‘No! No, not at all, I went on date with Alyx on Wednesday, and then was just meeting up as old friends with Richard on Thursday, and then I got drunk and he kissed me…’ Penelope’s tone flattened at the memory of the unrequited kiss.
‘So you kissed two guys in one week… impressive…’ Zara was astounded at this.
‘No, no, that’s the thing… I didn’t kiss Alyx,’ Penelope explained.
‘Oh, why not?’ Zara sounded confused.
‘Yeah Pen, about that… why not?’ George added.
‘Well he just didn’t kiss me, I think he was being gentlemanly…’ Penelope affirmed. ‘Which I greatly appreciate, despite the fact that I was dying for him to kiss me.’ Penelope weighed up the value of the kiss versus the manners. Manners win every time.
‘Yeah, that’s probably it… sounds like he could teach Richard a thing or two… and he’s the one with the bloody castle…’ George sighed indignantly.
‘Turns out he’s not the only one with a castle, Alyx has one too,’ Penelope stated knowing the effect that this would have on the two girls.
‘No way!?, what is it about you and guys with castles, is it in Scotland too?’ George sounded incredulous.
‘Of course!’ Penelope stated with pride.
‘Bloody hell, they are not related are they?’ George sounded shocked.
‘Not at all!’ Penelope stated relieved.
‘Thank heavens for that?’ George sighed.
‘Castles… bloody hell.’ Zara sounded flabbergasted.
‘I know, all tartan, and creepy pictures of the ancestors.’ Penelope stated.
‘Seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever even been in one,’ Zara sighed, she felt much younger and more inexperienced than these two all of a sudden.
‘Oh, neither have we, just seen the pictures of Richard’s place… on the internet,’ Penelope added.
‘Bloody hell! Nobody like that ever went to my university!’ Zara gasped.
‘We saw it all at ours, it was like a pantomime… they were all related to the Royal Family in some way… it was ridiculous,’ George added.
‘Sounds very exciting.’ Zara sat back, eager to hear more, and she was not left waiting long. Penelope went on to regale the girls with the details of the date with Richard… bad news first… and then her perfect night with the lovely, perfect, gorgeous, Alyx… Stuart… Bruges, despite the fact that they happened in the reverse order. In no time, hangovers, redundancies and all of those minor irritations in life were long forgotten.
Chapter 15
New York, New York
At the very same time, which was much earlier in the day in NYC, Alyx was in a meeting with the head of Sony BMG, on Madison. His body was sitting in the meeting room, his gazed was fixed in the far distance, and his mind was most definitely in London.
‘Alyx! Hello! You haven’t been listening to a single word I’ve been saying?! This is serious!’ Andrew paced up and down in the boardroom, he was finding this conversation with Alyx very difficult indeed… He felt like he had been talking to himself.
‘What? Oh, erm yeah, well I think that digital piracy is still a real issue…’ Alyx hadn’t been listening to a single word that Andrew had been saying.
‘Erm, yeah, we established that about ten minutes ago, but what are we going to do about it?!’ Andrew shrieked. The rest of the interested parties stared blankly at Alyx waiting for his response. Alyx was miles away. Physically he was in NYC, but mentally… he was in London thinking about her…
‘Oh yes, well, I have a strategy for the US and Europe, and I think I have found a way to recover lost royalties…’ Alyx started shuffling some papers on the table, as if he had the right solution.
‘Well thank god for that, really Alyx, it would be good if you could stay with the conversation!’ Andrew fumed, he had turned bright red and had to have a gulp of water to stop himself from roaring at Alyx. He had never seen him like this before, he was normally the one leading the conversation.
‘Yes, yes, of course, erm, well it must be erm, jetlag!’ Alyx offered, he shrugged his shoulders and gave Andrew a winning smile.
‘Never bothered you before. You looked like you were miles away…’ Andrew responded.
‘Erm well I’ve been doing a lot of traveling this month, so maybe it’s all catching up on me…’ Alyx offered further explanation.
