Three In a Bed

by Carmen Reid

  ‘Oh my God!’ she said out loud. ‘That’s it! That is it! Brilliant!’

  She sat down on the bed and her thoughts raced. It was so good her hands were trembling and it could not wait. She picked up the phone and speed-dialled three.

  A very familiar voice answered: ‘Good afternoon, Prentice and Partners, Kitty speaking, how may I help you?’

  ‘Kits!’ she almost shouted.

  ‘BELLA! Hello, how are you?’ Kitty answered excitedly, then in a whisper added: ‘What’s happened Bella? No-one will tell me anything. I’ve just got to say you’re unavailable for work right now.’

  ‘You could have phoned!’

  ‘Yeah, well, but I didn’t want to impose.’

  ‘Impose! I’m rattling round the house with a new baby staving off nervous breakdown central and you’re worried about imposing! Jesus, Kitty. What would the sisterhood say?’

  ‘God, I’m sorry, Bella. I never thought about it like that.’

  ‘Well . . .’

  ‘Are you coming back?’ Kitty cut in.

  ‘We’ll see. How is everyone anyway?’

  ‘Good, same as usual, we’ve got a new girl and she’s a total bitch, 24 or something.’

  ‘Hector isn’t a partner, is he?’ Bella tried not to squeak.

  ‘Oh God no, he got a written warning from Susan last week.’

  ‘Really?’ This was good. She suddenly realized how much she’d missed them and all the daily intrigue.

  ‘How is Susan . . . and Chris?’ Poor old Chris.

  ‘Susan is pining for you, I think.’ Kitty’s voice was conspiratorially low. ‘Chris is really quiet, maybe he’s pining for you too!’

  ‘I miss you all, as well,’ said Bella, feeling a rush of guilt about Chris.

  ‘How’s your little son?’ Kitty asked.

  ‘Oh he’s great. Anyway, I want to see Susan, but turn up kind of unannounced, when she’s there and not seeing anyone else.’

  ‘Well . . .’ she could hear Kitty tapping her way through Susan’s agenda, ‘your best bet is early morning, Thursday or Friday.’

  ‘OK, well I think Friday will be best. Will you ring me if anything changes and she’s not available then?’

  ‘Yeah sure. But tell me . . . what is this about?’

  ‘I can’t. . . not just yet. But I promise, you’ll be the first to know if Susan goes for it.’

  ‘Bella!’

  ‘I have to go now. See you Friday.’

  ‘OK, be like that then! Bye.’

  ‘Bye.’

  Bella took a deep breath and speed-dialled four. There was something else she really had to sort out as well. The ringing tone hummed in her ear, twice, three times, she could feel her resolve draining away, maybe this wasn’t a good time . . . maybe she would leave this till the evening.

  But then there was a brisk ‘Hello?’ at the other end.

  ‘Hello Tania, it’s Bella.’

  ‘Bella?! God . . . hello!’ There was a tiny pause, so Bella launched in.

  ‘I’m really sorry I was so awful, Tania. I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to phone you back. I’m really sorry.’

  ‘I’m sorry too,’ Tania said. ‘Oh I’m so glad you’ve phoned. I wanted to phone too. It’s OK, we were both very stressed bunnies . . . you with the baby, me with Greg.’

  ‘Greg? What happened?’ Bella asked.

  ‘I can’t believe you don’t know about all this,’ Tania replied.

  ‘About all what?’

  ‘He’s married.’

  ‘What!!!?’

  ‘Yup,’ Tania continued. ‘All those weekends with his parents and not wanting us to live together . . . turns out he’s already got a wife and three kids.’

  ‘Oh my God!’ Bella was stunned, even she hadn’t seen that one coming.

  ‘Yeah, I found out. . . well it’s a bloody long story. I was phoning you that night to tell you how suspicious I was.’

  ‘Oh God,’ Bella cut in, ‘I’m so, so sorry. I thought I had the biggest problems in the world at the time and obviously I didn’t.’ Christ, she thought, that was months ago. How had Tania got through all this without her? She was so angry with herself that she hadn’t been there, hadn’t been the shoulder for her friend to cry on.

  ‘How are you doing?’ Bella asked.

