by Ber Carroll
Katie had learnt years ago that Neil had a fundamental dislike for questions: they challenged his control. Oliver, who had never worked for him directly, would get the picture soon enough.
The head waiter appeared and told them their meal was ready. Katie held back as the others moved towards the boardwalk. She followed, a discreet distance behind, her leg dragging.
‘Why are you limping?’ asked Jim before she even had the chance to sit down at the table.
All conversation stopped. Katie was conscious of Neil’s frown, but she was damned if she was going to carry on any further with this silly cover-up.
‘I broke it,’ she said and pulled out her chair. She couldn’t help wincing as she sat down.
She was dimly aware of the stunned reaction of the others but it was Jim she focused on. He frowned across at her as if she had committed some heinous crime.
‘What happened?’
‘I fell under a car – a four-wheel drive, to be more precise.’
‘Ouch!’ Oliver grimaced at the thought. ‘You must have been laid up for some time.’
‘Yes,’ Neil cut in, ‘but she’s almost fully recovered now. Right, who wants to choose the wine?’
For the rest of the meal Neil continued to jump in with a change of subject whenever the conversation veered towards the accident, and Katie wondered if the others found his behaviour as bizarre as she did.
It seemed so, because as soon as Neil excused himself to go to the gents’, Oliver asked, ‘What’s with him tonight? He’s like a cat on hot bricks.’
‘He’s always like that.’ Katie shrugged. She caught the eye of the barman and he came straight to her side.
‘Yes, madam?’ he asked with a flash of his brilliant white teeth.
‘Can we have some more wine for the table, please?’
‘It will be my pleasure to get a beautiful wine for the beautiful lady.’
His flirting was a welcome change to Neil’s prickliness and Jim’s moody stares. The wine he chose was indeed beautiful and Katie drank it far too quickly.
When Neil returned, the conversation became strictly business. Katie concentrated her energies on making sure they didn’t run out of wine again. It turned out that she and the barman made a good team. He chose and uncorked the bottles; she tasted and complimented him on his choice.
In the end she was the first to call it a night.
‘I’m stuffed,’ she said to no one in particular. ‘It was a long journey.’ She gripped the table and forced her reluctant leg to bear her weight. ‘I’ll see you all in the morning.’
‘Do you need any help getting back to your bure?’ asked Angela.
‘No, thanks,’ she said, injecting a chirpiness into her voice to show them she was fine, just fine. Not hurting. Not drunk. And most definitely not broken-hearted. ‘It’s just around the corner. Goodnight.’
Once out of the restaurant, the whole façade came crumbling down and tears filled her eyes. How on earth was she going to get through the week? Neil was even more unbearable than she remembered. Jim was colder than she had ever imagined. And her leg . . .
It was all hopeless, just hopeless.
‘Katie!’ she heard from behind. ‘Wait up!’
Oh no! Not now.
She blinked the tears away just as Jim’s hand grasped her arm.
‘I just want to know one thing,’ he said, his voice hard. ‘When did the accident happen?’
She focused her eyes on his feet. ‘A few months ago.’
But he pressed her. ‘When, exactly?’
‘September twelfth.’ She kept her eyes steadfastly down.
The significance of the timing softened his voice. ‘Why didn’t you tell me about it?’
Katie was too drunk and too sore to even begin to explain. She felt herself sway along with the gentle island breeze.
‘Jim, I’m too tired to go into it now. I just need to get back to my bure – go to bed –’
He must have seen that she was at the very end of her endurance because he dropped it.
‘Which one is your bure?’ he asked.
‘Down there,’ she pointed. ‘Number two.’
Suddenly her feet were swept from under her.
‘Jim, put me down! Put me down!’
‘You’re ready to collapse.’ His eyes stared ahead as he strode down the pathway. ‘Why did you refuse Angela’s offer of help?’
‘Because –’
But he cut her off. ‘Because you’re totally and utterly obstinate, that’s why.’