‘Ok, well let’s crack on shall we… we need to sort this out before the band manager gets here, he’s a nightmare to deal with, he’s a total prima donna…and he’s not even a musician.’ Andrew gasped, the mere thought of having to deal with the manager after trying to coax the solution out of Alyx was proving too much for him. A large Scotch on the rocks was beckoning from the drinks cabinet in his office.
‘Oh I know, you don’t have to tell me that…’ Alyx was on the same page now, neither of them liked dealing with divas!
‘That was not good… I just can’t stop thinking about her. I want to call her, but what do I say. Hi there, I had a great time the other night… do you want to go out again… at the end of the month! Then again if I don’t call her, she’ll think I’m not interested.’ Alyx stared into space as he considered this. Andrew noticed the far off look again…
‘Alyx!’ Andrew roared!
Alyx jumped slightly in his seat, ‘Sorry… listen Andy, could we just grab a couple of coffees… might help me, em, snap out of it?’ Alyx was apologetic, he hadn’t been listening again and he had been completely caught out.
‘Fair enough, but let’s be quick, ok?’ Andrew conceded, he would give Alyx anything he wanted if it would help him snap out of this!
‘Ok, there’s a Dean & Deluca near here, and the walk will do me good.’ Alyx headed for the door.
‘Fine.’ Andrew agreed grumpily. ‘I’ll have a double shot, tall, 2%.’ He snapped, but Alyx was already in the elevator.
‘Ok focus, work now, I’ll think about her later…’ Alyx tried to focus his mind on the job at hand… It felt good to be out in the fresh air, there is such a buzz of activity at any time of the day in NYC and Dean & Deluca was his absolute favourite coffee house in New York. He thought he’d pick up a nice big chocolate chip cookie for Andy too… butter him up a bit…
***
The weekend sped by in a blur of drinks, drinks and more drinks. Penelope felt elated at having Friday off for a change, and it felt like a glorious break from work. Sadly a good weekend means only one thing… that Monday comes around all too quickly.
‘Ok, everybody here?’ In EC1 nobody had any problems concentrating.
‘Just waiting on… ah here she is… morning Penelope.’ Anthony stood up to offer Penelope his seat.
‘Sorry… I was just on the phone to New York… they are only leaving the office now, it’s the middle of the night over there…’ Penelope marched in with a tall pile of papers in her hand.
‘That’s fine… ok, now, are we all here? Excellent, close the door please, this stuff is highly confidential…’ Anthony gestured to the guy nearest the door.
‘I love it when it gets like this, we know the news before it hits the media… I wonder if we’ll need to go to New York… fingers crossed.’ Penelope loved all of this excitement.
‘Things are really kicking off over there, Mortimer is pulling out of the business completely… we are on the verge of litigation with it. Needless to say when the media gets wind of this, it will cause ructions. I’m going to need a small team to go over there to support our east coast team during the negotiations. Does anyone have any major objections?’ Anthony stood up and looked around the room, there was dead silence for what seemed like ten minutes.
‘I would love to go, but my brother is getting married next weekend and I am best man…’ Mike stammered, this was the last thing he wanted to say… but it needed to be said. He didn’t want to look like he wasn’t a team player, especially in a crisis like this.
‘Ok, Mike that’s fine… anyone else?’ Mike heaved a sigh of r
elief.
‘No, we are all ok I think… Penelope?’ Anthony directed his gaze at Penelope.
‘Fine by me…’ Penelope stated earnestly.
‘Actually Penelope I’m glad you said that… I know you haven’t had many dealings with Mortimer, but he can get very, well… let’s say… erm, loud when people don’t agree with him… he used to be a military man…’ Anthony added apologetically.
‘Oh dear… can I change my mind?’ Penelope asked in a mock serious tone.
‘Not quite, the thing is he will not raise his voice if there is a lady in the room, so we absolutely need you there to keep things from reaching boiling point. We have of course got Sarah, Amy and Karyn over there, but you know what it’s like they’ll be popping in and out for meetings and conference calls… I need at least one lady in the room at all times… I don’t want him getting overly aggressive with anyone.’ Anthony sighed. ‘He actually threw a printer at someone last year, we definitely don’t want that to happen again.’
Penelope couldn’t believe this, she had never heard anything like it.