  ‘Not too bad. I was miserable as sin for weeks. But on the up side I lost about a stone, so I look good. I just worked like a demon, which kept me busy, and redecorated the flat . . . and bought a new car.’

  ‘No! Not a . . .’

  ‘A brand new, shiny red Ferrari.’ Tania cut in.

  ‘Cow!’ said Bella then added sincerely, ‘I can’t believe you didn’t phone me.’

  ‘I couldn’t handle it, Bella – there you are all married and happy and babied up and I’m starting out single again.’

  ‘Oh yeah,’ said Bella. ‘It’s been bliss all the way. I resigned from my job, Don and I are having a trial separation, we’re practically broke, but thank God, thank God, my son is finally sleeping through the night.’

  ‘What?’ It was Tania’s turn to be shocked.

  ‘Yeah, it’s this amazing thing where you put them in bed awake and they cry at first but then they fall asleep by themselves and . . .’

  ‘Not the baby!’ Tania was practically shrieking now. ‘You and Don are separated??’

  ‘Yeah, but hopefully not for long. It’s been really, really stressful and I kind of slept with my boss but I hope he might forgive me . . .’

  ‘What! Slow down, you’re babbling, girl.’

  ‘Do you have time for the whole thing?’

  ‘Well if you could give me the short version now, then maybe we could meet on Saturday and you can tell me the full saga.’

  After Bella’s quick outlining of events, they arranged to meet on Saturday morning.

  ‘At the gym please,’ Bella said. ‘I have to go back there, I still look like a blancmange.’

  ‘Ha, ha, ha, ha – I’m slim and slinky,’ sang Tania. ‘It’s role reversal time.’

  ‘Double cow! What’s the point in being friends with you if you’re going to look better than me?’ Bella said, delighted that she and Tania were straight back in best friend mode again.

  ‘Bitch!’ Tania shrieked. ‘Get your flabby arse in gear. No wonder your man’s looking elsewhere.’

  ‘He’s not!’ Bella screamed down the phone. ‘I’m the one who looked and I didn’t like what I saw . . . well actually, it wasn’t bad . . .’

  ‘Bella! You are a mother now. You have to behave responsibly,’ Tania said in mock-shock.

  ‘I’m dying to see you,’ Bella replied. ‘Shall we say 10.30ish? We’ll do a class, then sauna, then long lunch?’ She was thinking, Four hours away from my son. . . I can cope, I will cope. Don can look after him . . . he can cope, he will cope . . .

  ‘Perfect. I’ll see you there.’

  ‘Tania, I’ve really missed you,’ Bella said.

  ‘Me too,’ Tania answered. ‘Let’s be best friends for ever and ever.’

  ‘OK,’ Bella laughed. ‘See you Saturday.’

  ‘Byeee.’

  Chapter Forty-four

  DON CALLED AT nine-ish as he had done every evening since he’d left the house. The calls were short and they mainly talked about Markie, who was a neutral, safe topic.

  It was the third time she’d put Markie to bed without a breastfeed and he had only cried for seven and a half minutes.

  ‘I’m sleeping like a dog,’ she told Don. ‘I go to bed at ten and don’t wake up until Markie stirs at seven, it’s just bliss. I feel like a normal, sane person again, it’s amazing.’

  ‘Are you still breastfeeding?’

  ‘Yeah, three feeds a day, which is really nice for us.’

  ‘Good, and the childminder is working out OK?’

  ‘She’s really lovely. She’s going to take him for two full mornings tomorrow and Friday.’

  ‘Wow, what have you got planned?�
��

  ‘Totally top, top secret. I’ll tell you about it on Saturday. You are going to come on Saturday, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said and didn’t elaborate.

  ‘I’m planning to go to the gym in the morning to meet Tania, because I thought you’d want some time on your own with Markie and then hopefully he’ll sleep in the afternoon and we’ll be able to talk a bit.’

  ‘That’s fine, Bella,’ he said, then added: ‘You’re going to the gym? To meet Tania? Well . . .’ he’d been about to say ‘you’re almost back to your old self’ but checked himself. There wasn’t any going back, she was becoming her new self. Bella with baby. He wasn’t sure how he fitted into that yet, but that was what they had to work out.

  ‘Is that OK?’ she asked, as he’d paused for a long time.

