Logic, however, did not explain his behavior.
"Hey, you all right?" A middle-aged man laid his hand on my shoulder and I jumped. "Sorry, love... you just looked like you were about to faint. Are you... do you need help?"
"No. No, thank you." I nodded at him, grateful for his concern, though I probably didn’t look it. Likely, I appeared a wide-eyed madwoman. "I’ve just... um... had some bad news."
"Is there anything... do you need a doctor or...?"
"No. Honestly. I’ll be fine. I’m nearly at my workplace. Honestly. Thank you. I’ll be okay. Fresh air does me good. I’ll walk back." Rambling now, I knew, but it did the trick. The man took his leave, still frowning in concern, but I’d assured him there was no need to worry.
I made it round the corner and leaned against a guard railing designed to stop people running—or rather staggering—out of the pub exit nearby and into the road. Fumbling in my bag, I pulled out my mobile, wanting to call someone, wondering who.
My boss? To say what? "Hi, I nearly got sexually assaulted during my lunch break, mind if I take the afternoon off to feel sorry for myself?" Not that she wouldn’t be sympathetic for something so serious, but the bottom line was I didn’t want anyone to know. I felt... I felt... ashamed. As if I’d brought it on by going into the computer shop myself. Wearing such a short dress (even though it was my work uniform and no one else had ever taken it as a sexual come on). Not telling Richard to back off straight away.
But I hadn’t wanted to be rude, had persuaded myself he hadn’t meant the things he’d said, hell, hadn’t even said them.
My thumb pressed the ‘phone book’ button. The sight of ‘Leo’ on my list was enough for me to hit ‘call’.
"Morning. Leo Carson speaking."
Oh. I jerked bolt upright, no longer leaning on the railing, although my free hand continued to grasp it just in case.
"Um...Leo?"
"Yeah. Sorry, gents, I need to..."
I realized he wasn’t talking to me. "Are you in a meeting? Shit. I didn’t think."
"Is something wrong?"
I don’t care if I’m disturbing you. I need you— "Yes."
"What... exactly?"
Still not sure if he was speaking for the benefit of the people in whose company he remained, I didn’t know whether to pour everything out or apologize and take my leave. His facade of politeness might have been exactly that—a facade. So he could maintain a businesslike appearance.
"Piper?"
Okay, so he’d said my name. That was good. He wasn’t trying to hide who I was from anyone, although for all they knew I could be his secretary. Or a work colleague. ‘Piper’ could have been the surname of a man he worked with.
"That guy at the computer shop."
"What about him?"
"He..."
"Piper..." There was a warning undertone to his voice now, a definite, implicit don’t fuck with me. "What happened?"
Whether it was my shallow breaths or the pounding in my ears or the passing traffic or the background noise of passersby I didn’t know, but I had trouble deciphering his words. I shivered, pulled my coat tighter, faltered, and had to grab a hold of the railing with my free hand again.
"Listen, I really do apologize, gentlemen, I’ll have to leave. There’s a problem with another one of my... properties. I have to go see to it. Piper, I’ll call you back in five minutes. Don’t go anywhere. I’ll call you back." His last words were spoken through gritted teeth, that much I knew, and I wondered if he was angry, because if so, his anger must have been directed at me for disturbing him.
I sniffed a couple of times, desperate to stop myself crying. Even thinking about the word threatened to make it happen so I blinked, watched people walk past, looked at the sky, the pavement, even over my shoulder a few times. After the fourth or fifth time it began to sink in that no one was coming after me.
My phone sprang to life sooner than I expected. "Leo?"
"Piper? What the fuck’s going on, love? Are you in trouble?"
His first few words had made my head spin with fear and disappointment, but the ‘love’ turned it all around. The question. He spoke out of concern, not ire.
"Kind of."
"Well? What’s going on? I’m assuming you phoned me for a reason? Did something happen? What happened? Why aren’t you at work?"
"I’m on my lunch break. But..." I’m thinking of taking the rest of the day off.
"I wasn’t expecting you to call, so I assumed something’s—"
"Were you in a meeting?"
