by Rosa Temple
‘Ah, Magenta,’ Anthony said turning to me with a smile. ‘You’re here.’
I tried not to look puzzled by that comment but I was.
‘You did say Monday didn’t you, Anthony?’ I said with a smile.
All of a sudden my gaze was drawn away from Anthony and fell on the person whose laugh I’d heard from upstairs. I tried not to gasp at her beauty, but the woman who was now gripping Anthony’s arm was truly beautiful. She was tall and had a delicate poise. She was classy but in a down-to-earth sort of way. She wore a long summer dress with a low front and her tanned breasts were perfectly formed – not too big and not too small and needing no support from a bra whatsoever.
A quick glance at Cassandra and I could see she was smirking at my open mouth. Cassandra must have clocked that I had a crush on Anthony and she had obviously been waiting for the day I’d come to find out that Anthony was taken. And not only taken but well and truly so, judging by the enormous stone on the platinum ring on the third finger of the beautiful woman’s left hand. Anthony was engaged.
I tried not to let my shoulders sag. I knew from the off that falling for him would have been a no-no anyway … but still.
‘Yes, I think I did say Monday,’ Anthony said. ‘I’m sorry, I forgot about our weekend in Tuscany.’ As he said this, the woman gripping his arm gripped even tighter and smiled a gooey smile that spoke volumes.
‘Should I not have come today then?’ I asked trying to ignore the evils this woman was giving me and the slimy grin plastered on Cassandra’s face.
‘I’ll be in tomorrow,’ said Anthony with a reassuring nod. ‘And we can officially start then.’
‘Silly, Ant,’ said the beautiful woman as she smooshed her right boob closer to Anthony’s body.
‘Oh, Magenta, may I introduce Inez, my fiancée?’ said Anthony.
I walked over with an extended hand to shake hers. She took an agonisingly long time to detach herself from Anthony before reaching out her hand as I stood there like a prize plum. Her hand was slim and very cool, despite the hot August morning in central London.
‘I hope you can keep Ant organised,’ she said, barely looking at me. ‘He can be a bit of a scatterbrain. But he’s my scatterbrain.’ Emphasis on the ‘my’. She squeezed his cheek between her finger and thumb then tiptoed up to kiss the pink mark she’d left there. ‘But one day this place will be an empire and he’ll be in charge of it all. Won’t you, Ant?’
Anthony nodded, embarrassed, and tried to step away from Inez whose boob closed in even tighter than before.
‘Magenta, you must forgive me for calling you in here a day early,’ said Anthony, red-faced. ‘Yes, as you can tell I am a bit of a scatterbrain but as long as you’re not, we’ll do just fine.’
I noticed Inez look at me from top to toe in a quick sweep. She seemed to decide I was no threat to her Mediterranean beauty and dismissed me by turning her back on me, gathering Anthony by his arm again and walking him out of reception.
‘See you tomorrow,’ Cassandra called as they went to leave.
‘Yes, see you,’ I repeated, waving as if I was seeing them off at a train platform.
Anthony gave us a quick ‘See you’ over his shoulder and Inez whipped him out of the building and away.
I turned to look at Cassandra who was looking down at her desk and shaking her head.
‘What?’ I said. ‘What is it now?’
‘Oh nothing,’ she said, moving papers around on her desk.
‘No come on, out with it.’ I stood my ground, hands on hips.
‘Well I was just comparing the starry-eyed look you gave Anthony when he showed you out last week after your interview. You had no idea he and his fiancée were about to spend a weekend at their cottage hideaway in Italy. Funny.’
‘You could have reminded him that he wasn’t going to be here until Tuesday when you heard him say Monday to me.’
‘What and miss all the fun? Besides, you’re the PA. You’re supposed to know everything about him.’
I didn’t answer. I stormed up the stairs to Anthony’s office and sat at his desk. I started looking around for anything that might give away what my boss was likely to be doing for the week to come. He obviously had no idea. I knew at the interview Anthony wasn’t cut out for the job he’d taken on so I’d have to get him ready. Because let’s face it, if Anthony failed, I’d have to find a new job and start all over again from day one.
