Christmas Kiss (4 page)

‘With you in two minutes.’

She put the phone down and panicked. Had she got a decent bottle of wine anywhere? The place was a mess. She was a mess. Two minutes he’d said. Barely time to even comb her hair. She finger brushed it and glance in the mirror. Nothing she could do about it. Find some wine and open it. She scrambled into the cupboard and found a bottle her father had given her recently. That must be all right. She couldn’t manage to open it to allow it to breathe. Glasses. Decent glasses. She pulled two from the cupboard and wiped them as best she could. The doorbell rang. Can’t have been two minutes, she thought.

‘Hi. Welcome. Sorry I’m a mess. Do come in.’

‘Thanks. This is very cosy. I like the way you’ve arranged everything.’

‘Thank you. Not quite up to the grandeur of your place but it’s home. Some of it is even my own. I’m afraid you’ll have to pull the cork.’ She handed him the bottle and corkscrew.

‘Do you mean to say you’ve been unable to open a bottle of wine for the whole week?’

‘True, but I’m no solitary drinker. Haven’t really thought about it.’ She watched as he deftly opened the wine. He sniffed the cork and nodded his approval and poured two glasses. ‘Oh, I may have some nibbles somewhere. Hang on.’ She scrabbled in the cupboard and found some packets of savouries and handed them to him to open. ‘I’m pretty useless aren’t I?’

‘I wondered if you’re doing anything at the weekend? Saturday to be exact.’

‘No. Saturday is usually my day for a long ride. But, I won’t be doing that for a little while. Why?’

‘I’m going to look at some pups. Black labs. I wondered if you’d like to come along? They won’t be ready for another couple of weeks but I’ve been planning an addition to the family for some time. This seems like the right thing to do at this stage. Mrs Harper is evidently devoted to dogs so will be pleased to look after it during the day. She’s there every day, supervising the workmen so a dog won’t be lonely.’

‘I’d love to. Thanks for asking me. I adore Labradors too. We always had them when I was a child.’

‘Them?’

‘Yes. Two of them. Sisters. One each for me and my sister, though in reality they were both my Mother’s. We always thought two together were company for each other as well.’

‘That’s a thought. perhaps I should consider getting a pair.’ He emptied his glass and stood up. ‘Thanks very much for that. I’ll look forward to seeing you on Saturday. I must go and sort out the horses. Mrs H was putting them into the stables before she left.’

‘Your Mrs Harper sounds like a dream. Supervising workmen. Cooking meals. Devoted to dogs. Better than any wife. She must be younger than I thought.’

‘She’s about thirty. A widow. Tragic story. Her husband was killed in a motoring accident. She needed work so it’s all very convenient. No children and her time’s her own. And she lives quite close by.’

‘That’s great for both of you. Actually, I was thinking of coming into the office tomorrow. I’m bored here and there’s plenty I could do. Would you be able to pick me up in the morning?’

‘Certainly, if you’re sure you’re ready to return. Eight o’clock suit you?’

‘That’s fine,’ Sarah replied with a slight gulp. It was a bit early but she didn’t have to see to Major. ‘Thanks very much. I’ll organise a taxi home when I’ve had enough.’

She watched him drive away. This was the start of something, she was certain.

Chapter Four

Promptly at two minutes to eight the next morning, Alex stopped outside her cottage and sounded his horn. Sarah was ready and waiting and carefully locked the door.

‘Good morning. Thank you for this,’ she said in the same friendly tone as she had said goodbye the previous evening.

‘No Problem. Glad you were ready on time. I’m afraid I can be rather impatient where work days are concerned.’

‘How’s Major this morning?’

‘He’s fine. Seems to have settled.’ He was silent as he concentrated on driving through the early traffic when they reached Truro. She kept quiet too, sensing that he didn’t want small talk. He pulled into the small car park and into a space that she noticed now carried a sign with his name on it. Surely an indication that he was certainly a presence within the firm. ‘Right,’ he said briskly. ‘I’ll see you during the day at some point. We need to discuss a number of things. Don’t feel obliged to work the full day if you get tired. Take a taxi home. You can charge it to the firm, under these special circumstances.’

‘Well, that’s very kind of you. Thanks. Hopefully, I shall be able to work my usual hours, even if I need a bit of extra help with some things.’

‘Excellent. See you later.’ He strode off into the building, not waiting for her to catch up or even to hold the door open for her. She shrugged. Maybe he didn’t want anyone to notice that he had given her a lift, not that anyone significant would be in the building this early. Some of the other partners came in early but the receptionist and secretaries rarely arrived much before nine o’clock. There were clearly two sides to Alex Weston and home and work did not mix. That was fine by her. She opened her office door and settled down in front of a new heap of mail. Poppy had carefully slit open the envelopes and left them ready for her return. How thoughtful, she smiled to herself. As the staff arrived, several of them waved or called greetings through the door. Everyone seemed pleased to see her and she felt the warm glow of being wanted.