"Yes, I—"
"I interrupted, didn’t I?"
"Oh, it doesn’t matter—"
"Shit. Sorry. I didn’t think. I just came out and started scrolling through my phone and you were the first person I thought of, so... anyway, I don’t know why I—"
"If you’ll forgive me for interrupting, Piper, will you stop interrupting me with fresh questions and answer mine? What happened?"
I took a deep breath. Prepared to tell him. Then blurted out, "Where are you?"
Reading my mind, he asked, "You want me to come get you?"
A heavy sigh. "Yeah." And in that moment, I hated myself for showing such neediness. Already angry at what had happened, I didn’t want to show further weakness by asking for help from a man, as if I couldn’t cope on my own, but in that moment, I needed him.
"Where are you? At work? No, you said you were on your lunch break, didn’t you? Are you taking the afternoon off?"
Looks like it now. "Yeah, I guess I am. I don’t know whether to phone in or go and speak to my boss."
"We’ll figure something out when I get there. Wherever ‘there’ is. But if you go into work, your boss is more likely to prevail upon you to work the rest of your shift. It’s a lot simpler all round if you make a phone call and that way, she’s less likely to get you to come in. Just don’t worry about that now. Don’t phone yet. Where are you?"
"Outside a pub. I’m not staying here, I want to get away from... look, I’ll meet you somewhere... um, the city square? Shit, you won’t get parked."
"Don’t worry about me, doll, Leo Carson parks where the fuck he likes. Grab yourself a coffee and get a seat at The Square," he said, naming the cafe in the city square which was a common stop for tourists. "There’s something deliciously twisted about you bunking off work from a diner and grabbing a coffee in another cafe."
To my amazement, I laughed. "You are twisted."
"Yeah, and you love it. Now do as you’re told, there’s a good girl. Don’t do anything till I get there apart from order a coffee and grab a seat. I’ll be there as soon as I can."
"Where are you? Look, I’m sorry about the meeting—"
"Don’t sweat it, they were boring me anyway. I’m about ten minutes away by car; I’ll be as quick as I can. Gonna hang up now, be there A.S.A.P."
Abruptly, the conversation ended and, holding an unconnected phone, I slung my bag over my shoulder and started walking. More steadily now.
Because Leo was coming.
Twenty One
Hugging the coffee cup with both hands, I drained it then set it back down on the circular table and scanned the crowds for a familiar face.
It had been more than ten minutes since we’d spoken, but he’d probably got caught up in traffic or finding a parking space. If Leo said he’d be here, he would be here. I trusted him.
Sighing, I turned the coffee cup around and around in its saucer, glancing up from time to time to feel the sun on my face. It was a warm day, with a light breeze, otherwise perfect if I could forget why I was here. Ordinarily I’d have loved to have been waiting for Leo outside a city centre cafe, having pulled him out of a meeting because clearly, seeing me was more important than anything his business associates had to say.
Silly cow, you probably cost him a deal, or at least some standing amongst his peers for what he’s doing for you.
I rested my chin on interlocked fingers. Well, whatever I’d cost h
im, it was too late now. He’d agreed to come and hadn’t seemed too displeased about the excuse to leave.
Yes and maybe that’s because he’s a good actor.
The chair opposite scraped along the ground and I looked up.
"Wotcha."
My cheeks ached with the effort it took to stop my face breaking into a wide grin. "Hey." I allowed myself a smile at least. God, you’re beautiful. I gulped. "I feel kinda stupid now."
"And so you should," Leo retorted, and my heart leapt. He pointed at the cup. "You clearly didn’t order me anything." He leaned down to kiss the top of my head before taking a seat.
"Oh." Relief flooded through me. Being with him was an emotional rollercoaster. Adrenaline when I contacted him, fear that he’d knock me back, relief when he offered to come get me, angst when he was just a minute or two late, panic when he’d told me I should feel stupid, relief again when it was clear he’d been joking...
"So. Why do you feel stupid?"
"It’s nothing. It’s probably..."
"If you called me in the middle of the day, it’s obviously not nothing."
