by A. E. Radley
“Okay,” Emily nodded and watched as Henry flopped on a comfortable looking sofa and stared up the ceiling while whispering to Tiny about the taxi adventures.
“Are you sure she’ll be okay with this?” Emily asked again.
“Positive,” Simon said with a serious nod. “If it makes you feel better I can call her on the flight? But I know she sometimes sleeps.”
Emily shook her head quickly. “No…no…I don’t want to disturb her.” she looked around. “It’s big, isn’t it?”
Simon laughed. “Yeah, it’s massive but then she does live here.”
Emily looked around again and sighed. “It just feels weird to be here, you know? I feel like I’m trespassing.”
“Well, I think you better settle in.” Simon indicated Henry with a nod of his head. “Because it looks like someone is exhausted from all the excitement today.”
Emily looked over at her son who had fallen asleep on the sofa, Tiny wrapped in the crook of his arm and his thumb firmly in his mouth.
“Look, I need to get back to the office to do some stuff,” Simon said. “Feel free to use the Wi-Fi and Olivia’s iPad is on the coffee table if you need it. I’ll pop back after work and we can call Olivia then and tell her what’s going on so you feel less like a squatter.”
Emily laughed. “Thanks, I think!”
“Seriously though.” Simon smiled. “Chill out, watch some TV, call those journalists, whatever. But don’t worry about Olivia, she’ll be fine.”
Simon handed her the keycard and she took it with a grateful smile. “Thank you so much, Simon. I really don’t know what we would have done without you.”
“See? Sometimes accepting help is a good thing. I’ll come by again around five o’clock. If you need anything feel free to give me a call. Do you still have my card?”
Emily nodded and Simon said goodbye as he headed over to the door and showed himself out. Emily turned and looked around the large suite and shook her head as she whispered to herself, “Oh, White, what are you getting yourself into?”
CHAPTER 17
Emily had to begrudgingly admit that the hotel was amazing. The room had a perfect view of Southampton Row below, as well as the Applewood Financial offices across the road, but large netted curtains maintained the privacy of her suite.
Henry spent hours looking out of the window watching people below, calling out every time he saw a black taxi or a red bus, as well as providing frequent weather updates whenever it started to rain. When Henry had initially commented that he could see Simon, Emily had assumed that he was walking in the street, getting lunch or running errands, but when Henry pointed directly opposite, she realised they could see straight into the offices from their lounge.
Emily looked out of the window herself and saw Simon sat in a small office next door to a larger executive office. He scribbled down a note and walked into the larger office, which Emily now took to be Olivia’s. The room was spacious with ceiling-to-floor windows that stretched across the entire office. Emily squinted to pick out the details in Olivia’s office in an attempt to discover more about her but when she realised what she was doing she stepped back and shook her head. She gently pulled Henry away from the window and reminded him that snooping on people wasn’t very nice and told him to play with his toys instead.
After a while Emily had given up with using her phone to look for other hostels and picked up the iPad. The screen on the phone was too small to properly see the pictures of the rooms and this time she wanted to scrutinise them well, to be sure of what she was getting herself into. She sat on the sofa with Henry, who watched television and drifted in and out of sleep, Tiny held tight in his arms and a blanket wrapped around him. Eventually he fell into a deep sleep and Emily carried him into the second bedroom, now their bedroom, and put him to bed. She drew the curtains and closed the door before heading back into the living room.
Just after five o’clock, there came a knock on the door. Emily checked the peephole to see Simon standing in the hallway with paperwork under his arm, his phone in his hand, and a pen in his mouth. She opened the door and he walked in and quickly placed the files on the coffee table.
“Evening.” He took the pen from his mouth and gave her his familiar cheeky grin. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, we’re all good. Henry’s asleep at the moment. How are you doing?”
“Busy, we’ve just been given instructions for a major restructuring.” Simon started to open up files and take out pieces of paperwork. “When Olivia calls, I’m going to have to brief her on all of this.”
