Yours Unfaithfully (26 page)

Melanie left his office gritting her teeth and clenching her fists... bloody Rat.

Rat by name and Rat by nature. He was doing this to get at her because she’d turned him down. So either she went off with him for four lousy weeks, or she got the sack. Devious Bastard!

Back in the office she found it hard to settle to the work, piles of it, two whole weeks’ worth of it. Within minutes of getting back to her desk, Jo was hovering over her, itching to find out what the call upstairs had been about.

“I suppose you’ve got your promotion, you’re off upstairs, is that what the meeting was about?”

“Well it is and it isn’t, Jo. If I bugger off to Poland with Romeo Ratty from Snotty and Co I can have promotion, and if I say no I can have the sack. That’s it in a nutshell.”

“So what will you do? You can’t throw away everything you’ve worked for in the last ten years, not when you’re being offered a move upstairs... wish they’d offer me a month’s holiday and a promotion. I’d phone Andy from here and say, ‘Get your own bloody tea, I’m off for a month, and don’t forget to wash the bath after you’. I know what you should do, Mel, and so you do. Jobs like that only come around once in a lifetime. Be honest, Mel, if you left the bank where could you go and get another job close to that salary?”

“Yes, I know, but that doesn’t make it any easier, does it? What do you think Tim will say? Christ, a month? That’s half a lifetime when you love someone, and how can I go a month without the kids? Get a child minder, the bank’ll pay... that was John Higgs answer, as if it was that easy.”

“Well, it does help, Mel, it means you can employ a nanny, the very best you can get, and it’s not costing you a penny.”

“A nanny? You mean have a young girl sleeping at my house for a month while I’m abroad? Oh yes, Tim would bloody love that, wouldn’t he? Just like his fun friend Ben, he’d have her in my bed before I’d learnt to say ‘Hello’ in Polish. I wonder if the bank will pay for my divorce lawyer as well as the nanny. This is terrible, Jo, what am I going to do?”

“Why don’t you take the rest of the day off, go home, search the yellow pages for a good nanny – by good I mean efficient but ugly – and then explain it to the kids. Get the new nanny round to the house today if you can, and then tonight take Tim out for a meal somewhere and explain the whole thing to him. He’ll be fine about it, trust me.”

“It’s my only option isn’t it? I suppose I should be glad they didn’t say ‘Outer Mongolia’ and six months. She forced a smile and Jo responded.”

“Look’s like I’m going to have to answer all your e-mails for the last two weeks and then for next month as well. I’m the one who should be complaining.”

The kids were surprised to see their mother home from work at lunch time, so she decided to get that part of it over and done with. “Whatever you do”, she said, having explained the situation in detail, “don’t say a word about this to your dad. I’m going to take him out tonight and tell him over a big juicy steak. Promise?”

“We promise,” they said in unison.

Her next call was to a firm called ‘No Nonsense Nannies,’ and that is exactly what they were. At four o’clock a young woman by the name of Trudy was standing at the door with a form in her hand.

“I’ve been sent by ‘No Nonsense Nannies’, here is my identity and letter of introduction. Her accent was that of a Scot and her manner was abrupt but friendly. After glancing at the letter, Melanie invited her into the lounge.

“Would you like a cup of tea Trudy, before we start to talk about why you’re here?”

“I’ll make it, don’t worry, you just leave everything to me.” Before Melanie could answer, Trudy was in the kitchen, the kettle was on and she was searching for the tea bags. She looked at the letter again and muttered to herself. I see what they mean about ‘No Nonsense’. Best let her do it, she decided, no point in putting her down so soon into their relationship, and after all if she was willing to look after the kids this well, she’d have little to worry about while she was away ... or would she? She hadn’t dared to say to the agency, ‘I want someone ugly.’ Somehow she doubted if you were allowed to say that, it was probably illegal under some European discrimination law.

Trudy wasn’t ugly. OK, she would probably never grace the cover of Playboy magazine but she certainly wasn’t bad looking, and her figure was... well it was twenty one years old, that’s what it was; no spare tyre, no cellulite and no bloody stretch marks. Shit, this was the one part of the plan that had badly misfired. She would have to spell it out to her, ‘Now look, you’re a nice girl and I can see that you’re going to be good at taking care of my three beautiful children, but, and this is a big but, don’t shag my husband while I’m away!’ No, I can’t say that, she’d think I was paranoid, mad, she’d probably think I was off to spend a month in a stress clinic. What about, ‘Trudy, you’re a very nice girl but I want you to know I love my husband very much, even though I’m leaving him for a month.’

