by S M Mala
She replied.
‘Your stepson hates me and seems to think I’ve got ulterior motives for being there. He already tried to stop me from going into the files so I don’t think it’s the accounts he’s after. Anyway, all sorted now and I can deal with him. Why is he here? Surely being so important he can go and play somewhere else? I will come and visit next week. Half term and Daisy is at fit club. Marketing plan going ahead whether Finlay Chambers likes it or not. And yes, I expect he wants to close the place down but he hasn’t got a leg to stand on. And Stephen split with Emilie and I am so not going out with him to stop him from talking. I’ll ask Samina to do the dirty deed instead. Sly xxx.’
Daisy was dropped off at fit club for a half term alternative to school then Sylvie walked down the road to work. She was going to be late but was prepared to stay until one o’clock so Finlay wouldn’t sniff at her short hours. Knowing they were going to be busy due to the orders that had come in over the weekend, she smiled at the prospect of Christmas and New Year being a success and how she’d planned the week to start the PR campaign rolling to back up the marketing.
‘Sylviana!’ she heard someone call and instantly turned to see Alice Caplin standing by the hotel.
She stopped dead in her tracks.
Sylvie hadn’t spoken to her for over three years, a few weeks after her husband had died. She froze, remembering how angry she had made her along with the mother in law. Not knowing what to do, she didn’t want to make conversation, so started to walk.
‘Sylviana, will you please stop?’ Alice shouted out and Sylvie slowed down to a halt but refused to turn around.
The footsteps were coming up behind her with expensive high heel clatter. Alice walked in front of her and looked down, as she was a tall woman, very graceful and attractive for her age which was probably in her late sixties. She knew she was older than Piers.
‘I’m late for work and I don’t want that to be a reason to close down the company,’ she said avoiding eye contact.
‘You look really well, you really do,’ she heard her say as Sylvie gulped. ‘I’m not here to cause trouble.’
‘I’m going to be late and I don’t want to talk to you, Alice.’
‘I know you’re still upset about what happened and-.’
‘Don’t you dare!’ snapped Sylvie looking into the same green eyes as Finlay’s which riled her more. ‘You know what she did was wrong. I asked you to stop her, if only for Daisy’s sake and you refused. Don’t come here and tell me I’m upset, okay! And then only that woman could ask you to ask me to leave my husband’s funeral! Tell me and my family we’re not welcomed at her home. Are you proud of that?’
‘It was a very awful-.’
‘And the DNA? Asking to see if Daisy was really his child? How dare you even come near me! She’s a fucking bitch and you’re no better getting your company lawyers to attack me! You shouldn’t even be speaking to me, you know the score!’
‘I don’t want to argue,’ Alice said calmly while wringing her hands. ‘I made a mistake.’
‘I don’t care! You did it for her so both my child and I suffered!’ shouted Sylvie, getting very angry. ‘What do you want?’
‘I know you run his company, I know all the things you do for Piers, I’m not stupid but you know and I know, he’s not up to it. Can’t you convince him to sell it on to someone else? I care about his health and he needs to rest. The worry isn’t-.’
‘Let me stop you there,’ Sylvie said stepping closer to her. ‘Don’t ask me for favours, because you’re certainly not getting any from me and why don’t you tell your husband what you think? I care about Piers and I don’t want him to be ill but the company isn’t closing and he will sell it on when he wants to.’ Then she went closer seeing Alice was getting annoyed. ‘Or why don’t you close it down? That’s what your golden boy plans to do but let me tell you something, Alice Caplin, he’s going to have to fight me! And don’t go telling Finlay Chambers anything about me or I’ll tell him things about you and I guarantee he won’t be impressed. Tell Freya I hope she’s sorry for what she did to my daughter and me as she’s never going to have any contact with her again because she’s an evil fucking viper bitch!’
Literally sprinting into work and nearly getting knocked over at Chiswick roundabout, she was shaking as she got a double espresso and went to Krystof to bum a cigarette, which she hadn’t smoked for ten years. Sylvie went round to the other side of the warehouse so she could look at the traffic on the Great West Road. After two puffs she put the cigarette out and knocked back her heavily sweetened coffee before composing herself and walking into the building.