He deposited her outside the bure. ‘You owe me one big explanation, Katie Horgan.’
She smoothed her dress down. ‘Tomorrow,’ she promised unsteadily.
He stared down at her, his face dark, his eyes fathomless.
Finally he nodded. ‘Tomorrow.’
Then he was gone into the Fijian night.
Chapter 38
Jet lag, a vicious hangover and the intricacies of partnership law were a hideous combination. Despite her throbbing head, Katie sat upright in her seat because she knew that Neil was watching. Closely. The only mercy was that her leg, after eight hours of rest, was feeling much better.
Neil’s attention to detail made him a good teacher. He covered everything from the most basic point to the most complex. He provided relevant examples. His only flaw was that he didn’t allow much opportunity for questions.
‘Exhausting, isn’t it?’ commented Oliver on one of the strictly timed coffee breaks.
‘Yeah,’ she grimaced, ‘and having tasted every white wine on the menu last night doesn’t help.’
Her recollection of the night before was a little blurred. She knew Jim had been angry, but how angry she wasn’t sure. She knew he had cared enough to want an explanation but, again, she wasn’t sure how much. Only one thing was for sure: a snatched five minutes during one of the breaks would not be enough. Any discussion would have to wait until the end of the day.
Now Oliver beckoned her towards one of the poolside tables. ‘Let’s sit over there.’
Bronzed bodies lounged around the aqua pool. Katie sat down amongst them and ignored the urge to submerge her aching head in the cool water.
‘Wouldn’t it be great to just jump in?’ said Oliver, echoing her thoughts.
‘Yeah.’
‘Can you swim with your leg?’
‘I don’t know. I haven’t tried it.’
‘Why weren’t the rest of us told about the accident?’
‘Good question. Try asking Neil.’
They sipped their coffees and soaked up the sun for a short while.
Then Oliver said, ‘Actually, I was hoping you could give me some pointers with Neil.’
She squinted across at him and waited for him to continue.
‘I get the distinct feeling that he doesn’t like me and, with only three partnerships up for grabs, I can’t help but feel that I’ll be the casualty.’
Katie didn’t tell him that she didn’t yet know if she wanted a partnership and it was quite possible that there would be no competition.
‘Neil is hard to work with. He’s a control freak, he wants to have a say in every little decision. So, all that I can suggest is that you consult with him as much as possible over the next few days – bow to his opinion – and don’t ask so many challenging questions.’
Oliver looked thoughtful. ‘I know that Brent was a beast in many ways, but I think I preferred him to Neil.’
Katie was surprised to realise that she did too.
‘Obviously, the scandal with Claudine seriously undermined Brent’s position as managing partner,’ Oliver continued, ‘and he was forced to resign before it became public knowledge.’
Katie spluttered on her coffee. ‘What?’
‘You haven’t heard?’ Oliver raised his eyebrows. ‘It’s meant to be all hush-hush, but it’s the secret that everybody knows. Brent resigned because Claudine is suing the ass off him.’
‘For unfair dismissal?’
He shook his head. ‘No, for child support.’
Katie nearly fell off her seat. ‘Are you saying that Brent is Ethan’s father?’
‘Yes . . . that’s if the rumours are true.’
There was no question in Katie’s mind that the rumours were true for suddenly everything made perfect sense. It explained why Claudine disliked Brent so intensely: for seven years she had continued to work in MFJ while he refused to acknowledge their child. Brent must have hated having her around. Ethan’s accident would have provided the first decent opportunity to get rid of her, and Neil, his lackey, had facilitated her dismissal.
‘It’s just me and Mum,’ Ethan had said that day at the hospital.
Katie could only conclude that Claudine’s family had ostracised her for having a child out of wedlock.
Just then Angela fluttered over to tell them it was time to reconvene.
Claudine didn’t want me involved because she knew it would damage my chances on the programme, thought Katie as she returned to the classroom. I hope she takes Brent to the cleaners!
