“Well I have known you for years – over three years – working at Clarks, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right,” she said, taking the bottle out of the package and sniffed. “Thanks so much for this. Is there some special reason?”
He leaned back in his chair and grinned. “You’ve worked so hard you see. Today the ad campaign for the Silver account is pretty much completed.” Bradley smiled his slow, greasy smile.
“Yes,” Sophie started, not quite trusting Bradley’s explanation. “Desmond’s getting the last lot of footage and of course then there’s the editing left, but otherwise we’re done. We’ve hit a home run, I think. We’ve billed the client a hell of a lot but so far the work looks amazing.”
“You heard that we didn’t get the account for Barney’s Chocolate Bars? That fell through. It’s really hurt our projections. Clarks revenue is in a dire situation.”
Sophie suddenly felt a stab of discomfort. Why was it now her problem that they hadn’t won the account for Barney’s Chocolate Bars?
“That’s such a shame. I’d have thought it was in the bag.”
“Tell me how the swimming lessons are going with Matthew Silver; I saw him in the foyer the other day.”
“The lessons are brilliant. Matthew Silver was my teacher, you know. He never pushed me. I’ve had this phobia of swimming since I was a kid. So he started by tackling the phobia first and simply helped me get into the water. Then we moved onto basic water survival skills. I can swim now; I’m not an Olympic swimmer, but I can swim.”
“Excellent,” Bradley nodded. Again he gave her an almost shark grin, bearing his pearly white teeth. “Good work, Soph, good work. Wrap party soon then? Where did Jessica arrange it?”
“On a boat. You are coming aren’t you? I’m sure you were invited, being our boss and everything,” Sophie questioned.
“Yes, I’m coming. Shall we have some champagne?”
A glass of champagne would cost a fortune at The Dorchester and Sophie eyed the porcelain plate and the silver cutlery.
“Which client does this one get expensed to?” Sophie joked.
“Well.” Bradley’s gaze was suddenly quite serious. “We’ve spoken a little about the Silver account.”
“No chance.” Sophie eyed Bradley carefully. “This is not being billed to my account. You invited me and the subject was clearly Chanel. But I’m guessing we don’t have a prospect on that one, or maybe that’s why I’m here,” she teased trying to lighten up the mood.
“I wanted to talk to you about that.”
“Bradley!” A voice echoed through the restaurant, high-pitched and familiar. Sophie turned towards the sound, her stomach dropping as she saw a figure striding to the table, a waiter trailing behind.
“Kelly?” Bradley said. His eyes were wide with astonishment. “What are you doing here?”
“What are you doing here more like it? With Sophie?” Kelly’s eyes narrowed and her expression was dark. “Sophie, you always say we should work as a team and then look what you do. You exclude people.”
“I didn’t think we were excluding you, so to speak, and this meeting doesn’t seem to involve the team. Not that I know of….” Sophie said, and then paused, unsure how to continue.
“And you Bradley, you should have at least let me run ideas by you before you make a decision on which consultant to use.” Kelly turned to the waiter who stood politely, watching the exchange with interest. “Well, aren’t you going to set another place at this side of the table?”
The waiter jumped to action and disappeared. Kelly produced a sheet of cardboard and clicked her fingers. Another waiter appeared by her side. “Hold this for a few minutes,” she instructed. “This could be my big break.” She thrust the cardboard into the waiter’s hands.
“Kelly, you don’t have to do this.” Bradley stood from his chair. “Please don’t cause a scene.”
“I’m not causing a scene. Just hear me out,” Kelly insisted, and Bradley slumped back into his chair, a deep frown forming on his face.
A waiter filled Sophie’s glass of champagne, and then turned to Kelly. “Shall I bring another glass for Madame? Will you be joining the celebration?”
“Yes.” Kelly’s head darted between the pair and Sophie gulped down her champagne.
“So, did you pitch yet?” Kelly demanded, her green eyes looking at Bradley and then at Sophie for confirmation. Sophie suddenly felt confused. What was Kelly on about?
“Not exactly.” Bradley’s voice was smooth.
