by Jade Winters
Darcie,
So sorry to have left without saying goodbye. I’ve had to return to the UK because I got a message to say my uncle had died. I’ll see you when you get back. The funeral is the day after tomorrow, UK time, so I had to leave straightaway. Have a safe trip home.
M
‘Oh fuck!’ Darcie said out loud as she dropped backwards onto the bed and pulled the pillow over her head. Why didn’t she wake me up? If she had, Darcie could have comforted her somehow. Been a shoulder to cry on. But she hadn’t. She had left and was now probably on a plane by herself grieving for her uncle alone. Just the thought of this tore at her heart.
Pushing herself into a sitting position, she thought of the best way forward. Should she go and see her once she reached the UK? Or leave her alone in peace to grieve? Standing and heading towards the bathroom, Darcie decided to wait until she got home before she made any decisions.
The flight back to the UK was uneventful and seemed to take forever. Darcie knew the reason for this. Outward bound she was nowhere as anxious as she was on the way back. She wanted, no needed to know Madison was OK. Well, as OK as someone grieving for a loved one could be. Darcie only hoped that she had someone supporting her through this trying time. Then she remembered how close Madison seemed with her flatmate Kay and knew she would be in safe hands.
Once the plane touched down and the air hostess announced it was OK to turn on mobile phones, Darcie sent Madison a text relaying her condolences and to let her know that she was there if she needed her. After that Darcie spent the rest of her journey home waiting for a reply that never came.
Even though their parting had been due to her uncle’s sudden death, Darcie’s inner doubts and concerns were not far from the surface. Had she said something wrong? Had she done something wrong? Was Madison angry with her? Was that why she hadn’t woken her? Had she just been taken along as a bit of holiday fun? In her heart of hearts, Darcie didn’t think so but her natural insecurity kept on grabbing and tugging at the loose threads in her mind, unravelling what she thought she knew until it was threadbare.
Once Darcie was home, she found her mind less skittish. She spoke briefly with Emma, more to say she was back than for any other reason, and to let her know she would be in to the office the next day. Darcie then concentrated on her domestic chores before retiring to her bed, still with no reply from Madison.
***
The journey in to the office the next morning was enough to have put anyone into a bad mood. Crammed into a train carriage with a group of people, a substantial proportion of whom either hadn’t washed or had run out of deodorant, came as a shock to the system after the rest and relaxation of the previous few days. Stepping out of the station to be met by milling crowds, diesel-fume spewing buses, and the general hubbub of city life simply highlighted just how much Darcie had enjoyed being away from it all.
Although the journey had been nightmarish, it had been tempered slightly by her phone vibrating with a message from Madison. It was short but apologetic, promising to call later that day so they could speak properly. It made the journey almost tolerable. Only almost.
The coffee shop was busy when she went in for her usual morning coffee but eventually, and with a sigh of relief, she made it to her office, sat down on her comfortable office chair, set down her bag and the coffee, and fired up her computer.
‘Morning.’ Emma poked her head around the door. ‘Have you readjusted yet? Are you back with us?’ She came in but didn’t make a move to sit.
Darcie flipped the plastic lid off her drink.
‘You know, I hate these lids. I see people walking around drinking out of them like toddlers with a sippy-cup.’ She frisbeed the lid at her waste bin, missing by six inches. ‘When did we become a nation of toddlers who can’t drink from a cup like a normal person?’
Emma walked over to the chair on the other side of Darcie’s desk and leant both hands on the back of it. ‘Bad trip in?’
Darcie looked up at her friend and managed a thin smile. ‘The worst.’
‘How was Thailand?’
‘How are things here?’
‘You first.’ Emma swung the chair around, sat down, then swivelled back to face Darcie.
‘That bad, huh?’
Emma shrugged and managed her own version of a thin smile.
‘OK, well Thailand was great. I went to the hotel and had a good look around to get a feel for the place.’ She took a mouthful of her coffee. ‘They have done a lot of work on it with the refurb and it will be a fabulous place when it reopens. I met the two guys who run it day-to-day and although one of them seemed onboard with what I was suggesting, the other didn’t seem quite so enthused.’
