City Lives

by Patricia Scanlan

  ‘How did you find out?’ Luke frowned.

  ‘Andrew noticed that the quarterly figures for Galway were higher than normal and the orders for oils, creams, waxes and so on were doubled. And then this woman phoned in saying that she couldn’t get an appointment . . .’ Devlin outlined the saga underlying Charlotte Adams’s complaint.

  ‘Get rid of her. Pronto.’ Luke had a look on his face that Devlin rarely saw. Hard. Cold. Unyielding. Luke could be very tough in his business dealings. He had to be. The building trade was not for the fainthearted. But this was different. Devlin still clung to the hope that Ciara had some reasonable explanation.

  ‘Maybe she has some financial problems that we don’t know about that necessitate her having to do extra work,’ Devlin said earnestly.

  ‘Devlin, Ciara Hanlon has her eye on the main chance. And she’s taking the main chance at your expense—’

  ‘Luke, we don’t know that. The girl’s entitled to the benefit of the doubt,’ Devlin interrupted.

  ‘Don’t be a fool, Devlin. Whether she has problems or not, she’s on the make. That’s unacceptable. She’s got to go,’ Luke declared.

  ‘I’m not making any decisions until I find out what’s behind it,’ Devlin retorted stubbornly.

  ‘Devlin, I’ve been in business a lot longer than you—’

  ‘Oh don’t start that routine,’ Devlin bristled, irritated at his response. Luke could be so damn inflexible sometimes. She was sorry she’d told him about Ciara Hanlon. She should have known what his response would be. Luke was uncompromising in his business ethics.

  ‘Don’t get all defensive, Devlin,’ Luke said irritably.

  ‘I’m not getting defensive, Luke. Just don’t start being superior.’

  ‘I’m not being superior. You always take that attitude when we’re having a discussion like this,’ Luke accused.

  ‘Discussion! That’s rich! You mean when you’re telling me what to do,’ Devlin said hotly.

  ‘I’m not telling you what to do. I’m merely pointing out that whether you like it or not, you have to face facts. And the facts are that you have a dishonest employee. You can’t let her off the hook. She has to accept responsibility for her actions. You’re not doing her any favours protecting her from that. If people never have to accept that they’ve done wrong they just keep on committing the crime, hurting other people and ultimately themselves,’ Luke said sternly.

  ‘Oh for God’s sake, don’t lecture me about it. You’re as bad as Caroline. That’s just the sort of thing she’d say.’ Devlin jumped up and stalked out of the room.

  ‘Caroline has a bit of cop-on at least,’ Luke thundered as he slammed his briefcase shut and grabbed his jacket.

  ‘Look, I’ll deal with this the way I see fit. Without any interference from you, Luke Reilly!’ Devlin yelled.

  ‘That’s what I’m afraid of,’ Luke retaliated nastily as he strode down the hall.

  ‘How dare you, Luke. That’s a cheap shot! I’m sorry I opened my mouth. I should have known. You’re always the same. Patronizing and laying down the law.’ Devlin was spitting feathers at this slur on her management abilities.

  ‘For heaven’s sake don’t be so childish, Devlin. Business isn’t for wimps. Sometimes you have to make tough decisions. If you can’t see that, you’re in trouble. I’ll see you tonight.’

  ‘Yeah, well at least I have a heart,’ Devlin shouted at his retreating back. But the door was closed behind him and he was gone, leaving Devlin red-faced with fury.

  ‘Arrogant bastard!’ she swore as she snatched up her car keys from the table. Lecturing her like she was a . . . a . . . mere novice. She couldn’t have run a thriving business for years if she’d been a softie. She’d made tough decisions in her time. She’d sack Ciara Hanlon if the circumstances warranted it.

  The sooner this was sorted the better. She was heartily sick of it. It was making her uncomfortable at work, and now it had caused a row in her marriage. She and Luke rarely rowed but when they did it could be sharp and nasty. He liked getting his own way, that was the problem, she thought resentfully as she slipped into her trench coat and picked up her briefcase.

  Luke had really gone beyond the boundary with his insulting remarks. He could damn well apologize. Just because once upon a time he’d known more about business than she had. Well, not any more. And he’d bloody well better recognize that, she raged as she locked the door behind her and waited for the lift.

