Grounded

by A. E. Radley

“I was going to speak to you about something, but, well, it kind of relates to your work…”

  “Oh?”

  “I hate to do this,” Emily admitted, “but I have something I need to ask you.”

  Olivia nodded, encouraging her to continue.

  Emily laughed. “It’s funny when you think how pissed I was when you first left your business card. But I kinda need some financial advice.”

  “Oh.” Olivia couldn’t hide her surprise.

  “If you don’t mind, that is?” she quickly added. “I don’t mean to put you on the spot or talk about work. But I don’t really have anyone else I can talk to, and obviously you’re an expert with this stuff, and I’m, well, I’m really not.”

  “I don’t mind,” Olivia readily agreed. “But I know you can be…sensitive, when it comes to these issues. And we both know that’s not my strong suit.”

  Emily nodded and released a deep breath. “Yep, I know what I’m getting myself into, but I’m going to do my best to suck it up.”

  “Olivia.” Henry’s voice echoed from across the playground and Olivia looked up. Henry was running towards her with a large smile on his face. He skidded to a halt in front of her, staring at her leg cast suspiciously.

  “Did you see me on the slide?”

  “Yes, we both did,” Emily quickly interjected, knowing full well that Olivia hadn’t and would also tell Henry that fact, condemning both of them to watch it over and over. “We loved it!”

  “Yes,” Olivia said with uncertainty, looking at Emily in confusion. “It was very good.”

  “Henry,” Emily said, “I just need to talk about some boring adult things with Olivia, and then the three of us can play something together. Is that okay?”

  “Okay.” Henry nodded excitedly and ran back towards the play area again.

  “I didn’t see him on the slide,” Olivia told Emily with a frown.

  “No, but if you tell him that, he’ll make you watch, again and again and again.”

  “I wouldn’t mind,” Olivia confessed.

  “I’ll hold you to that,” Emily laughed.

  Olivia grinned. “So, financial advice?”

  “Yes.” Emily nodded. She could feel her cheeks starting to warm into a blush. “I heard from the freelance journalist, and she’s managed to sell Henry’s story to a few magazines in Europe. It’s going to bring in more money that I thought.”

  “Okay. What kind of sum are we talking about?”

  “Three thousand dollars,” Emily explained. “But I don’t know what to do with it. I’ve never had three thousand dollars before. I think I should do something sensible. Maybe invest it?”

  Olivia shook her head. “No, you need to clear your debt first.”

  Emily cringed at Olivia’s plain tone.

  “Pay debts before you accumulate savings,” Olivia explained, as if speaking to a child.

  “But,” Emily sighed. “It feels like throwing it away into an abyss of debts.”

  Olivia opened her mouth to speak, and then closed it as she thought for a moment. After a few seconds, she spoke again. “Do you understand the concept of financial interest?”

  “Only that my interest in finance is zero,” Emily joked, but at Olivia’s stern gaze she shook her head. “Look, when you’re caring for a sick child and working multiple jobs, you don’t exactly have time to check your investment portfolio and the latest currency exchange rates. So, no, I don’t really understand financial interest.”

  Olivia appeared to recognise the tone as a warning to proceed with a little more caution; her expression softened.

  “When you are looking at investments, you need to take into account interest figures. Currently, interest being paid on savings and investments is very low. Conversely, interest on borrowing is high,” Olivia explained. “Your debts will have a higher rate of interest than any savings account you could find. There wouldn’t be much point in putting money aside with one hand and then paying large amounts of interest on your repayments with the other.”

  Emily scrunched up her face while processing the information. “Okay, that makes sense. So I should pay the money towards one of the loans?”

  Olivia frowned. “You haven’t consolidated your debts?”

  “Should I have?” Emily asked, feeling her blush increasing at Olivia’s incredulous tone.

  Olivia opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again, her hands snaking together in her lap as she began to pinch her hand. Emily noticed but decided that maybe Olivia needed a little self-censorship at that moment.