“Do you need me to leave you to it?”
“Nah,” he shook his head. “Nothing too confidential; just wanted to warn you that I need to talk to her about all of this and then I’ll tell her about you guys staying here.”
Emily nodded, still nervous about the conversation. “I spent hours looking online for other places to stay but they are either booked up, too far away, in a bad area, or out of my price range.”
Simon sat on the sofa as he organised pieces of paperwork. “Tell me about it. After I graduated in York, I decided to come to London, you know, to make my fortune in the city. I didn’t really think it through and certainly didn’t do any research. I stayed in a cheap hotel on the first night making appointments for a week in advance just to speak with recruitment companies. So I realised I needed somewhere else to stay, and quickly, until I got a job. Everything I could afford was too far out of London. What I was saving in accommodation costs, I would end up paying in travel instead.”
“What did you do?”
“I ended up staying in a hostel,” he said. “First night was a bit scary. It was a big dorm room but I met a bunch of guys and they seemed nice enough. I got a bit lax, a bit naïve I suppose, on the third night they stole my wallet and I had to ring my dad and beg for him to send some money.” Simon laughed at the memory but Emily was horrified.
“That’s terrible!”
“Yep,” Simon agreed. “But I didn’t let it stop me. I chalked it up to a bad experience and then I found a new hostel and stayed there. I was a bit more cautious with my belongings and who I trusted, though. I ended up staying there for a month while I got some temporary work.”
“Maybe I could stay there?” Emily suggested.
“It’s a male-only place,” Simon said apologetically. “But not in that way though, I’m straight,” he joked.
She laughed. “Okay there, macho,” she replied with a wink.
Simon grinned. “Just wanted to clear that up. I know the intensive personal grooming, snappy dress sense, and well-spoken manner can sometimes confuse people.”
“I did wonder.”
He rolled his eyes. “I wish I was gay, I really do. I think I’d really be hot stuff on the gay scene but, sadly, no.”
“No girlfriend?” Emily quizzed.
“No,” Simon said with a shake of the head. “There’s this girl, but I don’t think she knows I’m interested in her. Mainly because every time I’m around her, I panic and become incapable of speech.”
“But you seem so chatty!”
“I am,” he agreed. “People have to frequently tell me to shut up, but when I see this girl, I just forget how to talk and if I do say anything, it’s always something stupid. Like last week I asked her if she likes Frisbees.”
“Frisbees?” She blinked for a second before laughing.
“I know. Stupid.” Simon laughed. “Why would a sensible person say that?”
“Why did you say that?”
“I play in a Frisbee team. I thought we’d get into a discussion about Frisbees and I could tell her about my awesome Frisbee skills.” Simon waggled his eyebrows. “But then, as I said it, I realised that only a mental person would ask something like that.”
Their laughter was interrupted by Simon’s phone ringing. “It’s Olivia, I need to put her on loudspeaker so I can make notes.”
He answered the phone. “Evening, boss,” he said with
a smile.
“Good afternoon, Simon,” Olivia replied in reference to the time difference in New York.
“Just letting you know that you’re on speaker. Have you checked your emails?” Simon asked.
“I got as far as your email that said to call you urgently,” Olivia said, over the background noise of a busy airport.
“Cool,” Simon said. “TCA Engineering is on the brink of insolvency, Peters and Co want us to do an emergency restructure to try to rescue the business.”
“I see,” Olivia said. “Well, this was what we expected after their last set of accounts were delayed.”
“I’ve sent you all the accounts we have, plus the debtors and creditors lists. There’s some interesting reading,” Simon said.
“What figures are we looking at?” Olivia asked.
“Debts of around four hundred and twenty million at the last count.” Simon winced as he read out the figure.
“Any property?” Olivia asked. “Equipment?”
