The End of Cuthbert Close

by Cassie Hamer

  A pause. ‘Did something happen after I left?’

  Beth breathed in. She had decided to forget all about Adam and keep him as her little secret. ‘Why would you say that?’

  Cara began in a small voice. ‘Beth, it would be entirely understandable if you felt a little … lost, given what you showed us on your phone … about Max.’

  ‘I’m not lost, I’m at the St Therese’s swimming carnival,’ Beth snapped. The next race was drawing to a close, and she clenched her fingers around the second place stick in her pocket.

  Cara paused as if contemplating whether to challenge Beth further or not. ‘Oh, right, good to hear then … I also wanted to see if you might have time to chat about Nourish, and get the menu started. I thought we could have a launch party in the close, test out a few of the dishes and get the neighbours on board with it all.’

  ‘Sounds terrific,’ said Beth. ‘How about a cuppa after school?’

  ‘Perfect.’

  As Beth hung up, a little head bobbed up from the pool. ‘Excuse me. Did I come second?’

  ‘Oops, yes. You did, sweetie. Well done.’ Beth rushed the stick to the child. ‘Now, just wait till Miss Liu gives the signal for you to exit the pool.’

  Beth rubbed her stomach. She’d forgotten that awful gnawing that came with hangovers, like your stomach was eating itself. She felt a hand on her waist.

  ‘Special delivery.’ It was Max. Frowning at her and holding a pink-iced donut

  ‘But I sent Chloe …’ Beth blustered.

  ‘And I ran into her at the kiosk, so here I am. Donut delivery man.’ He held it out and Beth involuntarily gave a little moan. It smelt so good. Sweet and deep-fried.

  ‘What did you get up to with the girls last night?’ Max folded his arms, watching her devour the donut. ‘The bedroom smelt like an alcoholic sweet shop this morning.’

  Beth’s stomach lurched. ‘Oh, nothing. Just trying to sort out some of Cara’s and Alex’s problems. Misery loves company and all of that.’ She tried to sound casual, but it was proving difficult with a load of icing and sweet dough in her mouth.

  ‘I can’t remember the last time you ate a donut.’

  ‘Probably before I studied nutrition and realised just how bad they are for you.’ Beth wolfishly took another mouthful. She couldn’t help it.

  ‘The kids said you wouldn’t get up this morning.’

  ‘It was one little sleep-in. One! Anyone would think I’d run away to the circus the way you’re all carrying on,’ she protested through the sticky sweetness.

  Max regarded her. ‘What’s going on with you?’

  What’s going on with you!

  ‘Why does everyone keep saying that?’ Beth huffed. ‘Last time I checked, it wasn’t a crime to sleep in or eat a donut.’

  Max’s eyes narrowed on her. ‘No, but it’s not like you.’

  ‘I wouldn’t read too much into it.’

  ‘All right.’ He shrugged, and looked over her shoulder to the pool. His eyes narrowed. ‘Hey, is that kid okay?’

  Beth whipped around. While she’d been talking to Max another race had begun. Most of the kids were about to finish and Beth scanned the lanes for the person coming in second.

  ‘That kid there.’ Max pointed further down the pool. ‘I think they’re struggling.’

  Arms flailing. A little head going up and then disappearing beneath the surface. Beth searched the crowd. Miss Liu was in the grandstand, making notes on her clipboard. Too far away to call out to. Everyone else’s eyes were glued to the end of the pool where four swimmers were locked in a tight contest for the finish line. The crowd was going crazy.

  ‘I’ll go.’

  Before Beth could say a word, Max was striding off down the pool deck, loosening his tie as he went.

  ‘Help,’ she called out lamely. ‘Help. I think that child’s drowning.’

  Perhaps it was the word ‘drowning’ that cut through the noise, but somehow, over all the cheering, Miss Liu looked in her direction. As Beth pointed down the pool, the teacher’s face went white and she took the stairs two at a time, shouting into the loudhailer. ‘Emergency. Emergency. Life ring required in the pool. Repeat: emergency.’

  Beth started running. During the pre-carnival briefing, Miss Liu’s second briefing for the latecomers, the sports teacher had made a point of identifying the life ring’s location. Beth had paid full attention. Easier to think about life rings and timekeepers than peach Bellinis and handsome electricians.