“Keep holding that cardboard,” Kelly ordered the waiter, and then picked up a knife, using it as a pointer. “These are some quick ideas I sketched up on Chanel, as I’m not privy to what they have asked for as a potential client. However, I’ve worked on it all morning, since I overheard Jessica making arrangements for a Chanel meeting between the two of you. I can’t believe you wouldn’t think I might be interested. So anyway, I’ve reviewed each product line. I’m presuming it’s makeup or perfume?”
“Shouldn’t you be working on… something else? One of your own projects?” Sophie muttered, looking at Bradley in bewilderment, not knowing what to do.
“Okay, my perfume tag lines are like so….”
Sophie felt her body stiffen, rigid with anxiety as she listened to Kelly. Kelly the rattlesnake who’d strangle her if she could. They’d never work as a team. There really wasn’t room at Clarks for both of them. There just wasn’t enough work. She looked at Kelly who smiled brightly like a door-to-door salesman.
Bradley didn’t try to stop her, nodding his head politely. “You’re such a hard worker,” he commented. “I like the line you said about the ‘power in a flower’. Maybe work to develop that idea a little more.”
Sophie felt irritation crawl up her back.
“Great, so maybe Sophie and I could work on this pitch together? What are they looking for? Magazine? Television? The works? What type of advertising campaign? Will one of you start speaking? I need to know.”
“There’s no account. No client. No pitch. Jessica merely typed the word ‘Chanel’ into the subject box because Bradley gave me a bottle as a gift for all my hard work. It was a reminder for Jessica. A mistake.”
“But….”
“I think he wants to make amends since he kicked me off the account for Barney’s Chocolate Bars.”
“Is that true?” Kelly hissed. “I worked extremely hard on that account. Very hard indeed.”
“But you didn’t win the account.” Bradley sighed and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m starving,” he said, ignoring the veins protruding out of Kelly’s neck. A waiter brought forward three menus. “Food seems like a jolly good idea,” Bradley continued.
Kelly couldn’t seem to comprehend what was going on, and almost fell into her seat. “What? That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say?” Kelly asked, looking quite dizzy.
“Kelly, there’s no account. There is no Chanel account. She’s right. The perfume is a gift for Sophie.”
“Are you sleeping together?” Kelly demanded.
Bradley shook his head furiously. “No. We’re not together, or sleeping together, or anything.”
“Then why are you at the Dorchester with Sophie? We’re in a recession, remember? Clarks is barely afloat, or so you keep saying. And you’ve given her a bottle of Chanel. It doesn’t make sense.” Kelly turned to look at Sophie.
Sophie nodded. At least the two of them were on the same page on that. “I agree. It doesn’t make sense.” Sophie’s feeling of unease returned. None of this scene made sense.
Kelly flashed a smug smile. “It’s so bloody expensive here. Oh that’s right,” she said slowly. “This is the place you go for celebrations or commiserations....” Kelly froze and stopped talking. She eyed the Chanel packet and quickly picked up the Dorchester menu.
Comprehension washed over Sophie. This wasn’t a meeting to thank her for her hard work. “I remember,” Sophie said slowly. “The Dorchester is where you ce
lebrate something or….” She couldn’t finish the sentence.
“Is Sophie getting a promotion?” Kelly asked in the smallest voice. “I mean just because Barney’s Chocolate Bars isn’t quite happening this month? Is Sophie getting the promotion?”
Bradley scratched the bottom of his chin, and showed a gleaming, white-toothed smile. “I haven’t been entirely truthful,” Bradley started; then fiddled with the napkin on his lap.
“You don’t say,” both girls said in unison, and then looked at each other. They were suddenly on the same side.
“Maybe it’s good that you’re both here. I was going to chat with each of you separately. I have something to talk to you both about.”
***
Sophie called in sick for the next three days. “But what’s wrong with you?” Jessica brayed over the phone line. “Do you know how many times Matthew Silver has called you? He’s refusing to talk to anyone else.”