I found a desk diary and began to read through it. Next, I looked at all the paperwork on his desk and switched on his computer. There were no passwords to worry about and instead of surfing the web for fashion shows and designer outlet sales, as I had been earlier, I went into the reports and files and tried to get myself acquainted with the ins and outs of the company I hoped to help run for the next year.
At about two o’clock in the afternoon Cassandra came up to Anthony’s office.
‘Still here?’ she said.
‘Looks like it.’ I didn’t look up.
‘I’m off to lunch. Can I get you anything?’ she said through clenched teeth.
‘Don’t trouble yourself. I’ll grab something later if I feel hungry. I’m too busy to stop.’
I ignored Cassandra and she hovered by the door for a while.
‘Right then,’ she said. ‘I’ll see you in an hour. The door will be locked but no one comes by unless it was prearranged.’
‘Oh like Anthony’s twelve o’clock tomorrow with Niles Benson?’ I said, looking at Anthony’s online diary, which Cassandra was bound to have set up.
‘Yes, that’s right,’ she said.
‘After lunch do you think you could get me up to speed on this Niles person?’ I said. I finally looked up from the screen. Cassandra nodded and gave me a half scowl half smile before slipping out of the door.
I discovered a telephone number for the former boss of A Shearman Leather Designs, Arthur Shearman, and gave him a call.
‘Mr Shearman, you don’t know me. I’m Magenta Bright, Anthony’s new PA. I believe you’re my sister’s neighbour.’ I sounded official but with an air of friendly charm, like any badass PA.
‘Only just,’ he said. ‘You caught me about to telephone the removal company. My wife and I are leaving for the new house in Wiltshire.’
‘A lovely part of the country,’ I said.
‘Congratulations on the new job by the way. I thought Anthony needed someone at his side – an extra bit of help as it were. Cassandra has so many other responsibilities, I didn’t want to stop the smooth flow of things. As for your sister, Ebony, I do bump into her once in a while. She’s quite the dynamo. And I know your other sisters are businesswomen.’
Please don’t confuse me with them.
‘That’s right,’ I said.
‘So I knew Anthony would be in good hands.’
God help us.
‘Well,’ Arthur Shearman continued, ‘I’ve your sister to thank for referring you to us. But, er … is there a problem?’
‘No problem,’ I said. ‘It’s just that Anthony is back from his weekend away tomorrow and I thought it might be a good idea for me to have spoken to the man who has been running the operation for the last thirty years or so.’
‘You’ve gathered, then, that my son is somewhat of a novice.’
I didn’t want to tell him that I thought his son would find himself lost in a two-foot by two-foot maze if he didn’t lay breadcrumbs to find his way home.
‘A little, I suppose,’ I said. ‘But if I’m going to be an efficient PA then I thought I should talk to the expert.’
Arthur Shearman sounded chuffed and babbled on about the everyday business while I listened carefully and made as many notes as I could. I asked him what he knew about Niles Benson.
‘Anthony has a meeting with him tomorrow,’ I said.
‘Oh dear,’ said Arthur Shearman.
‘What’s wrong?’ I asked.
‘That
Niles Benson is a sticky character,’ he said. ‘I wonder what he’s up to. He knows I had no interest in anything he had to offer. Looks like he waited until I left and wormed his way into a meeting with my son. Do you think I should stay in London and come to the meeting?’
‘Not at all. I’ll pass on your concerns to Anthony. You relax, enjoy your retirement and leave this to me.’
I hung up the phone, put my feet up on Anthony’s desk and smiled to myself. I’ve got this, I thought. I’d show them all.
By the time Cassandra returned from lunch I was more or less coming to grips with Anthony’s job and, consequently, mine.
Day one – done. I just had 364 to go.
Chapter 6
Cassandra had been good enough to hand over a spare set of keys for the office before I left on Monday afternoon – reluctantly, I should say, but she handed them over all the same. So the next morning I arrived bright and early carrying two bunches of flowers and a couple of vases from home. I decorated both mine and Anthony’s office with the flowers and went out to buy some biscuits for Anthony’s twelve o’clock. One of the few things I’d learned as a PA was that whenever there was a meeting, there should be tea and there should be biscuits.
