic than I should have done. Any enquiry was good news, or at least that’s what I told myself.

Later that afternoon, I looked up from my desk as an old silver Mercedes convertible turned into the car park. It was a lovely warm, sunny day and the hood was down as it drove slowly past the offices before pulling into one of the parking spaces directly outside mine.

The whole front of my office was glass, giving me a perfect view as I watched him switch off the engine. Outside, my brightly coloured hanging baskets swayed gently in the warm breeze. I had been so proud of those baskets ever since I’d put them up and connected them to an automatic watering system. They brightened up the whole business centre and tenants commented on them regularly.

He climbed out of the Mercedes wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. He was taller than I’d imagined, with a full head of almost jet-black hair, dressed in dark blue jeans, a smart pale blue shirt and an old tweed jacket.

As he made his way across the car park, I quickly looked back down at the paperwork on my desk.

A moment later there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I called, hoping he wouldn’t think I’d been watching him through the glass.

He walked over to my desk and introduced himself. The first thing I noticed was his eyes. They were bright blue with a real twinkle in them, and I felt completely at ease with him almost straight away.

Looking back, that’s the only way I can describe it. He didn’t feel like someone I’d only just met. He felt familiar somehow, although I couldn’t have told you why.

“Let me show you what we have available,” I said, getting up and leading him outside.

I walked across the car park beside him in my blue summer shorts and T-shirt, chatting away about the offices and the business centre. I remember feeling strangely self-conscious, which was unusual for me, although at the time I didn’t really understand why.

The office was identical to mine, open plan with a little kitchen and toilet area at the back and two parking spaces directly outside.

We chatted easily as I showed him around the office and explained how everything worked. It felt strangely natural, although at the time I couldn’t have explained why.

I also noticed he smelt gorgeous, which sounds like such a strange thing to remember all these years later, but I do. It wasn’t an overpowering aftershave, just something subtle that I now think of as simply... Tim.

We discussed the price as we walked back to his car and he told me he would have a chat with his business partner and get back to me.

“Thanks for showing me around,” he said, opening the car door. “I love your hanging baskets.”

“They are beautiful, aren’t they?” I smiled.

“They really are.”

“Well, let me know what you decide.”

“I will.”

He climbed back into the old silver Mercedes, put on his sunglasses and started the engine. A moment later he was gone, disappearing through the gates at the end of the car park.

I couldn’t help wondering if I would ever hear from him again.

I went back into my office and carried on with my day, but every now and then I’d find myself glancing at the phone.

A couple of hours passed before it finally rang.

It was Tim.

He explained that, unfortunately, the office was a little too expensive for them because they were only just starting out, but asked me to let him know if I heard of anyone looking to share.

I remember putting the phone down feeling surprisingly disappointed.

Then a thought popped into my head.

Why couldn’t they share my office?

It was only me in there every day and there was more than enough room. They could pay half the rent, I’d have some company and, if nothing else, they’d be able to help us create the plug and go internet system we’d been talking about for months.

So, I rang him straight back.

“Hello, Tim,” I said when he answered.

“Hello,” he replied.

“It’s Georgina.”

“Ah, hello. How are you?”

“Very well, thank you. And you?”

“Very well, thank you.”

“I’ve just had a thought,” I said. “Would you and your business partner be interested in sharing my office?”

There was a brief pause, and I suddenly wondered if perhaps he’d think it was a ridiculous idea.

“It’s just me in here,” I added quickly. “So there’s plenty of space, and I thought it might work well for all of us.”

“That might actually work,” he replied. “I’ll just have to check with my business partner and get back to you.”

A few days later they moved in.

Martin’s desk was at the front, facing out into the car park, while mine and Tim’s were side by side along the wall.

Martin was a little shorter than Tim, slim, with dark brown hair, a friendly smile and a slight northern accent. Tim, on the other hand, was well over six feet tall and still played rugby. He had chunky, strong legs, the biggest hands I’d ever seen and was an engineer by trade.

The three of us hit it off from day one. There was laughter, joking and banter, and suddenly the office no longer felt quite so empty.

Before long, it had become a lovely place to work. One of us was always putting the kettle on, making tea or coffee, or rustling something up in the little kitchen for lunch. We used to joke about whose turn it was to make the tea or coffee because it always had to be fair. Tenants came and went throughout the day, the phone never seemed to stop ringing, and there was always something to laugh about. We’d bounce ideas off each other, help solve little problems and every new tenant who signed up felt like a little victory.

Having an engineer sharing my office had its advantages. If anything broke anywhere around the business centre, Tim would sort it out. There never seemed to be anything he couldn’t fix, and before long I found myself relying on him more than I probably realised at the time.

I’d spent so long working on my own that I’d forgotten how nice it was simply having people around. The days passed so much more quickly and, without really realising it, I found myself looking forward to going into the office every morning.

At that stage, Tim was simply the man who shared my office. We were three people working hard to build our businesses, enjoying each other’s company and making the most of every opportunity that came our way.

Neither of us could possibly have known it then, but that simple office enquiry was about to change both our lives forever.

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Thank you so much for reading.

The next chapter will be published early next week, and I can’t wait to share it with you. 🌹

This story has taken me a long time to write. I shared an earlier version once before, but it never felt quite right. Looking back, I think I tried to tell too much all at once.

Breaking it into chapters has finally given me the chance to tell our story the way I always wanted to.

I’d love to know what you thought, so please do leave a comment below. I read every single one.

If you’d like to support my writing and help me keep sharing the next chapters, you can buy me a coffee here:

☕ https://buymeacoffee.com/georginadeglanville

Love,

George 🌹