By the end of the morning, Sarah had completely forgotten that she had ever been away. She had a small digital recorder and made great use of it, instead of making her usual written notes for the secretaries to type her letters. She made lots of calls and set up appointments for clients for the following day. She would need to read up some files during the evening so she was completely up to date with everything. There was one particularly difficult case where she was acting for the father, following a messy divorce. The ex-wife was claiming that his child was unwilling to see him and he was very distressed. On the wife’s instructions, she needed to arrange supervised access through social services and somehow, to persuade his ex to allow it and comply with the divorce agreement. She hated such cases where feelings were running so high, knowing logic and common sense got lost in the welter of emotions that had killed what had once been love. It had made Sarah herself very cautious about her own life. She often wished she could have been as certain as her sister. When Beth and Mike had decided to marry, it had always been exactly what they both wanted and neither of them had any doubts. Neither of them had ever had any other person in their lives and they both seemed just as happy now after all the years. Maybe she had simply not met the right person and when she did, there would be no worries. Meantime, she had to try to sort out the complexities of Mr Knowles and his family.

It was almost five o’clock when Sarah realised that she hadn’t had her meeting with Alex. Too late now, she decided and tidied her desk, ready to call a taxi and go home. Her phone rang.

‘Miss Pennyweather? Sarah. Mr Weston wonders if it would be convenient to see him now?’ It was Julia, his secretary, an elderly lady who had been with the company for many years. She had previously worked exclusively for Ken, the now retiring head of the practice. She wondered what Julia thought of her new boss, the new head of practice in all but name.

‘Fine,’ she murmured, mentally cancelling her relatively early finish. ‘I’ll come along right away.’ She picked up her briefcase and pushed various documents into it for reading at home. She felt weary but there was only one more day before the weekend. She had a little thrill as she thought of going out on Saturday to look at puppies with Alex. Maybe they could stop at some nice country pub on the way back. Thoughts of log fires and cheery warm bar food seemed most appealing. She wondered if she dare mention it to him.

‘Mr Weston is waiting for you,’ Julia said as she arrived in the outer office. ‘Go straight in. Would you like anything to drink? Tea, coffee, water?’

‘No thanks. I’m going straight home when I finish here. I’ll use your phone afterwards of you don’t mind. I need to call a taxi as I can’t drive yet.’

‘I’d offer to do it for you but I don’t know how long you’ll be and I’m about to leave for the day.’

‘Thanks. No problems.’ She tapped on the door and walked in without waiting for a reply.

‘Good evening. Hope you had a good day? Thanks for coming in. Hope it hasn’t made you late for anything?’

‘No. I was about to call a taxi so you caught me at the right moment.’ He indicated a seat and she sat down.

‘I’ve been working on everyone’s targets, today. We need to revise the whole system if we are to keep all the administrative staff. Business rates are rising and well, frankly, there just isn’t enough income being generated.’ He handed her a sheet of paper. ‘This is what I’ve set for you, based on the client base you had over the past six months and your own fee hours.’ She glanced down at the words and figures and gasped. She looked back at him.

‘You are surely joking? I can’t achieve this. For one thing, it depends on who walks in through the door. You’ve seen the sort of cases I work on. As I said the other day, these are all people with little or no income. They’ve been through divorces and family break up. Some of them are struggling to pay unrealistic fees set by the support agency. How can I suddenly start charging them fees like this?’

The cool grey eyes stared back at her, unblinking. He was silent. The mouth she had thought generous and attractive was set in a firm line. He drew in his breath at last, he spoke.

‘I’m sorry you see it that way. I’m really not trying to be unreasonable but we have to face reality. It’s a case of this or sack two or more of the admin staff. I know none of you would be happy with that. We all rely on them for many things and you’d end up doing things like your own photocopying and typing letters. That strikes me as being a waste of expensive time and inevitably would mean longer hours. Give it a try and we’ll review it in a few weeks. Now, I mustn’t keep you any longer. You’ll be wanting to get home.’

‘Right. Thanks. Erm ... would it be convenient for a lift in tomorrow?’

‘Certainly. Same time as this morning?’

‘Thanks. That’s fine.’ She hesitated, wondering when he’d have time to see to Major and his own horse. It didn’t look as though he was ready to leave yet and it was already dark outside. Her horse would need his feed and to be put inside the stable.

‘Is there something else? I’m afraid I’m not finished yet so I can’t offer you a lift home.’

‘No, it wasn’t that. I was ...’

‘Oh. You’re worried about Major? It’s fine. Mrs Harper was putting them both in the stables and seeing to the feed for both of them. They’ll be well looked after. No worries.’