  She got to the life ring and stopped. The crowd roared behind her. Max had not only leapt into the pool, almost fully dressed, he was now swimming to the side of it with a sobbing child clinging tightly to his neck. Beth met them both and offered her hand to the panicked boy to help him out of the pool.

  ‘Oh, you poor love.’ She scouted about for a towel to throw around him.

  ‘He’s fine,’ panted Max over the quivering child. ‘Just a bit of an anxiety attack, I think.’

  Miss Liu took the young boy by the shoulders. ‘Rory, are you all right? Slow breaths in and out. Have you swallowed water?’

  ‘No, miss.’ The little boy shivered, teary. ‘I got a cramp and I couldn’t go any further. I’m sorry.’

  Miss Liu’s face softened. ‘Come with me to the first-aid tent and we’ll get you warmed up.’ She gave a grateful look to Max before leading the little boy away.

  Beth touched her husband’s shoulder. He was trembling. ‘Are you okay?’

  Max swept a hand through his hair. ‘I’m good. I just hope the kid’s okay.’

  She squeezed, feeling a sudden tenderness towards him. ‘Let’s get you a towel.’

  ‘Here’s one,’ said a voice from behind them. ‘He can borrow Talia’s.’

  Charlie Devine, dressed in a flowing white cheesecloth skirt and a matching singlet top that didn’t quite cover her taut stomach. With the sun behind her, the skirt was completely see-through and the rays sparkled off her diamond earrings, forcing Beth to squint.

  ‘Oh, thanks Charlie but I think I’ve got a spare in my bag somewhere,’ said Beth, making a move to leave.

  But Max was already unbuttoning his shirt and, as he took the outstretched towel from Charlie’s hands, Beth noted their neighbour’s eyes flit quickly over her husband’s naked torso.

  ‘Thanks, Charlie.’ Max rubbed himself briskly.

  ‘That was quite the heroic act you pulled off there.’ Charlie folded her arms under her breasts which, Beth couldn’t help noticing, helped to lift them enticingly higher in her skin-tight top. ‘Very impressive.’

  ‘Anyone else would have done the same.’ Max shrugged and turned his attention to Beth. ‘Any chance of a lift home to get a change of clothes?’

  ‘Sorry, but I’m on duty until 2:30 pm. Where’s your car?’ Any tenderness Beth might have felt towards him in the aftermath of his daring rescue (though really, how daring was it to jump into a pool where he could stand up?) had evaporated, thanks to Charlie Devine.

  ‘I caught a cab down.’

  ‘Why?’ She stared at him. Max was always in his car. It was like a fifth limb. Last year, he’d bought himself a fancy little Mercedes with a price tag that had made Beth feel sick to the stomach. He’d justified it by saying it was where he did most of his work, with inspections and the like, and it was also a good way of inspiring confidence in the customers, something along the lines of ‘Well, if he drives an expensive car, he must be good at selling houses’.

  Beth thought clients weren’t quite so silly.

  ‘I had an appointment in the city and the parking’s awful there, so I just cabbed it.’ He shrugged. ‘No big deal.’

  ‘Who was the appointment with?’ Beth demanded. Max didn’t sell real estate in the CBD.

  ‘Ah … just a client who works in the city. I needed to talk to them about auction strategy.’

  In person? Why not on the phone?

  If the car was Max’s fifth limb, the phone was his sixth.

  ‘I
can give you a lift,’ said Charlie, innocently lifting her eyelashes. ‘After all, Beth, you brought Talia to the carnival, it’s the least I could do.’

  Is that a little passive-aggressive nudge? What happened to staying out of each other’s lives?

  ‘That would be great, thanks,’ said Max easily.

  Too easily.

  It was like they were trying too hard to act nonchalant. There was a familiarity that Beth couldn’t quite put a finger on. What was going on between them? Talia was right. Or perhaps half-right. Was it Max being overly friendly? Or was it Charlie?

  ‘Hey Dad, nice work with the kid.’ It was Ethan, and he draped his arm around his father.

  ‘Dad, are you all right?’ Chloe’s little face squeezed through the gap between her father and brother.

  ‘All good, guys.’ Max stroked Chloe’s hair. ‘Nothing to worry about.’