  “Your debts,” Olivia finally replied. “They will have different rates of interest. A good loan company will charge a certain amount, and a bad loan company could charge up to fifty times that. Same with credit cards. You should—and I understand that you don’t, and many people don’t—but you should know what the interest rates are on all your loans. So you can make decisions about payments in hard times.”

  “That makes sense,” Emily allowed with a nod and a small, uncertain smile.

  “When debts are…severe,” Olivia continued cautiously, “it is usually advisable to consolidate them into one account. Then you have one thing to manage from an administrative perspective, and you can usually lower your overall average interest rate.”

  Emily nodded her understanding and looked to the playground to observe Henry playing on the equipment. After a few moments of contemplation, she asked, “Would you help me do that?”

  Olivia looked surprised before quickly agreeing. “Yes, yes, I’d like to help where I can.”

  “Thank you,” Emily replied. “I’m quickly starting to realise that if I want to do the best for Henry, then sometimes I need to suck up my pride and do things that are uncomfortable, like face up to my mistakes.”

  Olivia remained silent, continuing to pinch her hand pensively. Emily smiled, reached for Olivia’s hands, and pulled one away from the other. She squeezed gently.

  “No need to do that. I think we’re learning how to communicate.”

  Olivia nodded and looked down at their connected hands. “Do you still work for Crown?”

  Emily retracted her hand, not wanting to give Olivia the wrong idea. “No, not any more. Literally the day after the crash I got a phone call from Crown saying that they were putting me on standby. A few days later that changed to redundancy. Luckily, I’d already found a new job. Someone I know helped me to get the position. I basically do admin work.”

  Olivia was silent for a while before asking, “Do you like the job?”

  She shrugged. “It’s better than being unemployed. But I don’t want to talk about that. How are you? What actually happened on that flight?”

  Olivia shifted uncomfortably. “The landing gear failed.”

  “Yes, I know that. How did you get injured, though? Is it bad?”

  “I had my foot stretched out, and the chair in front of mine collapsed onto it.” Olivia gestured to the half-healed cuts on her forehead. “The ceiling collapsed too.”

  Emily stared at Olivia, who was watching Henry play on the climbing frame. She had almost forgotten about Olivia’s unique way of describing events.

  “Are you okay?” she asked directly.

  “I had an operation on my ankle. It’s improving.” Olivia smiled brightly, and Emily looked up to see a happy Henry running towards them.

  “Mommy, can Olivia come over for dinner?” Henry wore his best pleading expression.

  Emily looked to Olivia. “She’s certainly welcome to.”

  Olivia’s eyes tracked from Emily to Henry and back again.

  “I understand if you’re busy,” Emily added. “But we’d both like you there, if you can.”

  “I’d love to.”

  “Yes!” Henry cried and ran back to the slide, screaming as he went.

  Olivia chuckled at Henry’s enthusiasm before addressing Emily. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes. If you are?” Emily asked, suddenly nervous that Olivia might have felt bullie
d into attending.

  “If it helps Henry…” Olivia trailed off.

  Emily smiled. She knew the situation must be uncomfortable for Olivia. It was certainly difficult for her. But Olivia was selflessly putting herself into a more awkward situation to benefit Henry. Emily coughed softly and looked away, trying to remind herself why she’d ended things with this woman. Unfortunately, when she looked back, she realised the passage of time had already started to dull the memories.

  “I brought some bread for Henry to feed to the ducks,” she explained, lifting up a bag of stale bread. “They don’t need feeding; they’re the fattest ducks I have ever seen, but it beats just sitting here. Do you want to go for a walk towards the pond?”

  Olivia adjusted her crutch and lifted herself to her feet. “Sounds lovely. I need to keep walking to strengthen my leg muscles.”

  Emily felt her cheeks flare at an impure thought about Olivia’s leg muscles.

  “Right, let’s um…Henry!” She called, flustered. “Let’s feed those ducks.”

  Luckily, Olivia didn’t seem to notice her agitation, but Emily knew she was fighting a losing battle between her heart and her head.

