Her Consultant Boss

by Joanna Neil

  Megan thought fast. ‘I’m coming over. Have you called Tom?’

  ‘Yes, I called him straight away. He’s on his way, but it will take him about an hour to get here. He was having a meeting with some people from work and he’s in the next county.’

  ‘All right. I’ll be with you in just a few minutes.’ She put the phone down and hurried out to the car.

  Jenny was out of her mind with worry when Megan arrived at the house a short time later.

  ‘He must have walked out of the back door,’ she cried. ‘He’s just learned how to reach the handle by climbing on a chair. I don’t know what’s got into his head. Why would he do that?’

  ‘I don’t know, but he can’t have got far. I’ll go and look for him,’ Megan told her.

  ‘It’s going to get dark soon,’ Jenny said, wringing her hands. ‘We have to find him quickly.’

  ‘Phone some of your neighbours, and ask if they’ll help,’ Megan said quickly. ‘You should stay here to be with Josh, and when Tom arrives he’ll want to talk to you about what’s happened. Have you any idea where Ben would want to go? What are his favourite places?’

  ‘There’s an adventure playground not far from here. You know the one, don’t you?’

  Megan nodded. ‘I know it. I’ll try there first. I remember that Ben likes the swings. He’s always asking to go on them.’ She gave Jenny a squeeze. ‘I know it’s hard, but try not to worry. He’s probably just wandered off on an adventure and we’ll find him playing somewhere.’

  She didn’t want to waste any more time talking, and she hurried out of the house and headed towards the playground, looking all around her as she went in case she saw Ben’s small figure.

  If only Sam could be with her. Somehow everything would seem better if Sam was by her side. He was capable and strong, and supportive, and he had a way of making things right.

  He wasn’t here, though, and she had to face up to the fact that she was on her own, and Jenny was depending on her to find her son.

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE playground was almost deserted when Megan arrived there. Two young boys were playing on a roundabout, but the swings were empty. She looked around distractedly, scanning the play area and then beyond, looking at the shrubbery which bordered one side of the playground. Sometimes children would play amongst the trees and bushes, but this evening there was no one there.

  Where could Ben be? Megan racked her brain for a clue as to where he might have gone. He was just a small boy and he couldn’t have gone far in the short time since Jenny had discovered that he was missing, surely?

  If only she could think straight. She went over to the children on the roundabout and asked, ‘Have you seen a little boy playing here on his own? He’s almost four years old.’

  ‘There were some older children here—but they were about seven and eight years old, I think,’ one of the boys said.

  ‘They went about half an hour ago,’ the other boy added. ‘We haven’t seen anyone else.’

  ‘Thank you.’ She tried to think where else Ben might have gone. Had he woken up from a short nap and simply wandered off with nowhere particular in mind, still befuddled from sleep?

  Desperately she looked around once more. Beyond the fencing was a small stretch of parkland, with a football pitch and paths that led off in different directions to flower-beds and a clubhouse, and beyond that there was a narrow track that followed a brook that ran the length of the park.

  She would follow the brook first of all in case he had slipped and come to some harm. Heaven forbid… She hurried, almost running now, scanning the brook through the hedgerow that bordered it.

  ‘Megan…’ It was a muffled sound, drifting on the air. Someone was calling her name, and she frowned, turning to see who was there. She saw the tall, familiar figure of a man in the distance, and she felt an instant flicker of hope light up inside her. Could it be him? More than anything in the world, she wanted Sam to be with her right now because with him by her side things were bound to get better. She trusted him to know what to do.

  ‘Sam?’ She said his name on a quivering note of uncertainty.

  He came towards her out of the shadows and her heart gave a sudden lurch. It was Sam. Her pulse quickened, relief flooding through her, and she ran to meet him. ‘What are you doing here? Have you heard what’s happened?’ she said, deluging him in a breathless flurry of questions. Then, on a fleeting moment of hope she asked, ‘Has Ben been found?’