“Tell him I’m anywhere but there. I’m at the hospital, in accident and emergency. Tell him that.” She coughed into the phone. They couldn’t prove anything. For all they knew she’d had a car accident or broken her arm. Accident and emergency was the place to go when something got too serious for a doctor. Besides, no one could prove she wasn’t in the hospital suffering from something dreadful. She supposed she was suffering from something, humiliation.
“The Silver account, the ‘Skinny Dipping’ campaign is finished. Desmond edited and finalised the commercial and Bradley took the final product over to Matthew Silver. That’s your job. What’s going on Sophie…?”
“I’ve already told you, I’m sick.”
“Matthew loved it. He even spoke to Bradley about how excellent you were, and how he’s giving you, and only you, the ad work for the entire Silver Family Leisure Group! Bradley almost fainted when he told us.”
“Great,” Sophie said with little enthusiasm. Was that the only reason Matthew was calling her?
“Just great? That’s brilliant! Are you okay Sophie? Clarks is saved.”
“Who cares?” Sophie had been made redundant. Bradley had fired her. He’s also fired Kelly and let them both go after a meal at The Dorchester.
“You clearly must be ill, clearly at accident and emergency. The hospital atmosphere must have tamed you because you should be jumping out of your bloody chair with happiness,” Jessica said in a very quiet voice. “Well, to continue, the wrap party is all scheduled for tonight. Are you sure you don’t want to review any of the plans?”
“Where is it?”
“The Embankment, on a boat, just like we discussed,” Jessica paused. “You’re okay with boats. It’s just swimming and the trauma, right?”
“I’m good with swimming. I did a deep water jump the other day. I can handle the water.”
“I know you’re sick, but do you think you can still make it? I mean, Bradley would flip if you didn’t come; getting the rest of the Silver’s business, you’re expected to schmooze.”
“I don’t think Bradley cares too much about me. It’s a shame but I might be too sick to go.”
“I thought hospitals didn’t have mobile phone reception.” There was a long pause. “You know it’s strange. Kelly’s sick, too.”
“Must be going around the office.”
“You’ve both been sick for three days. The same three days. Isn’t that interesting?”
“Very interesting.”
“But I just spoke to Kelly and she’s turning up to the wrap party.”
“Oh really, why? Matthew’s not her client.” Sophie suddenly felt a sense of proprietary. Matthew Silver was her client and so was the new business. And if she had even a sliver of a chance to get her job back, then she’d have to talk to Bradley about it.
“Bradley called her. Barney’s Chocolate Bars is reconsidering, and have asked Kelly to come in. There’s this rumour going around that he made Kelly redundant but then asked her back.”
“Hmm….” Sophie said. Bradley hadn’t called her to give her job back. “What’s she supposed to be sick with?”
“She’s lucky to have a job, so she’s sucking it up, like you should.”
“Well she can’t be too sick if she’s going to the party.”
“I don’t know, she just called in sick, like you,” Jessica said.
“So she’s not really sick.”
“Like you, you mean?” Jessica insisted. “Not really sick.”
Sophie hung up the phone and wandered around the flat in her pajamas. She slumped onto the leather lounge next to Carol, who sat sprawled on the sofa, eating ice cream.
“What are you doing?” Sophie asked, looking pointedly at the ice cream. Carol didn’t eat much and she certainly didn’t eat ice cream.
“Josh….” Carol dipped her spoon back into the container and ate another mouthful. “He’s off to Australia.”
“Oh my God.”
“Want some?”
“Why?”
“Because it’s delicious.”
“No.” Sophie shook her head in frustration. “Why is he going to Australia?”
Carol sighed. “He’s a lifeguard and he doesn’t want to waste his life at a pool. He wants surf, sand, wind in his hair. All that kind of stuff.”
“I see. Are you going with him then?”
“My agent called.” Carol made a face. “I’ve got another job.”
“That’s wonderful news in a recession. Yet I don’t know if I should be saying congratulations because you don’t look ecstatic.”
“I’m not crying. I’m really happy with the new job.” Yet Carol wiped a tear from her eye. “There’s no possible way I can go to Australia when my career’s just started to take off. Thanks for the help with that, by the way.”