  CHAPTER 19

  Simon removed his glasses and placed them down on the coffee table. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and let out a long, heartfelt sigh. He heard a keycard in the door and looked up to see Olivia walk in.

  He smiled. “Well?”

  She closed the door and removed her coat. “Well, what?”

  He rolled his eyes. “How did it go with Emily and Henry?”

  She adjusted her crutch, made her way to the sofa, and fell onto it gently.

  “I think it went well. It was a little bit of a blur.”

  “Are you having side effects from the pain medication?”

  She shook her head. “No, it was just a little stressful and I found it hard to tell. She asked me for financial advice.”

  Simon picked up his glasses and cleaned them with the end of his tie. “Emily asked you for financial advice? Emily White? Who was here earlier with croissants?”

  She chuckled. “Yes, that Emily White.”

  “Interesting.” He put his glasses back on.

  “I’m going over to her house for dinner,” Olivia added casually, despite the rattled look in her eyes.

  Simon raised an eyebrow and stared at her for a moment in silence.

  “Oh, don’t do that,” she complained.

  “I’m not doing anything.”

  “You’re doing that thing with your eyebrow. And you have that face.”

  “I’m sorry, but it’s my face. I can’t do anything about it. I don’t have a selection.”

  “You know what I mean,” she huffed.

  “Nervous?” he asked.

  “Terrified. I have to meet Lucy and Tom. Who knows what they’ve heard about me. It’s going to be a disaster.”

  “Then why are you going?” Simon stood up, interlaced his fingers, and raised his arms above his head to release the tension from being hunched over his laptop on the low coffee table.

  “Henry asked me.”

  “Ah.” He noticed the same change in Olivia that he’d seen in London when she spent time with Henry. She was happier, more relaxed. Even with the prospect of the terrifying dinner on the horizon. “Well, you can’t really say no to Henry. How was he?”

  “Quiet. He perked up a lot when he saw me.” Olivia sounded smug.

  “Smart boy,” Simon joked. “Coffee?”

  “Please.” Olivia leaned forward and opened her laptop which she’d left on the coffee table earlier.

  Simon entered the kitchen and started up the coffee machine. “So, I take it I’m dining alone tonight?” he called out.

  “I can bring you as my plus one?” Olivia sounded keen.

  “I don’t think dinner invitations of that nature include a plus one.” Simon chuckled.

  “I’ll text Emily.”

  “No, it’s fine.” He walked into the living room and sat on the edge of the sofa as the coffee machine fizzed to life. “Do you want me to drive you tonight?”

  “No, I’ll drive, I tested the other day and the cast doesn’t interfere.”

  “Okay. That’ll give me some time to Skype with Sophie.”

  Olivia looked guiltily at him. “I’m sorry, Simon. I’m ruining your private life, aren’t I?”

  “Not at all. But we do need to talk about the next few weeks. I can’t stay here forever.”

  “I know.” Olivia turned away, avoiding his gaze. “But with the way things are at the office—”

  “You don’t need me here for that,” he told her gently. “You may have been in London ninety percent of the time, but we worked perfectly efficiently when you were in New York and I was in London.”

  “You want to go home.” Olivia stared at her laptop screen defiantly.

  “No, I want us both to know what the plan is. You’re working yourself to death trying to find a way to fix the damage Marcus caused. I think we need to cut our losses, take what we can salvage, and start over.”

  “Absolutely not. I can fix this. I have restructured more complicated scenarios.”

  “In none of those scenarios was there an evil shit trying to tear down everything you did. In none of those scenarios were you so heavily emotionally invested.” He stood up and sat on the sofa opposite, giving her no option but to look at him. “You’re working UK hours and US hours back to back. It’s been over a week. Marcus has established his new company; he has signed contracts. You know as well as I do that we’ll struggle to pay our next wage bill with the clients we’ve managed to retain.”

  “I won’t announce redundancies.”

  “You’re going to have to,” he told her firmly.

  She opened her mouth to reply but paused. Instead she closed her laptop again and stared at him with tears in her eyes. “Simon, I just don’t know what to do. Everything I try he’s two steps ahead of me.”