‘This afternoon we’re going to do some role-play,’ Neil announced when they returned to the room.
He looked awkward and Katie guessed that role-playing was Angela’s idea rather than his.
He cleared his throat before he continued. ‘The scenario is as follows. The four of you are partners in a firm. It has been a difficult year and, as a result, there is a question mark over whether you should run this year’s graduate recruitment programme. Jim and Carole: you want to run the programme because you feel that to pull out would send a damaging message to the market, maybe with the effect of making business even worse.’ Neil then turned his bespectacled eyes to Katie and Oliver. ‘You two are in fundamental disagreement. You’re worried that you won’t have enough work to keep the graduates busy and you’re concerned about incurring unnecessary costs . . .’
Neil looked over to Angela as if to say, ‘What happens now?’ and she smoothly stepped into organisational mode.
‘Katie and Oliver, you can sit over there,’ she pointed to the far side of the room, ‘Jim and Carole, this side of the room, please. Now, the object of this exercise is to reach a unanimous decision – that is, you must do your level best to persuade the others to see your point of view.’
Katie and Oliver dutifully moved to the other side of the room.
‘Thank goodness the afternoon won’t be as dreary as the morning,’ Katie commented sotto voce.
‘You just like to play actress,’ replied Oliver with a grin.
‘You have half an hour,’ Neil called out once they were seated.
‘Time Nazi,’ muttered Katie and Oliver laughed. ‘Better get down to business,’ she went on, becoming serious under Neil’s suspicious glare. ‘If the other two are worried about the market, then I suggest we address that concern first.’
Oliver agreed. ‘We need to convey a strong message to the universities and to our existing staff. We want them to see that our firm doesn’t shy away from difficult decisions, that we are focused on the bottom line and that even though we are not recruiting this year, we expect to have a strong graduate intake next year.’
They used the rest of the allotted time to prepare an internal and external communication package. While Oliver played around with the final wording, Katie secretly studied Jim and Carole. He was the note-taker, and every now and then he would stop writing to consult Carole. Katie watched their body language very closely.
They’re just colleagues, she realised with a jolt. Nothing more. I’ve been such an idiot.
She wanted to rush across the room to explain that it had all been a terrible misunderstanding. But even though in her heart it may have been the right time, it most certainly wasn’t the right place. Somehow, she would have to find the patience to wait.
That night dinner was a buffet-style Fijian feast. While they ate, they were entertained by traditional music and dance. The dancers threw spears of fire through the black starry night as their song, a celebration of battle and life, soared.
Many times throughout the day Katie’s eyes had glanced fleetingly off Jim’s. Now, as the music reached a fierce crescendo, her eyes were drawn to him once more. He nodded. It was time for her ‘big explanation’.
She quietly slipped away from the table and he caught up with her at approximately the same place as the night before.
‘Let’s go down to the beach,’ he said and they walked past her bure onto the fine white sand.
Katie tucked her long flowing skirt around her knees as she sat down. Jim sat next to her. He was close, so very close that it was hard not to reach out to touch him.
‘I was saying sorry when it happened,’ she began, ‘sorry for that silly argument we had over the phone, sorry for being jealous of Carole . . .’ She stopped. It was all such a mess, it was difficult to find a starting point. She tried again. ‘I had the word texted on my phone – Sorry – all ready to send. Then I saw Jerry, the homeless man. I was petrified of him – I didn’t know that all he wanted was to say sorry too. I thought he was going to attack me and I backed up until I was on the very edge of the kerb. Then I lost my balance . . .’
Her voice faded away and the lapping waves filled the silence between them.
Jim gazed down at the sand. ‘How long were you in hospital?’ he asked after some time.
‘Two months in all. I was unconscious for the first week –’
He looked up, shocked. ‘Did you have head injuries as well?’