At a couple of the previous offices I’d had a subordinate who could rustle up a tea tray for me. But as I was not sure Cassandra would take it too well if I asked her to make the tea, I decided I’d do it myself. I’d bought bad biscuits because Arthur Shearman didn’t like Niles Benson and rule number one in meetings etiquette was to give your worst clients bad biscuits because it was a sure way to keep them at arm’s length. Garibaldi biscuits it was and I hoped the raisins would stick in Niles Benson’s teeth.
Anthony surprised me with his arrival before I’d finished tidying his desk. He wasn’t wearing his glasses and he squinted in my direction.
‘Those look nice,’ said Anthony loosening his tie and coming quite close to where I was standing. He looked nice and relaxed but had a faint hint of a frown line on his forehead. He smelled of freshly showered body and expensive cologne. I wondered how he stayed so fresh after braving the London tube network. Maybe he lived nearby. I assumed he lived with Inez. All those things I had yet to discover.
‘I thought I’d brighten the place up for your meeting,’ I said backing away from Anthony so that my nose didn’t end up on his neck. His cologne was tantalisingly strong and his neck … I swallowed hard. Did she, Inez, buy the cologne for him? Focus, Magenta.
‘My meeting?’ Anthony looked confused and the frown line in his brow deepened a millimetre or two.
‘Yes, Anthony,’ I said, picking up the new desk diary I’d bought in Tiger and thought would make me look efficient if I walked around with it. I’d also bought a matching notebook and had made a note to find out how to claim the expense back from petty cash. ‘It’s with Niles Benson.’
‘Oh him,’ said Anthony. ‘I think my father arranged it.’
Strange. Didn’t Arthur Shearman tell me yesterday that Niles Benson was trouble? Something wasn’t adding up.
‘I did a bit of background on Mr Benson,’ I said. ‘For my own benefit,’ I added, quickly. ‘I see he has a rival company in Bristol and they’re doing pretty well. Factories in China and outlets in Italy, Japan and Sweden.’
‘You have been busy.’ Anthony smiled widely but followed the smile with a frown. ‘I don’t suppose you did a background on why we’re having a meeting did you?’ He leaned back in his chair.
‘Not really,’ I said. ‘I thought you would know. I thought you … Actually, Anthony, would you like me to cancel this appointment?’
‘You can’t do that.’ Cassandra’s voice from the doorway startled us both. ‘I mean, Bristol is quite a few miles away. He must already be on the train, or driving.’
I looked at Anthony who was frowning again.
‘Cassandra’s right, Magenta,’ he said. ‘I should hear him out. I mean he’s on his way and everything.’
Cassandra looked at me, smugly, but I was becoming worried about this meeting. Anthony hadn’t arranged it and I was positive Arthur Shearman hadn’t either.
‘Fine,’ I said. ‘I suppose once you’ve heard what he’s here for things will start to fall into place.’ I looked at Cassandra and the open door to Anthony’s office with one eyebrow raised. ‘Was there anything else?’
‘Um, I just came up to ask Anthony if he wanted his coffee now,’ she mumbled.
‘Yes, he would,’ I said before Anthony could catch his breath. ‘And I have mine black with no sugar.’
Cassandra’s eyes bulged to just enough for me to see how pissed off she was but her voice was sweet when she replied.
‘Coming right up,’ she said, fake smiling her way out of the room.
‘I don’t know what I would have done without Cassandra these past couple of weeks,’ Anthony said. He huffed on the lenses of his glasses, rubbed them with his tie and slid them on. ‘She’s a godsend. If I didn’t need a secretary come receptionist I would have asked her to be my PA.’
‘But you’ve got me now,’ I added, quickly.
‘Of course I have.’ Anthony pulled at his tie and tugged at his shirt collar. As gorgeous and as debonair as he looked in that Hugo Boss suit, formalwear was obviously not his favourite attire. And not surprisingly, if his real talent lay in painting pictures.
Again I wondered why he’d agreed to take over for his father. Perhaps, like me, he didn’t really have a choice. Perhaps his father, who had sounded like an absolute sweetheart on the phone, was really a tyrant who forced Anthony here, threatening to write him out of his will if he didn’t come. Maybe he’d been struggling as an artist and needed to pay some bills. Maybe he was still paying off that expensive engagement ring I’d seen Inez wearing.
