by Ber Carroll
‘No questions, Robert. I just want to take this opportunity to point out that the company will not only be setting monthly targets but as a result will also pay commissions monthly.’
All he is interested in is how much money he gets and when he gets it, Claire thought. She knew Robert well enough to see that he was irritated by the unnecessary interruption.
‘Thank you for adding that, Frank. We will be releasing a new commission plan that will spell out how it all works. We’ll organise a roadshow to launch the new plan. Now, any more questions?’ He scanned the audience briefly. ‘Well then, never let it be said that I stood in the way of the bar.’ This got a laugh, chairs were vacated with relief and a hum of conversation started as they all made their way out to the foyer.
The company had booked rooms at the venue so staff could shower and change before the formal dinner in the evening. Emma, Stacey and Claire were sharing a room. Black was the theme of the night and all guests had to be dressed from head to toe in it. Claire’s dress was figure-hugging velvet, with slits from knee to ankle on the sides. She wore her hair up, tendrils framing her face, and she spent quite some time with her make-up as the dress deserved it.
Robert was talking to Steve when he saw Claire walk in. She smiled and greeted a number of people on her way. She looked stunningly beautiful and he was immediately conscious of the looks she was getting from some of the other men. He wanted to go straight over to her, to be one of those singled out by her smile, but Steve was still talking animatedly about something that he should be paying attention to.
The pre-dinner cocktails were quite potent and Claire was feeling a little light-headed by the time they were ushered into the dining room. The Finance department sat together at a large round table, except for Robert who sat with the other executives. The mood was boisterous and an outrageous quantity of wine was quickly consumed. Whenever a table was served another bottle, someone would shout out their tally. James was determined that their table should drink the most. Even Alan Harris looked less grumpy, though Claire was glad she was sitting next to James and Emma and didn’t have to struggle to make conversation with him all night.
On the way to the bathroom after the main course, she realised she was much tipsier than she had thought. Lifting her dress to negotiate the wooden stairs was a very complicated exercise. Taking deep breaths in the privacy of the cubicle didn’t help. She decided to go outside and get some fresh air.
It’s so hot, no wonder I’m a little light-headed, she thought.
Making her way back down the stairs with a steady posture required intense concentration. She cursed the dress for being so long and awkward. She went outside, sitting down on one of the benches in the garden. Her head was spinning.
Don’t make a fool of yourself. Sober up and don’t drink any more. In fact, go home after the dessert.
‘Are you all right, Claire?’
Oh God, it’s Robert. How embarrassing!
‘Yes, I’m fine. I just needed some fresh air. It’s very stuffy in there,’ she said primly.
Then she spoilt the act by hiccuping and they looked at each other briefly before bursting into laughter.
‘Okay, I’ll own up. I think I had those first few cocktails a little too quickly.’
He sat down beside her, taking a box of cigarettes from his shirt pocket.
‘Would you like one?’ he asked, offering them to her.
She took one and he lit it, his face illuminated for a second. She inhaled too deeply, choking on the smoke in a very undignified manner.
‘Sorry, I don’t usually smoke. I don’t know why I took one,’ she giggled.
Robert stood up, laughing, and took her hand. ‘Come on. I’ll walk you around the garden. It might help.’
It sounded like a sensible plan. When she was standing he let go of her hand and led her by slightly touching her elbow.
‘Are you going to fire me for inappropriate behaviour?’ she asked, making a funny face at him.
‘You’ll be getting a serious warning, young lady, but I can’t afford to fire you. You work too hard.’
The trees were lit with hundreds of tiny bulbs that cast dusky light on the gravel path. Their crunching feet the only sound.
‘How long do you plan to stay in Australia?’ His voice was soft against the silence, almost part of it.
‘I don’t know. A few years. Depends on what happens at Amtech, I guess,’ she answered, distracted by him being so close.
‘Everyone thinks very highly of you. You can go far in the company. Would you consider moving to San Jose if a good opportunity came up?’ He turned to look at her briefly as they walked.
‘Yes, I would,’ she replied, keeping her eyes down, focusing on her unsteady feet, ‘but I do want to stay in Sydney a while yet.’
‘Of course … I was talking about a few years’ time. The company likes to keep its best people and I just want you to be aware that there are opportunities for you outside Australia.’
‘That’s good to know.’
‘Do you miss Dublin?’
‘No, not at all. Dublin has too many bad memories for me. Maybe I’ll miss it when those particular memories aren’t important any more.’
In the darkness, when he didn’t have her face to distract him, he noticed how beautiful her accent was. He couldn’t stop himself from probing further.
‘Are those memories connected with your ex-boyfriend?’
He felt her stiffen. ‘How do you know about that?’
‘Mark gave me some background information when he put your name forward for the role.’
‘How embarrassing! You must think I’m pathetic.’ She was mortified.
‘Not at all, Claire. I admire you for having the courage to start a new life. That’s part of the reason I’m in Sydney as well.’ He thought her ex-boyfriend must be very stupid to leave someone like her. He wanted to say it out loud but was unsure what her reaction would be. ‘You know, I visited Dublin about three years ago. Mark had just come on board and I went over there to do his induction. I remember being introduced to all his staff but I can’t remember meeting you.’
