by Sorell Oates
Maddy laughed genuinely.
”Absolutely not!”
”Thank God for that,” said Geoff, his expression one of great relief.
”Who's got my Assistant Financial Director in a tizzy then?”
”Some guy.”
”Want to talk about it?”
”Not particularly.”
”Okay, you're dismissed.”
”I'm hoping that's from your office, not the company,” she teased.
She saw a flicker of hesitation in his eyes.
”If ever you need anything Maddy,” trailed Geoff as she left.
Taking her seat, Maddy got lost in her work. It had been nice to have something other than work to look forward to during the week, but at the end of it all, her job was the only secure, safe part of her life. Relationships were too much hard work. She declined to go to the pub for drinks at lunch, hoping this would send out the signal that she wouldn't be drinking after work either. All Maddy wanted was to go home, tend her broken heart and watch sad movies with her two cats.
The majority of employees flooded out the door at 5.30pm on the dot. Maddy waved goodbye, wishing them all a good weekend. Geoff came out of his office, briefcase in hand.
”Don't stay too late Maddy,” he warned.
”I won't.”
He turned to go.
”Geoff,” she called.
He turned back.
”As a man. If you'd been dating someone for a short time and found out they were engaged at one point, would it bother you?”
”How did I find out?” he asked.
”Their ex-fiancé was calling non-stop.”
”Did she lie about the engagement or hide the phone calls?”
Maddy shook her head.
”My pride would be hurt. I might worry that she was still in love with her ex. Then I'd privately chastise myself for being both egotistical and insecure,” replied Geoff thoughtfully.
He walked over and put a hand on her shoulder.
”If I had a girl as good as you, Maddison Bridie, I'd come to my senses and get over it quickly, which he will if he's any kind of man. In all honesty, if he's over-reacted it only means he cares. Give him a chance though. When men hurt they tend to lash out because it's easier than facing their feelings.”
Maddy rose from her seat to hug Geoff. He was taken aback by the display of affection, but looked as pleased as much to see his favourite employee smiling.
”Go home!” he yelled as he left the office.
Checking the time, Maddy decided to make a last ditch effort to catch her usual train home. Packing up quickly and turning off the computer, she grabbed her handbag, then dashed out of the office. She power-walked to Charing Cross station, nabbing her usual seat. Her nervousness increased as the train departed.
James waited for his train on Platform 3 at London Bridge station. It had been one of the worst days he could remember in a long time. The acquisition of Maddy's company was going ahead, causing him to feel like a complete heel about the whole fiasco. He was anxious and on edge because he felt as though he'd betrayed Maddy, let her down by organising the deal. His clients were thrilled with their potential new acquisition. James would be rewarded bountifully with a quarterly bonus but the knowledge of cold hard cash did nothing to warm his heart.
It wasn't work that rendered the day as awful, but the phone call from his mother. Ringing her for female advice, she'd been furious with his treatment of Maddy. She verbally berated him, reminding James that she and her father had taught him to be respectful and considerate towards women. That he'd shunned Maddy without actually listening to her or relaying his concerns about the ex-fiancé was foolish on his part. His mother scoffed at his complaint that Maddy hadn't told him upfront about her engagement, stating the girl was probably so smitten with him she hadn't been thinking about other men. That she'd welcomed him to check her phone while in the shower demonstrated she was honest with no secrets to hide from him. Even at thirty-two, James' mother could reprimand him till he felt like a sulky teenager. The fact she was right didn't help at all. He'd seen red that morning, hating the idea of Maddy with another man; let alone in love with another man, but even he knew it was absurd to expect her not to have had any previous involvement with men.
After castigating him, she advised he'd need to pull something big out of the bag to make it up with Maddy. The second he saw Maddy on the train, he went straight to her.
”I am so sorry,” he said, crouching down to meet her eyes.
Her eyes filled with tears. He held her face in his hands, wiped away her tears with his thumbs, then kissed her publicly. James was never keen on grand public displays of affection but couldn't help himself. The intensity of the kiss, had them both breathless.
”I was such an idiot and so unkind. Leaving you like that was unforgivable.”
”James, I wasn't keeping anything from you.”
”I know that. You did nothing wrong. You behaved graciously. You always do. I've been all over the place today. I was jealous, I suppose. I don't normally get like that with women. Rather than say I was jealous I acted out. Stupid thing to do and it's not something I like about myself. I try to be a good man and for you I want to be the best. I'm not the possessive type, but you've got under my skin Maddy; wrangled your way into my heart,” his voice dropped in the last sentence.
