Once in a Lifetime (53 page)

‘Clever about the new haircut,’ Joan said sharply as Ingrid walked in.

‘Do you think I did this to be clever?’ said Ingrid. ‘I did it to stop looking like I was trying to be girlish as I got older.’

Joan’s blue eyes, beautifully made up with lashings of mascara, widened at such honesty.

‘You’ve made it clear that we’re never going to be able to work together well,’ Ingrid went on. ‘I must have been in

fantasyland to think otherwise. But we don’t need to be having catfights. That’s what they want, you know, Jack and his pals.’

Joan still looked wary.

‘Why don’t women work well together? Come on, Joan, you’ve a politics degree, you can work it out, can’t you?’

Ingrid asked. ‘OK, I’ll tell you: divide and conquer. They like us to think we’re a threat to one another. Usually, there aren’t enough women in the top levels for us to have worked out a helping strategy. We’re so rare, we tend to view each other as adversaries rather than sisters in arms.’

Ingrid took out her lipstick and slicked some on. With her hair short, she could wear bright red gloss. It looked sharp and sexy; she loved it.

‘How long do you think I’ve got in this job?’ said Ingrid calmly. ‘Ten years? Not a hope, Joan. I’ve three at the most, and then I’m out. You can learn from me in those three years, or you can continue to treat me like the enemy.’

‘I don’t treat you like the enemy,’ said Joan suddenly.

‘No? You certainly seemed to when I came back after my husband died.’

For the first time, the other woman’s brittle exterior seemed to crack. ‘I thought you’d gone for good, I thought I had a shot at being the chief presenter.’

‘Joan, working here is what I know, what I am. I’ve been here for fifteen years,’ Ingrid said. ‘With my husband gone, this was my solace. It might be your solace one day. This job isn’t kind to marriages or relationships, remember that.’

‘I’m sorry about David.’

Ingrid cracked a polite acknowledging smile. ‘Thank you.’

‘I didn’t mean to treat you like the enemy but ‘

‘But Jack says that, when I’m gone, you’ll be the number one presenter?’ Ingrid said intuitively. ‘That’s one of Jack’s favourite ploys. Divide and conquer works so well with female employees because we’re all so anxious and insecure.’

Joan was blushing under her discreet coating of Mac foundation.

‘Or else he said to wait until I have a bad day, then strike and get me out? That’s his other favourite plan. Maybe he read it in The Art of War, although I doubt it; Sun Tzu was probably smarter than that. But if you conspire to get rid of everyone who might be a threat, then one day, the same thing will be done to you.’

Ingrid was getting angry now. Anger at the world, anger at David and his unknown lover was emerging as anger in general. ‘What exactly did I do to make you think I was your enemy? I helped you in the early days, that’s what I do to all women who work here, and now, I’m simply trying to do my job well. There’s room for us all. Women don’t need to nudge each other off with their stilettos.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Joan said abruptly. ‘You were so kind to me when I started and I feel ashamed now ‘

‘I’m glad you remember it but, tell me, have you mentored anyone yet?’

Joan looked even more ashamed. She shook her head.

‘There you go. Start paying it forward for other women.

We shouldn’t be our own worst enemies in business. Mind you, I clearly didn’t do a very good job or you wouldn’t be working out how to elbow me out of my job. I took my eye off the ball there.’ Ingrid paused. ‘Took my eye off a lot of balls,’ she murmured.

‘I am sorry,’ Joan grabbed Ingrid’s hands. ‘You always seem so poised and in control, it makes me feel inadequate beside you.’

‘That’s you projecting how you feel on to me,’ said Ingrid.

‘Another lesson women need to learn. Most of the time, it’s not about you. For the past few weeks, I’ve been trying to hold myself together, not make you feel bad.’

She ran a hand through her hair.

‘I’d love short hair,’ said Joan ruefully, ‘but if I got it

cut, everyone would say I was only doing it to look like you.’

Ingrid grinned, a genuine grin. ‘Screw them,’ she said. ‘Who cares what everyone says? You only get one chance at life, you may as well do it your way. Do you want the name of my hairdresser?’

