by A. E. Radley
“Emily.” She shook his hand, still looking at Olivia in surprise. “How did you find us?”
“A friend.” Olivia was vague. “I’m sorry if we’re intruding?”
“No, it’s good to see a friendly face.”
“The website tells me that this is ‘giraffe balloon zero zero one four’,” Simon said as he gestured to the balloon. “But I’m sure your son will come up with a much better name.”
The joke cleared the air and Emily let out a small chuckle as she looked at the balloon and said, “Thank you so much, he’ll love it.”
Olivia frowned as she looked at the motionless boy.
“The first operation didn’t go too well so they had to keep him in and operate again,” Emily explained softly. “He’s recovering nicely now though.”
“May I ask what was wrong?” Simon asked as he parked the balloon by the wall.
“He has an underdeveloped heart,” Emily replied. “He needed surgery to fix three of his heart valves.”
Simon nodded his understanding. “And the valves have now been repaired?”
“Yes, when he had his first operation they realised it was worse than they thought but now he is all patched up.” Emily smiled at Olivia directly. “Thank you for coming.”
Olivia took a step towards Emily and held out the bag. “Some gifts, for when he wakes up.”
Emily smiled brightly as she took the bag. “Thank you, you really didn’t have to.”
“I better head back to the office to do that thing, unless you need me for anything else?” Simon asked.
She opened and closed her mouth, realising she had no logical reason to ask him to stay and seeing the twinkle in his eye simply said, “I will see you tomorrow.”
Simon grinned and turned to Emily. “Lovely meeting you, Emily.” He waved his goodbyes.
Olivia watched the traitor leave and then turned to look at Emily nervously. “I…” She pointed at the bag that Emily held. “Giraffes.”
“Yes,” Emily said with a wide smile. “He’ll be ecstatic. He’s not had any visitors since he has been here. We don’t know anyone in London.”
“Well, you do now,” Olivia nodded and looked at Henry again, disconcerted by the boy’s pale complexion.
“Would you like to sit down? It’s nice to see a friendly face,” Emily said as she took her own seat again.
“I imagine it has been very difficult,” Olivia admitted as she perched on the edge of a visitor’s chair. “Where are you staying?”
“Here,” Emily said and pointed to a sofa on the other side of the room. “It’s a sofa bed and there’s a bathroom.” She pointed to a door.
“You’ve stayed here the whole time?” Olivia questioned. “For a week and a half?”
“Yes.” Emily nodded. “Where else would I go?”
“You must be exhausted,” Olivia commented, she couldn’t imagine watching over a sick loved one for that long and never leaving their hospital room.
“Well,” Emily said with a shrug. “You do what you have to do.” Emily looked at Henry and gently took his hand. Olivia noted how pale she was. She had to be almost sick with worry. Freed from the brutal airline conformity of makeup and hair, Emily looked younger and maybe even vulnerable.
“Are you eating properly?”
Emily smiled. “Is that a nice way of saying I look like hell?”
Olivia hesitated because frankly that was exactly what she was saying. “You have to keep your strength up.” She settled on what she hoped was a diplomatic answer.
“Why did you come here?”
“Should I leave?” Olivia asked, already preparing herself to go.
“No, I’m just curious. You’re a passenger and I’m cabin crew. We hardly know each other and yet you’re buying my son gifts and visiting his bedside.”
“I’ve been told that my behaviour is not always predictable,” Olivia said seriously.
Emily laughed lightly. “Yes, I can somehow believe that.”
Olivia sighed as she tried to collect her thoughts. “You weren’t working on my usual flights, and I was worried about Henry’s condition and I wanted to see for myself how he was.”
“I see,” Emily said. “Well, he’s still recovering from the second operation but hopefully he will be more like himself tomorrow.”
“And you?” Olivia asked gently.
“I’ll be fine.” Emily gave a tight smile and even Olivia knew it was faked.
“Is there anything I can do?” Olivia tried.
Emily gestured at the balloon and the bag of gifts. “You’ve already done so much.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes. Nervously wondering what to say next, Olivia reached into her handbag and pulled out a business card and handed it to Emily. “I had them reprinted, no debt helpline.”
Emily held the card and looked at Olivia curiously.
“My office is literally a five-minute walk away, and I stay at the Hilton which is even closer,” Olivia told Emily nervously, refusing to make eye contact. “I know you hardly know me but you said that you don’t know anyone at all in London. Now you do. So, if you need anything at all please do call me, even if it’s something minor.”
Emily looked down at the business card thoughtfully for a moment and Olivia took it as her cue to leave. She stood up and looked at Henry one last time before heading towards the door.
“Coffee?”
Surprised, Olivia turned around and looked at her.
“If you have time, maybe we could have coffee? Maybe tomorrow? You could come and see Henry open his presents,” Emily suggested.
Olivia smiled and her heart lightened at the prospect. “I’d like that very much.”
“Lunch time? Around one?” Emily asked.
Schedules and meetings were again thrown out of the window as Olivia nodded her agreement. “Tomorrow at one,” she replied with a smile.
CHAPTER 13
Emily paced around the fountain in the small gardens located outside of the hospital with her phone pressed to her ear. “I can’t accept that.” She sighed.
