“I’m waiting.” Her mother tapped her fingers on the table.
Addie pleaded for a tornado to sweep away her or her mother, she didn’t care.
“Your eyes are red. Do you have a hangover? Men don’t like women who drink.”
Addie sighed.
“Period pains? Constipation?”
“No,” Addie snapped and David sniggered.
“So what are you thinking about?” Her mother never gave in.
“Nothing.” Addie knew “wishing I was dead” was not the right answer. She wondered if she could pretend to see a spider. They all knew the hysteria that brought on.
“Don’t lie.”
“Why aren’t I allowed to be not thinking of anything? David never looks as though he’s thinking of anything. He always looks half-vacant.” Addie glared at him.
“Well?” he mother demanded.
There was no escape. “Actually, I’m wondering how to solve the crisis in the Middle East and whether I should take up prostitution to clear my debts.”
Addie’s brothers laughed.
Her mother gaped at her. “What did you do to Noah?”
“Nothing. He dumped me because he’s moving to Qatar.”
“I warned you before, you need to change your attitude. You can’t go around without makeup, wearing scruffy clothes and expect to keep a man interested.”
They’d all walked around on broken glass since their father died, and maybe putting up with her mother’s criticism was the price Addie had to pay for getting away with the six-month lie. Noah had temporarily rescued her from a rising flood of despair. At least they all believed he existed. She kept quiet.
“It wouldn’t hurt to wear a bit of makeup. A dash of lipstick.”
Back on target. Addie’s personal guided missile.
“I’ll have to change my Christmas letter. I’d put in a whole paragraph about how you’d finally found a lovely man,” her mother said. “I despair of you. What do you have to show for yourself? No career, husband, children. No house of your own, not like Lisa.”
Addie wished someone would stand up for her. Her brothers had their faces down. Even Finn stayed silent and he was the only one who ever tried to defend her. Lisa flashed her a sympathetic look but kept her mouth shut.
Addie clenched her fists. “I liked Noah, but he said I was hopeless in bed. Maybe I should sleep with as many men as I can to get more experience. What do you think? Any tips for me about that?”
There was a shocked silence and then Addie was sent to wash the dishes.
David waited until everyone was engrossed in the movie and then sidled off to speak to Finn in the dining room. Harry looked up at him from his potty.
“Not finished yet, Harry? You’re missing sweeties,” said David.
Harry screwed up his face and then smiled at his dad.
“Done,” he announced.
He stood up and the potty stayed stuck to his bottom. Finn dropped the newspaper and leapt to his feet. David started to laugh until Finn sent him a warning look. “Clever boy. Let’s sort you out and then you can go and watch TV.”
“Takes after you,” David said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Finn asked.
“You used to spend hours in the loo.”
“I still do. It’s the only place to get any peace. And don’t tell Sally you bribed Harry with sweets. She’ll blow a fuse.”
“You’d have been in here all afternoon.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” Finn grinned.
“I wanted to ask you to do something.”
“What?”
“The guy that’s dumped Addie, there’s something not right. I don’t think he’s off to Qatar. I think they made that up between them. I got his car registration.”
“So why don’t you check up on him?”
“I’m not supposed to.”
“And I am?” Finn laughed.
“Well, no, but I’d get into more trouble than you.”
Finn shook his head. “Why bother?”
“I still think he’s married and they haven’t broken up. You should have seen them kissing. They were like teenagers.”
His brother looked at him for a few moments. “Is this about proving you’re right or protecting Addie?”
“Protecting Addie.”
Finn sighed. “For a policeman, you’re a hopeless liar. Okay, give me the number.”
“What are you two plotting?” their mother demanded as she came into the room.
“Nothing,” Finn said.
“David, a word.” His mother beckoned him with one curl of her finger.
Behind his mother’s back, David saw Finn stare hard at him and zip his mouth. They both knew he was wasting his time.
“Adelina. Kitchen. Now,” her mother roared.
