Changing Places

by Colette Caddle

  ‘I’m pregnant,’ Rachel blurted out.

  ‘That’s wonderful!’ Anna threw her arms around her sister and hugged her.

  ‘Shush.’ Rachel extricated herself and looked anxiously towards the kitchen window. ‘Gary doesn’t know yet.’

  ‘Why ever not?’

  Rachel led Anna down the garden, pausing beside the pink rosebush. ‘I just haven’t found the right moment.’

  Anna looked at her, mystified. She knew that if she were pregnant she’d be shouting it from the rooftops. As for Liam, he would have been sitting there by her side waiting for that oh-so-important blue line to appear on the testing stick. ‘How far gone are you?’

  ‘Seven, maybe eight weeks.’

  ‘Nearly two months!’ Anna exclaimed and then clutched her side as her sister gave her a sharp dig. ‘Sorry, but you really have to tell him.’

  ‘Shush, they’re coming.’ Rachel started back to the house as the men emerged with Alex running ahead bouncing the ball.

  ‘Rachel.’ Anna hurried after her.

  ‘Not now,’ Rachel said through gritted teeth. ‘Alex, come here and let me tie your lace before you break your neck.’

  Alex stood impatiently while Rachel crouched over his boot. ‘Watch me, Anna, I’m going to win!’

  ‘I don’t doubt it.’ Anna smiled at him and sank on to a sunlounger. ‘Come and sit down, Rachel.’

  ‘I’ll join you in a minute,’ her sister said, not looking at her and heading back inside.

  When Liam and Alex began their game, Gary came over to sit next to Anna.

  ‘How’s business?’ she asked.

  ‘Busy as always. Everyone wants to build a conservatory when the weather gets nice. How about you? How’s the hectic world of property?’

  ‘Hectic,’ she joked, ‘but I love it. Though I must say, you meet a lot of strange people.’

  ‘And see some very weird homes, no doubt.’

  Anna wrinkled her nose. ‘Some very dirty, smelly houses. You wouldn’t believe how some people live.’

  ‘Oh, I would! You see a lot in the windows game as well, believe me. You should go to my mate Dan’s house. That man doesn’t even know what colour his carpet is!’

  Anna grinned. ‘I seem to remember Rachel mentioning him. He’s the guy who has a library of porn in his loo, isn’t he?’

  ‘That’s the one. Maybe we should fix him up with Jill.’

  Anna looked at him, horrified. ‘How could you even think of doing such a thing?’

  ‘Well, it would be nice to see her settle down with someone. It’s quite sad that she’s still on her own.’

  Anna spluttered on her wine. ‘God, you’re such a chauvinist! She doesn’t need a man to be happy, you know.’

  He rolled his eyes. ‘You are so like your sister. All I’m saying is that she’s a great girl and any man would be lucky to have her. What’s so wrong with that?’

  ‘Nothing, I suppose. Actually, she is seeing someone at the moment.’

  ‘Oh, yes? What’s wrong with this one?’

  Anna’s smile was rueful. It was a given that if Jill was dating someone, there would turn out to be something wrong with him. Liam said she was too choosy but Anna thought her cousin was afraid of commitment. Anytime a relationship lasted more than a couple of months, Jill started to find fault. With Stan, the last guy, it had been his feet. Despite showering every day, Jill maintained his feet smelled. Anna pointed out that this hadn’t seemed to bother her for the first six weeks that they were together, but Jill had dismissed this.

  ‘I can’t live with a man with smelly feet,’ she had said with finality.

  ‘You’re not living with him,’ Anna objected but Jill had made up her mind, and Stan and his feet got the elbow a week later.

  ‘She hasn’t found anything wrong with him – yet,’ Anna said now to Gary. ‘You never know, maybe this is it. She seems very happy. Oh, great goal, Alex!’ She cheered as her nephew fired the ball between the two plants that were acting as goalposts. ‘He’s such a lovely kid,’ she murmured to Gary.

  ‘He has his moments,’ Gary replied, but there was pride in his eyes as he watched his son.

  Anna glanced over her shoulder. ‘Would you like more kids?’ she asked quietly, knowing that her sister would throttle her if she overheard.

  He shrugged. ‘I suppose so, though I don’t know if Rachel would agree.’

  Before Anna could ask what he meant, Rachel appeared at the kitchen door. ‘Come on in, Anna, I’ve made some tea. Alex, time for a break.’

  ‘Ah, Mum!’ Alex moaned.