  He shook his head. ‘No, I’m afraid not. Jenny phoned me. She was really worried, and I think she wanted to contact anyone who might be able to help. She thought I might have some idea of what’s going on in his head.’

  ‘I don’t think any of us can know that.’ Megan glanced around helplessly. ‘I’m not sure where else to look. He doesn’t seem to be in the park, and he wasn’t in the playground. It’s going to be dark soon, and it’s getting colder now that the sun is going down. He’s only wearing his pyjamas.’ The image of her small, vulnerable nephew wandering aimlessly into danger brought a sob to her voice. ‘I’m so worried, Sam.’

  He put an arm around her and held her tight. ‘I know. We’ll look for him together. Between us we should be able to work out where he might have gone.’

  ‘I don’t know anywhere else around here where he might think to go. Perhaps he’s not thinking at all, perhaps he’s just wandering about.’ Her eyes were glazed with tears.

  ‘Try not to upset yourself,’ he murmured softly. ‘We’ll think of something.’ His arms circled her, his hand stroking her hair soothingly as she leaned against him, absorbing the warmth and comfort that he offered.

  Looking up at Sam, she whispered, ‘I’m so glad that you’re here with me. I didn’t think there was any chance—I thought that you were with Julie.’

  ‘I was, but I had to come. Julie didn’t mind. She understood, and she has a member of the management team to keep her company. As soon as Jenny told me what had happened, I had to get here as soon as I could. I knew that you would be as upset as she was, and I wanted to do whatever I could to help. I didn’t want you to struggle through this on your own.’

  He looked around. ‘Let’s go and sit down for a minute, and see if we can think what might have happened to him.’

  He took her over to a park bench, and they sat for a moment, trying to work out what to do next.

  ‘What was Chloe working on with him this last week, do you know?’ he asked.

  Megan frowned. ‘As far as I know, she was helping him with his language skills and showing him how to ask for things. She was teaching him to say things like, I want a drink, and I want some bread. Whenever he did anything well, she rewarded him, and if he had been especially good, she let him do some sketching. They looked at photos of family members. He was learning to say things like, “This is my mummy,” and “This is my daddy,” and “This is my brother.”’

  ‘Was he all right with that?’

  ‘I don’t think so. He was confused, and then Josh picked up on it and started asking for his daddy. Jenny was upset about that.’

  Sam was thoughtful. ‘It could be that Ben knows his father is missing from his life and he hasn’t been able to express himself to show what he’s feeling up until now. Anything that happens in his life that’s out of the ordinary could have an effect on his behaviour.’

  ‘Do you think his running away has something to do with Tom?’

  ‘Tom?’

  ‘His father.’

  Sam was frowning. ‘Maybe.’ After a moment’s thought, he said, ‘Was there anywhere special that his father took him? A place that he would associate with him?’

  ‘Tom took him to the park and to the playground,’ Megan said doubtfully. ‘Apart from that, he would take him to the shops if he needed to fetch something, but that wasn’t anything special. Unless…’ She was thoughtful for a moment. ‘There was one time when he took him to see the place where he works.’

  She looked at Sam, a new sense
of urgency lighting her blue eyes. ‘I wonder if that could be it? His company has an office not far from here. It isn’t his main base, but he does have to pop in there from time to time, and it was probably easier to take the children there.’

  ‘You think that’s where Ben might have gone?’

  ‘I’m not sure. Perhaps I’m clutching at straws but, now that I come to think of it, he was always fascinated with that place.’

  Taking her hand, Sam said, ‘Come on, then. Let’s give it a try. We don’t have any other leads to go on. Show me where it is.’

  ‘It’s in one of the streets at the back of the park. I wouldn’t have thought that Ben would remember how to get there, but the drawings he did that day that we went to the zoo were so detailed, perhaps he has a memory for things like that.’

  They hurried out of the park and along the streets, and Sam kept an arm around her waist, as though to encourage her, to show her that he was with her all the way.

  Megan was still confused by the way he had turned up like that, out of the blue, when she’d least expected him, but she was thankful for it, and her blood was fizzing with renewed energy, just having him near.