“No problem.”
“Josh says he understands and I guess we’ll break up when he goes abroad.” Carol sniffed. “What are you wearing to the wrap party tonight?”
“I’m not going.”
Carol shot Sophie a long hard look. “You’re not going? No way. You can’t drag me out of bed at four o’clock in the morning, convince me to become a national star and then decide not to show up for the wrap party.”
“I’m sick.”
Carol hollered. “No way you’re sick you big fraud. Don’t think I’m not onto you. I’m your flat mate.”
“I can’t go. I got made redundant. So I’m taking all the sick days I can. I called in sick today, so I can’t possibly go to the wrap party tonight. It would be too obvious.”
“It’s not like they can fire you.”
“I suppose. But I’m not going.”
“What’s going on with you? What’s happened to that persistent, positive, go-getter attitude? Are you sure there isn’t any way to save your job?”
“There might be.” Sophie shrugged. “But it doesn’t mean much anymore, does it? I mean, if Bradley made me redundant, even if he reinstated me... well I’m not worth very much to Clarks, am I? They don’t really want me.”
“But you love that job.”
“I love advertising, maybe not that job,” Sophie said in a very soft voice. “Besides, I don’t want to see Matthew ever again, it’s too embarrassing.”
“He didn’t cheat on you. He’s left you about one hundred messages. He really likes you, Soph; it was just a slip of the tongue. A compliment really.”
“I can’t possibly compete with the ghost of a dead girlfriend. He loved her so much. I feel for him, I really do. He’s not ready. It feels like everyone’s going to get hurt, including me.”
Carol sighed. “Love’s a risk. He might never forget her. But that’s the same as you never forgetting Derek. Rebecca is his dead girlfriend. It’s different. He’s associated you with a woman he loved – the only woman he loved from what I can gather. It’s been almost two years and she will come up in conversation from time to time. But she’s gone, Sophie. She’s never coming back. I hate to say this but she’s dead, which for you, has to be so much better than having a
n ex to bump into. So other than a banshee haunting you, you’ve got absolutely nothing to be worried about.”
The doorbell rang, interrupting their conversation. “If it’s Matthew, I’m not seeing him.”
Carol nodded and went to the door. “Sophie, it’s for you.”
Sophie glared at her flat mate and she trudged to the front door. She ran her hands through her unwashed hair. She was, of course, still dressed in her robe and slippers. She pulled her robe tightly round her waist, wishing she looked much better. Why hadn’t she bought a silk robe?
At the doorway Sophie’s heart lurched. It wasn’t Matthew. It was her mother.
“Hi Soph,” Gloria said brightly. Then Roger pushed past. Roger looked much stronger than he’d been in hospital.
“Hi Mum. Hi Dad. What are you both doing here? I thought you were both going off on your cruise.”
“We are,” they said in unison, and looked at each other, a secret smile shared between the two of them.
“You wouldn’t take my calls at work, but then Jessica said you were sick, so I didn’t take it personally – you not getting my messages and no calling me back. So I thought I would just invite myself over.” Gloria handed Sophie an ice cream container, as she wandered into the apartment, and started looking around.
“What’s this?” Sophie asked.
“Carrot and coriander soup, because you are supposed to be sick.” Gloria gave Sophie a knowing look and then wandered into the kitchen, making all the right sounds as she opened the cupboards, the pantry, and examined the stove. She placed a plastic bag on the bench then opened the back door. Gloria looked around the garden. “I love your place,” she enthused.
“Thanks, I love your soup, it’s my favorite.”
“Your father made it. He’s been helping out a lot more and he’s even got this fine knack of making frothy cappuccinos. I’ve told him he should open up a coffee shop.”
Sophie almost choked. “Right.” She shot her father a look. “Who would have thought he’d be so talented at cappuccino making?”
“Anyway, that won’t be possible because he’s helping a bit around the house before he….” Gloria shot Roger a sharp look.
Skinny Dipping (Skinny Sagas) Page 25