by Lynda Renham
‘Thank you for making the evening so special. I couldn’t celebrate that deal with anyone other than you and enjoy it like this. You know exactly what that deal meant to me. Thanks so much for being such a support.’
And that’s it isn’t it? He’s the best looking guy in town who could have anyone and I’m the one woman who understands him, knows where his shirts are and helps with his business without making any demands on him. I’m the perfect friend and you know what I’m starting to think? I’m starting to think sod this for a game of soldiers. I pull myself away from him gently.
‘I think it’s time to leave, you’re right. I’m really tired.’
He nods and goes to fetch our coats. I consider texting Oliver but when I try I realise I can’t even see the screen.
‘I’ll call a cab, says William pulling his phone from his jacket.
He takes my hand in his and we head for the door.
‘Hey you guys, when is the wedding?’ calls Sam the pianist.
‘What?’ we say in unison.
‘Your wedding, when is it?’
We look at each and William raises his eyebrows.
‘You’ve got to be kidding. She’s marrying someone else mate. She’d never ever put up with me.’
Oh, William, you couldn’t be more wrong.
‘Anyway, I’m not the marrying type,’ he adds before pulling me to the cab.
William spends the journey checking his phone and I text Oliver apologising for it being so late but that we had gone on to a jazz club and I hadn’t heard the phone ring. The cab pulls up at Driftwood and William pays the driver. As we enter the house I sense he is shy with me. I wander into the kitchen and peek into the chocolate teapot where I see the two family-size bags of M&Ms. His washing is on the floor next to his suitcase. I glance at it, feeling my head throb from the tequila.
‘It’s not my washing day until tomorrow,’ he says looking at me.
‘Quite right, I’m off to bed,’ I say smiling, as an overwhelming urge to throw myself into his arms engulfs me.
‘Okay, night Binki, sweet dreams,’ he says softly.
I turn and walk unsteadily up the stairs and enter my bedroom, closing the door behind me before leaning against it. God, this is awful. My body seems to be on fire. I glance at the bedside cabinet and groan when I realise I have no water. I open the door and walk straight into William who has just reached the top of the stairs. We stare at each other and I sense he moves closer to me but I can’t be sure.
‘I was just going to get some water,’ I say shakily. I feel sure my legs will give way if he continues staring at me like this. I force myself to look away and down at my engagement ring. His eyes follow my gaze and he says.
‘I’ll get it for you, I need some too.’
He turns and I sigh. I cling onto the door knob and wait for him to come back. He returns a few moments later with two glasses of water. I take one and smile.
‘Thanks.’
I am about to go back into my room when his voice stops me.
‘Binki,’ he says softly.
I bite my lip and turn slowly.
‘Yes.’
Please don’t try and kiss me I pray, please don’t. I know I will lose myself totally if you do. I daren’t do this, there is no future. I’ll lose everything if I do. I feel my hand tighten on the door knob.
‘Thanks for tonight. It was a brilliant evening and …’ he fumbles and looks down at his water.
‘I just wanted to tell you that you looked fabulous tonight, you know, really stunning and I felt really proud to be with you.’
I swallow and lick my dry lips.
‘Thank you,’ I say finally.
He leans towards me and my heart begins to beat so fast that my breath catches in my throat. His lips brush my cheek and travel slowly to my neck where he stops and pulls himself back.
‘Sleep well,’ he whispers before disappearing down the hall and closing his bedroom door. I close my door and for the first time since moving into Driftwood, I lock it. I fall onto my bed and feel tears run down my cheeks.
‘Oh William, it really had to be you.’ I whisper.