  ‘It’s fine, it’s good. I really miss Markie,’ he said. ‘I can’t wait to see him.’

  ‘Yeah.’ She decided not to add ‘I really miss you’ because if he didn’t say it back, she would be heartbroken.

  ‘OK,’ he said. ‘I better go then, good night, Bella.’ She detected a vein of tenderness in those words which comforted her.

  ‘Good night, hon.’

  She clicked off the phone and wandered upstairs to see her son. She tiptoed into the room and looked at him in the dim glow of the night light. He was on his side with his hands curled up in front of him, he felt warm and slightly damp to touch, still sweaty from his little cry at bedtime.

  His chubby cheeks were rosy and impossibly long eyelashes curled down onto them. She listened to his gentle breathing and leaned over to inhale his sweet, warm butter smell. He was perfect. She’d never felt anything like this, so full up with love. It was calming and grounding and heart-expanding.

  Somehow, there was going to be room in her heart for all this baby love and for Don too and for loving her job and her friends and, she really should face it, her parents.

  She’d thought at first that Markie was going to use up all her love and there wouldn’t be any left for anyone else. But she was learning that Markie had opened up the floodgates. She’d made this incredible amount of extra love in her life for him and now she was going to spread it about. Soften up a bit . . . smell the roses . . . hug trees.

  She could feel her eyes grow dim and watery . . . again. I’m turning into a complete sap, she thought . . . and I quite like it.

  She stroked her little boy on the head then left the room.

  Downstairs, she threw together a quick supper, then went up into the attic office taking her laptop with her. She had the plan, now she needed to research it.

  Three hours later, she finally went to bed, tired but very excited. This was going to work.

  The next morning Bella drove into town once she had dropped Markie off at Sylvia’s. If she was to face Susan tomorrow, she needed to psyche herself up for it. She was going to present a radical new plan so she felt it was fitting to have a radical new image to go with it.

  Combat trousers and kaleidoscope tops were fine for home, but the new work look was going to have to be a little more sober.

  No more tight skirts, high heels, stockings and cleavage. What did she have to prove? She was married with a baby, she knew she was attractive and damn good at her job. It was time to get on with it. She now wanted sleek, streamlined, professional. There was no reason for her office clothes to ‘work’ at a cocktail party any more either. Once she’d put in the hours, she was going home.

  Anyway, she was online, she was on the phone – why the hell did she need to be at the office all day long?

  She put the car into an underground garage and headed out onto Regent Street. It was early December, cold but blue-skied and crisp and not quite ten o’clock, so the shop doors were only just opening and the pavements were quiet.

  An hour later, after careful consultation with a good shop assistant, Bella had found exactly the right thing: a long, lean, light grey trouser suit, which looked perfect with her shorter hair. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and couldn’t believe how much younger and fitter she looked. The suit shoulders were narrow and unpadded, the jacket skimmed down to mid-thigh and the trousers were fluid without being wide.

  Underneath, she had on a grey knitted silk sleeveless top, cut straight at the top. No more cleavage but bare arms instead, it was still sexy but in a kind of sporty way. She decided on the same top in bottle green as well.

  Her new coat was a black nylon mac, knee length with a tartan lining. Now she decided on a new briefcase as well – shiny nylon black, big enough for a laptop, mobile, car keys and a few nappies – what else did anyone need?

  The whole lot was wrapped up for her in glossy blue bags. She handed over her card without flinching because as of tomorrow she was going to have a brand new job. She was sure of it.

  Several shops later and she’d bought two new pairs of shoes, futuristic loafers in black and grey leather with low, trainer-like moulded rubber soles – cool.

  Then came new make-up: sludgy green eye shadow, brownish lipstick. Then new underwear. She explained the still breastfeeding situation to the assistant, who suggested a grey jersey crop top sports bra and matching hot pants.

  Bella looked at herself in the mirror and began to see the outline of the figure she’d once had. The breasts were still over-heavy, but the tummy was diminishing. She would get there.

  It was already heading for 12.30, so she had time for a quick sandwich before she raced back to Sylvia’s for 1.30.

  She spent the afternoon playing with Markie, then after she’d given him supper, a bath and tucked him up in bed, she got down to work again.