‘I may have been on study leave. I was doing my finals about then. Anyway, there are a lot of people in the Finance department in Dublin. I don’t think you would have remembered me if we had met.’
You’re wrong. Again, he had to stop himself from saying it out loud.
‘What about you?’ she asked. ‘Do you miss home?’
‘No. I haven’t been happy in California for many years.’
She didn’t know how to respond to that so she walked silently beside him until he spoke again.
‘My personal life has been one mistake after another. I have a lot of regrets.’
Claire was hit with the realisation that she liked Robert Pozos, his surprising lack of ego, his self-deprecating frankness.
‘You work very hard. Are your regrets due to the fact you committed too much to Amtech?’ She was asking the questions now – she wanted to know more about him.
‘Partly. That and poor judgement in the relationships I’ve had.’
They were almost back to the wide steps at the front entrance of the house, the brighter lights and the sound of music and voices hovering. Robert looked down at her, his face darkened by the shadows, his eyes glittering.
‘Do you feel okay to go back inside now?’ he asked, almost affectionately.
His hand was on her shoulder, she felt it brush her hair gently.
‘I think so. At least I have an annual leave day tomorrow, unlike some of the others who are going to be in a very sorry state in the morning … I’m sure we must have won the wine tally. Are you proud of us?’ She smiled up at him, teasing.
‘Very proud. Drinking is one of the most important skills in Finance, much more important than being numerate. That was very clever of you, arranging for tomorrow off. What are you planning to do?’ He was interested in how she spent her spare time.
�
��Sleep in. Go shopping.’ She braced her shoulders and lifted her head dramatically. ‘Here goes. I’m going in!’
Robert leaned forward and she felt something brush the top of her head.
Did he just kiss me?
She went inside, without looking back at him, knowing that he was standing there watching. Nobody had even noticed she was missing and she sat down and joined in the banter easily. She noticed that he came inside about ten minutes later. He sat down without looking in her direction. She must have imagined that intimacy in the garden. It wasn’t surprising, considering that she was more than a little drunk.
It hurt to move her head. She lay in bed for hours, too nauseous to get up. In addition to the dreadful headache, there was another sensation. It was almost like excitement. She compulsively replayed the scene in the garden, feeling his lips brush her hair, finding it impossible to know if it had all been in her imagination or not. She knew how easy it was to get things out of context when you were drunk.
Emma phoned her at four o’clock. ‘I’m absolutely dying. I’ve been cursing you all morning for having the day off,’ she complained. She sounded awful, her voice hoarse and cracked.
‘You can’t feel as bad as I do, believe me,’ Claire answered, massaging her head as she spoke. ‘I haven’t been able to get out of bed – I’ve wasted my precious day off.’
‘Poor Stacey has spent the day in the loo, being violently ill.’
‘That’s more than I needed to know, Emma.’ Claire’s stomach was still very sensitive and the image of Stacey throwing up didn’t help.
‘James rang in sick this morning. He said to tell you that he’s sorry but if there was any possible way for him to function, at any level, he would have come in. He’s promised to work on Sunday instead. Some chance.’
‘Did Robert come in?’ Claire hoped the enquiry sounded casual.
‘Yeah, he was in at nine this morning and has been working like a trouper all day,’ Emma answered, not detecting anything unusual about the question. ‘He came over and asked me some questions that I actually had to use my brain to answer. It nearly killed me.’
‘What time did you guys finish up last night?’ Claire had left straight after the meal.
‘About three in the morning.’ Emma sounded proud.
‘Really? Who was left there at that time?’
‘Myself, James, Alan Harris, Frank Williams and some others from Sales. The Sales crowd headed off to the casino to blow their hard-earned commission so we went home. Alan followed Frank to the casino like a puppy dog. He thinks he’s part of Frank’s inner circle.’
Claire wanted to ask what time Robert left but didn’t know how without being obvious. When she hung up, the inexplicable sense of excitement from earlier was gone. She realised that she had been subconsciously hoping that Robert would call her. She knew it was stupid, but she felt something had changed between them last night. It was now five o’clock; the day was over. He wasn’t going to call.
She went into work on Sunday so she could catch up on her messages. The lights were on and James was sitting at his desk, Paul standing next to him. They didn’t see her approach – they were preoccupied with whatever was on the screen of James’s computer.
‘Hello.’ She stopped right beside them but James closed the window before she could see what was on the screen.
‘What are you doing here, Paul?’ she asked.
‘I dropped James off.’
‘Yeah, my car is being serviced,’ James added.
‘On a Sunday?’ She raised her eyebrows in disbelief.
‘Yes, on a Sunday … this is an international city,’ James replied, his tone defensive.
‘Whatever you say,’ she snapped, giving him a sharp look. ‘Paul, sorry to move you but we have a company policy that James should know about – only staff are allowed beyond the reception area.’
‘Loosen up, Claire – you know Paul. We’re doing no harm.’ James smiled at her.