Marcella couldn’t concentrate. The office plumbing system was fixed, the noise and the workmen were gone, and the office felt like a morgue. There was no chance of Lorcan dropping in to check something, no need for him to sprint up the back stairs and poke his head into her office to deliver a smile.

She’d felt devastated from love affairs ending before, but nothing like this. What made it worse was that nobody knew.

She couldn’t even sob on Ingrid’s shoulder because she hadn’t told Ingrid about the relationship in the first place.

Everything reminded her of him.

A red dress in a shop window made her think of the red dress she’d worn on their first date.

A pick-up truck made her think of his pick-up truck, with its giant tyres and music blasting out from inside.

Her bed looked huge and lonely when she went into her bedroom at night; it was the bed of someone who’d never share with a lover ever again.

She would never feel his arms around her, his lips moving slowly over her body - she’d told him it wouldn’t work, that his mother was right and he was too young for her. Despite his protests, she’d said their relationship had to end. One day, she told him, he’d be grateful.

‘Grateful?’ he’d snapped, and he’d looked so angry she’d been taken aback. ‘Don’t make decisions on my behalf on the grounds that one day I’ll be grateful!’

They’d met for morning coffee in a cafe near her home.

Once Marcella had decided it had to end, she wanted to do it instantly. Meeting him close to her office would be risky

in case people saw them. She’d known he wouldn’t take it well, but she hadn’t expected him to be so furious. Guys like him must have broken up with women a million times, surely?

‘I’ve never met a woman so obsessed with age. My age, your age, Uncle Tom Cobley’s age. What does it matter?’ he demanded, so loudly that the two people behind the counter making coffee looked around in alarm.

‘It does matter,’ Marcella said, getting quite cross herself now. ‘Your mother read me the riot act about being too old for you ‘

‘My mother reads everyone the riot act,’ Lorcan said. ‘She’s been doing it so long, she forgets we’re all grownups and can make our own decisions.’

‘But she hates me,’ said Marcella, anger vanishing to be replaced by something close to tears. She hated feeling so disapproved of. And what made it worse was that his mother had hit the nail on the head: Marcella wouldn’t be giving Lorcan adorable babies just like him. Her biological clock had ticked right down to zero. Even if she wanted ten little Lorcans, it would be impossible without the application of science.

‘She’s right, too. I can’t give you babies.’ The old lady at the next table craned her head to listen, but Marcella didn’t care. ‘I wish I could but I can’t. So let’s call it a day, Lorcan.

I’d love your babies, but it’s not going to happen and I’ll spend the rest of my life if I stay with you, thinking about that. Eventually, you would too. It’d destroy us. Good bye, it was wonderful, but it’s over.’

Before he could open his mouth to reply, she got up and hurried out, and he let her. She so wanted him to run after her, but when he didn’t, she knew he understood. A man with a big family like that would want children. He was right in one way, the age difference didn’t matter that much in most respects, but when it came to women’s fertility, it did.

That had been a week ago and she was still grieving over him. She got herself a coffee and avoided the biscuits in the office kitchen - incredibly, she was off her food, which was great for her stomach but made her face look haggard - and went into her office with the newspaper. She shut the door her ‘keep out’ signal - and flicked in a desultory manner through the papers.

Finally, she read her horoscope, which was a sign of total insanity, as she never read horoscopes.

Virgo. A problem shared is a problem halved. You’ve been worrying over something and keeping it from those closest to you. Stop right now. Share it and see what happens.

Marcella picked up the phone. Blast it. If she didn’t tell someone, she’d go insane.

Ingrid sounded remarkably upbeat when she answered her mobile.

‘You’ll never believe it: I had a heart-to-heart with Joan and I think we’ve sorted it out,’ Ingrid whispered. ‘Hold on, I’ll just close my office door. We were in the loo and I came out and said it…’

Marcella listened. Being a friend meant you listened to the other person. Finally, Ingrid finished.

‘Ingrid, I have to tell you this,’ blurted out Marcella. ‘I’ve met someone.’

‘Now she gets round to telling me,’ said Ingrid cheerfully, sounding like her old self.

‘You knew?’

‘You sort of gave it away that night we were out with Nikki and Carla, when you looked all moony and involved when Nikki introduced us to that handsome financier guy.’