  Poor old Susan, she had no idea what was about to hit her.

  Chapter Forty-five

  IT WAS TIME to go for it, Bella told herself, as she strode up to the elevator, which would take her to Prentice and Partners for the first time in five months.

  She punched the button and the doors pinged open. Once she was inside, she could feel her hands shaking slightly so she tightened her grasp on her briefcase and tried to slow her breathing right down. This was going to work, there was no way it couldn’t.

  Ping. She was out on the fourth floor lobby, she walked towards the glass double doors and could see Kitty taking off her coat on the other side. Bella smiled and tried to relax. This was her office, this was her job. It was going to be OK.

  She stepped in, it was 8.25 a.m. so just Kitty and Susan should be around.

  ‘Hello,’ she said to Kitty.

  Kitty looked up and stared: ‘My God, you look completely different!’

  ‘But good,’ said Bella.

  ‘Yes, very good. Very moderne. Gimme a hug, it’s lovely to see you.’

  They hugged and kissed.

  ‘Is she here?’ Bella said this quietly; she didn’t want to spoil Susan’s surprise.

  Kitty nodded and picked up the phone.

  ‘Hi, Susan,’ she said. ‘There’s an unscheduled visitor here for you . . . but I’m pretty sure you’ll want to see her.’

  After a momentary pause, Susan’s office door opened.

  For a few seconds, her face registered just surprise, then she smiled, half held out her arms and said, ‘Bella, my God. Welcome back!’

  ‘Hang on a minute,’ Bella grinned. ‘I’ve just walked in the door. I think we might need to talk first.’

  ‘Yes, of course, come in.’ Susan motioned with her arms, then added: ‘Kitty, can you bring us some coffee, please? And hold all my calls. Come in, Bella.’

  Bella hadn’t known what to expect from Susan, but this was a very good start.

  She walked into the small office and was surprised to see it had been revamped. There was a compact desk at the window now, with a tiny laptop and silver mobile phone on top and below it nested a small set of sleek chrome drawers on wheels. The room was mainly taken up by three vast brown leather armchairs grouped around a low coffee table.

  ‘It’s the new, we’re all equals, touchy-
feely, twenty-first-century thing, do you like it?’ Susan asked, pointing her into a chair.

  ‘It’s fab,’ said Bella, sitting down in the squashy leather and feeling very at ease in her new clothes. No skirt to ride too high, no uncomfortable heels to hoick up her knees at an awkward angle.

  ‘You look great,’ said Susan, perching in her chair because of her skirt and heels. ‘I love your hair . . . and is that green nail polish?’

  ‘Yeah . . . thanks,’ said Bella. She was wondering if she should apologize first or if Susan was going to.

  There was a pause as the two women looked at each other and smiled.

  ‘About the way I left . . .’ Bella began. ‘I am sorry about it, but I think I had a point. I’m not saying I was right, but I was making a point which you should have taken on board.’

  ‘I think that’s fair,’ Susan replied. ‘I didn’t want you to go, I’m sorry I reacted so strongly. I don’t want you to go, in fact I’d love to have you back.’

  ‘I really want to be back, Susan,’ Bella said. ‘But not in my old role, I’ve changed too much.’

  Susan didn’t say anything; she was waiting for Bella to explain.

  ‘I can’t put the job first the way I did before,’ Bella continued. ‘I think that might be quite hard for you to understand. I mean, I want to do a really good job for you, but I don’t want to rule the universe the way I did before.’ They smiled at each other. ‘My son comes first. If there’s ever a choice between work and baby, he’s going to win. But that shouldn’t mean I can’t work.’

  Bella looked hard at Susan to try and read her reaction, then carried on with her pitch: ‘I’m a very capable person, I’ve got a lot of ability I know you can use for the hours in the week I’m willing to devote to work.’

  Kitty knocked and came in with the coffee, which was perfect because Bella knew Susan was thinking hard about what she was about to suggest – and whatever scenario Susan was imagining, Bella knew her own plan would beat it right into the ground.

  Kitty poured out two cups, saying, ‘Nice shoes,’ to Bella to break the silence.

  ‘Thanks, they’re my time management shoes,’ Bella joked. ‘Instead of going to the gym, I’m going to jog home from work.’