There was a wall of noise as soon as the door was opened. The music was on full blast and Samina had taken control of the radio which was tuned to hits from the seventies and eighties. She looked at her hands and they were trembling.
‘Sly,’ Matthew said walking into the building with his usual cheery smile. ‘Me nearly knock ya over gal! Ya fly pass! Me never see ya run so fast!’
‘Exercise,’ she said smiling at him before walking over to Marianne. ‘Lots of orders I see. Is everything okay?’
‘Why didn’t you come on Friday?’ Marianne asked accusingly. ‘The boss man bought us lots of drink. Stephen was so pissed he had to be bundled into a cab!’ She started to laugh. ‘He’s alright y’know.’
‘Stephen?’ Sylvie asked seeing her friend raise her eyebrows. ‘Or him?’
‘Mind you, Della was sniffin’ around ya man. He was in early, helpin’ out.’
‘He’s here to cause trouble so don’t forget it.’
‘Sylvie, Finlay seems friendly enough. It’s a Scottish name so can’t be all that bad.’
‘Don’t trust him.’
She walked quickly along the pathway and sprinted up the stairs towards the office. As she opened the door he looked at her.
‘Good morning,’ he said as she tried to pull herself together.
‘Morning!’ she replied and threw her bag on the desk before storming into the room where Toby was working, making him jump.
‘Hello!’ Toby said brightly turning to smile at her and she couldn’t even muster the same. ‘What’s up?’
‘Can I sit here for a moment? I just need to pull my thoughts together.’
‘I’m flattered you want to spend time with me,’ he said gently, his big blue eyes smiling brightly at her. ‘Sit here.’
Sylvie took a seat next to him as she watched him edit the packages of a new range of waterproof vibrators. Staring hard at the screen, she noted his mistakes but said nothing before gently taking the pen out of his hand and correcting the minor errors. Toby didn’t say a word as she then handed the pen back.
‘Why didn’t you come out on Friday?’ he whispered. ‘I missed you.’
‘I couldn’t and I don’t like leaving Daisy, you know that.’ Sylvie let out a little groan before turning to look at him. ‘Your brother hates me and this business.’
‘Oh I know,’ he smiled and carried on working. ‘But he’s not thinking straight at the moment so just keep out of his way. The only way he’d back down is if you agreed to start seeing me.’ Toby started to laugh as Sylvie shook her head. ‘I know you won’t ever but I can dream, can’t I?’
‘I’m an old ugly widow who can’t offer you a future with children and things a young man needs. You make me feel good when sometimes I just feel bad,’ she sighed. ‘And I really appreciate that Toby, you know I do. I’d really like you to meet someone and be happy but don’t rush it. Don’t make a mistake.’
‘Oh god, I’m certainly not going to do that and Sly, you’re not an ugly old widow, you’re a beauty and that’s why I like you. Now look at Finlay. He marries his perfect woman and she’s a perfect old slut but he can’t see it. I’m not as stupid as him.’
‘Love makes you do silly things,’ Sylvie said hoping Finlay was really in a shitty relationship, as this would make her happy knowing everything wasn’t perfect for him. Then s
he felt mean. ‘He’ll work it out.’
‘I don’t want him to,’ said Toby turning his chair to face her. ‘I want him to stay in London forever. He needs to see that woman for what she is, a money grabbing slut and I intend to make sure he does.’
‘Well I hope he works it out then he can fuck off back to France.’
He couldn’t fathom out why but he felt happy that Monday. Finlay had met up with some university friends and gone out over the weekend, even telling them about his separation. It felt liberating as well as upsetting but it was his way forward.
Juliette had emailed Saturday morning to say she wasn’t prepared to take any intrusive tests to determine who the father was and that he should respect that, at the end of the day, it was her baby. And on that note Finlay replied to say it was best for her to keep that thought as he was prepared to move on without her. Her response to him was full of expletives and accusations that he was screwing about.
