by Dawn Tamayo
Jake was confused, why was Victoria not there and why hadn’t Andrea told him? He didn’t like not knowing something as important as this.
“Is there a problem, or something I can do for you Mr Cumberland? Andrea is here and everything is going according to plan. We are all very happy with it.”
“No, thank you.” Jake said as he disconnected the call and immediately pressed Andrea’s name on his phone as he paced the floor and waited for Andrea to answer her phone - she had some explaining to do.
“Good afternoon Jake.” Andrea answered brightly. She had been in London for a few days but each day when she talked to Jake it was usually her telephoning him to update him.
Jake skipped the pleasantries and got to the point, his heart was thumping even harder and he wanted to know what was going on. “What is this I hear about Victoria not working on our account anymore?”
Andrea was quiet for a moment - she hadn’t banked on Jake finding out about Victoria leaving Churchill, Turnbull & French so soon, certainly not right in the middle of their UK launch. But then again she had tried to tell him but he stopped her in her tracks.
“It’s not a problem Jake, Victoria left very clear instructions and did a great hand over to Gina. I am here checking everything is being done just as you like it, and just as Victoria arranged it all. She did a great job Jake.” Andrea reassured him.
“But it is a problem, why didn’t I know about this?” He demanded angrily.
“I tried to tell you as soon as I found out but you told me in no uncertain terms that you didn’t want to hear Victoria’s name, or anything about her! You told me not to talk to you about her, so I did what you wanted and, well, here we are!”
Jake took a deep breath, he knew Andrea was right but this was different! Surely she could see that.
“Well I don’t want anyone else leading our campaigns, I want Victoria. Get her put back on my account.”
“I can’t do that Jake, she left the company.”
He couldn’t believe he was hearing all this. He couldn’t believe Victoria wasn’t there at all. “Where is she working now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well call her then, you have her phone number.”
“I can do that, but I don’t think it will do any good.”
“Why not? Tell Ben Churchill to offer her a big fat whopping pay rise. I will make it worth his while, but just get her back.”
“Jake I have worked for you for a long time and you hired me for my professionalism and my honesty.”
“Yes.” He didn’t know what this had to do with anything.
“Then I am going to be completely honest with you. I don’t think Victoria will come back to work on your account unless you call her yourself. Victoria made a mistake and she has paid for it in a huge way. Way more than you have any idea and more than most people would ever have done.”
Jake interrupted her, “So she lost her job over it, then get Ben Churchill to give it back to her, I told her she could stay on the account and she didn’t need to tell her boss about it.”
“Victoria lost a lot more than that Jake, a lot more. And Ben Churchill didn’t fire her. She resigned.”
“What do you mean, how do you know all this?”
Andrea cringed not knowing how Jake was going to take the news that she knew everything, and had done for several days, ever since she and Victoria had spent an afternoon talking over a good few glasses of wine. But as far as Andrea could see it wasn’t her place to tell Jake anything Victoria had told her in confidence. Besides Victoria had sworn her to secrecy. However, now Jake was asking it was a different matter. She decided she should at least tell Jake the professional side of their meeting. “I met with Victoria on Monday, she wanted to be there personally to meet with me and hand over your account to Gina so that everything went smoothly and we were happy.”
“Well I am not happy.” Jake said bluntly.
“And why is that Jake? Because you lost a good account handler who has been replaced with another good account handler? Or because you lost Victoria?”
Andrea knew which one she thought it was, and she knew full well Jake did too otherwise he wouldn’t be asking for Victoria now - Jake didn’t need to talk to Victoria about anything on his account, he had Andrea there in London to do that for him.
Jake paused for a moment. He realised he wasn’t being fair on Andrea. He knew it was his own fault he didn’t know where Victoria was or that she had resigned - he hadn’t tried to speak to her since she walked out of his office, and now he realised the last thing she saw of Jake was a series of photographs of him with another woman which certainly looked bad. Hell if she had looked since then she would probably have seen a whole load of photographs of him out in Miami with a series of women over the last week! Not that he had done anything more than take them out to dinner or buy them drinks, but even he had to admit the photographs he saw in the papers and on the internet certainly did look like a lot more than that.
“Well Andrea, since you seem to know so much, do you know where she is staying?”
Andrea smiled hoping Jake had finally come to his senses. She liked Victoria a lot - the day Andrea arrived she met with Victoria for what was supposed to be a one hour handover, but instead it turned into a long and fun wine-fuelled lunch which went on to late into the afternoon. Andrea had pried out of Victoria what happened with Jake, but as much as she had assured her that nothing happened between him and the pretty actress the night before Victoria left Miami, she wouldn’t believe her. Since Jake had decided to drown his sorrows with nights of partying in bars with a succession of pretty women for the last week, it was hardly surprising that Victoria refused to believe he had ever really loved her, or that he still did! But Andrea knew better, she knew just how much happier Jake was when Victoria was around him and in his life. She had never seen him the way he was with Victoria with anyone else before.