Anthony sat staring at the neat piles of letters and other papers I’d straightened out on his desk. Then he scratched his head and looked at me and smiled. He tapped the metal tray on his desk and looked at the letters again. Then he picked up a pen and stared at the phone. Was he expecting a call? When he scratched his head a second time, blew a puff of air up his face and frowned, I knew exactly what was wrong.
Anthony didn’t have a clue where to start. Apart from wrestling with chocolate chip muffins, interviewing me and looking gorgeous, as CEO of the family business this man had no idea which end was up.
‘Should we begin by looking at the letters?’ I asked.
Anthony raised a finger. ‘That’s a good idea.’ He picked up a few of them. ‘Only thing is, I did read through them last week but I’m not sure how to deal with them.’
I sat on the corner of his desk and crossed my legs. He leaned back and appeared to be looking at my legs when Cassandra came in with the coffee. Her face turned bright red and she put a cup of coffee down in front of Anthony.
‘Are you having yours in your office?’ she asked, looking at my legs and the great wax job I’d had.
‘No, I’ll be in here with Anthony for most of the morning, Cassandra, so you can direct any calls for Anthony to his line until I say otherwise.’
‘Fine,’ she said and let my coffee land on the table with a thump. I watched her until she left the room and then took the letters out of Anthony’s hand. Our skin touched for a brief moment and sent a telltale signal to my lower tummy. I squirmed. I’d need cold showers every morning for the next 363 days; I knew that.
‘I hope you don’t mind, Anthony, but I looked at these yesterday. Most of them can be delegated. You know? To your staff along the corridor? They need to see these. All you need to do with post in the future is make sure someone else is doing something about it.’
‘Really? That’s it?’
‘That’s it.’ I smiled, jumping off the desk and shaking out the letters. ‘In fact, why don’t I have Cassandra direct all the post to me from now on? I’ve already made acquaintance with the other staff and they all seem to know their stuff. I’ll redirect everything
for you, if you like.’
‘That would be great, Magenta. And what should I do?’
I stood and looked at this little boy lost and all of a sudden his Hugo Boss suit swamped the body of a ten-year-old Anthony with mud on his face and a plaster on his forehead.
‘We’ll figure that out as we go, Anthony. In the meantime you do whatever you need to do to prepare for the meeting. I’ll let you know when Niles Benson arrives.’
I scooped up my coffee cup and went to plonk the post on my desk. Why Cassandra hadn’t already redirected the post instead of dumping it on Anthony, I had no idea. I didn’t trust that woman as far as I could throw her. I went down to reception to have words and found her several centimetres too close to a tall, strikingly smart-looking man in a dark suit. He looked to be in his late thirties. He smiled at me when he noticed me walk in and angled his large frame away from Cassandra and towards me.
‘Oh, Magenta,’ she said. ‘I was just about to buzz you. This is Niles Benson.’
So that’s what a Niles Benson looked like.
‘Thanks, Cassandra, I’ll take it from here.’ I walked over, confidently, and outstretched my hand. One thing Nana Clementine had taught me was always to look confident even when you’re falling to pieces on the inside. I knew Anthony was most likely going to look like a complete amateur compared to Niles Benson so someone here had to look as if they knew what they were doing.
‘I’m Magenta Bright, Anthony Shearman’s PA.’ It rolled nicely off the tongue and I straightened my shoulders with pride.
Niles Benson’s long-fingered hands wrapped around mine. I was surprised by the familiar way he pulled me towards him, still holding my hand and breathing aftershave over me as he said, ‘Pleasure.’ His eyes swept up and down my body. They were piercingly dark and his lashes deliciously long. I wasn’t about to fall for his flirtatious moves as Cassandra may have done.
‘This way,’ I said, trying to unravel my fingers. He followed me up the stairs and I could feel those eyes piercing their way to my underwear as he watched my buttocks progressing up the stairs. Being of mixed parentage, I had managed to acquire a black girl’s bum that a guy I met in New York once told me would never disappear. I had given up asking if my bum looked big in anything I tried on a long time ago. I stopped suddenly on the stairs and Niles Benson’s face nearly made contact with my bottom.