  And what was more, ranting and raving and barging out in a huff was no way to be treating her when she was pregnant. He might have some consideration, she thought with a sudden surge of self-pity. He could be such a mule sometimes. Well, this time he could piss off. She wasn’t kissing and making up first.

  Luke gunned the engine and drove out of the apartment complex at speed. Devlin could be damn well infuriating at times. And today was one of them. The trouble with her was she was so bull-headed she couldn’t take constructive advice or criticism. Sometimes she couldn’t see beyond her nose. Ciara Hanlon was taking her for a ride and if there were mitigating circumstances he’d eat his bloody hat. He’d been too long in the business not to know a rip-off merchant when he saw one. Give someone like Ciara Hanlon a chance and she’d do the exact same thing to some other poor sucker until someone got sense and put a halt to her gallop.

  The trouble with Devlin was that she let her heart rule her head too much, and that was fatal in business.

  He was tempted to give Andrew Dawson a call but if Devlin found out she’d hit the roof. City Girl was very much her baby. Luke was a sleeping partner, only involved when major decisions concerning expansion and the like were under discussion. Besides, a call from him would undermine her in the accountant’s eyes. Devlin had told him of the comment Andrew had made when they’d been discussing the Mind, Body, Spirit aspect of the treatments. Devlin had been fit to be tied that evening. And rightly so. Andrew had no business putting Devlin down. Her instincts for City Girl were always spot on.

  He couldn’t possibly make the call, he thought regretfully. Because if he did he’d tell Andrew Dawson to call in the police and charge that twofaced Hanlon bitch with everything they could throw at her.

  Twenty-eight

  Caroline was just coming out the front door of her apartment complex as Devlin walked over to her car. It was nice they lived so close to each other. She paused and waited for her friend. Sometimes, if neither had meetings or appointments, they drove in to City Girl in the one car. Devlin needed her car today. She was going to be the guest speaker at a businesswomen’s lunch in the Burlington. She wasn’t sure what Caroline’s agenda was.

  ‘Do you want a lift?’ she invited as Caroline joined her. ‘I need my car for that lunch do in the Burlington, but I’ll be going back to the office and I can give you a lift home.’

  ‘Oh . . . OK, Dev, suits me. I’m not going anywhere today.’ Caroline accepted the offer and got into the car beside her. ‘Luke went scorching out in a hurry. I saw him from the kitchen window,’ she remarked innocently.

  ‘Huh!’ Devlin gave an eloquent snort. Caroline looked at her in surprise. This was an unusual response where Luke was concerned.

  ‘We had a row,’ Devlin said glumly. ‘And when I tell you what it was about you’ll probably take his side.’

  ‘Don’t tell me then,’ Caroline said matter-of-factly as she rooted in her handbag for a tissue.

  ‘Oh!’ Devlin was taken aback by her friend’s answer. This was annoying. She wanted to tell Caroline. She just didn’t want her to agree with what Luke had said.

  ‘OK,’ she sighed, putting the car into reverse and manoeuvring out of her space.

  ‘I like this car, it’s very sporty,’ Caroline said chattily as she fastened her belt and settled in for the journey across town. Devlin drove past the manicured gardens and slid her pass into the security gates. They glided open to allow her to emerge into the heavy morning traffic on the Clontarf Road.

  ‘I’ll chang
e it after I’ve had the baby. It would be a nightmare trying to get a baby seat into this. It’s so low down,’ Devlin remarked as she scooted into the far lane and waved at the man who had courteously signalled her in.

  ‘How’re you feeling today?’ Caroline asked sympathetically.

  ‘Lousy. All I’m afraid of is that I’ll throw up at that bloody lunch. I said I’d do it months ago, before I was pregnant. I couldn’t very well ring up and cancel. That would let the whole side down,’ Devlin said wryly. ‘After all, us businesswomen can handle everything. We can make it in a man’s world and have children and run a home. Just think what it would look like if the guest speaker wimped out because she was tired, queasy, and right at this moment couldn’t give a toss about making it in business.’

  Caroline laughed. ‘I bet most of them would understand exactly how you feel. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Devlin. Why don’t you go home straight after the lunch and have a rest for yourself?’