Claire knew he had some games on his desktop and suspected he was showing them off to Paul. She agreed it was harmless but wanted him to understand it was a serious breach of security. ‘We also have a policy that stipulates that staff, and only staff, can access our internal software. James should know that as well. I don’t know what you guys are doing here but you’d better get out of the system right now.’
‘But I came in here to do some work,’ James objected.
‘If you do something like this again, your future will be freed up and you won’t have to worry about work,’ she retorted.
She waited for him to log off and walked with them to the foyer.
She rang Fiona when she got back to her office.
‘Is James’s car in for a service today?’
‘Not that I know of. He gave me a lift home this morning and didn’t mention anything about it. The car does need a service, though, and he may well have booked it into the garage without telling me. Why?’
‘No reason. I’ll see you later.’
Claire started to go through her emails. When her phone rang she knew it would be James.
‘I’m sorry, Claire. I’m in trouble, aren’t I?’
‘You certainly are.’
‘It wasn’t as bad as it looked. We were only messing around with the games. A product of our boredom and nothing else.’
She did believe him but wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. ‘That’s no excuse. Paul works for Digicom. They’re a competitor, remember?’
‘I know,’ he responded, subdued. ‘I’m feeling very sheepish right now and can only offer you the consolation that what we were doing was harmless. I do understand that it was totally inappropriate and it won’t happen again.’
‘It better not.’
Chapter 13
Robert went to New Zealand on business for the following two weeks. Claire missed him around the office. It was different without him, mundane, dull.
On his first day back, a video conference was scheduled with Ireland for 8.00 pm. Claire wasn’t sure who she was more nervous about seeing, Robert or Michael. She was thankful that Emma was going to be there as well. She would take some of the edge off the tension.
‘Let’s try to wrap this one up quickly. I’m sure you ladies have much more exciting plans for a Friday night,’ Robert said, smiling at them both when they turned up at the boardroom.
‘Oh, you know me, work being the most important thing in my life, I turned down all the other offers I got for tonight,’ Emma flirted with him cheekily.
He looked at Claire briefly, expecting her to join in on the banter. She couldn’t think of anything witty to say. Seeing him again shocked her. Over the last two weeks she had finally admitted to herself that she did find him attractive. She hated to join all the other swooning women but she couldn’t get him or the kick-off night out of her head. Fantasy had taken over and filled in the pieces of the night that she couldn’t remember. The scene in the garden had about five different endings now, in a few of which they ended up making love. When reality broke through, she reminded herself that Robert would never be interested in someone as ordinary and inexperienced as she was.
‘Does anyone know how to link up?’ Robert asked, gesturing to the equipment on the table.
Claire sprang into action, glad to have something to do. She dialled the Dublin number and Mark and Michael were on the screen within seconds. Seeing Michael made her heart squeeze, and though the pain was much diminished, it still hurt.
‘Good evening’ and ‘Good morning’ was said simultaneously.
‘Robert, this is Michael Lehane, the IT implementation manager for the Oracle Upgrade Project.’
Michael nodded when Mark introduced him. His hair was shorter, and his tan suggested he had been away on holiday. Of course he wouldn’t be married yet, but Claire still found herself searching his left hand for a ring.
‘The upgrade has been very smooth and successful over here, and we expect it to be even more so
in Australia,’ said Michael. ‘Have you had a look at the rollout timetable that we sent on?’
He stared at Claire while he spoke. She felt Robert glance her way. ‘Yes, we have,’ she answered slowly. ‘We have no issues with it.’
Mark nodded approvingly. ‘Good, that brings us to resources and travel. Will you need Michael to take a hands-on approach and go to Sydney for the rollout? Or can you drive it from your end with support coming from here?’
He directed the question to Robert. Claire paled. She hadn’t even considered the possibility of Michael coming to Sydney. Again, she felt Robert glance in her direction.
‘I think we can cover it from here and save on the travel costs. We have Claire, Emma and James on site. They should be able to facilitate any information that Michael might need. Can you see into the Australian accounts from Dublin?’
‘Yes, but the access is slow. It would make the testing phase easier and faster if the information was downloaded from your side and sent to me by email. I can play around with it here until we are ready to do the live updates,’ Michael responded, his voice strong, his accent pronounced. It was funny how she had never noticed before how attractive his voice was. Emma looked appreciative.
‘Any problems with downloading the information from here?’ Robert asked Claire and Emma.
‘We can get vendor details … and possibly the invoice and payment history,’ Emma confirmed. ‘Would that be sufficient for the testing?’
‘Yes,’ Michael’s smile brought back a thousand memories for Claire, ‘that’s all we’ll need for now.’
The call ended shortly afterwards and Claire switched off the screen.
Robert stood up from the board table. ‘Well, I think I need a drink after all that. Do you want to join me?’
Claire’s stomach lurched.
‘I could manage a drink,’ said Emma, ‘but it will have to be a quick one because I have to meet a friend.’
They both looked at Claire and she nodded mutely.
The Greenwood was black with suits and it was some time before Robert had success at the bar.