Deep down he knew that the split was going to be hard on him.
Then he saw Sylvie looking pissed off as she walked in and that perked him up, knowing something had wound her up. Also, after speaking to Stephen, there was the possibility that Piers and Sylvie were doing something with the profits.
His focus would be in finding out their secrets.
Sylvie was glowing but not in a happy way. Her cheeks were very shiny and her hair was loose, falling around her shoulders and down her back. She darted a glance before grabbing her locks and putting them in a large hair grip then sat down.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked gently and smiled at her furious expression, which seemed childlike as she narrowed her eyes in the direction of her laptop bag, pulling it out and plugging it in.
‘Just a minor irritation,’ she replied and forced a smile. ‘Did you have a nice weekend Mr Chambers?’
‘I had a wonderful weekend, thank you for asking. And you?’ He smirked seeing her grimace. ‘Did you do anything interesting?’
‘All my weekends are interesting as I spend them with my child. Thank you for asking.’
Finlay stood up and put on the radio before sitting back down. All he could see was Sylvie frowning at her screen before grimacing. She shook her head before picking up the phone.
‘Della, could you come in please?’ she asked quietly, as he watched Della, in the other office, stand up and smooth down her dress before strutting towards them.
Finlay smiled at her for a second as the woman stood next to Sylvie, who seemed oblivious to the flirting going on in the room.
‘This is the up dated website. I was testing it yesterday and it seems all okay. Can I send it over to you to find out any gripes?’ she said and Finlay immediately sat up as Sylvie’s eyes turned to his. ‘And I’d like to send it to you as well.’
‘Sure,’ he said not liking the fact she was in a bad mood and being nice. ‘You know I need to see your marketing plan and changes you make to the e-commerce site.’
‘The company is called ‘Piers Caplin Ltd’ under ‘Chambers Caplin Holdings’ and the marketing brand name is … have you got a pen and paper?’
Della flashed Finlay a smile as if to point out who was the boss in the room. He just opened a page on his laptop.
‘‘Good Vibration’,’ Sylvie said. ‘You do know that don’t you? It’s on our headed paper and packaging.’
‘The name is rather tacky, don’t you think?’ he sniffed.
‘I think it’s pretty catchy,’ Sylvie said tiredly as he started to get annoyed with her again. ‘I’m sure when you sit down with your mummy you can tell her how crap my marketing plan is. I never went to private school, you see.’
It was a massive dig and he knew she’d turned her nose up at him that moment as Della’s eyes widened for a second.
‘I don’t need to tell my mother-.’
‘Me thinks you does,’ she said and turned to Della, before smiling brightly. ‘That’s all. Can you come back to me as soon as you can? It looks good doesn’t it?’
Finlay stood up and went around his desk to see what she was looking at as he bent over and stared at her screen. Annoyingly it looked sophisticated and alluring with little reference to the old website. He turned to look at her and realised she was staring at him.
‘I’ll go then?’ he heard Della say as he was lost in Sylvie’s very angry eyes.
‘What’s your problem?’ he whispered realising Della was hovering in the room.
‘Ask you mother!’ hissed back Sylvie, as suddenly he got a waft of her scent and was a little shocked to find she smelt nice and was quite beautiful close up.
‘I’ll speak to you both later then,’ Della said as the door shut.
Finlay sat back down and looked at Sylvie, realising her hair was falling out of her clip. He composed himself before realising they were on the verge of having another quarrel.
‘Why did you mention my mother? Do you think she controls me?’
He gauged his tone was even and not confrontational.
‘She controls everything, well she likes to think.’
Sylvie avoided looking at him.
‘What has she ever done to you?’
Then he saw her glare directly at him, as if holding something back as she shook her head violently, her hair falling down.
‘I’m really busy. I can’t talk,’ she said and promptly shut up for the next hour, typing away as he tried not to look at her.
He opened his emails and looked through messages coming in from the other companies. Then he saw confirmation from the head accountants saying they were going through the records and might need more information. Finlay, knowing he’d have to keep it a secret from her, told them to contact Stephen discreetly without going through Piers or anyone else.
