Having It All (15 page)

Liz put away her lipstick and looked at Britt as she dabbed perfume behind her ears. She looked sensational. Liz sniffed the musky, sexy tones of Animale, the perfume Britt always used. She was
clearly planning something tonight.

Britt had noticed her friend watching her and wondered what she was thinking. Liz always seemed so preoccupied these days. She was looking stunning tonight even though she was so worried about
David.
Why don’t you just take him home and seduce him? That’ll take his mind off work
, she almost advised, but some glimmer of self-interest stopped her. She put away her
perfume and turned round.

‘And are you?’ Britt asked.

‘Am I what?’

‘Turning into his mother?’

‘Oh, for God’s sake, Britt. Of course I’m not! His mother is a suffocating bitch who martyred herself and then blamed her family.’

‘And she’s given David a lifelong complex about having women depend on him?’

‘Yes.’

‘How inconvenient of her.’

‘Anyway, for Christ’s sake don’t say anything about it to David. He’s very touchy at the moment.’

‘Of course not. I wouldn’t dream of it.’

Liz ran a comb through her hair and made for the door.

Britt did a last-minute check of her expensive designer dress in the full-length mirror. She had paid an arm and a leg for it. But, as they say, money talks. The softly clinging wool jersey was
perfect. Standing still it looked discreet and sophisticated. Yet when she moved, it moved with her, miraculously outlining every curve of her body.

How interesting, she thought. So David was touchy at the moment.

Of course he was. With his wife doing a Jekyll and Hyde from a high-flyer into a housewife and his boss trying to relaunch the
News
downmarket of the
National Inquirer
, who
wouldn’t be? Maybe what he needed was a shoulder to cry on.

For a moment Britt wondered if he would be here tonight. And smiling at her reflection in the mirror, she undid another button.

Britt took a long-stemmed glass of white wine from the waiter and walked into the crowded room. She loved making entrances, often arriving deliberately late for maximum impact.
She enjoyed the way people stopped talking when they saw her and wondered who she was. It would be even better if they already knew, but they would soon.

There was a satisfying moment of quiet as she stood for a moment sipping her drink and looking around for Liz. But Liz was nowhere in sight. Instead a small energetic man was looking at her
intently. Taking in his size and unfashionable clothes, Britt was about to dismiss him. Then she noticed his unexpected air of authority and that everyone round him seemed to be deferring to
him.

The man detached himself from the group of hangers-on and came up to her. ‘Hello, young lady.’ She noticed to her surprise that his accent was transatlantic with a Midwestern edge,
Chigaco perhaps or Des Moines. He wasn’t English. And certainly not polished. ‘Looking for someone? I’m Conrad Marks, I run this ramshackle outfit. And who are you?’

Britt grinned. Liz would kill him if she heard him telling everyone
he
ran Metro. ‘My name’s Britt Williams. I’m an old friend of Liz Ward’s.’

‘Ah ha. Now didn’t I just get a file of ideas from you on my desk this morning?’ He glanced at Britt’s newly opened button. ‘Very good ideas too. Very original. I
liked them a lot.’

The truth was he hadn’t even opened the file, but he would now that he’d seen her.

Liz, who had spotted Conrad homing in on Britt and was coming to rescue her – until she realized that Britt didn’t want to be rescued – couldn’t help overhearing. What
was Conrad talking about? Britt’s ideas were terrible. She hoped to God it was only his trousers talking.

To her amusement she noticed Claudia bearing down on them from the other direction. She’d clearly decided Conrad had been talking to Britt for quite long enough. Poor Claudia, she was
quite an operator but she would be no match for Britt.

Claudia fastened herself on to Conrad’s arm and steered him off to a safe corner of the room as far away from Britt as possible. Liz wasn’t about to waste her sympathy on Claudia the
Cow, but still, you couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for any woman if Britt got their man in her sights.

Liz felt a hand on her sleeve. ‘Phone call for you, Mrs Ward.’ It was amazing how the switchboard managed to track you down just when you were looking forward to a couple of glasses
of wine.

For just a moment Britt felt at a loss and looked round for a familiar face, trying to fend off the slight sense of disappointment that David clearly wasn’t here, when she heard someone
talking to her.

‘So what do
you
make of this outbreak of mother-mania, o white-hot queen of all the Yuppies?’