‘But you never said anything.’

‘I knew you’d tell me when you were ready. Besides, I felt it was my fault in the first place,’ Ingrid admitted. ‘With all I

was going through, it was obvious you felt you couldn’t tell me.’

‘Well, who wants to hear about someone else’s sex life?’

sighed Marcella.

‘Sex life? Spill,’ commanded Ingrid.

Marcella spilled.

‘He sounds wonderful,’ Ingrid said at the end. ‘Why did you end it?’

‘I’ve explained it to you,’ Marcella said wearily. ‘His age, my age … you know.’

‘I don’t know,’ Ingrid said. ‘Don’t you get it, Marcella? All that doesn’t matter. David and I looked like we had it all and we didn’t, it was just appearances. So stop worrying about appearances, they can lie. If you care about this Lorcan guy, go for it. You’re the one who’s sleeping with him, not all the nay-sayers.’

‘Wow, I never thought you’d say that.’

‘I’ve changed,’ Ingrid said. ‘I loved David, loved him more than anything, and you know what…?’ She paused. ‘I can’t stop thinking that if only I’d known about her at the time, I’d have forgiven him and we’d have moved on with our lives.’

Marcella couldn’t hide her gasp.

‘Yes,’ said Ingrid. ‘Life is short, Marcella. David’s death showed me that we don’t have that much time here, so we ought to enjoy it with the people we love. Go get your Lorcan.

Who gives a damn about what anyone else thinks?’

‘But you’re missing one important point here, Ingrid babies.

Children, offspring. Lorcan is a very macho sort of man and he’s great with children. He’s not going to want a woman who’s too old to have them.’

‘Did you ask him?’ asked Ingrid, as crisply as if she were interviewing on camera.

‘Well, no …’ She had done all the talking on that point, and no listening, she remembered now, guiltily.

‘How about you ask him and then decide. Otherwise,’ Ingrid

said, ‘you’ll always be wondering. And, as I know, that’s not a nice way to be. Now,’ she added, ‘do you want to hear my news? It’s not as exciting as having a fabulous young man throwing himself at you, but it’s pretty good all the same.’

On the other end of the phone, Marcella smiled. Ingrid wasn’t entirely back to her old self again, but she was getting there. ‘Tell me,’ she said.

‘I may have found a wonderful investor for Kenny’s. Coincidentally, that’s another thing that came about after our night out with the girls. It’s Eric Johannsen.’

‘Handsome Eric?’

‘Marcella,’ chided Ingrid, ‘it’ll be a long time, if ever, before I’m in the market for a man ‘

‘But he is rather gorgeous,’ Marcella said gently.

‘He’s rather clever too. I can see why he’s so successful. He knew who I was, knew all about Kenny’s and had clearly heard we were in some sort of trouble. He phoned me two days later to talk.’

‘That’s wonderful,’ Marcella said. ‘As we say in my business: “I never met a billionaire I didn’t like.”’

His phone was off, so Marcella phoned Lorcan’s office to see where he was.

Josie, who handled all the calls and had come to know Marcella, was delighted to hear from her.

‘Thought you were off the scene,’ Josie said with her usual bluntness.

‘I was a bit, but I’m back now,’ Marcella replied.

‘Good on ya, girl. He’s been like a bear with a sore head this past week. What can I do you for?’

‘His phone is off. Where is he?’

‘Down by the docks in the new apartment block,’ Josie said. ‘Don’t know why he’s bothering his backside. With the state of the economy, nobody’ll buy them now, but you know Lorcan: when he says he’s finishing a job, he finishes it.’

Josie appeared to be right. Not only were there no people viewing the beautiful apartments but there didn’t appear to be any builders or plumbers working on them either. Lorcan’s truck was the only one in the parking area. The door to the apartment complex was locked. Marcella considered her options for a moment, then stood beside his truck and gave it a huge kick. Instantly, the alarm went off.

She counted to thirty before Lorcan appeared, running. He stopped when he saw her, held out his key to flick the alarm off, then opened the door to the building to let her inside.

‘I take it you didn’t come here to look at the apartments?’