“Do you take sugar, Mrs. Fisher?”

“Ah... no, no, I don’t, thanks Trudy.”

“Here you are then, good and strong the way we like it in the Hebrides.”

Melanie laughed at her. “We call it builder’s tea! Is that where you’re from, the Hebrides?

“Och aye, I’m only here for two days.”

“Sorry, I thought the agency said you would be available for a month.”

“So I can, I meant I’m only arrived here two days ago.”

“Oh I see, sorry, right, well your letter is excellent, I’m sure you will look after my three babies for me and keep them safe and sound. Welcome to our household, I’ll move James in with Henry so you can have his room. I want you to have your own room. I think that’s very important – that you have a room where you can shut the door at night and be completely and totally on your own, don’t you?”

“I don’t understand, the agency said your children were all at school?”

“They are, that’s right.”

“But you said, ‘your three babies’.”

“Oh, it’s a term of endearment. I call them my babies, I probably always will, even when they are out to work and having babies of their own. I guess it’s a mother thing. We’re a very close family you see, especially Tim, that’s my husband and me. We are very much in love. It’s going to be very hard, leaving him for four weeks, but I have no choice.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, don’t worry I’ll take good care of him for you.”

That’s supposed to stop me worrying, she thought!

“Trudy, if you are sure you’re happy to work here for the next month, I’ll get the children in and you can meet them. They’re playing next door.”

“Please, I’d like that, I feel at home here already.”

Melanie went in search of her offspring, wondering if Henry was old enough to take on the responsibility of keeping his father and the nanny apart for the next four weeks. How can I explain to him that his father may be overcome by sudden urges to mate with the young woman who is caring for you, rather like Ben from next door has found solace in the arms of a girl the same age? I could say it’s a middle-aged crisis. No he’d never understand, but I know who would.

Nina will be perfect for this; of course she knows how a middle aged man can go off the rails when left for a few minutes with a nubile young female whose only need is for experience. Yes, I’ll talk to Neen, she’ll keep the horny bugger in check if the bonnie lassie starts shedding her tartan in front of my husband.

She gathered up the kids and dragged them back to her house. Now you know what I explained earlier, well this is her, this is your nanny for the next four weeks. Please be nice to her and spend as much time as you can with her especially in the evenings when she might get lonely, being so far from home, got it? They said they would, but she knew they wouldn’t remember after the second night. What a pity I don’t trust Tim. I did until that row a few weeks ago, but thanks to my giving him such a hard time then, I’m not sure now. Back inside the house, the kids took to Trudy in seconds. She was at an age where she could relate easily to their interests and the conversation soon left Melanie behind. Social networks really weren’t her strong point. Well, there I was worrying about deserting my family and they couldn’t care less, my replacement has only been here ten minutes and she’s got their total attention. All that remains is to break the news to Tim, but at this rate he’ll probably offer to take me to the airport tonight. After all that bullshit I gave John Higgs about my family missing me, it turns out they don’t mind in the least.

To say Tim was surprised would be an understatement. He arrived home to see Trudy eating with the kids as if she’d known them years. Not unnaturally he expected an introduction. She seemed a little old to be one of their friends and yet they were responding to her as if she were a long time friend. Their conversation centred on their plans for next week, the last week of their school holidays.

Melanie would no doubt explain over their meal. She usually made sense of everything, except there was no sign of her or of any cooking in the kitchen. Things were unusual to say the least. Tim found her upstairs in their bedroom getting ready to go out.

“Mel, there’s a girl having tea with the kids. She’s too old to be at school with them and she seems to think they’re spending the whole of next week together. Who is she?”

“Tim, I’ll explain a hundred things to you, but not now and not here. She took hold of him and planted a kiss on his lips. I said it would be good, you coming home clean and tidy. Come on we’re going out, and I’m treating you to a meal.”