She almost jumped in surprise. He was here after all. He was leaning on a white trestle table, looking absurdly young and handsome, stopping every waiter who passed with a tray of drinks.

‘David, you’re pissed.’

‘Drinking to forget my problems. You haven’t answered my question.’

Britt looked at him. He was still as maddeningly attractive as ever. She didn’t know why men who were passionate about their work turned her on so much; maybe she recognized them as
kindred spirits. And even now David had a way of turning a mocking eye on her that cut through her sophistication and made her feel twenty again. In anyone else she would have taken it for
flirtation, but David had never been the flirtatious type. And since they’d split up all those years ago David was one of the few men she never suspected of still holding a candle for her.
Though looking at him she wondered if there might not be a spark after all. Just a tiny spark that could be fanned into something more – a mild flirtation perhaps, or even a small affair.
Nothing marriage-threatening, Liz was her friend after all, and anyway David was far too committed to her, which somehow made the idea safer, but something that would be fun while it lasted and
would exorcize the past.

And Liz need never know. Britt had plenty of experience in discreet affairs, after all. And David looked as though he needed cheering up. She watched him drain another glass of wine and realized
something that Liz had not: that though he would never ask for it, what David needed was reassurance.

‘Do you know, David, it’s more than fifteen years since I last went out with you,’ Britt said softly, leaning up towards his ear, ‘and I still fancy you something
rotten.’

He looked up, clearly wondering if he’d heard her right. ‘Do you? Thank you. Unfortunately Liz doesn’t seem to any more.’ Britt could hear the bitterness grate in his
voice. ‘I’m pretty low on her list of priorities at the moment. First there’s Metro, then there’s the kids. I make a pretty poor third.’

Ah, self-pity, thought Britt. Men, poor dears, needed to be the centre of your universe. Ludicrous really, yet you ignored it at your peril. Oh Liz, what a silly girl you are.

‘David, there you are.’ Liz appeared out of the throng. ‘I promised Susie I’d be back by nine-thirty. She’s going to a party. Are you coming?’

David looked up in irritation. The only thing that had got him through this godawful party was the thought of dinner. Until he’d bumped into Britt.

He gulped the remains of his wine, thinking about what Britt had just said. ‘No, love. I’ve just remembered I’ve got to go back to the paper.’ It was a lie and he
wasn’t even sure why he’d told it. He didn’t usually lie to Liz.

She kissed him on the cheek and fought her way back through the crowd.

David lurched slightly drunkenly towards Britt. ‘Did I say I was third on the list? Pardon me. I meant fourth. I’d forgotten the bloody nanny.’

Slowly Britt smiled at him. ‘Poor David,’ her voice soothed and caressed, ‘why don’t we go and have a drink and you can tell me all about it?’

Damn! Liz was just grabbing her coat and bag from her office when she remembered she’d promised Conrad a breakdown of the shooting costs for the Agatha Christie series
tonight. She’d just slip it under his door on her way out.

Bending down to push the file through she realized that the door of his office wasn’t locked after all, it was very slightly ajar and there were some very strange noises coming from
inside. The whole floor was in darkness, and for a moment Liz wished she’d put on the light, but the layout of the switches was so stupid she could never find the right one.

Very slowly she opened the door a few inches and groped for the cord. There were sudden rustlings and scramblings from inside the office and Conrad’s voice informed her that the office was
occupied.

For a split second she stood transfixed, and then, almost unconsciously, she pulled the cord. Blinking in the bright light was Claudia, her La Perla panties round her ankles and Conrad, hastily
adjusting his flies. In her panic Claudia picked up a waste-paper basket and put it over Conrad’s head.

Unable to stop herself, Liz burst out laughing as cigar butts, plastic cups and screwed-up paper fell gently on to his shoulders. ‘Oh Claudia, how gallant!’ she giggled. ‘You
should have put it over your head. I’d recognize Conrad’s prick anywhere!’

When she got in Susie was waiting in the hall for her. And as soon as she saw the girl’s mutinous face she knew that Susie didn’t want to go to a party at all, she
wanted a showdown.

‘I’m sorry, Liz, but I can’t stand it any more. You said things would improve once Metro was on air but they haven’t,’ Susie accused, even before Liz had time to
take her coat off. ‘I’m sorry I talked to that dreadful woman, but it hasn’t made any difference. I mean you’re still never home!’