  Liam patted his shoulder. ‘It’s okay, big guy, we’ll play again after tea.’

  Mollified, Alex charged over to his mother. ‘Can I have some cake?’

  ‘Sure.’ She tousled his hair and smiled at Anna. ‘It’s Madeira.’

  Anna stood up and followed them inside. ‘My favourite. Do you know, your granny makes the best Madeira cake in all of Ireland?’ she told her nephew as they sat down at the large kitchen table.

  ‘It’s her recipe I use,’ Rachel told her. ‘Hands,’ she said to her son and with a sigh, Alex climbed back down and went into the loo to wash them. ‘Please don’t say anything, Anna,’ Rachel whispered when he was gone.

  ‘Of course I won’t but I really think you should—’

  ‘Should what?’ Gary asked, as he and Liam walked in.

  ‘Come down to the spa in Wicklow with me some weekend,’ Anna said hastily. ‘The break would do her the world of good.’

  Rachel stared at her, amazed at the sudden shift in subject. ‘It would cost a fortune,’ she said automatically.

  ‘It would,’ Liam agreed with a confused glance at his wife.

  Anna reddened. They’d only been talking earlier about cutting down on their spending so that they could afford all the necessities that came with babies. ‘Just a thought,’ she mumbled with an apologetic smile.

  They got up to leave after the second half of the football game – Alex won – and in the hallway Anna turned to her sister and hugged her tightly. ‘Take care of yourself.’

  ‘Yeah, you too.’ Rachel smiled briefly. ‘If you see Jill, ask her to call me.’

  ‘Will do.’

  ‘Bye, Rachel.’ Liam kissed his sister-in-law and then grabbed Alex in a rugby tackle.

  ‘Aargh, leave me alone,’ Alex shrieked, giggling in delight. ‘Will you come again soon?’ he asked, when Liam finally put him down and they moved out to the car.

  ‘You come around and see us,’ Anna said, immediately feeling a pang of guilt. ‘I’ll call your mum and arrange it.’

  ‘When? Tomorrow?’

  ‘You have school tomorrow,’ Rachel reminded him, ‘and Anna has to work.’

  ‘So, when?’ he persisted.

  ‘How about next weekend?’

  ‘Really?’ Alex lit up.

  ‘You bet,’ Anna said, dropping a kiss on the tip of his nose.

  Chapter 4

  Jill stretched languorously as she listened to Andy singing in the shower. She would be late for work if he didn’t get a move on but she didn’t care. Making love was a wonderful way to start the week. Anyway, she’d been working hard all night, she realized, chuckling to herself. She and her team had been trying to come up with an idea for a sponsorship deal for a lingerie company for weeks and it had suddenly come to her – in a manner of speaking – when she and Andy were rolling around on her lambskin rug in front of the fire.

  Grabbing her red silk robe, Jill swung her short but shapely legs out of bed and went into the bathroom. ‘Come on, darling, I’m going to be late.’

  He ducked his head around the shower door and grinned. ‘Well, if you’re going to be late anyway . . .’

  Returning his smile, Jill shrugged out of her robe and walked over to him, enjoying his eyes on her body. ‘You are a very bad influence, you know that?’ she murmured.

  ‘I certainly hope so,’ he said, reaching out and pulling her into the showe
r.

  An hour later, Jill climbed into her beloved Audi TT, popped on her shades and roared into the city on her short journey to ADLI Advertising. As she weaved her way in and out of traffic, she sang loudly and tapped the steering wheel in time with the song on the radio. Jill hadn’t had any breakfast but didn’t feel remotely hungry. That was the wonderful thing about sex. It seemed to satisfy her appetite in every way!

  What a great start to her new diet. This one she knew would work, she’d read all about it on the internet. It was called the Neander-Thin and was based on what cavemen used to eat – meat, fish, nuts and berries. How could she fail? She pulled in her stomach and groaned as she thought of all the Naan bread she’d eaten and the wine she’d consumed at the restaurant last night. She hadn’t meant to, but Andy had said he thought she was sexy and curvaceous and that had been the end of all her good intentions. But today, without the effects of wine clouding her judgement, Jill was determined to start her diet and lose a stone. She had tried numerous diets but none of them seemed to suit her. She was sure Neander-Thin was the answer. Of course, Anna would laugh at her for going on yet another diet.