"God, I’m sorry. I probably fucked up your schedule doing this. I could have called a friend, or just went back to work, but I didn’t know what else to do, and... and..."
He reached across the table, grabbed my hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Piper. Piper. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be. Christ, I own my own business. If I can’t take off when I feel like it, I might as well be someone else’s bitch. That’s one of the pleasures of being my own boss."
"But your partners... associates... whatever. You were in a meeting."
"Ah, what of it? I have enough money." He shrugged. Shuffled his chair around the table so he was nearer to me. Rubbed the back of my neck as I let my head drop forward, resting my forehead in my hands, as if he was massaging the stress out of me. "You said something about Richard or Darren? Something about ‘the guy’ in the computer shop?"
"Yeah." I gulped. Don’t you dare cry in front of Leo, Piper. Don’t. You. Dare.
"What did he do? Which one was it?"
"Richard. It was only him in the shop today. Um... well... I went to get my computer back." I lifted my head so he could better hear me, but didn’t look directly at him. I felt shame and even acknowledging that word increased its power. Deep down I knew I shouldn’t blame myself but was so damn embarrassed that the incident had occurred.
"Right."
"And he made some crack about spending the night with him."
"He what?"
"Yeah. Anyway, I thought, maybe that’s just his sense of humor."
"Well he’s never made that sort of joke with me."
"He wouldn’t, would he, Leo? You’re a man."
"Even so. Blokey sense of humor. You’d think he would... sorry, sorry. Go on. I assume there’s more?"
"Yes. I got the feeling he was just wasting time. I’m, well, I was on my lunch hour..."
"Oh, of course. You haven’t called your boss yet?"
"No, you told me not to do anything."
"Good girl. Right, gimme your phone."
"What, again?"
"It worked out last time didn’t it?"
"Yeah, I suppose you’re right." Obediently, I fished my mobile out of my bag and surrendered it. "What are you gonna do with it?"
"I love how you ask that after handing it over. I assume your work number’s in here? Oh yeah. Under ‘W’ for work. How original. Okay. So I won’t use up your minutes again..." He winked, lifted his own phone out of his inside jacket pocket and copied the number over. "There." He handed my mobile back while holding his own to his ear. "What’s your boss’s name?"
"Sylvia."
"Sylvia? Great. I’ll just—oh hello, can I speak to Sylvia please? Oh, she’s not? Can I ask... Lori?" He tilted his head at me as if to ask, is she okay? and I gave a thumbs up. "I’m a friend of Piper’s, Leo Carson? Yeah, yeah, I remember. Anyway, the reason I’m phoning is she’s going to be unable to come back in this afternoon... No, not really. You see she’s had a... well, a bit of bad news, so... no, nothing like that. An upset, you could call it. She’s not feeling too great at the moment, so... oh I expect so. Oh, is she not?" He laughed and I wondered what Lori had said. "Yeah, I used to get like that all the time but now I’m self-employed, so... they can sort it out tomorrow. Yeah. You do that. Thanks Lori. Bye now." He hung up, pocketed his phone and grinned. "There. You now have the rest of the day off thanks to my gift of the gab."
I gaped.
"Well? Say something. Oh, you’ll still have to carry on your next shift tomorrow, but I figure an afternoon isn’t bad. Don’t want to push your luck, do I?"
"Uh... thanks?"
"Pleasure. I said you’d explain everything tomorrow which gives you the rest of the day to come up with some bullshit, or else you can tell her what really went down. After you tell me, of course."
"Oh. Right. Where was I?"
"You said you thought he was wasting time?"
"Oh, yes. Wasting time. He mentioned you. Said you’d told him I worked in a diner."
"Mentioned it in passing, yeah."
"So he made a comment on my uniform."
"Hmm." Leo leaned to one side, eyed my legs and I shifted them uncomfortably, tucked them under my seat. "Sorry. What did he say?"
"That it wasn’t the sort of dress women should get away with wearing in the daytime unless..."
"Unless what?"
"Don’t know." I shrugged, chewed a fingernail. "He didn’t finish. But he said it was a hot dress. And he made some remark about the customer being satisfied, but he said it in a really... icky voice. You know?"