It seemed like the only option was to do as he was told, and if the kiss was anything to go by, it looked like being a pleasure anyway. A brief goodbye to the kids and they were off. Melanie drove to the bottom of the road and then stopped, “Where do you fancy Tim? How about the Walnut Tree? Let’s see if I can make up to you for giving you a tough time on our last visit there, what do you say?”

“Let’s do it!” Tim was in paradise, his marriage restored, his wife adoring, and his new job better than he could have hoped for, life was so different to the way it was before they went on holiday. Putting on a suit in the morning had changed everything including his personality. He wasn’t even thinking like a motor mechanic anymore. He was, after all, a Personal Assistant, a man with real responsibility, someone who had to think on his feet, always aware, so when Mel said the plans for the evening had changed, he took it in his stride.”

The Maitre de welcomed them at the Walnut Tree. Yes of course he could seat them; indeed, it was always a pleasure to welcome them. Mel wondered if he remembered them from last time. If he did he was very discreet. This time they had a table near the bar with a view across the entire restaurant. Seated on a stool next to the bar was a middle-aged man, almost certainly of Mediterranean origin, his rugged features no doubt acquired from spending years in the sun.

Melanie was mesmerised by his physical charm as he sang ballads and gently strummed on his Spanish guitar. She’d wanted tonight to be special but this was exceeding even her expectations.

Melanie took Tim’s hand. Time, once again, to explain what was happening, just like she had in the mountains of Provence. “Tim, I had a shock waiting for me when I got into work this morning. If I tell you I came that close,” she held up her first two fingers of her right hand an inch apart, “that close to resigning, you’ll get the picture. It has been a bitch of a day, all thanks to that bastard at Osborne Melrose, you know, the one Nina works for.”

“Sorry Mel, can you start again? I’m not following this at all. Why would you resign from the bank over a bloke that Nina works for?”

“Because he,” ... she stopped, remembering just in time that she’d never told Tim about him asking her to attend his speech, she’d simply said it was seminar on legal matters. This would mean changing the story slightly, which wouldn’t make her task any easier, but there was no option. “Right, let me start from the beginning. Mr Naziree, that’s Nina’s boss, has asked the bank to put me in charge of a colossal project to finance a new venture in Poland for Stellar Haufman. They’re a major client of Nina’s firm. It means the bank will fund millions for the project and I have to go to Poland to oversee the whole thing on behalf of the Bank.”

“Poland? You won’t be able to fly there and back in a day, Mel.”

“Tim, that’s why I almost resigned, I have to stay there for a month, that’s how long they expect it to take to get the deal signed off.”

Tim was lost for words until the realisation hit him, “You said you
almost
resigned? Does this mean you’ve said yes?”

“At first I said no, but then I was told if I didn’t change my mind by ten o’clock tomorrow morning I could clear my desk, I’d be out of the bank, finished, career over. We can’t afford that Tim, even if I was prepared to see my entire career go down the pan, we’d be struggling on just your money, even with your new job and just say… say your job didn’t work out... what then? I don’t have any choice Tim, you can see that can’t you?”

“Is there no way round it, can’t someone else do it? Why does it have to be you?

“Because this guy is insisting I manage the project.”

“But why? Why does he want you?”

“He’s heard that I’m good at my job, that’s what Higgs told me.”

“It looks like I don’t have any say in it then, but I’ll miss you Mel. Four weeks is going to seem like a lifetime. I suppose we’ll manage, as long as you phone me every night.”

“Oh, I will Tim, I’ll probably cry down the phone for two hours every time I hear you or the kids. My trip to Poland is the reason for that girl, Trudy, being at our house. I got her from an agency, she’s a nanny, and she’ll be with you for the next four weeks.”

“Well I’d be struggling without some help, what with the new job and everything, but I think we’ll be fine. Just don’t stay there a minute longer than you have to.”

The singer wandered between the tables singing love songs. It was easy to see why this place was so popular, good food, a romantic ambience; it was perfect for two people in love. They ate their lamb shank with Mediterranean vegetables and enjoyed a Spanish love song. Mel watched Tim and knew that she had nothing to fear from Trudy. Tim was in love with
her
, he respected her, unlike that idiot Ben, who couldn’t keep his hands off a twenty year old out on her own for probably the first time. What they had was special, the culmination of twenty years together, bringing up three children together. Four weeks would be like a moment in time in their relationship.