“Look, Em,” Tom’s friendly voice spoke softly back. “Once Henry is released by the hospital, he isn’t going to be well enough to fly for at least another week. You need to stay somewhere with him and we both know that London isn’t cheap.”
“I can’t take more of your money, you’ve done so much already,” Emily told him as she sat on a bench and leaned forward, her head on her free hand.
“This isn’t about you or me or money,” Tom told her seriously. “This is about Henry. He needs to be near his doctors for check-ups and even with the grant from the hospital you’re still looking at over twelve-hundred dollars for a week in a hotel. Then you need to add food expenses to that and I know you don’t have any money coming in at the moment since you’ve extended your vacation leave.”
“I’ve been looking around and I’ve found another option,” Emily explained. “There are hostels around, well, not right here but in London. Henry and I can stay in a hostel for about four hundred for the week, I can just about do that.”
“A hostel? What kind of hostel?” Tom’s voice started to build in concern.
“It’s not a dive, Tom, it’s fine,” Emily defended as she shot to her feet and began pacing again.
“Hostel?” Lucy’s voice could be heard in the background and after a brief tug of war the woman obviously gained control of the phone. “Emily, you can’t go to a hostel!”
“Lucy, I don’t have much choice. It’s been a Godsend that I can stay with Henry in the hospital otherwise I’d be in a cardboard box or a shelter by now. I can’t keep borrowing money; I know you guys are struggling too! I can just about afford the hostel with what you guys have already loaned me,” Emily explained. “I’ve seen pictures of it online. They have lots of different rooms and the ladies’ dorms are only twelve beds to a room.”
“Twelve beds?” Lucy sounded panicked. “Emily, you can’t do that. Who knows what
kind of people will be there, and Henry will be recovering from an operation.”
“Give me some credit, I have checked it out,” Emily sighed. “It’s safe and it’s clean.”
Lucy took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m sorry, Emily. I know you’re trying to do what’s best, we just feel so useless stuck all the way over here.”
Emily looked up at the grey London sky and realised belatedly that she should have taken a coat with her as the wind started to pick up and she was only wearing jeans and a thin grey sweater.
“I know, it’s okay,” Emily said gently. “Just another week or two and Henry will be safe to fly and then things will get back to normal.” She looked at her watch. “Look, I have to go. Thank you again for the transfer; I really don’t know what I’d do without you two.”
“We love you both,” Lucy said. “Call us again when you can.”
“I will. Love to you and Tom,” Emily said. She disconnected the call and sighed. She looked around the small park which was surrounded by tall London buildings, a preserved oasis in the middle of the city. It was then she saw a familiar face sitting on a park bench with a takeaway coffee in one hand and eating a chocolate bar with the other. “Simon?” Emily questioned as she approached the younger man.
Simon looked up at Emily and smiled happily. “Emily, hello again.”
“You really do work local, huh?” Emily smiled.
“Yep.” Simon pointed down at the park gates. “Through the gates onto that road and on the main street. I come here to get out of the office sometimes. Do you want to join me?”
Emily sat on the wooden bench beside him and stared ahead at the central fountain while Simon took another bite of chocolate. She usually wouldn’t just start up a conversation with a practical stranger but Simon was endearing and seemed harmless. And having been stuck in the hospital for so long she was desperate for a conversation with another adult.
“How’s Henry?” Simon asked in between chews.
“Awake and doing better,” Emily replied. “I just came outside to make a call while he’s watching TV.”
“From your accent, I assume you’re not from around here?”
“New York.”
“Oh, so is that where you know Olivia?”
“Kinda. She didn’t tell you?” Emily asked, using the opportunity to quiz the man about his boss and her somewhat unusual behaviour.
Simon shook his head and smiled wryly. “Olivia’s not great at explaining things.”
“Yeah.” Emily nodded. “I’m kinda getting that about her. I work for Crown Airlines as cabin crew. I served Olivia a couple of times. I hardly know her. I was so surprised to see her turn up yesterday.”
Simon took a sip of his coffee and nodded.
“You don’t seem surprised,” Emily commented. “Does she do this a lot?”
Simon shook his head. “No, never, she’s not got a thing for cabin crew if that’s what you’re wondering?” He chuckled.
“How about kids she doesn’t know?” Emily asked.
Simon regarded her seriously. “I’ve worked for Olivia for four years and I promise you that there is nothing you need to worry about. I know that’s coming from a stranger but she just…expresses herself a little differently than other people. She doesn’t know all the social rules so sometimes she comes across a little odd, but she is a genuinely nice person.”
Emily looked at him for a moment before nodding. “I just don’t know what to make of her,” she admitted. “She seems nice but then she does strange things like turn up at children’s hospitals unannounced.”
Simon chuckled. “I didn’t know your connection to her or I would have advised her to call first or something.”
“So, what do you do?” Emily asked.
“I’m her PA.”
“And does that often involve delivering giraffe balloons to hospitals?”
Simon laughed. “Well, I have to admit that being Olivia’s assistant doesn’t always stick to the job description. But I put my hand on my heart and say that yesterday was the very first time I took a helium giraffe balloon to a hospital. And, in fact, the first time Olivia’s been in a working hospital for many years. She hates them.”