Addie had just sat down after doing all the washing up. When Finn got up too, her heart thudded.
“So he is married.” Her mother gave her a smug smile. “All that rubbish about Qatar. You should be ashamed, lying to us. Think of his wife. The poor woman. His children will be damaged forever by this. It’s no good telling me it’s his fault as much as yours. It isn’t. Men can’t help themselves. It’s their penises.”
Addie heard Finn disguising a laugh behind her. She wondered if it was worth speaking. As soon as she opened her mouth her mother leapt in again.
“I hope you used protection. It would be terrible if he passed some disease on to his wife.”
“Mum, that’s a bit harsh,” Finn said.
“I told you he’s not married,” Addie said. “But what does it matter anyway?”
“Of course it matters if you’re still seeing him.”
Addie looked to Finn for help, but he shrugged.
“If you had half the brains of your brothers…”
And that was it. “I’m going home.”
“I’ll drive you back,” Finn said.
“No, you won’t. I only get to see you for a few hours each week. If she wants to go, she can go on her own. And take that bag of clippings, Addie. You forgot it last week.”
Addie hadn’t forgotten. The clipped out articles started the day she went to university. Whilst scouring newspapers and magazines for competitions, her mother came across items Addie needed to read to improve her life, so she cut them out to post to her. No note or letter, just large recycled envelopes full of pages on what to do if you have big feet, long legs, short hair, no bust, no dress sense, a lisp (she hadn’t), no idea how to apply makeup, low self-esteem, webbed feet and a beak. Every time an envelope arrived, a black cloud enveloped Addie’s heart because even at a distance her mother still wanted to control her.
As she left the house, she dropped the bag in next door’s wheelie bin. She caught a bus to the multi-screen cinema in Kirkstall and watched two crappy films to ensure she got home after Lisa and David had gone to bed. Addie knew she should never have come back to Leeds. She should have stayed as far away as she could.
Chapter Seven
Addie waved to Fred as she hurried across the yard to the office. He waved back, but her favourite coach driver had a grim look on his face. Already in danger of being late, she hadn’t time to ask why. Addie saw the Booth’s Travel sign lying on the ground and wondered if it had fallen off in the night. Maybe Fred had the job of putting it back.
Bob Booth had built up his business from a single travel agency, established in 1975, to a swarm of them now strategically placed in major towns in the north. Booth’s Travel also ran a fleet of coaches and when Royal Ascot had temporarily moved to York, Bob expanded in a small way into corporate hospitality. Addie had worked part-time for Booth’s for just over a year, in a sales and admin role she could have done straight from school. The lingering dream that Bob would one day recognize her worth and appoint her managing director had made it difficult to leave.
As Addie rounded the corner, she saw two men on ladders fastening a board in place. Magelan’s. She slammed to
a halt. Magelan’s were a large leisure company based in the south. She’d seen their ads on the internet and in the Sunday Times. Bob had sold up. Addie was stunned.
Only the thought that she’d soon incur the wrath of the sales director, Delia Carne, or Genghis as she was known to the rest of the staff, dragged Addie into the building. Genghis was tall, though not as tall as Addie, with short red hair and steel grey eyes. A match ready to be struck and Addie always seemed to be the one doing the striking.
When she walked through the door, Julie, who manned reception and the telephone, beckoned her over. “Seen our new name?”
Addie nodded.
“Genghis and Bob are in with the new people. Three men.”
Addie hurried into the open plan office most of the staff shared. At the far end was a corridor of private rooms occupied by Bob and Genghis among others. Addie pulled off her coat. She had no idea how the takeover would affect her. She might lose her job. If it hadn’t been for the money she wouldn’t care. But the requirement to have a reasonable amount breathing life into her bank account at regular intervals was a necessity. Even though the Jefferson-Smiths helped with the mortgage, Lisa still relied on Addie’s contribution to the household expenses. Plus, Addie had debts of her own.