  ‘Oh, I can’t do that. I’m off to Galway later this week and I need to prepare for that. And I’ve got some new suppliers to talk to and I’ve an interview with the Business Review magazine at four.’ Devlin rattled off her afternoon’s agenda.

  Caroline shook her head. ‘Devlin, we all make our own treadmills. You need to get off yours now and again. You don’t have to say yes to everything. You need to take a little time out for yourself to prepare for your great event.’

  ‘Yes, Mammy,’ Devlin said irritably.

  ‘Sorry! I didn’t mean to lecture.’ Caroline grinned.

  ‘I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to snap,’ Devlin apologized. ‘It’s just that Luke thinks I should throw the book at Ciara. Make no allowances. Get rid of her. In my shoes I guess he’d prosecute her. He says that if I don’t make her accept responsibility for what she’s done she’ll never see the wrong in it, and she’ll just go on doing it. Why should it be up to me?’ she blurted out, unable to contain it any longer.

  Caroline sighed. ‘You know, they say that even the abuser becomes abused if the abuse is allowed to continue. By taking the less difficult path of letting her go and doing nothing about it you’re enabling her to do it again. So you become the enabler. It’s like in relationships where the husband is continually unfaithful to his wife and she knows about it. By not drawing a boundary and saying enough, it stops now or I leave, she continues to enable him to abuse her,’ Caroline explained.

  ‘Where do you learn all these things?’ Devlin demanded. She knew in her heart and soul that what her friend was saying was true. What Luke had been saying was true. She just didn’t want to have to be the one to do the nasty on Ciara.

  Caroline looked at Devlin with great affection. ‘Devlin, after what I went through I needed to find out why. I asked for spiritual help. I got it. I was given teachers, books to read. Many books to read. I have shelves of spiritual and metaphysical literature. Come over and have a look at them some day. There might be one that you’re drawn to. That’s the one you’ve got to read. When the pupil is ready the teacher will come. Ciara’s a teacher for you. And you’re a teacher for her.’

  ‘And are you saying to me for example that poor Lillian O’Carroll should up sticks and walk away from Alastair?’ Devlin asked, puzzled. ‘I know he treats her dreadfully and rubs her nose in it in the most callous way, but she’d lose everything.’

  Lillian O’Carroll was a mutual acquaintance of theirs, a well-known socialite and charity fund-raiser. Her husband, a lawyer, was consistently unfaithful and made no effort to conceal his affairs. She frequently met his lady friends at parties.

  ‘Devlin, Lillian is not a victim,’ Caroline said firmly. ‘That’s where you’re making the mistake. She knows about Alastair’s carry-on, she turns a blind eye to it. Her silence and acceptance of the situation enables it to continue. Alastair has never been called to account. In return she gets the big house, the swanky car, the credit cards, her horse, the kudos of being Mrs Alastair O’Carroll. And yes, knowing Alastair, if she gave him an ultimatum she’d probably end up with feck-all. But there is a relationship that is going nowhere. There’s no growth. There’s no love. No respect. No harmony. If she said enough was enough and she left him it would be such a huge step, to leave all that horrible energy behind her. Her life would change immeasurably. Doors would open for her. New people would come into her life. It would be the hardest thing in the world to do, but once she took that leap of faith it would be the best thing that ever happened to her. That’s why I’m divorcing Richard. I’m closing the door on that sorry twisted mess, otherwise I’ll stay stagnant and frustrated and unhappy,’ Caroline finished ruefully.

  ‘You’re very brave, Caroline,’ Devlin said.

  ‘I’m not brave at all. I’m petrified,’ Caroline confessed. ‘It’s easy to talk about all these things. It’s easy to know what’s the right thing to do. It’s the doing of it that’s so hard.’

  ‘You and I are so different,’ Devlin smiled. ‘When I was going through my traumas I dealt with it all externally. I worked my butt off so I wouldn’t have to think. You dealt with all your stuff internally, if you know what I mean. You went right in there and coped head-on with all the emotional stuff. I just ran away from it.’

  ‘Everyone’s different, Devlin. We all have our own paths to follow.’