  ‘Just cut out the booze and sweet things, Jill,’ her cousin advised on a regular basis but Jill knew it was much more complicated than that. Anna, a lifelong skinny, didn’t understand. Rachel often agreed to join her cousin in her efforts to lose some weight but she was in a different league as far as Jill was concerned. Sure, Rachel was bigger than she had been before Alex was born, but Jill would bet she was still way under ten stone and that was cuddly rather than fat in her book. But it was impossible to convince Rachel that there was nothing wrong with her body. Once she got something into her head, Jill knew from experience, it was hard to shake it out.

  Jill swung her convertible into her reserved parking spot, grabbed her Firenze tote bag and hurried through the door of the ultra-modern office block that housed ADLI Advertising. Breezing through Reception, she said hello to Lindsay, the receptionist, and flashed a smile at the cute courier standing at the desk. She passed the lift and took the stairs to the third floor. As she puffed her way up she concentrated on the calories she was burning and how gorgeous she’d look in that new red dress she’d bought at the weekend. When she arrived breathless outside her office, Karen her assistant was biting into a cream slice. Jill stared at her aghast. ‘What are you doing? What about our diet?’

  ‘But it’s Bob’s birthday – he bought cakes for the whole office. It would have been rude to refuse.’ Karen tried to look guilty and failed.

  ‘You are just so weak,’ Jill said sternly.

  ‘I kept you an éclair; it’s on your desk.’

  Jill beamed at her. ‘Cheers.’

  As she sat down at her desk and eyed the éclair with a mixture of relish and dismay, her phone rang. ‘ADLI, Jill Clarke speaking.’

  ‘Hi, Jill.’

  ‘Anna, how the hell are you?’

  ‘Not as good as you, by the sound of it. What has you so chipper on a Monday morning?’

  Jill leaned back in her swivel chair. ‘It’s a beautiful, sunny day, I have my health – oh, and the most gorgeous man made me late for work.’

  ‘It’s still on with Handy Andy then?’

  ‘Don’t call him that, although I must admit, he’s certainly handy.’ Jill chuckled.

  ‘I’m glad it’s going so well. Just promise me that you’ll give this one a chance?’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘Yes, you do. Anyway, enough about you, I want to talk about my sister.’

  ‘Rachel?’

  ‘Do I have another?’

  ‘What about her?’ Jill hedged.

  Anna’s voice dropped and Jill could imagine her hugging the phone to her ear in the tiny estate agent’s. ‘She told me something yesterday, but swore me to secrecy.’

  ‘Oh yes?’

  ‘She’s pregnant,’ Anna hissed.

  ‘Good at keeping secrets, aren’t you?’ Jill murmured. ‘Is she happy about it? I’d say Gary’s chuffed.’

  ‘Well, that’s just it. She hasn’t told him yet. Isn’t that totally weird? Why on earth would she want to keep it a secret from her own husband? Unless . . . God, you don’t think—’

  ‘Don’t be silly,’ Jill cut her off. ‘Rachel would never dream of cheating on Gary.’

  ‘Still, it would explain—’

  ‘Anna, don’t be ridiculous! It’s probably all been a bit of a shock. Give her a chance to get used to the idea.’

  ‘You already knew, didn’t you?’ Anna said.

  ‘I sort of guessed.’

  ‘Crikey, you don’t miss much, Sherlock, do you?’

  ‘Elementary, my dear. Now, I really must go. I have a mountain of work to do.’ Jill’s eyes returned to the éclair.

  ‘Promise me you’ll talk to her?’

  ‘But what do you want me to say? I’m not supposed to know, remember?’

  ‘You can tell her the truth, that you guessed. Please, Jill?’

  ‘Yes, yes, okay then. I’ll call her tonight.’

  ‘Angel.’ Anna blew a kiss down the phone. ‘Let me know how you get on.’

  Jill hung up, wolfed down her cake and then went back to the doorway of her office. ‘Karen, could you call the team working on the Cauldwell’s Lingerie account and ask them to meet me in the boardroom in fifteen minutes?’

  ‘Yes, Boss.’ Karen continued to rummage in her bag.

  ‘As soon as you can.’ Jill bristled. It was probably a mistake being too friendly with Karen. She was inclined to take advantage.

  ‘Yeah, yeah, just let me find a tissue, would you? Damned hay fever.’

  Jill belatedly noted the girl’s red nose and her watery eyes. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered and went back into her office. She knew she’d spend the rest of the day paying for this. How come she could be tough with them all, apart from Karen?

  ‘Everyone can make it except Vinny,’ Karen told her a few minutes later. ‘He did stop by earlier to talk to you about it but you weren’t in. He left you a note.’