She looked around the room. Everyone huddled in their cubicles muttering into phones. No printers whirred, no keyboards clicked. No surreptitious surfing of YouTube, just the muffled murmur of worried voices. Addie could guess what everyone was doing—ringing wives, husbands and partners with the news of possible redundancies, retirements and relocation.
“Better look busy, Addie. New brooms sweeping clean and all that,” Graham said as she sat in the booth next to his.
“I don’t need to look busy, I am busy.” Which was more than could be said for Graham, a large Australian pest, similar to a kangaroo, bulky and belligerent, but less attractive and less active. Graham didn’t lift a finger if he didn’t need to. He had the natural charm, but not the svelte figure of a rattlesnake.
Graham was the senior sales dog’s bollocks. Whatever he claimed to do, he managed to delegate most of it elsewhere. He made a big thing of his expertise in arranging the foreign coach travel, which, as far as Addie could make out, involved the carting of over-sexed teenagers to France on part-exchange visits with their pen pals. Graham’s French was terrible. Addie had thought she’d give herself appendicitis laughing when he’d told her he thought “Moi aussi” meant “I’m an Australian”.
“There’s bound to be some redundancies.” Graham rolled round on his chair to talk to her. Addie swallowed when she saw he was wearing his dangerously tight brown trousers and the purple shirt. Versace—he’d let everyone know, but they were fighting a losing battle to cover his body.
“You must be worried then,” she said.
“Why?”
“If we’ve been taken over by a bigger organization, all the foreign paperwork will be done centrally.”
Graham looked so concerned that Addie felt guilty. For at least three seconds.
“Delia says I don’t need to worry,” he mumbled.
Addie winced as Graham cleaned his ear with his finger.
“But you’re only part-time,” he pointed out, putting the same finger in his mouth.
Addie refrained from asking whether Genghis’ comment had come before or after she’d got out of his bed. Genghis had done a good job of keeping the affair a secret, but she knew Addie knew. Addie presumed Graham must have some redeeming feature for him to have attracted Delia, because he was her exact opposite—disorganized and lazy. Maybe he was hung like an elephant. Addie shuddered.
She settled down to her first job of the day, printing invoices for the previous month, and at the same time began to research Lincoln for a forthcoming trip.
The important people remained behind closed doors all morning. Daisy Chain, child of stupid parents, and secretary to Bob and Genghis, took coffee in a few times, but emerged with no information other than the fact that all three guys were gorgeous and Genghis was being nice. Genghis and nice didn’t usually appear in the same sentence.
The longer they were cooped up in there, the more nervous everyone became. People began flitting between partitions to chat, spreading rumours of death, destruction and plague to ensure everyone stayed as worried as them. Various senior people went into Bob’s office, then returned to their own cubby holes and closed their doors which made everyone even more paranoid.
When the door opened and the five came out, eyes dropped from the top of the partitions to focus on computer screens. It was as though they were in a war zone and someone had yelled “incoming”. The increased noise of tapping at keyboards sounded like an oncoming swarm of locusts. Yellow-bellied cowards, Addie thought, keeping her own head up. The next moment she was on her knees on the floor, her heart battering her ribs to get out of her chest, so it could make a run for it.
The noise fell away and Addie listened to Bob thanking them all. She wanted to look again to make sure she’d not made a mistake, but there was little point because she hadn’t. Will stood between Bob and Genghis. Shit. Next to Genghis was the blond one from the gym. Double shit. And the other side of him stood the third guy. Triple shit.
Addie scuttled across the floor like a giant crab to reach Joe’s cubicle. He stared at her as she crouched at his feet. Addie pretended to be inspecting his chair leg and then moved on to Margaret, then Lizzie, then Charlotte the harlot. Voices were coming down the other side of the room as Addie crawled in the opposite direction. She reached the photocopier, wondering if there was time to dig an escape tunnel. She could hear Genghis introducing people.
