by S M Mala
She took a long deep breath before sitting back down.
Finlay came back up, all smiles and she saw him glance over at Della for a moment. Sylvie remembered, once upon a time, men would look at her like that. Toby was a lovely compliment but Stephen just wounded her pride.
Lost in thought she recalled seeing her husband for the first time. It seemed like yesterday. Looking up at the sky, she wondered if he could see her and was happy wherever he was.
‘You do that a lot, you know,’ she heard Finlay say as he leaned forwards towards her desk. ‘Stare into the sky.’
‘Creative process,’ she lied and shrugged. ‘I get ideas.’
A few hours later they sat in the furthest corner of the restaurant, away from prying eyes. She had her laptop but hadn’t taken it out of her bag and being a nice person, she let him look out onto the room. He’d ordered a bottle of white wine and water as she waited for them to arrive.
It was a few minutes before she realised he was staring at her.
‘No bullshit, okay?’ he began tiling his head to one side. ‘You can ask me questions and I can do the same. It’s all strictly about business.’
‘What else am I going to ask you?’ she shrugged as a waitress approached their table.
She smiled, seeing Finlay check out the girl’s backside as the woman smiled flirtatiously back at him
Sylvie wondered if women threw themselves at him and how did he handle it, especially as he was married to some perfect woman. She chuckled to herself remembering Toby’s description of his wife.
‘Why don’t you ask if I bring your step father here to jump on his old bones,’ laughed Sylvie.
‘I never said that,’ he replied, looking embarrassed as he poured the wine before replacing the bottle back into the cooler.
‘You want to ask though, don’t you?’
‘Oh god Sylvie, I’ve had a rough ten weeks, I don’t want to go through hell right now.’
He put his hands over his eyes and she realised he genuinely meant it as she felt guilty for a moment, knowing his life was in turmoil and she was left with an emotionally angry man.
‘Your mother upset me this morning,’ she said as he removed his hands away from his face. ‘She, first of all, surprised me by jumping out as I walked down the road, called me ‘Sylviana’ then tried to tell me to convince Piers to close down the place for his health.’ Sylvie bit her lip. ‘I told her ‘no’.’
‘How do you know my mother?’ Finlay quietly asked. ‘You met her when you started working for Piers?’
‘I met her a few times over the years. We know similar people, believe it or not.’ Taking her glass she sipped her wine and huffed a little. ‘I don’t want to talk about that bit, as it’s not important. I’ve been bullied enough as it is and I’m stronger now.’
‘Do you run the business for Piers?’
‘Yes and your mother’s aware I do. Piers thinks she has no idea but I knew a long time ago she did. Then when you found out about it, we all got tetchy. He so wants to do good by her, you know. He loves her very much.’
Finlay sat there for a moment in silence as she examined his long slender fingers touch the glass before taking a little sip of his drink before putting it back down. There was a frown on his forehead. She wanted to put her finger on it and rub it away. He folded his arms on the table and looked at her.
‘She wants me to close it down or sell it but doesn’t want it to be her idea,’ he said out loud. ‘Therefore she won’t get the blame and I will.’
‘I promise you’ll get your money back, I really do,’ she said leaning forward. ‘Don’t do anything just yet. Wait a few years, give us a total of five years and we’ll make good. People are starting to lighten up about sex and use the toys. Have you read all that woman porn on the market? Mummy and granny porn? We’ve got the books! Samina and Elizbieta read everything. Big sellers now!’
He didn’t look convinced.
‘We could work together. You could help me. With all your business knowledge it would be amazing. I’d listen to you, you know I would,’ she said, realising her tone was now a begging one. ‘I want this company to succeed and I’d never do anything to wreck it. I owe Piers so much and I want to repay him back. This is the only way how.’
‘It doesn’t fit into our brand,’ he said apologetically. ‘You know this isn’t the first time my mother has tried to get Piers to focus on something. For the past thirty two years she has supported him. I’ll give him his due, he practically brought up Toby and me as she was busy but it’s not something we can build on.’
Finlay once again put his face in his hands as Sylvie knew she was on a losing battle.
‘It’s a major industry, the sex one. We’re not doing anything wrong, there’s nothing illegal, we just feel there’s a real market there. Yes, tackier people have got in there first and then there are the high street retail outlets but this is about discretion.’ She gently pulled his hands away from his face. ‘What people do behind closed doors and we have a good customer base. We just need to build on it.’
‘Sylvie, if my mother has asked you to tell Piers to sell it or close it down that means she’s intent on pulling the plug.’ Finlay sat back in his chair. ‘I’m going to have to play the bad cop on this one.’
‘You could be the good guy, couldn’t you?’
She slumped in her chair for a moment seeing him raise his eyebrows as if to tell her he couldn’t.
‘Let’s order lunch,’ he replied. ‘Then we’ll talk afterwards, okay?’
They ate in silence as he knew she was ticking something over and looked miserable. He felt bad but she’d only confirmed what he already knew and, at the end of the day, it wasn’t going to be just up to him.
His mother had the final say.