  They reached Tom’s building a few minutes later. It was set back a little, fronted by a low brick wall and a waist-high gateway, which led onto a paved area. At the side of the building there was another entrance, which led to the car park around the back, but high wrought-iron gates closed this off.

  By now darkness was creeping over everything, and shadows dimmed the entrances and shop fronts that ran alongside the offices.

  ‘I can’t see him anywhere,’ Megan said unhappily, ‘and the gate hasn’t been left open, so it doesn’t look as though he went through there. Perhaps we’re wasting our time, looking here.’

  ‘He might have climbed over the gate. It’s not too high for Ben to manage. He wouldn’t have managed the catch. He has trouble with locks, doesn’t he, and with fastenings of any kind?’

  She looked at him, a startled expression in her eyes. ‘You’ve noticed that? I wonder if that’s why he keeps taking anything that has a clasp and hiding it away? Perhaps he’s not being naughty—he might simply be trying to find out how they work.’

  Sam was already through the gate, and held it open for her to pass through. ‘You could be right. When we have him safely back we’ll have to give him some to practise on.’ He looked around. ‘Let’s go around to the back of the building and see if he’s there.’

  At the back of the building, to one side of the car park, there was a grassed area where the workers sometimes sat to eat their lunches on rustic benches when the weather was fine. Megan quickly scanned the area.

  A small figure was sitting at one of these benches, huddled and shivering in the cold night air. Megan gasped and ran over to him.

  ‘Ben,’ she said softly. ‘We’ve been looking everywhere for you.’

  Ben was absorbed in sketching a view of the building, and he didn’t look up at her. He carried on with what he was doing. ‘Ben, look at me,’ she said. She closed her fingers gently around his chin as she had seen Chloe do, and tilted his head so that he had to look at her.

  ‘Picture,’ he said, as if that explained everything.

  Megan glanced down at his sketchpad and then turned to look at the part of the building that he was drawing. High up there was a small parapet that was decorated with little carved stone figures representing animals.

  She looked at Sam. ‘I’d forgotten about those,’ she said quietly. ‘The software company produces games, and those animals feature in them. Ben must have remembered them.’

  ‘He must have been desperate to come back here and see them again, but he didn’t know how to ask.’ Sam took off his jacket and wrapped it around Ben. ‘There you are, little chap. That should make you feel a bit warmer.’

  Megan pulled out her mobile phone and rang Jenny. ‘We’ve found him,’ she said. ‘He’s safe and well. We’ll bring him back to you.’

  Ben was still drawing, his concentration fixed on what he was doing. They waited until he had finished before trying to move him from the spot. Both of them knew that any attempt to remove Ben from the scene would result in a tantrum, and neither of them wanted that.

  Sam glanced at Megan. ‘Why did his father leave?’ he asked in a low voice. His grey eyes searched her face. ‘Was he involved with someone else?’

  Her eyes widened. ‘No,’ she said quickly, shaking her head. ‘Tom wouldn’t do that. He loves Jenny, I’m sure of it. It’s just that things got too much for him…work and the problems at home. He became frustrated, not knowing how to get through to his child. There were arguments, and it all went wrong for him. He decided that he needed a breathing space.’

  Ben looked up and waved his sketchpad under her nose. ‘Piglets and rabbits,’ he said. He looked pleased with himself, and Megan hadn’t the heart to chide him for putting them through all that worry.

  Sam lifted Ben into his arms and carried him all the way back to Jenny’s house.

  Jenny was overwhelmed with emotion when she saw that they had him safe, and she hugged her son to her, crying softly as she kissed him and stroked his hair.

  When Tom arrived five minutes later she was still holding Ben and crying, but at least they were tears of happiness.

  ‘It’s all right, Jen,’ Tom said huskily, putting his arms around both of them. ‘We have him back. He’s safe. We’re going to work everything out now. We’ll do this together from now on. We’ll be a family again.’