  “He has been planning this for months. He must’ve been, to move so quickly.”

  “I should be able to do this. I should be able to find a solution.”

  “If this was a normal corporate takeover, founded in greed and money, then, yes, you’d find a solution. It isn’t. He wants to make you suffer. He wants to tear down Applewood. You’re struggling to find a solution because it’s not logical. It’s personal. Therefore, there is no logical solution.”

  Olivia sat silently, staring into nothing as she processed his words.

  “I’ll go and get that coffee.” He walked into the kitchen, arranged cups, saucers, and a china coffee jug on a tray, and took it into the living area.

  “Take a step back and pretend you’re advising a client.” Simon placed the tray on the table and poured coffee for them both. “What is their priority?”

  Olivia considered the question and shook her head dejectedly as she replied, “To secure what is left of the business.”

  “Precisely.” He slid a cup and saucer over to her. “It’s good advice.”

  “But if I can convince Signet One and Edison’s to move their audit work to us, then I’ll be able to cover costs.”

  “You’re trying to achieve something in one week that should take a month, at least. You’re exhausted, on pain medication, angry at Marcus—”

  “Of course I’m angry at Marcus!”

  “I’m not saying you’re wrong,” Simon said calmly. “I’m saying that he wants you to be angry. He wants you to be upset. You’re giving him what he wants. Isn’t the best revenge living well?”

  “No, the best revenge would have been hiring someone to cut his brakes.”

  He sniggered but shook his head. “You don’t mean that.”

  She sighed. “No, I don’t. I can’t even bring myself to want him dead.”

  Simon laughed. “Good. That’s because you’re a good person. And good people don’t wish bad people dead, even if they are Marcus Hind.”

  She sipped her coffee and remaine
d silent.

  “I think you should take the rest of the afternoon and evening off. Go to dinner at Emily’s and don’t think about work. Go to bed at a decent hour, get some sleep, and see how you feel in the morning.”

  While he was pleased that Olivia appeared to be getting something of a second chance with Emily, he couldn’t help but worry about the prospect of her getting hurt again. He’d never seen her so emotionally vulnerable and didn’t know how she would manage a second rejection. But it wasn’t his place to get involved. He was always aware that they trod a very strange line between friendship and employer/employee. As much time as they spent together, and as much as she was more like family to him, she was still his boss, and her private life was not his to comment on. All he could do now was help her to take care of herself a bit better and be there for her. Whatever the outcome.

  “But what about you?” Olivia asked.

  “About?”

  “You going home?”

  “Oh.” He shrugged. “I’ll stay as long as you need me.” It was true, he would. That didn’t mean he didn’t miss Sophie. While the relationship was still relatively new, they had just immediately clicked. Talking via e-mail and video conference was great, but he still longed to see her again in person. But even Sophie had told him that it was right for him to stay with Olivia for as long as she needed him. She understood his unique relationship with his boss, and that made the distance slightly more bearable.

  “It’s not fair of me to ask you to stay here.”

  “You never asked me. I invited myself.” Simon smiled.

  “You know what I mean. You have to go home eventually.”

  “How about we talk about that in the morning as well? Once we have a game plan set up for Applewood, then we can decide.”

  Olivia sipped her coffee and nodded. Simon mentally congratulated himself for finally talking some sense into her, getting her to slow down and take some time to think about her next move. He knew she was desperately trying to fix things, but he also knew what Olivia needed in order to work at peak efficiency. Even if she didn’t know herself.

  CHAPTER 20

  Olivia parked her black Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan outside the address that Emily had given her. She took a deep breath to try and calm her nerves. She’d spent the latter half of the afternoon changing outfits and foolishly asking for Simon’s guidance. Every outfit she showed him, he told her she looked nice, and every time she sighed and went back to her room to change. She didn’t want to appear as if she was trying too hard, but conversely she wanted to look as good as she could. Indecision reared its head again now that she had arrived. She looked down at her light grey skirt suit and wondered if it was too formal, even though she knew it had been the best choice considering her foot cast.