"Fuck."
"Sorry. I, um... well..."
"Piper, don’t you say sorry." He stroked my thigh, rested his hand on my knee. I flinched. But he kept his hand there. "Anything else?"
"Just the way he looked at me." I entwined my fingers in a prayer position, bit my thumbnail, looked away from him. "I’m sure he..." Looked at all the dirty photos I’ve got on my computer? Oh yeah, smart move telling Leo that one, Holt.
"Sure he what?" A squeeze of my knee and it tickled. Wasn’t uncomfortable.
"He... anyway, he asked a few questions."
"What. Questions."
"About you."
"Oh really?"
"And he said..." That I was just some chick you’d picked up in a bar. How to ask Leo to confirm or deny that one without sounding needy?
"Piper..." The warning tone, back in his voice. "You’d better tell me."
"He said as I was some chick you’d picked up in a bar, he assumed... I thought... uh..." Taking a deep breath, I ploughed on. "He knew we met in a bar, so I thought perhaps you’d mentioned something... in passing... and, well, he’d misread it..."
"You thought I’d spoken to him about you?" Leo frowned, straightened in his seat, lifted his hand away from my leg.
"Well obviously you had, I just wondered..."
"You don’t seriously think I’d speak so disrespectfully of a woman, and behind her back too, do you?"
"No, no, I... well, I don’t know. He just... he knew things..." I faltered and gave up.
Leo’s mouth thinned out into a bleached line, but the frown still marred his brow. "What things?"
"Where I worked, how we met."
"Yes. Because I said a girl I’d met in a bar and got talking to was having computer troubles. And as you worked in a diner in town, you might come in during your lunch break one day this week. That’s all I said, Piper. Christ. You don’t think I’d... look, just go on. What else did he say?"
"He..." Again, shame washed over me. Shame born of wondering if I’d somehow led Richard on and then insulted Leo without even trying. "He asked if we were..."
"If we were what?"
"If we were seeing each other," I blurted out. "Or if it was just a fling. I said I didn’t know, ‘cause I don’t, but anyway, that doesn’t matter. He told me you’d
fuck anything with a pulse anyway, so..."
"He said what!" Leo’s voice was loud enough to draw the attention of nearby diners. He glanced around him then dipped his head closer to my ear. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, of course I am! Christ, I doubted myself when I left, but I know what I heard."
"So where’s your computer? What did you do with it?"
"I left it there."
"It’s still in the shop? Jesus, you must’ve left in a hurry."
I lay my hands flat on the table, palms down and the plastic was warm against my skin, having been under the sun all morning, despite the awning extending from the cafe window above our heads.
"Did he..." Leo began, and I met his gaze. Tentatively. "Did he try it on?"
"Um..." I brought my shoulders up in a childish shrug, trying to make myself look smaller. "Kinda. Yeah," I said again.
"How kinda yeah?"
"He threatened to... well, not threatened, I mean, it was sort of like... anyway, he..."
"Get to the point, Piper. I want to know what he did."
"He pointed out there was no one else in the shop and threatened to take me 'round the back and—"
"Fucking hell, Piper, you are kidding!" He drew the attention of even more diners this time, but didn’t give them a moment’s attention. "Tell me you’re kidding. He didn’t really say that... did he?" He took both of my hands in his own and suddenly I didn’t feel so interrogated, or obligated to diminish my story.
I feel better when you’re touching me. "Yes, Leo. Yes he did. And I ran out of the shop in case... well, anyway. I left, because I wondered if I’d done something to lead him on, or... encourage him somehow, but I can’t think of anything that would have given him that idea..."
"I can’t fucking believe this." Leo slumped, still holding on to one of my hands, which reassured me it wasn’t me he had trouble believing, but rather the fact this had happened at all. "He’s never been like that... sure, I’m a bloke, but... you’d think you’d have some idea of what another fella’s like... but then..." He turned to me with a rueful smile. "You are a good-looking woman, so he probably thought he’d try his luck and I’ve never seen him socially, so have no idea what his social skills are like and..."
Long Time Coming Page 22