‘No, it was a fat embolism lodged in my brain, a complication from the broken bone.’
He shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what she was telling him. ‘Why didn’t you – or anyone else – tell me what had happened?’
‘Neil told Mags that he’d pass on the message,’ Katie explained, ‘but he didn’t. Of course, I didn’t realise it at first, not until I saw all your email messages in my inbox –’
‘But I left you text messages as well,’ he cut across her, ‘and voicemails.’
‘My phone was smashed to bits. And I did call you when I realised that you didn’t know. It was very early in the morning. Carole answered –’
‘She didn’t tell me you called,’ he said.
‘That’s because I hung up straightaway. I thought that you and she were an item.’
He took a moment to think. When he spoke again his voice was very quiet.
‘Carole and I had many early starts – some nights we didn’t get to bed at all – but it was hard work, nothing else. And, just for the record, I don’t find her attractive –’
‘I can see that now,’ said Katie with a jagged sigh. Inside, she couldn’t help berating herself for jumping to the wrong conclusion yet again. Had she had any faith in Jim, or in Jerry, things would have turned out very differently.
‘You find it hard to take even the smallest gamble, don’t you?’ Jim remarked rather suddenly.
She looked at him warily. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean trust,’ he said, meeting her eyes. ‘Sometimes you have to go out on a limb, take a gamble that someone really does love you –’
Katie felt her heart miss a beat. Was he talking about love generally or love specifically? Was he talking past tense or present?
‘Geoff, my ex –’ she started to say.
‘I’m not your ex, Katie,’ he said firmly. ‘I would never abuse your trust, so don’t tar me with the same brush.’
He was right, absolutely right, but the real question was whether this was all too late.
‘I’m prepared to take a gamble now,’ she whispered as she bravely held his gaze. ‘To try again with you . . . that’s if you want to . . .’
For a horrible moment she thought he would say no. Not a muscle moved on his face. But then, just as her heart started to plummet, he leant forward. His lips met hers in a soft kiss.
‘Of course I want to.’
They were both so caught up in the momen
t that it didn’t occur to them that there might be someone watching. Just as they started to kiss again, a shadowy figure left the cover of the rustling palms and returned to the main path.
Chapter 39
The next morning, Katie was so on air that she didn’t even try to disguise it. She simply couldn’t stop sneaking glances in Jim’s direction and was equally unable to suppress her smile.
While Neil droned on through case law and precedents, Katie thought about the night before. Eventually they had left the beach and returned to her bure where Jim had told her, quite specifically, that he loved her.
‘Since when?’ she asked, coy all of a sudden.
‘Since the night you walked in pink-cheeked and scraggyhaired to the programme launch.’ He looked down on her with teasing eyes. ‘I knew straightaway that you had High Potential.’
‘Very funny.’
‘Or maybe it was when you scowled at me so ferociously the day you got pulled over for speeding . . .’
That day on the freeway seemed like a lifetime ago, and Katie was reminded of a question that she had been meaning to ask for quite some time.
‘By the way, you never told me what you said to that police officer to get me off.’
‘I told him that the Wallabies had already trounced the Irish at the weekend and he was obliged to give me – and you, being of Irish descent – a break.’
‘You mean you two had a yarn about the rugby while I was left stewing at the car?’ she asked incredulously.
‘That’s right,’ he said and started to kiss her again.
Much later on, when Katie’s body was curled into his and they were on the verge of falling asleep, she whispered, ‘I love you too.’
Now, she risked another look in his direction. He winked at her and she beamed him another smile. She felt so happy that she could burst.
In retrospect, she should have known that Neil would notice that something was going on between them. And that he would disapprove.
On Wednesday afternoon, at the team sailing event, Neil finally unleashed the full extent of his disapproval. After a lazy lunch at sea, washed down with a few glasses of champagne, Katie’s guard was down. Jim was in deep discussion with the skipper and the others were chatting idly amongst themselves when she went below deck.