‘Well that’s a start at least. We just need to convince Mr. Willis and we might be in with a chance.’
Darcie shook her head. ‘That’s not going to happen.’
Emma narrowed her eyes. ‘Why. You’re not back to thinking about giving up on this are you? You know how important it is, Darce. While you were away we applied for a few more contracts but they could be weeks away, if we get them. This Clover Ltd contract is make or—’
‘Mr. Willis is dead. That’s why we won’t convince him.’
Emma’s mouth hung open. Darcie could almost hear the gears in her head clicking and whirring as she processed that little gem of information.
‘Dead?’
‘Yes. Dead.’
‘How … I mean … when … what happened?’
‘I’m not sure of the exact details. When I woke up Madison was gone, and I’ve only had a quick text from her since.’
‘So where does that leave the contract?’
‘I don’t know. Up in the air. I won’t know what’s happening until I get to speak to Madison properly, so keep working on those other contracts. We might need them.’
‘Well, I don’t mean to put any more of a downer on you but if we don’t get the Clover contract, we will be in no position to apply for any others. While you were away we had the Estate agent on the the phone about the rent for this place. I managed to sweet talk the agent into giving us another month to pay, but time is … running … out.’ Emma slowly trailed off her words and sat looking at Madison with a furrowed brow.
‘What is it?’ Darcie asked.
‘Hang on a minute.’ She held up a finger.
‘You OK, you look a bit puzzled about something?’
‘You said … when you woke up, that Madison had gone.’
‘Yeah. So?’ Darcie could feel the first gentle thumps of a headache coming on; she pressed her fingers into her temples and massaged.
Emma looked even more puzzled for a few moments. ‘So …’ her face cleared, her eyes open wide, ‘that means … when you went to sleep, Madison was there.’
Darcie didn’t know why she didn’t want to admit it, but she didn’t.
Is it because I’m still not sure what our time together was about?
‘What are you talking about?’ Darcie said, her face as deadpan as she could manage.
‘You.’ Emma pointed straight at Darcie’s heart. ‘You slept with Madison?’
Darcie shifted in her chair, incredibly uncomfortable as the heat rose from her neck to her cheeks. She nodded once, unable to look Emma in the eye.
For one long moment the two women sat silently. Darcie, for some reason she couldn’t explain, felt like she had been called to the Headmaster’s office and was waiting for the hammer of Emma’s recriminations to fall.
‘Do you think that was a good idea?’
Darcie summoned the courage to look at Emma across the desk. ‘I don’t know. It’s not like it was something we planned, it just happened as it did and …’
‘And?’
‘And I enjoyed it. I’ve been holding myself back all this time, since I left the foster home, living in hope that one day I might see Madison again. When I did it reawakened all the feelings I had back then. It’s not every day you find your soulmate, and now I’v
e found her again, I don’t want to let her go. There, I’ve spilt it all.’
‘Let’s just hope it wasn’t a big mistake.’
‘It wasn’t. It was perfect.’
‘I don’t mean like that. We’re in a battle to save our business by winning the contract and you just slept with the new owner of the company.’
‘But I didn’t know that then.’ Darcie knew she was sounding a bit whiny, but she was starting to understand what Emma was getting at. Madison would now be the owner of Clover Ltd and the person who would make the final decision as to which company would represent their interests. What if her sleeping with Madison meant that there was a conflict of interest and Silver Lining were now out of the running, leaving the field wide open for Gaze? Had she driven the final nail into the coffin of Silver Lining? Why couldn’t she have controlled herself for just a while longer?
Darcie was dragged out of her self-recrimination by the sound of muffled raised voices outside her office door. As she tried to make out what was being said the door opened at speed, and a woman stepped over the threshold and into the room. Emma jumped out of her seat to face the intruder.
‘Can I help you, this is a private meeting you know?’ Emma said.