‘Tea and samosa?’ Samina asked, not even bothering to wait for the answer. ‘I made tamarind chutney for you Finlay.’
Finlay watched how Sylvie looked at Samina, glance at him then back at her computer.
‘That would be lovely,’ he said cheerfully. ‘I’m famished!’
‘He famished!’ said a delighted Samina as Sylvie continued to type furiously. ‘You will break laptop if you hit so hard. I feel suspension.’ Still no answer from Sylvie as Samina turned to look at him and frown. ‘You upset her?’
‘I think it’s the other way round,’ he said taking a bite of the samosa and seeing Sylvie had stopped typing.
She sat perfectly still as Samina handed her one on a plate and waited.
‘You eat,’ instructed the woman and Sylvie, still staring at her screen took a bite and placed it back down. ‘Sylvie, you need to use product then you be less uptight.’
‘I am not uptight!’ Sylvie shouted as Samina tried to hide her laugh and Finlay held a napkin to his mouth, mainly to avoid her seeing him smile.
‘She not uptight!’ said Samina loudly. ‘See what I do for her?’ She walked around the other side of the desk and went to the middle drawer. ‘I give her all this and she still not take it home. It prick of company.’
‘Perk,’ Sylvie corrected then shrugged.
Finlay stood up and walked around the desk to see it was filled with an array of sexual toys, sprays and other gadgets.
‘Use Sylvie and then you be less uptight, you be more loose,’ Samina said before walking out of the office and flashing Finlay a mischievous smile.
‘Don’t you seriously try out the products?’ he teased as she took another bite of her samosa and sipped her tea. ‘How do you know about what you’re selling if you’re not willing to try them?’
‘Because…’ she said taking a deep breath. ‘Do you walk in your wife’s ladies shoes that she so cleverly designs?’ Sylvie blew her hair out of her face. ‘There are other people in the company who prefer it more than I do. Help yourself!’
Finlay bent down then realised her top drawer was open.
It was the perfect opportunity.
‘What’s that?’ he said picking up the key cards and watched her face cha
nge to horror.
He wanted to laugh.
Twenty one
‘Oh?’ Sylvie knew she was stuck by his discovery.
Finlay held up the key cards and was examining the back. Her hand went to retrieve them but he put his arm in the air so she had to stand.
‘They really don’t belong to you,’ Sylvie said, her heart beating faster as she stepped closer to him. ‘Can I have them back?’
‘Aren’t these for the hotel down the road, you know the one you stormed out of last week when we were supposed to be having a nice lunch?’
‘You implied you were going to sack me so it wasn’t nice.’
‘I didn’t.’
‘You can’t,’ she said defiantly and was met with an equal look. ‘They’re Piers’s and I have to look after them.’
Finlay looked at her and she noticed he was smiling to himself for a moment before stepping closer so she had to look right up at him. Sylvie knew this was a tactic her husband would use when trying to make a point at being masterful. They were probably about the same height. Usually she would gently punch Roo in the stomach to wind him.
It was crossing her mind to use the same technique on Finlay but aim for his bollocks.
‘I don’t want to fight with you, personally, I haven’t got the energy. We do need to sit down and be perfectly honest about things,’ he gently said and grinned. ‘Can we go to lunch at this hotel then please can you explain exactly what Piers does? I know you’ve got something to do with the operation so don’t lie.’
Finlay took her hand and placed the key cards into her palm.
She didn’t know what to say.
That morning she had faced the mother, now she had to deal with the son who was being too nice. Sylvie let out a little sigh before realising she didn’t want to quarrel and, somehow, she needed support. Unfortunately it was going to have to be from the man who had his hand firmly wrapped around hers.
Pulling away she took the key cards and placed them in her bag as she noticed he hadn’t moved.
‘Twelve thirty for lunch and you’re paying. Don’t tell the others, okay?’ she quietly replied as he walked out of the office and down the stairs. ‘Fine.’