“Six warehouses.” Simon picked up a piece of paper. “Valued at a combined thirty-four million. Equipment in the region of seventy-two million, vehicles totalling twenty-three million.”
“Contracts?” Olivia asked, not missing a beat.
“Three majors, two are agreed at fifty-one million and seventeen million respectively and the third is shaky but provisionally agreed at forty-seven million.”
“Okay,” Olivia said. “So we have two hundred and forty-four, we just need the other one hundred and seventy-six million.”
Simon nodded and grinned at Emily who was raising her eyebrows, impressed at Olivia’s mental calculations while on the go, not to mention the way she dealt with such enormous amounts of money with such ease.
“What kind of salary bill are we looking at?” Olivia asked.
“Let me double-check that.” Simon looked through some papers. “One hundred and fifteen million and we need that by Tuesday.”
Olivia sighed. “Okay, how many employees?”
“Five hundred and eighty-three,” Simon replied.
“I’ll draft a statement this afternoon but, in the meantime, it’s the usual message: We’ll do what we can, no forced redundancies, etcetera, etcetera,” Olivia said. “Is the managing director still that awful man?”
Simon laughed at Olivia’s question. “Yes, Frederick Stokes.”
“I don’t think he likes me,” Olivia commented.
“No, he doesn’t,” Simon agreed. “When he called up this afternoon to speak to you, he called you ‘the uptight bitch.’”
Emily’s eyes snapped up and she frowned at Simon.
“Charming,” Olivia replied without missing a beat. “Well, no one likes the restructurers.”
“No,” Simon agreed looking over at Emily as he continued to speak. “But then I don’t think they understand that you’re trying to protect jobs by making the hard decisions for them, rather than just in it for the money.”
“Quite right. As I always say: It’s business, not a popularity contest. I’ll call him when I’ve reviewed the files for myself.”
“He’s expecting your call.”
“Thank you, Simon Is there anything else?”
“Yes, one other thing,” Simon looked at the phone laying on the table as he spoke. “I invited Emily and Henry White to stay in the suite, I assume that’s okay?”
There was a brief pause on the phone, barely long enough to be detectable. “Of course, yes. It would remain unused if they didn’t.”
“Yep, thought so, Emily wanted me to check with you though,” Simon explained.
“I see. Did you pass on my apologies?” Olivia’s voice had changed from the confident financial executive to a more hesitant tone.
“I did,” Simon said simply.
“Oh.” Sorrow that the apology had been dismissed was palpable in Olivia’s tone.
Emily looked guiltily at Simon, wishing she could speak and clear the air.
“The hostel wasn’t suitable,” Simon explained. “I suggested the suite while Emily looks for somewhere else.”
“Of course,” Olivia understood. “Oh, and did you pass on the journalists’ information?”
“I did that, too,” Simon said. A moment’s silence passed before Simon spoke again. “I’m actually at the suite, would you like to speak with Emily yourself?”
“I don’t think she wants to speak with me again.”
In the same moment Emily held out her hand for the phone. “I think she does.” Simon smiled. “I’ll hand you over now.” Simon took the phone off of speaker and handed it to Emily who stood up and walked over to the window.
“Hello, Olivia.”
“Emily.” Olivia’s voice sounded hesitant and small. “I’m very sorry for what I said. I think it came across wro—”
“I know,” Emily cut off the apology, not wanting Olivia to tie herself in further knots over the incident.
“How is Henry?” Olivia asked softly.
Emily smiled, Olivia’s genuine concern for her son was heart-warming. “He’s sleeping but doing really well. Enjoying the suite. Thank you for letting us stay here. I promise we’ll be out of here when you get back on Monday.”
“You don’t have to run away from me,” Olivia said quietly. “I understand if you don’t want to see me again but I would like to have a chance to apologise properly, if I may? Face to face.”
“I—I’d like that.” Emily looked at Simon’s reflection in the window and saw him engrossed in paperwork. “I mean, to see you again, not to hear you apologise again. I realise I was as much to blame for that as you. We miscommunicated. Simple as that.”