  ‘Are you staying for the championship race? I’ve qualified fastest. It’s happening pretty soon. Please.’ Chloe clasped her hands together.

  ‘Of course I will.’

  Could all competitors in the under-13 age championship make their way to the starting blocks. And all marshals, back to your positions. NOW!

  ‘That’s me,’ Chloe squealed and darted off.

  ‘Good luck,’ called Max and Beth together.

  The crowd had hushed. Beth looked up into the grandstand. She spotted Ethan, then Max next to him, deep in conversation with Charlie Devine.

  Beth’s stomach clenched.

  BANG!

  She stood on tippy-toes to see Chloe in lane four. Doing well. Swimming steadily and smoothly. Beth allowed herself a small swell of pride. Her daughter really was a beautiful swimmer and seeing her do what she loved and was so good at was all the compensation Beth needed for the early starts.

  But wait. What was happening? The kid in lane five was catching her.

  ‘C’mon, Chloe,’ Beth muttered under her breath. ‘Dig in, sweetie. Dig deep.’

  But with every stroke, the other child was making ground. Wearing her down. Only ten metres to go. The crowd was going bananas. Max and Ethan were on their feet, fists in the air and screaming words of encouragement. Even Charlie was standing and had her hands raised in a prayer position, kissing her fingertips.

  ‘C’mon, Chloe. C’mon,’ said Beth, clasping tightly to her second place sticks.

  With a final thrashing of arms and legs, the race finished. The crowd was silent. Who’d won? It was too hard to tell. On first instincts, Beth thought it a dead heat. She looked for Miss Liu. There she was, holding her clipboard and frowning at the pool. In extremely close races, it was the sports teacher who made the final call on placings.

  ‘Lane four,’ she called. ‘Second place, and lane five, first. Marshals,’ she barked, eyes focused on Beth. ‘Issue the placings.’

  Beth trudged towards her daughter, the little red stick feeling like a burning poker in her hand. As she got closer, she saw tears running down Chloe’s face, and she hurried the last few steps.

  ‘I got a stitch,’ she sobbed.

  Beth knelt by the pool. ‘Sweetie, second place is wonderful. It was so close. I’m so proud of you.’

  Chloe’s tear-stained face turned towards her. ‘It’s all your fault,’ she cried. ‘Why did you make me eat that donut?’

  ‘I didn’t. I told you not to. It was you who insisted.’

  ‘But you gave me the money. I hate you!’

  Beth felt slapped.

  Silently, she placed the second place stick by Chloe’s lane, and walked away without looking back once.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Bugger.

  Alex cursed and sucked on her thumb. Stupid needle. Stupid button. Stupid fingers that wouldn’t stop quivering. In her mouth, the metallic taste of blood triggered a tidal wave of saliva. And she was nearly done too. Final stitch.

  ‘You can’t go in there.’ From outside her closed office door, Brianna’s voice was firm. Still, Alex’s heart fluttered. Plenty of lawyers at Macauley – mostly the sexist has-beens, of which there were plenty – had a bad habit of disobeying the secretaries.

  Alex looked down. She’d had to remove her skirt in order to fix the button – Brianna had an emergency sewing kit in her top drawer, god love her – and here she was, in her undies and a blouse, blinds drawn, with Brianna under strict instructions to not let anyone through the door. And that meant anyone. Even Rex.

  ‘She’s on a very important phone call,’ said Brianna. ‘I can call you when she’s done.’

  ‘Well, if it’s a very important phone call …’ came Martin’s slightly sneery voice. ‘I suppose I’ll have to wait.’

  Alex threw on her skirt and hurriedly tucked in her blouse. It wasn’t wise to keep Martin waiting.

  ‘I’m off the phone now, Brianna,’ called Alex, straightening the skew-whiff skirt. ‘Please show him in.’

  She opened the door with a winning smile pasted to her face. ‘Martin, thank you for waiting.’

  He gave a little bob. ‘I received your email requesting an appointment to discuss an important matter.’ He used air quotes around the word important. ‘I thought now might be a suitable time?’

  Alex’s heart skipped a beat. So distracted was she by the meeting with the partners she’d completely forgotten the email. Part-time work. Yes. That’s what she was going to ask for, but that was before the partners’ meeting. That meeting had changed everything.