I take the photo of Oliver and hug it to my chest. I can’t throw this away. I can’t. William said himself he isn’t the marrying kind. He’s married to his job. We had too much tequila that’s all it was, but this time I don’t believe it. I know if I knock on his door right now he would let me in. Maybe he is wondering if he should knock on mine. I climb into bed without removing the make-up Rhona had so carefully applied and check my phone, but there is nothing. I check the time: it is now three in the morning. I’m marrying Oliver, I tell myself forcefully, pulling off my dress and dragging the duvet over me. I want babies. William is just a playboy. He’s not the marrying kind, he certainly isn’t father material. He has barely got time for the women in his life, let alone a wife. Maybe life with Oliver won’t be as exciting as it is with William but you can’t have excitement all the time right? Shit, it’s no good. I’ve got to phone Muffy. I don’t care if it is sodding three in the morning. If I don’t I’m likely to be balancing myself on William Ellis’s balls in the next ten minutes. Her phone rings and rings. God, she will kill me. Finally, she answers with a sleepy voice,
‘Who the fuck is this? Do you have any idea what the time is? If you’re trying to sell something you can bugger off.’
‘It’s me,’ I whisper. ‘I need help before I do something totally stupid.’
‘Shit, Binki, it’s bloody three in the morning, why aren’t you sleeping like normal people?’
‘Because I can’t and if you don’t do something I am in danger of throwing my body at William Ellis.’
‘Fuck,’ she shrieks.
Yes, well that is one way of putting it.
She curses.
‘Hang on, just give me a sec. I’ve got to get my head around this. You do realise you interrupted me and Bradley Cooper shagging don’t you?’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Do you know how hard those kinds of dreams are to come by?’ she grumbles.
‘Yes, I know.’
‘So why tonight of all nights do you want to jump on William’s bones?’ she asks, yawning.
‘Because I’ve had too much tequila and I think I have finally realised that my best friend is actually the right one and I …’
‘I’m your best friend,’ she says hesitantly.
I shake with frustration.
‘No, I mean my best male friend is Mr Right, except he’s Mr Wrong isn’t he? Convince me. He even said he isn’t the marrying kind. He’d be a crap dad wouldn’t he? And then I’d lose Oliver, all because of a stupid one-night stand, which won’t mean anything to William right? But he remembers to buy me M&Ms and things and tells me I look stunning and, oh God …’ I stop and take a deep breath.
‘Don’t you think you’ve answered your own question, but I do need to point out one thing you have overlooked,’ she says calmly.
I flop onto the pillow.
‘What?’
‘Supposing you do knock on his door, just supposing, and just suppose you and William do it, did it not occur to you that it would then be the end of a great friendship? You can’t go back to being friends once you’ve shagged can you? It just doesn’t work does it? So you’d have lost Oliver and if William isn’t the marrying kind you haven’t gained anything but you have lost him as a friend haven’t you, which sort of means you lose everything, but then I’m half asleep, you’re pissed and we could both be talking a load of crap.’
Oh God, she is so right, so absolutely right. Why didn’t I think of that?
‘You’re right, you’re a hundred per cent right,’ I say drunkenly. ‘I’m going to sleep now.’
‘Oh you’re welcome. Don’t worry about me and Bradley will you?’
I click off the phone and turn off the bedside lamp. Thank God for friends.
Chapter Thirty-One
‘Oh God,’ I groan. ‘I’m never dr
inking tequila again.’
I drop my head onto the desk and wonder if I can take more aspirin. How William managed to get up so early and drive to Manchester is beyond me. I imagine it wasn’t easy as he left me a little note saying, I sure hope you feel better than me this morning. I’ll overlook all errors you make at work today.
‘You okay there Mrs Ellis?’ asks Andy, walking into the office.
I lift my head from the table. I could barely face the shower this morning let alone applying any make-up. For me to face someone without mascara is almost unheard of. But after scrubbing off last night’s wonderful makeover I couldn’t face applying more. I don’t have the energy to correct him and I have to admit, sometimes being called Mrs Ellis sounds rather nice.
‘No, I think I’m actually dead and someone warmed me up without my permission.’
I pull the laptop towards me and try to focus on the sales figures I had been working on and throw two aspirin in my mouth, along with some M&Ms.