‘I see, ok, that’s fine, when are you planning on sending us over?’ She asked Anthony the one question everyone else was dying to ask as she had the floor.
‘Thursday? Is that ok with everyone? Needless to say you can go overboard on expenses!’ Anthony grinned at them all.
‘Excellent,’ Simon cheered.
‘Yep, that’s fine by me,’ Penelope added.
‘Excellent, I had nothing special planned for this weekend… I can’t wait to go to New York, we’ll be going business class too, lovely.’ Penelope was delighted at this news, a free trip to New York was exactly what she needed. Just as she was about to leave, Anthony called her back.
‘Right, that’s it for the moment, there’s a conference call this afternoon, and they can update us then, on any developments… Penelope, hold on a sec, can I have a quick word?’ Anthony pulled a chair out for her.
‘Yes, of course…’ Penelope was quite taken aback, she wasn’t expecting this.
‘Ok, now that I have you on your own, I just wanted to make sure that you didn’t take offence at the remark about Mortimer and having a lady in the room at all times, of course that is not the real reason I’m sending you. You were my first choice, but I know a few of the guys’ noses are out of joint since we teamed you up with Jeremy Eubank. The last person we did that to, shot up the ranks, and was our youngest partner in the London office. We are really impressed with your work, and that is why I need you in New York. All that stuff about Mortimer is true however, and Amy, Sarah and Karyn are well briefed on the topic,’ Anthony sighed.
‘Oh, of course I don’t mind. I did think you were joking about Mortimer though. I’m glad you told me that was for real.’ Penelope was relieved that he had told her it was true, she completely thought he had been joking.
‘Good, I’m glad we are clear on that, I would hate to think that you would take offence…’ Anthony got up to leave.
‘No, not at all, and I think if I did take offence, you would know all about it…’ Penelope stood up too.
‘Indeed, indeed… quite right…’ he agreed.
‘Bless him, they are so PC in here. Little does he know I’m practically making a list of new shoes to buy… as a key priority!’ Penelope flounced back to her office and began mentally packing for her trip.
***
‘Monsieur Stuart-Bruges! How are we today?’ the band manager bowed as he said this.
‘Oh god here we go…’ Alyx was not in the mood for this!
‘Maureeece, lovely to see you, I’m fine… that was a very dramatic entrance… erm… as always…’ Alyx held out his hand.
‘Oh, I’m sure you would expect nothing less!’ Maurice ignored it and planted an air kiss at the side of each of his cheeks.
‘Indeed, now let’s talk… digital piracy…’ Alyx jumped back as soon as possible, a little flustered at Maurice’s choice of greeting.
‘Oh, no! I don’t want to talk about Pirates! I’m only interested in the money!’ Maurice flopped dramatically onto a chair, and his hand flew up to his forehead. A pink silk handkerchief appeared as if by magic, it was very complementary to his purple velvet suit.
‘I know but…’ Alyx began.
‘No! No buts!’ Maurice shrieked back.
‘I’m not quite sure I can deal with this now! He just doesn’t get it! He’ll be ranting on about the creative concept, and the new album cover in no time… I think I’ll just let him waffle on for a while. I think I’ll ring her towards the end of the week anyway, and just arrange something for a few weeks’ time… that’s probably the best thing…’ Alyx was resigned to the fact that this was going to be a long conversation with Maurice.
‘Alyx! Are you even listening to a word that I have been saying?’ Maurice snapped after he had rambled on for fifteen minutes.
‘Of course, you were talking about the creative concept and…’ Alyx stuttered, he had been caught red handed… Again! He hadn’t been listening to a word Maurice had been saying…he had heard it all before after all…
‘Well no actually, but I was just getting onto that…’ Maurice gasped.
‘Friday, I’ll call her on Friday. Now, back to work…’ Alyx knew it was time to keep his eye on the ball. Even if it was swathed in purple velvet, and bouncing off the walls.
***
Friday came around very quickly in the city that never sleeps.