”Do you want a real laugh?” she asked, as he rose to take his seat opposite.
”Go on.”
”All the calls. He wanted me to post him a DVD box-set that I bought.”
”Which one?”
”The Sopranos.”
”It was a good show.”
”James!”
He laughed.
”I wish you'd had that good humour this morning,” she quipped.
”Ouch. That hurt. Guess I deserved it.”
”That's your wrist slapped. It's finished now. Over and done with. Let's move on.”
”You're too good to me.”
”You can make it up to me in other ways,” she said flirtily.
The journey home was infinitely more pleasing than the morning journey. Maddy saw her stop approaching.
”James. I don't have your number. I only realised this morning I have no way of contacting you at the moment.”
”Of course, of course.”
James' phone started ringing. He studied the caller ID and Maddy saw his face turn serious.
”I have to get this. It's really important.”
As James answered the phone, Maddy watched him reach in his briefcase and tear a piece of paper from a notebook. Her stop was fast approaching. She saw him scribbling his number on the paper. As the train pulled into Orpington station, James sounded as though he was trying to calm the person on the other end of the line.
”I'm sorry,” he mouthed at her.
She took the paper from between his fingers.
”It's okay,” she assured softly.
”Call me” he said silently, shaping his free hand into a phone and putting it to his face; signalling she should phone later.
Maddy waved goodbye, only to see James engrossed in his call, not even noticing her hands flying around like a demented person. She walked into her home to be greeted by her cats. The dishevelled bed linen reminded her how her day began. Pushing the misunderstanding between herself and James to one side, life in general was looking up.
She threw herself on the sofa to watch TV, killing an hour. Having given James a reasonable amount of time to get home, she picked up her phone and went to punch in James' number. His handwriting was similar to a doctor's – barely legible. A few of the numbers were unclear and to make matters worse the phone number he'd given was two digits short.
CHAPTER 7
Maddison didn't know whether to scream or cry when she boarded the train to work on Monday morning. With no contact from James over the weekend, her final expectation had been dashed when she found out he wasn't on her train. She was furious wi
th herself for not having the good sense to take his number earlier in the week when they'd initially met. Had she not been trying so hard to gain back her dignity after James had handed over her tampons that had been crushed underfoot by rushed commuters, she probably would have done the number exchange there and then.
Why hadn't she given him her number on Friday? Her mind returned to the questions and scenarios that had haunted her all weekend. She stormed into the office, only to discover Geoff had beaten her to work. The radio was blaring in his office. It was a kitsch disco track called 'Love Train'. If it wasn't for the fact that she knew he played his radio from his computer, she'd have stomped in there to throw the radio out the window.
Her fingers flew fast and furious over the keyboard as she worked.
”You look ready to explode,” said Helen as she turned her computer on, munching crunchy toast.
”That's because I am.”
Helen's eyes went as wide as saucers.
”Why?”
”Because,” Maddy paused.
”Because?”
”Toilet in ten minutes,” she whispered.
Back in their unofficial meeting room, Maddy filled Helen in on the entire saga.
”He knows where I live. It's not like he couldn’t have driven around over the weekend or something. Then to find he's not on the train this morning. He's clearly trying to avoid me. Had a rethink about it all. Believes I'm damaged goods.”
”You don't know that.”
”He hasn't mentioned where he works, he never took me back to his place and I had to ask him for his phone number – he never offered it up. What would you put it down to?”
”It was an emergency phone call. His mother is sick, she's in the hospital, he forgets to write the last two digits. Drives to see her, when he comes out later his car is stolen.”
”Why not get a cab to my place?”
”His wallet was stolen. It fell out of his pocket in the car.”
”Why didn't his mother lend him money?”
”She's so ill, she can't remember the pin number for her card.”
”It's kind of far-fetched Helen. Nice try though.”
”Do you know what station he gets off at?”
”Yes. There's only two main stops in our area. I'm Orpington, he's Sevenoaks. There's no other nearby train stations that will run him directly through to London Bridge.”
”Right, the plan is,” said Helen, ”you leave work early tonight, go to Sevenoaks, stake-out his car and corner him when he comes out to get the full story.”
”What if he slept in and gets the normal train back home tonight? It might make me look like a stalker.”
”Or it might make you look like a concerned girlfriend. You said yourself he had ample opportunity to come to yours. What have you got to lose?”
”My dignity?”
”Maddy, you lost that when you spent an entire weekend in the house, with your cats hoping this James character would visit.”