‘Tony bought some doughnuts; we thought you might like one.’
I pull a face. God, I must look horrific if the builders feel so sorry for me that they want to share their doughnuts
‘That’s so kind of you. Do I look that bad then?’
‘Tony thought you did.’
Great, the builders pity me. I take the doughnut gratefully.
‘We were going to work on that last outbuilding today, now we’ve finished that wall. But if you’d prefer we …’
‘No carry on, honestly it’s okay. I’ll just overdose on M&Ms and aspirin,’ I smile.
I click on the office kettle when there is the sound of tyres on gravel as a car pulls into the driveway. A car door thuds and Nathan walks into the office. Oh no, just when I needed some peace and quiet.
‘Hi, how was Dubai?’ I ask, holding up a mug. ‘Would you like a coffee?’
‘Dubai was great, why did you miss me?’ he smiles but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes.
‘You look rough,’ he says dryly.
‘I feel rough. William and I went to a jazz club last night and we had too much tequila.’
‘Is that right? Celebrating something were you?’
He slumps into the chair and looks at me across the desk. I push the coffee towards him and hesitate. My head begins to thump more and the builders start banging and I feel I might puke.
‘Yeah, kind of,’ I begin.
‘It’s okay,’ he smiles. ‘William called me this morning on his way to Manchester. Great merger, it must be the biggest William has ever pulled. He always was a lucky tosser.’
I feel a little flutter of anxiety in my stomach.
‘Nathan,’ I begin.
‘Was it you that told William to shut me out of the deal? Do you know how long I’ve worked with William?’ he says fiddling with the staples on my desk. ‘Well do you?’
‘Nathan …’
‘William never kept anything from me until you came along.’ He looks livid.
God, I wish William was here.
‘And to think I brought you a little something back from Dubai,’ he says sardonically.
‘That was very kind of you, thank you,’ I say in my friendliest voice while all I want to do is to tell him to sod off.
He sips from the mug of coffee and takes my doughnut.
‘I really liked you. That Oliver is nothing but a wanking wimp …’
I stand up and grab the table.
‘I think that’s enough Nathan, I don’t want to hear you insult Oliver. I don’t want to hear you insult anyone come to that.’
I fall back into my chair.
‘How about you and I have dinner tonight, I know nice places too and …’
‘Thank you Nathan but I’m seeing Oliver tonight. We have wedding planning things to do. You know that kind of boring stuff.’
I try to smile but it doesn’t work and it comes out as a half-smile, half-grimace and I imagine I look minging, I mean, me without make-up is minging on its own. I can’t seriously believe any man would want to take me out to dinner right now.
‘Oh yes, the wedding. How is the house hunting?’ he shouts above the building work.
I sip my coffee and look at him over the rim of the mug.
‘Fine. It’s going fine.’
He chews his lip.
‘So where did you William and Roche do the dirty deed?’
I’m either still slightly drunk or there is something very odd about Nathan this morning. He seems ridiculously cross over something that he should be really pleased about. He works for the company after all. Okay, maybe it was irritating to be shut out but that wasn’t my fault, so why is he being so aggressive?
‘Nathan, it wasn’t a dirty deed, and I think you should talk this over with William …’
‘Huh, that’s a laugh. William doesn’t talk things over with me any more. Oh no, you’re flavour of the month aren’t you?’
He stands up abruptly, knocking his coffee mug over and spilling the contents onto my papers. I rush to mop it up when he grabs my hand roughly.
‘I think we should go out for dinner tonight darling and you can tell me what other little secrets you and William are sharing.’
I pull my hand away and feel myself shake. I see Andy standing at the door and nod to him.
‘Okay to make tea is it?’ he asks, but I can tell from his look that he is really asking me if I’m okay.
‘Yes, it’s fine Andy,’ I say shakily.
Andy turns away and I look up into Nathan’s face.