‘Hi, can I speak to Penelope Chesterfield please, I just tried her mobile and it’s switched off, It’s Alyx Stuart-Bruges here…’ Alyx phoned Penelope’s work switchboard number after trying her mobile a few times… he didn’t want to leave a voicemail message, he hated doing that!
‘Just a moment Alyx, I’ll put you through…’ the receptionist replied.
‘Capital Markets, Jeanine speaking.’ The team PA answered the phone.
‘Hi, can I speak to Penelope please…?’ Alyx asked.
‘I’m afraid Penelope is in New York this week, you will have to ring our office on Broadway…’ Jeanine began.
‘What? She’s in New York?’ Alyx was astounded.
‘Yes, would you like the number?’ Jeanine offered.
‘Yes, definitely…’ Alyx added quickly, and he scribbled it down.
On Broadway, things were not going too well…
‘Oh my god! I am dying to go to the loo… I’m going to kill Karyn, she’s been gone for ages. Mortimer hasn’t budged and he keeps catching me looking at the door, he’s probably just waiting for me to leave… so that he can lose his temper.’ Penelope was dying to leave the room, but she had to wait for one of her female tag team members to come back in before she could.
‘Penelope, telephone call for you.’ One of the PAs popped her head in the door and whispered this to Penelope, not wanting to disturb the others.
‘I, erm, oh ok, could you just take a message, I’m in the middle of something here…’ Penelope whispered back… ‘Damn it, that would have been the perfect excuse to leave’… ‘Could you send Karyn in here to me, I need her to look over these figures?’ Penelope asked.
‘Sure.’ The PA was gone without a sound.
‘Hi there, yes sorry about that the conference call went on for ages.’ Karyn came back into the room looking a little flustered and took her seat next to Penelope, she leant over and whispered… ‘You look like you could do with a break!’
‘Shhh he’ll hear you! I am dying to go to the ladies room… can you take my place for a while? Let’s get some backup in here, always two ladies in the room at a time, I think would be good… a bit like a tag team.’ Penelope whispered back to Karyn.
‘Sure, take as long as you like, I have no more meetings this afternoon.’ Karyn settled back into her seat.
Relief flooded Penelope as she closed the door quietly behind her.
‘I am not going back in there for a while. What a nightmare. I wonder who called. I hope it wasn’t blood
y Richard… surely he wouldn’t call me at work over here. He phoned just before I left, I’ll call him back when I get back.’ Penelope approached the bank of desks where the PAs were sitting.
‘Zoe, Amy said I had a call, do you know who took the message? Did you take the call?’ Penelope asked.
‘No, but she wrote the name down here, let me just check, it was a Mr… em… Stuw Wart Broome, or something like that.’ Amy picked up the post-it note where she had scribbled the message.
‘Stuart-Brume? Did he say what it was in relation to?’ Penelope had no idea who Amy was talking about.
‘No, I think he said… .em… ah, yes here it is! Ok, he’s staying at the W, and he’s given me the number…’ Amy read out the number.
‘Who is staying at the W?’ Penelope stared at her blankly, she was in no mood for this.
‘A Mr Alex Stuart-Bruges.’ Amy announced proudly, glad that she could read Zoe’s writing.
‘Oh my god!’ ‘Of course, he’s away with work, I totally forgot!’ The colour drained from Penelope’s face, she had not been expecting this at all. How did he know that she was in New York?
‘Are you ok, you look like you’ve seen a ghost?’ Amy got up and walked out from behind her desk.
‘Yes, yes, I’m fine, it’s just a little unexpected, thanks Amy… I’ll give him a call.’ Penelope took the little piece of yellow paper, at this moment in time it felt like all that was connecting her to Alyx.
‘Sure.’ Amy smiled at her and went about her business.
Penelope grabbed the nearest phone that was secluded enough for a bit of privacy.
‘George, hi, it’s me,’ Penelope gasped.
‘Penny! Are you back already?’ George giggled.
‘No, no, listen, I have to be quick… Alyx is in New York, and he called me in work… I didn’t take it, got a message,’ Penelope stuttered.
‘Oh my god!’ George was astounded.
‘I know,’ Penelope was too.
‘This guy is unbelievable, are you going to call him back?’ George could not believe all of this drama.
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