  ‘Will we, Tom?’

  He nodded. ‘I should never have left. I’ve had time to think things through and I realise that life just isn’t any good without you. I want to be here, with you and the children. It’s just that it was all too much for me, one way and another, because I didn’t understand, because work got on top of me and took over, and I couldn’t cope any more. It isn’t going to be like that from now on. I’ve been asked to take on a different position at work, one where I can delegate more, and I’ve accepted it. I’m going to sort out my priorities. You and the children mean everything to me, and I’m not going to let you down again, I promise. I’m going to be here for you.’

  Megan glanced at Sam. He was frowning again, but after a moment he looked at her and seemed to understand her signal that they should go now and leave Jenny and Tom to work things out.

  ‘I’ll come and see you tomorrow,’ Megan told Jenny. ‘I’m glad that everything turned out all right in the end.’

  Jenny smiled up at her. ‘I can’t thank you and Sam enough. I don’t know what I would have done without you.’

  ‘We’re always going to be around if you need us,’ Sam murmured.

  They left a moment or two later, and went back to Sam’s house. ‘I’ll make us a hot drink,’ he said as soon as they were home, then added, ‘Unless you want something stronger?’

  Megan gave him a faint smile. ‘I don’t think I dare, not after what happened the last time. I don’t want to wake up in the morning and find that I’ve embarrassed you or made life difficult for you.’

  He looked at her oddly. ‘You wouldn’t do either of those things. Is that what you thought last time?’ He shook his head. ‘I thought you were the one who might have a problem if anything had happened between us. I thought you were involved with someone…with Tom. That was what you let me believe, but it wasn’t true, was it? It was your brother-in-law that you were meeting all along, and you weren’t involved with him at all, were you?’

  Her eyes widened. How much of this had he worked out? ‘I was never involved with him,’ she admitted. ‘I wanted to help Jenny. That was why I met him—so that we could talk, so that I could act as a go-between, if you like.’

  ‘And yet you let me think that there was something going on. Why was that?’

  ‘I wasn’t sure what I wanted back then. It was hard for me, being here with you and working with you as well. We were so close at times, and yet we were so far apart. I thought things m
ight easily get out of hand and that would be difficult because I work for you, I’m part of your team. I had to think of some way to stop things from getting out of control. I knew that if I let you think that I was involved with someone, nothing would happen between us.’ She looked at him anxiously. ‘It won’t matter soon, will it? Because I’ll be going back to the flat.’

  ‘Is that what you want? To be out of here?’

  Megan swallowed. ‘It will be best for both of us, won’t it? After all, it’s difficult for you at work if I stay here. People talk, and you have to be on your guard all the while.’

  ‘I’ve never felt that I needed to be on my guard for my own sake. It’s you that I was worried about. I didn’t want you to feel that people were talking behind your back. I didn’t want any rumours to be going around that would put you in a difficult situation. I wanted to protect you.’

  ‘You were protecting me?’ She blinked, trying to take that in. ‘I didn’t know that I needed to be protected. I was worried for your sake, that’s all.’

  Sam gave a wry smile. ‘It looks as though we both had things wrong, didn’t we?’ He reached for her, his hands clasping her shoulders, his thumbs circling gently, lightly, and creating havoc with her chaotic emotions.

  His grey eyes were suddenly intent, serious. ‘Were you really so worried about getting to know me better? Am I the problem, or are you just worried about getting involved with any one at all?’

  Megan said unhappily, ‘I was afraid that I would get hurt if I let myself give in to the feelings I had for you. The people closest to me all seem to have problems when they get involved. I thought Jenny and Tom were really suited to each other, and look what happened to them. My own parents were divorced. I haven’t had any really good examples of what can happen when people fall in love. I was scared. I was afraid I would be lonely and unhappy if I let my emotions take over.’

  ‘You can’t spend the rest of your life being afraid to fall in love. Besides, Jenny and Tom are going to be all right, aren’t they? Their love won through in the end, and the same thing can happen for you.’