The Breakfast Club for 40-Somethings

Chapter 7Brad

‘You’ve got two minutes to get to the boardroom, Brad,’ said his assistant Rachel from the door of his office. She managed to deliver this kind of information in her casual Aussie accent that was never panicked, but always firm enough to know he had to listen.

She had been his EA for more than 15 years, and Rachel knew his whole life — or at least where he was supposed be, when and why — much better than he did. In a world of American attitudes and voices, it was great to have a slice of home in Rachel, looking after him like she did.

She had two small sons of her own and a husband — and she ran their lives with the same military precision with which she ran Brad’s.

‘Gotcha,’ he said, closing his laptop and taking off his reading glasses. He had only just got them this year, and he alternated between feeling so old that he needed them and grateful that he could actually read without his eyes burning like fire, which they had been doing for months.

He’d put the sensation down to screen exhaustion, since he was looking at a screen for at least 12 hours a day — between research, reading and emails, and the hours he spent at night researching and reading for pleasure, his eyes were constantly exposed to a screen. It was only when Rachel insisted he see an optometrist that he realised his eyes needed glasses — and probably had for the past year or two.

This was not unusual for Brad — not paying attention to the everyday things was how he operated. His mind was always ...