Addie couldn’t do this now. Running away from trouble was second nature. She was always reluctant to accept inevitability, particularly when it stared her in the face. Plus, her stomach was threatening to eject a slice of toast and coffee. All she could think about was escape.
“What are you doing?” whispered Joe, who’d followed her to the copier.
Addie cringed. Joe’s voice at a whisper, could carry in a crowded football stadium.
“Lost an earring,” she said, forgetting she wasn’t wearing any.
She saw a herd of feet heading her way and shot hunched over in the opposite direction, colliding with the water cooler, sending the whole thing rocking so that a mini tidal wave threatened to topple the bottle. Addie had to wrap her arms around it and dance for a few seconds before it calmed down enough for her to let go, then she dashed on, ricocheting from one object to another, swerving at the last moment away from Genghis’ precious aquarium. Finally she turned the corner and could breathe.
Addie heard the men having a short chat with each person in the room. Genghis even introduced them to her bloody angel fish, Gabriel and Gideon, which should have sent warning signals, but it wasn’t until Addie heard the word “garage” that she panicked. She’d been listening when she should have been escaping. Now she had a choice of three doors—the Gents, a cupboard and the garage. Addie made for the cupboard.
She sat on the floor in the dark and waited.
“What’s in here?” Addie heard Will say. Well of course he bloody did.
“A small storeroom,” Delia said.
The handle jiggled above her head. Addie wedged herself between the door and the shelves opposite, pressing her feet against the lowest shelf.
“It seems to be locked.” Will again.
“There isn’t a lock. There’s nothing valuable in there,” Delia said.
Addie braced herself, but the next moment, she slid forward on her bottom as the door was forced open behind her. She concertinaed the top half of her body between the two lowest shelves. The light went on.
“What on earth do you think you are doing?” Delia asked.
“Looking for something.” Addie kept her face hidden.
“What?”
“Er…” Her mind went blank. Great timing, brain.
“Would you like to explain what you could
be looking for in the dark?”
Genghis had a lot in common with her mother. She’d scented weakness and wouldn’t give in until she’d ripped out Addie’s throat.
“The light?” Addie tried, still crouched down with her back to them.
“The light switch isn’t on the floor. Get up. Mr Magelan would like to meet you. Though maybe he should reconsider.”
Addie got up and turned. Now was the moment for a meteorite to hit the building, but she’d accept a flash flood or a voracious man-eating plant as reasonable alternatives. The older guy put out his hand. He was laughing.
“Jack Magelan.”
“Addie Winter.”
She couldn’t look at Will.
“Have we met before?” Jack asked.
“We’ve never been introduced, I’m certain,” Addie said.
She watched the blond one’s eyes flick between her and Will and knew he’d recognized her.
“Hi, Addie, I’m Ed Mansell,” he said. “Will’s brother.”
Addie shook his hand and then looked at Will.
“Will Mansell.” He held out his hand.
Addie felt as though she’d been asked to pet a great white shark. She swallowed hard and put her hand in his. His face was blank. Will shook her hand so fast it was hardly a shake at all. Addie cringed with humiliation when she realized he wasn’t going to acknowledge he knew her.
“Addie only works for us part-time. She’s a general dogsbody,” Delia said.
Addie bristled. “I need a pay rise then. I thought I was a private dogsbody.”
Ed turned a laugh into a cough.
“Excuse me,” she muttered and fled to her desk, her face burning.
Addie kept her head down all morning. She looked as though she was working hard, but she wasn’t. She sat struggling with the invoicing when Daisy came over.
“Genghis has made me so mad I can’t speak,” Daisy said.
“So you’re not going to tell me why?”
Sarcasm was lost on Daisy. “Course I am.” She perched on the edge of Addie’s desk. “I’ve got to do the secretarial work for both the new guys as well as her. I mean that’s like doubling…tripling my work load.”
Doing the Right Thing Page 6