Darcie stood up from her chair, staring at the woman, a weight like a lump of lead dropping into her stomach as the first buds of recognition flowered in her mind.
‘Bette. What are you doing here?’ She watched as a knowing smile grew on Bette’s face. She was nothing like the girl she remembered from ten years ago. Dressed in an immaculate black business suit, a shining leather briefcase in one hand, perfectly proportioned now the last traces of the puppy fat she used to carry as a teenager had dropped away, her hair beautifully styled and with a flash of scarlet lipstick. She was stunning. The one remaining feature, the thing that had allowed Darcie to recognise her, were her eyes, still as cruel, cold, and calculating as they had been back then. Those icy-blue orbs glared at Darcie, fixing her in place.
‘Hello, Darcie, long time no see.’
Darcie felt a shiver of apprehension tingling her spine. The first stirrings of a reawakening of the anger also surfaced at the thought of the letters Bette had sent that crushed Darcie’s spirit after she left the foster home.
‘What do you want, Bette?’
Bette stepped around Emma as though she didn’t exist and wandered over to the window, opening the blinds slightly to peer outside.
‘I just thought I’d come and say hello for old time’s sake. Come and see an old friend. You know?’
Darcie had started to recover her composure and watched as Bette had sashayed across the room. ‘I don’t think I would say we were ever friends, Bette.’
‘No? OK, well maybe acquaintances would be a better word?’
‘Not the word I would choose but still. Are you going to tell me what you want?’
Bette closed the blinds again and wandered over to the one filing cabinet in the office, running a finger over the top, turning it up to examine it, and blowing away an imaginary speck of dust with a long series of quiet tuts. She prowled the room like a she-wolf on the hunt for prey.
‘It’s very … small isn’t it?’ she said, waving a hand to indicate the office.
‘It’s big enough for me.’ Darcie tried to keep her voice even and calm.
‘And out there,’ she pointed to the window, ‘it’s all a bit … tatty, isn’t it?’
It was, but Darcie wouldn’t give Bette the pleasure of hearing her try to defend it.
‘Look, Bette. I’m really busy so if you’re not going to tell me what you want I think you should leave.’
Bette laughed, not a deep, humorous belly laugh, but a sound like a hyena, a witch’s cackle almost.
‘I met an old friend of yours the other day.’
‘Oh, right, and who would that be?’
Bette smiled, revealing a set of highly expensive, pearly-white teeth she certainly didn’t possess ten years before. ‘Madison.’ The smile remained but the eyes were cold.
The lump of foreboding in Darcie’s insides fell to her feet; she could feel her heart start to race, and she rested her hands on the desk.
‘Tell me something I don’t know.’
‘Oh, did she tell you about our offices? They’re much bigger than this poky hole you’ve got here. Strange isn’t it—’ Bette turned to Emma and looked her up and down as if she was a particularly tasty morsel of meat, then turned back ‘—that your little company is bidding for the contract too. What a charming coincidence, isn’t it?’
Darcie said nothing, trying to regulate her breathing.
‘Well, Darce, I thought I would just drop in to remind you…’
‘Remind me of what?’
Bette leant on the desk, fists balled. ‘That the last time you and I faced off over Madison, it was me who won the prize. Remember? And I just want you to know that this time will be no different. Do you understand?’ The smile had turned to a snarl.
Emma stepped over and rested a hand on Bette’s shoulder. ‘That’s enough. I think you need to leave.’
‘Take your hands off me.’ Bette swung round, one arm knocking Emma’s away from her. ‘How do you work here in this hovel all day? It’s a pigsty. I wouldn’t worry though because from what I can tell, when Gaze wins this contract, not only will I get a huge bonus, but I will also get the pleasure of seeing you and your … underling here go out of business for good, like the failure you always have been, Darcie.’
Despite herself Darcie felt the prickle of upcoming tears in her eyes.