  ‘Ta.’ As Karen left, Jill spotted the tiny yellow Post-it stuck to the edge of her diary. Sorry I missed you. At meetings all day. Back at 5.30. The note was marked 9.45.

  ‘Bastard,’ Jill muttered. Vinny must have been thrilled that she was late. And now he was making sure she stayed late, too – not that she’d any intention of leaving before six. No one could accuse her of not putting in the hours; this morning was a once-off. Most days she made a point of being in before her team and staying after they’d left. Bloody typical that the little toad Vinny Gray should come looking for her, today of all days. And she would bet a fiver that he’d mentioned it to her boss, Sue Boyle, before he’d left.

  Not that Sue would take any notice of him, of course. She could spot a crawler like Vinny at fifty paces. Pity he was so good at his job, Jill thought with a sigh. It would be such a pleasure to get rid of him. But apart from rubbing her up the wrong way, Vinny hadn’t put a foot wrong. He was definitely after her job. ‘Not a chance, mate,’ she said out loud as she thought of her brilliant idea for the Cauldwell’s Lingerie sponsorship. She couldn’t wait to tell the team and put a presentation together for Sue. This would definitely be a feather in her cap.

  ‘So I think this is the perfect sponsorship for Cauldwell’s Lingerie,’ Jill said in closing. ‘The Miss Ireland competition has everything Cauldwell’s are looking for in a campaign.’ She ticked the points off on her fingers. ‘Very high profile, long duration and it exactly targets the lingerie market. What do you think?’ She looked around at their faces.

  ‘It’s good,’ Michelle said cautiously, not quite meeting Jill’s eye.

  Jill blinked. ‘Good?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Gerry agreed, ‘but I think Vinny’s idea is better.’

  Jill swallowed hard. ‘Vinny’s come up with an idea? He never mentioned it to me.’

  ‘He did try,’ Rebecca rushed to his defence, ‘but you weren’t in.�
�

  Ollie nodded in agreement. ‘So he gathered us together because he knew he’d be out for the rest of the day and he wanted to see what we thought.’

  Jill forced a smile that was more like a grimace. ‘Well, is someone going to tell me about this wonderful idea?’

  Gerry coughed nervously before starting to explain. His nervousness disappeared almost instantly as he got carried away by his own enthusiasm, and as he talked Jill could understand why. ‘So, to summarise: by sponsoring a breast cancer charity, Cauldwell’s will get a very high profile, target women specifically, and I think the worthiness of the sponsorship speaks for itself.’

  With a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach, Jill realized that Vinny’s idea left hers for dead. ‘Well,’ she said when Gerry had finished, ‘that sounds like a winner to me.’

  A wave of relief went around the table. ‘You like it?’ Michelle asked.

  ‘It’s brilliant,’ Jill announced. ‘I think we should put a presentation together for Sue right away.’

  Ollie frowned. ‘Shouldn’t we wait until Vinny gets back?’

  Jill fixed him with a steady gaze. ‘We work as a team here, Ollie. Vinny told you the idea so that it could be progressed. Let’s not waste any more time. Our customer has been waiting long enough.’

  For the next hour they discussed the charities they could approach and knocked together a shortlist to put before Sue. ‘Right, guys, thanks.’ Jill stood up and gathered her papers. ‘I’ll let you know what the boss says. If she’s happy with it, we’ll take it to the customer tomorrow.’

  ‘Will Vinny be doing the presentation?’ Rebecca asked.

  ‘Not my decision, but of course, I will suggest that.’ Jill nodded at the others and left the room.

  She was back in her office before she let herself breathe again. ‘Bastard, bastard, bastard!’ she groaned as she slipped behind her desk, sat down and kicked off her shoes. She felt completely crushed by that little slimeball and he hadn’t even been at the meeting. The realization that Vinny’s idea was way better than her own was devastating. For the first time, Jill began to question her ability. Maybe she wasn’t quite as good as she thought.

  ‘Rubbish!’ she admonished herself, recalling the dozens of excellent campaigns she’d come up with over the years. Maybe she was just tired or needed a break. Or maybe there were too many distractions in her life. She thought of Andy and how he’d made her late for work this morning. That wouldn’t be happening again, she promised herself. She was going to have to watch Vinny Gray. She had underestimated him. Now she’d have to praise him lavishly to Sue, insist that he do the presentation to Cauldwell’s and watch her back every minute of every day from now on.