Finlay wondered why his mother had gone to Sylvie directly. There was a massive chunk of information missing he couldn’t figure out. He looked at her again as she ate and realised he actually quite liked her fighting spirit. It had been ages since he’d found a challenge and it was sitting in front of him. She glanced at him and he knew immediately she hadn’t given up, she was just deciding what the next plan of action was to stop him.
Finlay smiled and noticed she did the same, as if she knew he knew what she was thinking.
‘I need to try,’ she mumbled wiping her mouth with her napkin and sipping her glass of wine. ‘I’m trying to think of ways to convince you.’ Sylvie stared at him for a moment. ‘Give us until the end of next year. We actually own the freehold for that building, that’s why your mother gave him so much money, do you know that?’
‘No I didn’t. I presumed it was rented.’
‘What have you been doing for the past few months?’ she frowned. ‘Have you looked into anything at all?’
‘I have other people to do that and report back,’ he replied, seeing her familiar challenging glare. ‘Considering you haven’t been very helpful, it has taken quite a while.’
Sylvie laughed at his reply and this made him smile again.
‘At least you didn’t say I was ‘obstructive’. That has been used against me many a time.’
‘Are you obstructive Ms Mather?’
‘I’m protective Mr Chambers. You’ll find there is a difference.’
His phone started to ring and it was Juliette. Knowing he hadn’t spoken to her for a few days he excused himself and took the call, walking outside and turning his back to Sylvie.
‘Finlay, we need to talk,’ Juliette said and she sounded more annoyed than upset this time. ‘Your mother is saying she doesn’t like the way the website looks and wants to query all the expenditure we have on advertising and marketing. She says-.’
‘How are you?’ he asked realising this was one of his wife’s venting calls.
‘I’m still suffering from morning sickness, as if you care. The baby is fine and growing well. There is just the one. I had to take a friend with me for the scan and-.’
‘The chef?�
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‘I am trying to be honest with you and … I don’t know. It’s as if you want to end our marriage. I made a mistake, how many times do I have to tell you? You want to punish me, is that it? Make me lose our baby? Because there is a big possibility it is yours.’
‘No,’ he said feeling guilty and sitting down in the cold autumn sunshine. ‘I feel let down and betrayed. You know all I wanted was for us to have a family together and now… I don’t know what to do.’
‘Running away is not helping me.’ He heard a massive sigh. ‘Did you tell your mother?’
‘I let slip.’
‘Will you talk to her? For me? You know how much the business means to me and if I am to be a single mother then I need to earn money, don’t I?’
‘You won’t be and it’s my business as well.’
Quickly walking back to the table, he realised he had to get his things and go see his mother. As much as he loved her, Alice was currently landing him in shit and he wanted to know what she was up to.
‘I’m sorry, I have to go,’ he said not sitting down and opening his wallet putting cash on the table. ‘If you need any more, then tell me tomorrow.’
‘That’s fine,’ she shrugged and smiled up at him. ‘Will you think about what I said? Another year?’
‘I can’t promise you anything,’ he said not making eye contact and marching out of the hotel, running back to the warehouse.
‘Did you have a nice day?’ she asked Daisy, taking her rucksack after picking her up from fit camp.
‘It was good,’ her daughter sighed. ‘Have you got me a special treat?’
The little girl put her hand down the side of Sylvie’s bag and pulled out a small square sweet thing courtesy of Waitrose.
‘Who did you play with?’
‘I don’t know their names,’ Daisy shrugged opening the package and ramming the rocky road sweet quickly into her mouth. ‘Can I play Wii when I get home?’
‘Yes,’ sighed Sylvie, realising how much she loved her daughter and that’s what her true focus was, to give her a secure future.
Her mind then went back to lunch and Finlay.
There was a side to him she’d not seen before. He seemed upset and confused. When he returned from his phone call, there was something sad and anxious about his expression. Sylvie could only put that down to speaking to his wife. She wondered why he’d flown back to London, leaving the woman on her own. There must be something more to it. The only thing she could surmise was one of them cheated on the other.
‘Mummy, are you listening?’ asked Daisy, tapping her side.
‘Yes, sure,’ she said snapping out of her thought.
‘Can I go round to grandma this Friday night? The people in her home are having a Halloween party and she said I could stay the night.’
‘She didn’t tell me and they don’t have to probably dress up,’ she said before saying, under her breath. ‘They’re scary enough as it is.’
‘You don’t listen,’ her daughter said with authority. ‘Apparently you never do.’
‘You spend too much time with that mother of mine,’ Sylvie huffed as they walked across the park towards the road. ‘And don’t listen to what she says.’
‘You say I should always listen to you and she’s your mum so I have to listen to her too.’
‘Let’s cross.’
When they got home, Daisy put the television on and Sylvie switched on the computer. She’d come to a decision that, other than Daisy and Nalini, her laptop was the closest thing to her. The phone started to ring.
‘Hello mother,’ Sylvie said opening up her work emails.
‘Sylviana, why didn’t you answer your phone earlier?’ she said in her Caribbean twang. ‘I rang twice.’
‘Maybe because I wasn’t here?’ she answered.
‘How’s my granddaughter?’
‘Fine.’