“Well, no one likes them.” Emily pointed out.
“True,” Simon said. “But she has an irrational fear of them.”
“Oh.” Emily frowned and pondered the statement for a moment. “But she agreed to meet me again today at one o’clock to watch Henry open his presents.”
Simon nodded in sudden understanding. “Oh, that’s why she cleared her diary for the afternoon.”
“She was busy?” Emily questioned. “She cancelled things for us? To go to a hospital, that she’s scared of?”
Simon laughed lightly at Emily’s confusion. “Yep. Look, Emily, the best way to deal with Olivia is to take logic and just…chuck it out of the window. She doesn’t do things the same way that the majority of people do. She sees the world a little differently, she says things and does things that may seem weird but it’s just the way she interprets things. As I said, she is a genuinely nice person, just not good in social situations. But give her a chance and she’ll be a great friend.” Simon checked his watch. “And with your boy being in the hospital and you being stuck so far away from home, it looks like you could do with a friend.”
Emily shrugged. “I’m just not that good at trusting people, especially not when Henry’s involved. The gifts are lovely and it’s only right that Henry knows who they are from and Olivia gets to hear a thank you from him directly. But after that I’m planning to tell her to not come back…I just don’t think it’s appropriate.”
Simon took a sip of his drink before replying. “May I ask why?”
“I…don’t know her,” Emily explained.
“You don’t know me but here we are sharing a park bench and a personal discussion. Who knows, we may go on to become best friends. You have to start somewhere.” Simon grinned.
Emily rolled her eyes but smiled at the charismatic man. “Okay, I see that and I agree with you but…I can’t put my job at risk. I need my job and Olivia is worth a million dollars a year to the airline.”
“When I first started working for Olivia, I’d been with her for only a day when she had a meeting way out in the countryside. She took the train to the nearest station and then a taxi to the client’s farmhouse. I forgot to book the taxi coming back. She walked two miles in the rain and wind, down small muddy trails, in heels. There was no signal on her mobile so she couldn’t call a taxi for herself. She missed her train, and there’s only one train an hour out there, so she sat on the platform as there was no waiting room, soaked-through from torrential rain for over an hour waiting,” Simon explained. Emily’s eyes opened wide in horror.
“Well, you’re still working for her so I assume she didn’t fire you?”
“Once she got a signal while on the train, she called me, and she asked me to push back her four o’clock meeting because she would have to go to the hotel and get changed.” Simon chuckled at the memory. “It wasn’t until the next day that I heard her telling her friend Nicole what had happened. I was mortified, I thought she was probably planning to fire me and I decided to go in and take it like a man. So once her friend left, I walked in and told her I was sorry I forgot to book the second taxi and that she had a horrible afternoon and missed her train. You know what she said?”
Emily shook her head.
“She said, and I quote, ‘If I had walked faster, maybe I would have made the train.’” Simon shook his head. “Blaming me never even occurred to her. Over time, I realised she doesn’t have a malicious bone in her body, it’s like that thought process is missing from her. Some might say she’s naïve but I think the world would be a better place if there were more Olivia Lewises around.”
Emily smiled. “Is she paying you to say all this?”
“Yeah,” Simon nodded. “Is it working? She said I could totally borrow her yacht if you fall for all
this.”
Emily sighed. “I just have a lot going on in my life, you know?”
Simon nodded his understanding. “Sure, but give her a chance as a friend, maybe you’ll find some common ground. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who couldn’t do without another friend.”
Emily smiled. “Okay, you’re right. I’ll keep an open mind when she comes by for coffee this afternoon.”
“Speaking of which, how do you take your coffee?” Simon asked.
Emily looked at him with confusion.
“If you’re meeting for coffee, she’ll want to take coffee with her as a gesture, which she’ll ask me to get and if I know how you take your coffee, then that will totally give me bonus points.” Simon grinned. “Need to keep the boss lady sweet.”
Emily laughed. “A latte will be fine.”
Simon stood up. “I better get back.”
Emily stood too. “Me too, thank you, Simon. Really, it’s nice to talk to someone who isn’t a doctor or a nurse.”
Simon tossed his chocolate wrapper and empty cup in the bin beside the bench. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.
“Here,” he said and handed her a business card. “Whatever you decide with Olivia, here’s my number. I literally work over there and I live not too far away, so if you want to chat or meet up.”
Emily took the business card with a grin. “Does everyone at,” she looked at the card, “Applewood Financial hand out their business cards to people they’ve just met?”
“Yeah, it’s company policy,” Simon said with a cheeky smile. “But mainly if they look like they could use a friend.”
“Thank you, Simon.”
“Catch you later, hopefully.” Simon put his wallet back into his pocket and headed for the gates.
CHAPTER 14
Emily had decided not to tell Henry about the potential visit from Olivia in case she didn’t show. She’d also hidden the giraffe presents in the en-suite bathroom just in case she did.
“Try to eat a little more,” Emily said gently. She pulled the trolley closer to where Henry sat up in bed.
“I’m not hungry, Mommy,” he whined.