‘I’d like you to leave my office Nathan and discuss this with William later,’ I say, trying to hide the tremble from my voice.
‘You want me to leave your office?’ he smirks.
I nod. He laughs and turns towards the door.
‘You want me off your premises do you?’
I don’t reply. He fumbles in his pocket and produces a small wrapped gift. He throws it onto the desk.
‘For you, the bloody fool that I am, but it’s yours. I’m dead do you know that? William could have coped without that deal. But you had to poke your nose in didn’t you? I had it all set up. I had a nice little deal for Roche and it would have cleared all my debts …’
‘You told Roche not to invest in Optimun?’ I say shocked. ‘Why did you do that to William?’
‘Because he’s loaded darling, and he can afford it. I’m up to my eyes. I’ve got every loan shark in the country after me. If you’d left things alone Roche would have gone with Lansdowne Enterprises and I’d be out of debt by now.’
My fuddled brain tries to register what he’s saying. Lansdowne the competitor to us for Roche’s investment?
‘You owe money to Lansdowne?’ I say wide-eyed.
‘Don’t sound so innocent sweetheart. You think William has never ever done a dodgy deal?’
Actually no I don’t.
‘I owe Charles Lansdowne half a million in gambling debts but don’t let that worry you darling. All I needed was Roche to pull out from Optimun and I would have cleared everything. That was the deal I had with Lansdowne, but you two put your heads together and pushed me out.’
‘William would have been ruined,’ I say.
‘And I’m not? I’m not fucking ruined?’ he says nastily, sweeping papers from my desk. ‘Enjoy the present.’
‘Thank you. Now please leave my office,’ I say.
He shakes his head.
‘The bastard didn’t tell you did he?’
Why do I not want to hear this?
‘Didn’t tell me what?’
‘This isn’t your office darling, and this isn’t your house either. William found out weeks ago the house was left to him. It’s all official, above board, the whole lot, but he took pity on you. Why do you think he gave you a job? You’ve been done up like a kipper too, haven’t you?
He slams the door so hard that the room shakes. I fall into my chair.
William owns the house? He’s known for weeks? I try to take in
what Nathan had said, but my hung-over brain struggles to comprehend it. Has William been lying to me? I have a vague notion that my Blackberry rings but I don’t really hear it. Even yesterday William lied to me when I asked him to contact his solicitor, and he had promised to chase them up today. I grab the office phone and call Hayden and Carruthers, solicitors of repute. Samantha answers in her bright cheery voice.
‘Hello, this is Binki Grayson …’
‘Mr Hayden is still skiing,’ she says in a tired voice.
I have visions of the old man bombing down the slopes like a steam train, puffing his pipe and leaving bellows of smoke in his wake. I somehow doubt he is skiing but hey.
‘Yes, I’m aware of that. I’d like to talk to Mr Carruthers,’ I say firmly.
‘But Mr Hayden handles your …’
‘Look, I don’t care who is handling my case. If you don’t put me through to Mr Carruthers I shall sue your solicitors of repute for negligence because I know that you have information that has not been passed to me and should have been,’ I say with a conviction I do not feel.
I don’t really know if they have any information. They’ll end up suing me for defamation of character. God, I wish my head didn’t ache so much.
‘I don’t understand …’ she stammers.
‘No, you don’t. That’s why you should put me through to Mr Carruthers.’
‘One moment Miss Grayson,’ she says haughtily, putting me on hold. Oh I see. I don’t even get asked now if I am okay to hold.
‘Miss Grayson,’ says a man’s voice. ‘Roger Carruthers speaking, how can I help you?’
I take a deep breath.
‘You or rather Mr Hayden were handling my late aunt’s affairs and …’
‘Yes, I have that paperwork in front of me. I’m not sure what the problem is Miss Grayson? I hear your intention is to sue us.’
Shit.
‘I have your case as closed. Is there something we have overlooked?’
How can it be closed when they haven’t told me who owns the house?