Liz tried to keep her temper. Blackmail, that was what it amounted to, and Liz was damned if she was going to stand for it. Susie obviously wanted more money. Well, why didn’t she just say
so?

‘Susie’ – Liz just managed to keep the irritation out of her voice – ‘if you feel we ought to be paying you more, for goodness sake let’s talk about it
tomorrow.’

‘Sorry, Liz, but it isn’t the money.’

‘If it’s the hours, then let’s talk about that too.’

‘No, Liz, I’m sorry.’

Bloody hell! Her twenty-year-old nanny was sounding patient and patronizing – as if she were the grownup and Liz a wayward child.

‘I really like you and David and after that business with the paper I felt I owed it to you to stay but I’m afraid I just can’t bear it, having to tell Jamie and Daisy you
won’t be back all the time.’

My God. She meant it. Liz sobered up instantly, all firmness gone at the thought of
really
losing Susie. She couldn’t leave! Not at the moment when they needed her so much! She
was part of the family. Jamie worshipped her. OK, so she sometimes spoke out of turn, but it was only because she cared! It was a sign of how good a nanny she really was.

‘Susie . . .’ Liz tried not to sound imploring. Nannies, like men, didn’t want you if you wanted them too much. ‘You know how much we all value you. And what a brilliant
nanny you are, how much Jamie and Daisy have come on since you came. It would be such a shame to throw all that away. Maybe we could get someone else in to help out. Another nanny they
know.’

‘Liz, I’m sorry. That’s not the point. The point is they need to see more of you. I’m sorry. I’ve made up my mind. I really have. I’d like to leave at the end
of the month. If you get your ad to
The Lady
tomorrow it’ll go in next week. The deadline’s three p.m. I phoned them to check.’

My God, she meant it. She really meant it!

‘Susie, I’ve always felt we underpaid you considering all the responsibility you have. What about us putting your salary up to £150?’ It was a fifty per cent increase but
who was counting?

Susie gave her the look of the victor at the abject slave begging Caesar for a thumbs up. ‘Sorry Liz, it wouldn’t make any difference. Money doesn’t bother me. It’s their
happiness I care about.’

Oh God, Oh God, Oh God, that ought to be
her
line! Susie was leaving and how the hell was she going to find someone else by the end of the month?

As she heard the door close, Liz dropped her head in her hands. She didn’t feel like being strong any more.

‘Mrs Ward, do you think I could have a word?’ The headmistress of Jamie’s nursery school suddenly materialized out of nowhere just as Liz was dropping him
off. What did the old bat want? Surely Liz hadn’t forgotten to pay the school fees again?

The woman sat Liz down in her office and busied herself with some files. ‘I thought it was time we had a chat. We’re rather worried about Jamie. He keeps washing his hands. Six times
yesterday. I hope you won’t find this impertinent, but there aren’t any problems at home, are there?’

Liz couldn’t believe it. Jamie washing his hands six times! He never did it at home. She had problems getting him near a sink. He seemed perfectly happy to her. Suddenly panic took hold of
her. Of course, Susie leaving. Had she said something to him? Oh God, if he was like this
now
what would he be like when she left?

‘What about OWN GOAL FOR FOOTBALL ANIMAL as the splash for the football fan who hit his own mate with a bottle? The lads at the
World
’ll be pissing
themselves that they didn’t think of that one! . . . David? Do you want to go with the football fans splash or not?’

The Chief Sub looked at David in surprise. He usually chucked out the first couple of suggestions and came up with something better himself. Today he didn’t seem to give a toss what they
put on the front of the paper.

David tried to focus his mind on the news conference. The trouble was, he couldn’t stop thinking about Britt. He didn’t know what to make of her. Nothing had happened last night
– they’d just sat and talked. Christ, he was almost embarrassed about some of the things he’d said – things he’d told her about himself and his mother, how he’d
had to get away, why he’d wanted to get into newspapers. He hadn’t talked like that in years. He’d even told her about the battle with Mick Norman.

It surprised him what a relief it had been just to tell someone, especially someone whose whole future wouldn’t be affected by whether he kept his job or not, and he’d been amazed
how easy she was to talk to. He’d always thought she’d become a hard bitch since she’d left university, but she wasn’t really. She was feminine under that tough exterior.
And she seemed to understand where he was coming from much better than Liz did. Maybe it was because they shared the same background.