‘Hey, now that’s enough.’ Emma gripped Bette’s arm and with a strength Darcie had no idea she possessed, span Bette around and grabbed her by the lapels of her highly expensive, no doubt, designer jacket. ‘Now listen, Cruella, if you are not out of here in ten seconds flat—’ she nodded at the pen pot on Darcie’s desk, ‘—I’m going to take that letter opener, and I’m going to ram it somewhere it shouldn’t be rammed. You understand me?’
Bette held up her hands in mock surrender. ‘OK, OK, I know when I’ve outstayed my welcome. Get off me, and I’ll go.’
Emma released her grip and Bette spent a few seconds brushing herself down.
‘I’m telling you, Darcie. Give up now before you waste any more time. I’ve got Madison eating out of the palm of my hand.’
‘GET OUT.’ Emma yelled at the top of her voice.
Bette smirked. ‘I’m going. I’m going. Nice seeing you again, Darcie.’
Bette swayed her best catwalk prowl back to the door with Emma’s hand in the small of her back. When they got to the door, Emma reached around to open it, and with a less than gentle shove, ejected Bette from the room, shutting the door behind her, then leaning back against it, breathing heavily.
‘That woman … is a nutjob,’ Emma said between pants. ‘Sorry for butting in …but I couldn’t just stand there and let her talk to you like that. Are you OK?’ She looked at Darcie who was still leaning on her desk, her eyes vacant, as if haunted by the ghost from her past.
Darcie nodded. ‘Yes, yes, I’m fine. Thanks, Emma. Listen, can you give me a few minutes?’
Emma gazed over at Darcie for a few moments, then nodded, turned, and opened the door, closing it quietly behind her.
Darcie stood still, grateful for the quiet after the whirlwind.
Something Bette had said rebounded around her mind like a high-speed rubber ball.
‘Give up now.’
She could still hear the cruel, taunting tone in Bette’s voice, then a quiet voice inside her mind interrupted.
Maybe I should.
Chapter Twenty
The funeral had passed off without a hitch. Madison had shed tears as she dropped a handful of loose earth into the grave under a mournful, but mercifully dry, grey sky. No matter what had happened or was about to happen, she would be forever grateful to her uncle for rescuing her from the foster home. In the brief time that had passed since she opened that email in Tha
iland, she had felt something growing inside her. Sparked by the realisation that she was now the sole owner of Clover Ltd, an increasing weight of responsibility bore down on her.
Clover’s, no, her employees now depended on her. The five board members now depended on her, the people in Thailand, and locations all around the world depended on her and what she did from now on. Most of all Clover Ltd, and with it the memory of her uncle, were all relying on Madison.
Can I really do that? Can I be responsible for all those people?
Only time would tell but the feeling of determination to succeed had been building since climbing aboard the plane back from Thailand.
Her only regret was that she hadn’t had Darcie to fall back on for support during that time. There had been so many things to deal with, she just hadn’t had the time to text her let alone speak to her.
The wake, for reasons best known only to the board members who arranged the day’s proceedings, was being held at Clover’s offices. From her office, she could see through the glass walls into the boardroom where the festivities were afoot. The last thing she felt was festive, but she knew she would have to put in an appearance sooner or later. It was expected of her, not least as the new owner of the business but also as Bryan’s last surviving relative.
Madison was carefully unpacking her laptop case, this being the first chance she’d had since she came home, when she realised there was something in there that shouldn’t have been.
The corner of a thin buff folder poked out from inside one of the sections in the case. When she pulled it out, she saw the company name on the corner in what she recognised as Darcie’s handwriting. It was Darcie’s rough draft proposal for what to do about The Oasis, and how to rescue its sullied reputation. She must have picked it up in her haste to pack her stuff up and catch her plane back in Thailand.
The sound of muffled laughter seeped through the two insulating layers of glass between her and the high-pitched cackle that had broken her thoughts.
She dropped the file onto the desk, grabbed her phone and quickly sent Darcie a message to tell her she had the file, and to drop round to hers later that evening about eight to pick it up.