‘Thank you,’ she murmured. Good old Mrs Harper, she thought sarcastically. The woman was obviously making herself indispensable. So what? she thought. She should be grateful someone was looking after her dear Major. Why should she feel any sort of silly resentment, or could it be jealousy, about the woman? Alex may have been friendly enough outside work but he certainly wasn’t showing her any favours in the office. In fact, she would be interested to see if everyone had such unrealistic targets set or whether he was actually making sure he wasn’t seen to be showing her any favouritism. She tried to convince herself that he was nothing to her on a personal level. It was kind of him to take in her horse and to have given her a meal the other night but whatever her idiotic thoughts might have been the previous evening, they didn’t have a future and it wasn’t the
start
of
something
. She dialled the taxi firm and went into the reception area to wait. Alex Weston was an enigma.

‘T-G-I-F,’ called Charles Talbot as he breezed through reception the next day. ‘I do love Fridays. My, you are getting in early these days,’ he said as he leaned on the door post of Sarah’s office. She and Alex had driven in with very few words again. He wasn’t a man who liked to chatter when driving, she had realised. He didn’t want to discuss anything much at that time of day. It was fine with her. Gave her time to reflect on the coming workload.

‘Lots to catch up on.’ She could smell his aftershave from the other side of the room. Someone should tell him about it, she thought.

‘Trying to impress, are we?’

‘Not at all.’ He was on a fishing trip, trying to find out if there was anything going on between her and Alex. Perhaps Poppy had been talking out of place.

‘Look, can I have a word?’ He came into the office and closed the door. ‘I was wondering if his majesty had given you his idea of what targets are possible?’

‘Well, yes.’

‘And?’ She raised her eyebrows. ‘And are your remotely achievable?’

‘Actually, no. At least most of your work is property based. Mine is all the family stuff that simply doesn’t pay because nobody can afford it.’

‘You must know what the property market is like these days. Everything’s seizing up. I don’t have a hope of getting even half way there.’

‘Well, at least I know it isn’t just me he’s singled out for a boost in keeping the company afloat.’

‘So what are we going to do about it?’

‘He told me to see how it goes for a few weeks and then we can meet again to discuss it.’

‘I’m not happy about it. Not one bit.’

‘Nor me, but there’s nothing else to do. We can’t be responsible for half the staff being sacked. Now, you must excuse me. I have a client coming in half an hour and I need to refresh myself on his notes.’

‘Fancy a drink after work? Friday night treat?’

‘Sorry, no. I can’t.’

‘Shame. So, who’s the new guy in your life?’

‘There’s no new guy,’ she snapped, blushing.

‘Don’t give me that. Someone’s putting a blush on your cheeks and a spring in your step.’

‘There’s nobody, I assure you.’

‘Great. That means there might still be hope for yours truly. And if you change your mind about that drink ... give me a buzz.’ She shook her head as she pulled out her notes and settled to work.

It was a difficult morning. She felt so sorry for her first client and did what she could to comfort him. She agreed to speak to his ex-wife’s solicitor and see what could be arranged. The worst part came when she informed of their increased charges. His face fell and he looked distraught.

‘But I can’t afford that much. Does that mean I can’t have you working for me anymore?’

‘I’ll do whatever I can, I promise you. It’s all out of my hands. You must understand the economic climate is a problem for all of us. Leave it with me. I’m sure I can find ways to prune what I have to charge.’ She crossed her fingers as she spoke, knowing it was a bit of a fib. She showed him out. Along with the wretched targets, there was a time sheet where she was supposed to write down pretty much every bit of work she was doing for every minute of her day. It was supposed to be a temporary thing, so the powers that be could have more idea of how time was being managed. None of it took account of the fact that she often spent her lunch times at her desk, working while she munched her sandwiches. getting in early and leaving late were also a part of her usual routine and none of this was being taken into consideration, it seemed to her. She had been tempted to write in even her toilet breaks to make a point. Speaking to the other juniors, over coffee, she sensed a feeling of rebellion brewing. Alex was not making himself popular right from the start of his tenure.

Charles was leading the debate.

‘I mean to say, how can we actually charge extra when the clients aren’t coming into the office in the first place. We can hardly go and drag them in off the street. I was even thinking of going round to the estate agents and getting them to recommend me, assuming they ever manage to make a sale in the first place.’

‘You can’t do that. It isn’t legal.’

‘I know. But desperate times ...’

There was a great sense of unrest in what had previously been a happy practice. Sarah felt embarrassed about seeing Alex outside work, largely because he was taking the brunt of everyone’s dissatisfaction. She returned to her office and began to answer some emails, her one handed typing improving sufficiently to make it a practical task. Charles came into her office once more.

‘If you intend trying to persuade me to go out with you ...’ she began.

‘Not this time. You seem to be closer than most to the new broom. Any chance you might talk to him? I think he’s going to have open rebellion on his hands if he doesn’t see reason.’

‘We’re not actually that close,’ she said flatly. ‘I’ve simply been having a couple of lifts into work, while I can’t drive. He says absolutely nothing when we’re driving and makes it clear he won’t discuss office politics with me. I have been thinking about the situation though. I’m really wondering if the problem rests with the past and the kindly Ken. Maybe he never wanted to rock any boats and the whole system has been slowly collapsing. The credit crunch has just made everything so much more urgent.’