  ‘Martin. Sorry. Yes. I did send you that message, but um … I’ve … um, managed to work out the problem.’ Alex tapped a file on her desk. ‘It’s all under control.’

  Martin nodded. ‘Very well. Still, I think it would be advantageous to confer over the precise details of the partnership arrangements at Macauley. Rex has requested that I walk you through the financial detail and his instructions are to have the contract drawn by the end of the month.’

  Martin bobbed again, and Alex blinked quickly.

  ‘All right then. Yes. That would be wonderful.’

  ‘Excellent. 3 pm in my office,’ he called over his shoulder and stole off silently down the hall.

  Shit, he was talking as if the partnership was a done deal, as if there was no possibility that she would say no. Had no one in the history of Macauley Partners ever refused a partnership? When Alex joined the company, she’d vowed to make history, but that wasn’t quite the history she was contemplating.

  Her phone buzzed.

  How’d the meeting go?

  James! She needed to ring him and tell him the news. He’d be thrilled, wouldn’t he? He knew how much this meant to her.

  She dialled and her husband picked up straight away.

  ‘So? Don’t keep me in suspense …’ He sounded anxious. He was worried for her. He really was the loveliest.

  ‘Well,’ Alex began. ‘It didn’t go quite as planned.’ She took a breath. ‘They’ve asked me to become partner.’

  Silence. ‘Good one, Alex,’ her husband chortled. ‘You nearly got me there. I’ve never heard you so serious. C’mon, what did they really say?’

  ‘I am serious,’ she said with irritation. ‘What? You think I’m not up to it?’

  ‘No, no. I think you run rings around those people. I just can’t quite believe the timing. It’s just … uncanny.’ He paused. ‘Did they really ask you to become partner?’

  ‘They did! They really did.’ Alex proceeded to repeat the entire boardroom palaver, recounting word-for-word Rex’s comments about her work ethic and expertise and, for added authenticity, she even included the fact about her skirt button popping mid-sentence.

  At that point, he believed her. No one could make that up.

  ‘Holy shit,’ he breathed down the phone. ‘Partner? It’s, like, your dream …’

  ‘I know. It’s crazy, isn’t it?’ Alex’s voice trembled from the effort of having to keep it low. Macauley wasn’t the place for wild celebrations.

  Their conversation was brief. James had a patient t
o see. Alex said they’d talk about it more that night.

  ‘Well done, Alex. I’m proud of you.’ But there was a strained tone to the words.

  He’s at work, too, after all, Alex reasoned.

  A minute later, her phone buzzed with a text message.

  How’s this actually going to work? With the baby and everything?

  Poor man. This morning, she’d set out for work with a mission to insist on reduced hours, now she was looking at increasing them substantially. She swivelled in the chair and picked up the framed photo of the twins on her desk. It was a reasonable question. How would this work? When Alex had first set her sights on becoming partner, she wasn’t a mother, she wasn’t married, she hadn’t even met James. It was easy, almost obligatory, to set lofty career goals when career was the only thing in your life and you were the only person in your family to have completed a university degree. Now, there were the twins, and James, and Noah’s problems to deal with and, to top it all off, a baby on the way. How was a person supposed to juggle all of that?

  Alex typed out a reply.

  I have no idea, but let’s talk about it tonight?

  James’s response was immediate.

  I’ll pick up some Chinese takeaway. This is something to celebrate, whatever we decide.

  Alex flinched at the word we. He was right, it would have to be a joint decision. After all, accepting the partnership would affect James’s life as much as hers. For better and for worse. It would be busy, that went without saying, and she would certainly need additional domestic help. But with the bump in earnings that came with a partnership, she’d be able to afford a full-time nanny for the children, a private tutor for Noah, meals supplied by Nourish, and they’d be able to pay the mortgage off the house in half the time. James could choose whether he wanted to work or not.

  But that word – we – still annoyed her, for it implied the degree to which she, and she alone, had worked for and earned this huge opportunity didn’t really matter at all.

  She turned back to her computer. Forty-five unread emails in her inbox, starting with one from Martin about the takeover matter. Alex sighed. She couldn’t concentrate on a multi-billion dollar acquisition right now, she was hungry. She needed to make an acquisition of her own – lunch. And she needed to talk to someone, anyone, about her confused feelings over the partnership.