“Story of my life.” Olivia sighed.
“Maybe we could have lunch when you’re back in London?” Emily asked. “Maybe on Monday?” Olivia hesitated for a moment and Emily quickly added, “I know that Henry would love to see you again. He didn’t get to talk to you last time you visited him.”
“Yes, meeting for lunch on Monday would be lovely. I will need to be close to the office, in case I’m needed.”
“How about here? It feels weird to invite you to lunch in your own suite but I could set up something before we leave? Think of it as my way of apologising to you.” Emily smiled as she turned to Simon who was fiddling with his paperwork but clearly listening in.
“W-why are you apologising to me?” Olivia stuttered.
“For flying off the handle,” Emily said. “I realise I didn’t give you a chance to explain and I know you’ve told me you’re prone to miscalculations and I need to allow for that.”
Simon threw his hands up in the air and silently mouthed, “Yeah!”
“That…that sounds lovely,” Olivia admitted. “I must go; I have lots of calls to make. I hope you enjoy the suite; the breakfast is divine and I’m sure Henry will enjoy the pancakes.”
“Yes, I bet he will! Thank you, Olivia. See you on Monday.”
“See you on Monday,” Olivia confirmed and Emily handed the phone back to Simon.
“Hi,” Simon said and quickly jotted down some instructions from Olivia. “No problem, I’ll probably speak with you tomorrow.”
He hung up the phone and looked apologetically at Emily. “I’m sorry for the subterfuge and having her on loudspeaker, I know it sounds awful but sometimes you have to push Olivia into social situations and conversations.”
“I did wonder,” Emily confessed.
“So. Lunch, eh?”
“Just lunch.” Emily smiled nonchalantly but still managed to blush.
“Mm hm.” Simon started to gather pieces of paper together.
Emily broke down and laughed. “Okay, so I’m seeing another side to her, thanks to you,” she admitted. “It doesn’t mean anything, I just…Henry likes her.”
“Yeah, Henry likes her.” Simon nodded vigorously. “That’s it.”
“He does!”
“I know, I’m agreeing with you,” Simon said with a wide grin.
“You’re a
brat,” she laughed as Simon gathered his papers and stood up.
“Yep, a brat who’s going home because he’s going to have to work this weekend. Fancy having lunch with me tomorrow? I can come over to see you and giraffe man.”
“Sure, as long as you don’t talk about Frisbees.”
Simon pouted and she laughed as she walked him to the door and patted him on the shoulder kindly.
* * *
The weekend passed quickly for Emily despite spending most of it cooped up in the hotel suite with a convalescing Henry. True to his word, Simon came by for lunch on both Saturday and Sunday. Henry started to develop a friendship with the older man who made him laugh with funny voices and stories about the open-top tourist buses with no roofs so the giraffes could sit on the top deck.
While Henry stared out of the window waiting for open-top buses with giraffe passengers, Simon told Emily about the woman he was hopelessly trying to flirt with, a barista at a local coffee shop. Emily laughed as he told her stories about his awkward attempts to converse with the woman. Apparently, Olivia’s caffeine intake was going through the roof with his frequent trips to the coffee shop.
Outside of Simon’s visits, Henry slept a lot, which the doctor assured her was completely normal for the small boy while on medication and still recovering from his operations. While browsing websites, Emily had found a couple of good hostels which she could afford by stretching her budget a little. She knew it would be tight but it would be worthwhile to ensure that Henry was somewhere safe and clean for the last few days of his stay in London.
After a conversation with a friendly freelance journalist, she managed to agree to an article that would also highlight the great work at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. She also agreed for a photograph of Henry to be taken at the hospital with his doctor and a couple of his favourite nurses. The tone of the article was one that Emily was much happier with and she felt relieved that she could give something back. The publicity would help the hospital with future fundraising.