  ‘Yeah, well I’m good at running away from mine and I wish I could run away from the Ciara Hanlon débâcle.’ Devlin sighed despondently as she turned off the roundabout at The Point and drove along the North Wall.

  ‘Look, I’m in charge of personnel, if you want me to sit in on the interview with Ciara, I will. And at the end of the day you make the decision that you’re most happy with and that you can live with,’ Caroline said supportively. ‘Things will work out. Don’t worry.’

  ‘I hope so.’ Devlin was unconvinced. One way or the other it was all going to be a load of hassle.

  Luke didn’t phone as he usually did, at least once, and she was too stubborn to pick up the phone and ring him herself. He was in the wrong upsetting her, she thought self-righteously. Besides, she still wasn’t sure about the correctness of his and Caroline’s reasoning. Surely it would be much more compassionate to just sack Ciara without a reference and give her a chance to start afresh. The Lord always showed mercy and compassion to sinners.

  She dialled Caroline’s extension and put that argument to her. Triumphantly, it had to be said.

  ‘You’re right, Devlin,’ Caroline agreed cheerfully. ‘But He loved the sinner, not the sin. And don’t forget, He showed righteous anger in the Temple when he horsewhipped the sellers. Mercy and compassion is one thing. Letting people get way with wrongdoing is another.’

  ‘I can’t believe I’m having this conversation!’ Devlin declared in exasperation. ‘I must be crazy. I don’t even go to Mass.’

  ‘What’s that got to do with anything? You could go to Mass three times a day and still be a horrible, judgemental person,’ Caroline pointed out reasonably. ‘Look at Mrs Yates. She practically lives in the church but she hasn’t an ounce of Christianity in her. It’s what’s in your heart that counts. And Delaney, you’ve got a big heart. Now I’m going. I’ve got to work out Christmas holidays and bonuses. Bye bye. Maybe I should give up City Girl and go into spiritual healing. What do you think?’ Caroline teased.

  ‘I think you’d be very good at it, actually,’ Devlin said seriously. ‘Will you put the Light around me or whatever it is that you do? I’m off to give my talk.’

  ‘Will do. You’ll be fine. I’ll see you this evening.’

  ‘Thanks, Caro. Bye.’ Devlin put the phone down and sat staring out the window. She could listen to Caroline for hours, talking about the spiritual stuff. It was very interesting to hear of her friend’s experiences, but somehow she just couldn’t seem to adapt it to her own life. Still, she felt vaguely comforted that Caroline had put the Light around her, it sounded so protective and Caroline had great faith in it. If it was good enough for Caroline it was
good enough for her, Devlin thought with a smile as she got her coat and briefcase and headed out to the lift.

  The traffic was dire. She should have taken a taxi, she reflected, as she crawled past the Shelbourne. Caroline was right, she should start making life simpler for herself. She might start going home early from the office on Fridays, she decided. She could spend time reading the stack of books and magazines that she’d never managed to get to. The thought cheered her up immensely. How nice it would be to miss the rush-hour traffic on Friday evenings and instead be curled up on her big comfy sofa in front of the fire, reading and snoozing and tuning out completely.

  What was the point in being successful if you didn’t reap the rewards of it?

  It was a question she asked her audience of smart, highly intelligent and successful women, after they’d enjoyed a tasty lunch. Her speech had turned into an entertaining and lively question-and-answer session and as the women shared their experiences with each other, Devlin forgot her worries over Ciara Hanlon and thoroughly enjoyed herself. It was with regret that she had to leave the vibrant group to be back at the office for the interview with the magazine Business Review. The reporter was lazy and ill-prepared and Devlin had to struggle to contain her impatience as she answered questions she’d been asked dozens of times before. It was a rare interview where she was asked an original and intelligent question, she thought wryly as she went onto autopilot, only for the witless fool of a reporter to discover twenty minutes later that his tape recorder’s batteries were flat. Devlin felt like ramming it down his neck.

  ‘It was a great lunch,’ she told Caroline as they drove home, ‘but the interview was crap. The jerk kept calling me Delvin. I bet he’ll have it spelt wrong the whole way through the interview. I corrected him a dozen times if I corrected him once but in the end I gave up. And when he found out that his batteries were flat I nearly went bananas.’