”Fair point.”
With a plan in place they returned to their desks. Maddy left work at 5.30pm with the majority of the company. She was edgy thinking of how best to tackle James when she saw him. As she got to Sevenoaks a wave of nausea swept over her. She got off the train and headed for the car park. Although the station car park wasn't large, she couldn't find any sign of James' white Audi A5 convertible. Certain he had said he parked in the station car park, Maddy took another look around before approaching the station staff for advice. She was devastated to discover there was another station car park four minutes walk from the station, holding over five hundred cars.
She walked through the rows of cars, checking the make of every white car in the packed premise. There were no convertible Audi's. If James was catching his normal train he'd have arrived by now. Maddy was 100% certain James wasn't parked in the station car park and reasonably certain she hadn't missed his car in the alternate venue. She was as meticulous in studying the cars as she was with her accounting. James' car was unusual and she didn't believe she'd have missed it, even if it was hidden alongside five hundred other vehicles.
CHAPTER 8
”This is pointless,” moaned Maddy in defeat.
”I thought he meant something to you,” snapped Helen, as exhausted as her friend.
”He does. But I wasted all last night searching Sevenoaks station's two car parks for a flash car that wasn't there. Now I've just made fifty phone calls, hoping I may stumble across his number and I've had no joy there. All I've got is wrong numbers, wrong voice mail or generic voice mails that may or may not be his number.”
”Maddy, you're being negative. He only missed two digits off the phone number. There's only ninety-nine possibilities right? We're accountants, we've done the maths.”
”In theory, but Helen look at his handwriting. There's a five that could be a weird version of three and two sevens which could possibly be fours. If you take those into account, do you know how many calls we're going to have to make to cover every possible combination?”
”Lots?”
”How many have you made Helen?”
”Thirty-five.”
”Let's split up your remaining calls. We'll do seven each. If we'll have no joy then we'll have to put our heads together and come up with something else.”
They ploughed through the calls with no success.
”You two girls are working late,” said Geoff.
Maddy thought he appeared stressed and troubled.
”You okay Geoff,” she asked sliding the checklist of phone numbers under a book.
”I'm fine Maddy. Busy. Business is moving, snowballing I think. I'm too old to keep up.”
”That'll be the day,” said Maddy. ”I can't imagine you ever slowing down. It's us youngsters who can't keep up with you.”
”Everything changes, even me,” he said sadly.
”Is there anything I can do to help out – work-wise I mean?”
”No Maddy, you do more than enough for this company. I'm impressed you're both staying late. I appreciate the hard work, Helen. Don't sleep under the desks though, I don't want the cleaners complaining.”
The girls watched him leave the office.
”Serious guilt-rush,” said Helen.
”I know,” agreed Maddy. ”I think work is wearing him down, to be honest. I hope he's okay.”
”Geoff's fine. He always bounces back. Heart and soul of the office.”
”Too true. I couldn't imagine this place without him. Hope it was a bad day and nothing more serious.”
”Should we make more calls,” suggested Helen, trying to focus Maddy on the task at hand.
”We've rang ninety-nine mobile phones Helen, without success. It's impossible to factor every combination in because of the poor handwriting. Besides which, Geoff's already having a rough time. I don't want him having a heart attack when the next phone bill comes through given we've rung all those mobile numbers. They aren't cheap calls. Maybe we should leave it to fate.”
CHAPTER 9
”We're not leaving it to fate,” announced Maddy, as Helen sat opposite her Wednesday morning.
”Take it James wasn't on the train last night or this morning.”
”No, he wasn't.”
”You're looking very angry Maddy.”
”I am. I've not had a wink of sleep.”
”Love wasn't meant to be easy.”
”Helen, seriously, I am grateful for your help but clichés only serve to annoy me.”
”Sorry,” she apologised, smirking.
There was silence as Helen pretended to work, waiting for Maddy to reveal the latest developments. As she suspected, Maddy's private resolve didn't take long to break.
”I got up super-early this morning, took a cab to Sevenoaks and I swear I walked those car parks till my feet ached. I looked at every car till an hour after the departure of his normal train and that white Audi never parked in the station. I even scouted the nearby streets, in case
he's the free parking type. No car.”
”When did you get in then?”
”Five minutes before you. Geoff's in a right mood and on my case about work, which means I'm going to have to chase the entire department to get everything he wants done by the end of today. It's hard enough to keep my focus. This whole James thing is turning out to be Mission Impossible.”
”What should I do then?,” said Helen attempting to pacify her.