‘You know that woman who lives on the first floor?’ she began and Sylvie knew it was going to be a conversation where she would have to pretend to be interested. ‘Well, when I was doing the gardening…’
Three hours later, after Daisy had been put to bed amid an argument when she demanded to go later, Sylvie sat with a cup of tea and started to work. She knew the company was doomed and she didn’t want to let it go without a fight.
But she was troubled.
She knew she couldn’t tell Piers and this in turn meant she was on her own. Her only ally to help her make the company prove itself was her key enemy, Finlay.
Sylvie started to laugh.
‘Finlay Chambers,’ she muttered to herself, recalling his expression when he moaned about the last ten weeks.
For a moment she realised he wasn’t the bad guy in this, just the puppet as Alice seemed to have something to do with it. Then she remembered her estranged mother in law and glanced at Roo in a picture.
Suddenly everything looked gloomy, realising she needed to keep the job as it suited her time with Daisy. If she lost it, then there would be no focus, no future for her and she would feel, once again, no self-worth.
Taking her socks off, she looked down at her foot with the deformed toe and wondered if anyone could love her with all her emotional and physical imperfections.
Then she cried when she realised the only person who ever did was now dead and she was left all alone, fending for her child when all she really wanted was someone to hold her and tell her it would all be okay, even if it wasn’t.
At that moment, she decided she wasn’t going to be the victim, roughly wiping her tears away and set out on her plan of action for the next week or so.
Twenty two
‘Are you using me?’ he asked his mother as Alice stood there stony faced. ‘You’ve not answered my calls and it has taken me days to get to see you.’
‘I’m very busy,’ she replied, sitting behind her desk as Finlay let out an irritated sigh. ‘And in answer to your question, I’m not using you.’
He examined his mother’s very pretty face, lined but radiant due to some non-surgical thing she was doing and frowned.
‘Juliette’s very upset,’ he said gently. ‘She’s called me every day since she was drilled about her accounts and expenses.’ Finlay watched as his mother’s green eyes glare back at him. ‘There has never been a problem in that area.’
‘I think it’s the perfect time to look at all our businesses and see what’s performing and what isn’t. E-commerce has been a success and the shops in the Kings Road, Fulham and South Kensington are doing well. The new venture in Notting Hill-.’
‘I know all this,’ he said quickly. ‘That’s what I do so why are you getting involved?’
Alice stood up for a moment and stood over her son.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ she said quietly. ‘You should have told me what was going on with Juliette.’
‘I did,’ he said, grimacing for a second. ‘She went with someone else and I’m effectively sulking and being cruel. I’m not sure what she wants me to do.’
‘Does she want you back?’
‘Yes.’
Finlay knew he didn’t want to go back just yet and sat perfectly still as his mother pulled up a chair and faced him.
‘What’s going on?’ he asked seeing her concerned expression.
‘I know about Juliette.’ He was about to open his mouth to stop the conversation. ‘The fact she’s pregnant with a child which might not be yours.’
Finlay’s jaw dropped for a moment as his mother’s eyes filled with tears.
‘Divorce her Finlay, it’s the only thing you can do.’
‘There’s a possibility the child might be mine, fifty per cent chance I’m led to believe.’
‘She’s been sleeping with him since the beginning of the year and you’ve been travelling. You’ll find the percentage is less than that.’
As he stormed out of his mother’s office and out into the street, he wanted to scream. She’d told him that on hearing his predicament a few weeks back
, she got a private detective to investigate his wife.
Finlay was shaking violently as he hailed a cab. He didn’t know where to go, what to do.
‘Chiswick roundabout, please,’ he asked the driver and knew it was the only mental haven he could find solace in that Friday afternoon.
As soon as he got in he was met with a loud chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’. He looked around and noticed it was Gillian they were singing to and she had turned fifty.
‘She that bloody old,’ laughed out Samina as the others chatted. ‘You get dried up soon down below and you have to use lubricant spray!’
‘You’re so gross, innit!’ snarled Pria turning around as the others started opening the wine and sharing it out.
‘My Malcolm knows how to keep me moist!’ Gillian laughed out heartily as did the others.
Finlay noticed the men roll their eyes at the banter before discreetly walking away to continue work.
‘What you do tonight?’ asked Elizbieta cutting the cake.
‘Going out for dinner with the family tomorrow but I don’t mind going down the pub for a few,’ the birthday girl announced.
Finlay smiled and walked over to the group.
‘Hey Finlay!’ shouted out Samina. ‘Gillian will now suffer vaginal dryness!’
‘Samina!’ he heard Sylvie say and did a double take as it was just after five.
He stepped to the side and saw her looking at something on one of the computers before she turned her head and smiled.
‘Aren’t you supposed to be at home tending your child?’ he said as Samina forced a piece of cake into his face, which he quickly took.
‘I had things to do and I have a rare pass tonight as Daisy is spending the night with her grandma.’ Sylvie looked up and frowned. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Your forehead is deeply lined, something’s up.’
Just then he noticed she picked up a large package and it was a black vibrator.
Instantly he remembered what his mother told him and turned on his heels, cake in hand, and up the stairs, leaving the noise behind him.