“Yes I do, she is staying with a friend of hers. I will message you her address if you want it.”
“You do that.”
“Okay so now we have got that out of the way, is there something you need for the campaign?” Andrea asked.
“No, just send me that address by text now please Andrea.” And then Jake was gone, and Andrea smiled as the line went dead.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“How cold is it? How flipping cold?” Jake said as he pulled his thick dark grey wool coat around him and got into his hire car. Andrea had warned him it was cold in London but it still came as a shock to the system when he stepped off the airplane in the early hours of Friday morning, he was just glad now that he had found time yesterday to buy a few items of thick clothing, but even his heavy knit cream sweater over his blue denim shirt and thick Levis jeans weren’t keeping him warm.
Jake started the engine of his car and pushed the heat up to maximum, sitting for a moment rubbing his hands together as the car’s warm air surrounded him.
“Okay Jake you can do this.” He muttered to himself as he tapped the postcode Andrea had given him into the satellite navigation system in the car and waited for it to show him his route. He knew he could have ordered a car to drive him around, but Jake knew Victoria wasn’t at all impressed by any of his flashiness. He hoped that by turning up in a perfectly good Audi which he had driven all the way by himself would go further with Victoria than him turning up in a chauffeur driven limousine. At least this way Victoria would see he was making an effort, even if flying the red-eye across the Atlantic Ocean just to talk to her wasn’t effort enough!
Jake put the car into drive and pulled out of the parking space. He slammed the brakes on as he nearly collided with an oncoming car in the car park and he swore, then reminded himself to drive on the left of the road and not the right like in Miami.
“Left, left, left.” He said to himself like a mantra, he was not going to forget again.
Alice put the kettle on and flipped on the little television in the kitchen whilst she pu
lled a loaf of fresh bread out of the bread bin and opened the door to the fridge for some ham and salad. She moved around her kitchen like clockwork doing the same ritual she did most work days – since she only worked around the corner she preferred to pop home for lunch and do a few chores around the house before going back to work for the afternoon. Alice stopped still, she was sure she heard a noise and she knew it couldn’t be Victoria because she was in London at a job interview today. The sound came again, a hard knock on her front door, so she put down her butter knife and went to investigate.
Jake stood at the front door of the little cottage and looked around. The small tree lined road was picturesque with its large trees with leaves changing colours from all shades of green to copper brown. He tapped at a fallen bronze leaf with his foot as he pushed his hands down deep into his wool coat pockets and wished Victoria would hurry up and open the door.
Alice pulled open the heavy wooden door and stopped short looking at the tall handsome man standing on her doorstep, obviously freezing despite being in an incredibly expensive long dark grey coat.
Jake looked at the pretty blonde haired lady standing in the doorway, she was about Victoria’s age and he vaguely remembered seeing her at the country fayre where he first met Victoria.
“You must be Alice.”
“Correct. And I know who you are. Jake Cumberland.”
Jake nodded.
“I am surprised to see you here.” Alice said as she looked Jake over – she had seen him at the country fayre, and since then in photographs which didn’t really do him justice. Seeing Jake up close and having his sparkling eyes boring down on her was incredible, and she smiled despite how she was feeling - she really didn’t want to smile at Jake, he had broken her best friend’s heart!
“Can I see Victoria please? I hear she is staying with you.” Jake took his hands out of his pocket and rubbed them together as he moved from one foot to the other trying to keep warm.
“No. Victoria is not here.”
“Look Alice, I know you don’t know me but please believe me when I say that I really need to see Victoria. Please, can you tell her I am here?”
“No I can’t.” Alice said starting to close the door.
“Wait, please. Can I at least get a warm cup of something to drink before you send me away? Or use the bathroom, I could really use a warm bathroom right now.” Jake said before Alice had a chance to close the door fully.
Alice breathed a huge sigh, whatever Jake had or hadn’t done she couldn’t ignore the fact he obviously had come out of his way to see Victoria since they were a good few hours drive from London. In fact she was surprised Jake was in England at all considering there were photographs of him in Miami just a couple of days ago, she had caught Victoria looking at them.
“Okay, come in. But Victoria is not here so you won’t be seeing her.”
Jake smiled and walked through the open door into the warm hallway. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me just yet, you haven’t heard what I have to say to you Mr Cumberland.”
“Call me Jake.”
“Right now that’s a very polite version of what I would like to call you.” Alice said as she walked back into the kitchen. Jake winced as he walked through the doorway Alice pointed out to him, he had a feeling he was not in for an easy time.
Jake walked out of the bathroom feeling relieved and much warmer. He went in search of Alice in the kitchen but she called through from the dining room for him to join her in there.
“I am on my lunch break from work so I don’t have much time but you are welcome to join me.” She said indicating to a plate of sandwiches she had made for Jake and a pot of tea.
“Thank you, that is very kind.” Jake said as he took a seat at the dining table and poured himself some black tea.
“Milk?”
“No thank you.”
Alice shrugged, so not an English cup of tea then. “Why are you here Jake?
“Because I really need to see Victoria.” Jake took a bite of his sandwich and nodded to Alice, it was good and his stomach welcomed the food.
“Sorry but I don’t think that is a good enough answer, and at the moment Victoria doesn’t want to see you.”
“Why? I don’t understand. I told her in Miami that I believe she had nothing to do with the theft of my file. I told her I still wanted her to work on my campaign, I just needed a bit of time to think about it all, she is not the only one who has been let down in the past by someone and it was all a lot to take in.”
“Your words mean nothing when your actions do something else.” Alice looked at Jake with eyes of steel, she was furious he cheated on Victoria. She didn’t deserve it.
Jake sighed and put his sandwich down, “You are talking about the photograph of me the night before Victoria left Miami? That is what I want to explain to Victoria, I didn’t sleep with Natasha, the woman in the photograph. I went out for a drink with some friends and we both had a lot to drink. I was taking her home and then I went home myself. Nothing happened between her and me. Nothing at all.”
Alice laughed icily, “I have seen the pictures myself Jake, it certainly looks like something happened! Please don’t play Victoria, or me, for a fool.”
“I am not. I have no reason to lie to you or Victoria. If I wanted to go off and be with another woman then I would, but I didn’t and I don’t. I love Victoria.”
“How can you sit here and say that? If you ever loved Victoria it certainly didn’t take you long to get over her. You know she has seen the photograph of you and the women in the newspapers, and it has nearly torn her apart. After everything she did for you, that was how you repaid her! That was the final straw.”
Jake looked at Alice wondering what it was that both Andrea and Alice seemed to know that he didn’t.
Alice let out a gasp, “Oh my goodness, you really don’t know do you? I just assumed Victoria told you.”
“Told me what?”
Alice shook her head not believing Victoria hadn’t told Jake, and at least made him pay her back the seventy-five thousand pounds, if not more, she had lost to Mark. To Jake it was small change and he would be able to write out a cheque there and then for it, but to Victoria that was everything she had.
“Told me what?” Jake pressed, he wanted to know what was obviously so important.
“When Mark stole your file Victoria was trying to get it back.”
“Yes I know that.”
“But I don’t think you know what she had to do to stop Mark from selling the contents of your file.”
Jake closed his eyes and his whole body flushed red as he remembered Victoria walking out of Mark’s hotel room with the file in her hands. Had she had to pay Mark that way?
Seeing the look on Jake’s face Alice guessed what he was thinking and quickly continued, “No she wouldn’t do that! Sorry Jake, but Victoria wouldn’t sell herself, not even for you.”
Jake opened his eyes relieved. “What do you mean, even for me? I don’t expect any special treatment just because of who I am.”
“I didn’t mean that Jake. To be honest you seem like a decent sort of guy to me. I meant because she is in love with you. Do you actually have any idea just how much Victoria loves you?”
Jake sat back in his chair and took a sip of his black tea – he thought he knew Victoria loved him, but then he wasn’t so sure. Now he just hoped she did love him because he was seriously in love with her.
“Alice, I am going to be one hundred percent honest with you.”
Alice nodded her head, she was all ears.
“I really love Victoria and I need to know what she did, and I need to get her back. I don’t want to be without her and, as her best friend I understand how you want to protect her, but I need you to believe me. Trust me and help me, please.”
Alice looked at Jake sitting opposite her. He was either the world’s best liar or he really loved Victoria, she could see it in his eyes.
“Okay Jake.
So Mark took the file and said he would give it back to Victoria but when he knew what was inside it he decided he wanted financial compensation for returning the file. So Victoria struck a deal so he would sign the confidentiality agreement and wouldn’t leak or sell any of your secrets.”
“What was the deal?” Jake sat still listening intently. What had she done?
“She didn’t sell her part of the house to Mark. She gave him her share. Victoria signed it over to him, all her deposit and capital, seventy-five thousand pounds worth of it, could be even more.
“What? That’s about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars!”
“It would have been worth even more than that if she had held onto the house Jake, but she just gave it all to Mark, for you. That was everything she had, the deposit she paid for the house and her share in it. She is left with just the money she has in her bank account and that’s not that much, trust me.”
Jake stood up to walk around the small dining room and ran his hands through his hair. So many thoughts were rushing through his mind. He sat back down again, but stood up again and wandered around the room.
“Sit down Jake and eat your sandwich.” Alice said seeing how surprised he was.
Jake sat down again.
“But why didn’t she tell me? Why didn’t she ask me to pay him off? I would have paid him off myself.”
“I don’t know why she didn’t tell you, maybe she was too proud, or thought it was something she had to do because she felt responsible for what Mark did.”
“She wasn’t responsible. Yes she was careless in leaving someone in her office when her drawer wasn’t locked, but we have all made mistakes.”
“You and I know that, but then maybe she would have told you if she hadn’t thought you cheated on her that very same night with the actress!” Alice said looking pointedly at Jake.
