by S L Beaumont
“How kind of you to join me, Ms. McDonald.” JP’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.
JP was solidly built with dark hair slicked back from his face and coming to rest just above the collar of his expensive looking double-cuff shirt. His eyes were sharp and intelligent, and he exuded power. Not a man to cross, I thought with a little frisson of fear. His office reflected his personality. Minimalist, stark almost, there was nothing on the walls to give any hint of the man. His frosted glass desk was empty, except for a computer screen.
“My apologies, I understand that you’ve been looking for me. How can I help?” I belatedly realized that Will hadn’t told me what excuse he had used to stall JP, so I decided not to offer one, in case we contradicted one another.
“See this trading floor.” JP turned to look through the floor-to-ceiling window, the buzz of the staff muffled by the glass. “It’s the second largest in London. The amount of money that we can make or lose in a single day is staggering,” he said in lightly accented English, waving a hand to indicate the breadth of the floor laid out below him. Diamond studs twinkled at his cuffs as his arm moved, no doubt very real and very expensive.
I nodded, unsure where this was heading.
“Have a seat,” JP said and motioned to the chair opposite his desk. “Now, this new product of yours,” he began, sitting down in the large black leather chair behind his desk.
I felt my stomach go into free fall. Had something gone wrong? It couldn’t have. We tested everything. Just how much money had we lost?
“Well, of course I can’t take all the credit…” I began as I perched on the edge of the chair; time to start damage control.
JP waved his hand to silence me. “Well, from what the trading teams tell me, it was the best product launch they have had. Apparently, you pitched it perfectly, so everyone understood how to price and hedge it, so much so that we have won the GSK Pharmaceutical derivatives business from Goldman’s. A big coup, which will open the door for the investment bankers to do further work with them.” I tensed waiting for the other shoe to drop. JP was not known for praise without a backhand. He stood, holding out his hand to me. “So well done and keep up the good work. You can pass that on to your team too.” I was being dismissed.
Hardly daring to breathe, I shook his hand. “Thank you.”
Once again, I had to tell myself not to run back across the trading floor.
Back at the lifts, Will was pacing. He turned as the door swished open and I burst through. “Well?”
I broke into a grin. “He wanted to congratulate us on a fantastic product launch. Apparently, the traders have successfully used it to win some business from Goldman’s and he’s holding us partly responsible.”
Will grabbed my hands and together we began jumping up and down like a couple of ten-year-olds, complete with stupid grins on our faces. It was only the sound of a lift arriving that broke us apart. Will scooped up my coat and bag from a chair on the landing and handed them to me. Together we got into the lift down to our floor, still grinning like idiots.
As we descended, I turned to look at him. “Thanks for covering for me with JP. I owe you.”
He smiled. “Anytime, Jess. I’ve got your back.”
As the doors opened on our floor, Will leaned over and said in a low voice, “And you didn’t need to worry about how you look, you are stunning in that dress.” He brushed past me and out of the lift. I stood there open-mouthed as the doors began closing on me. I felt a blush rising from my toes to the top of my head and a strange feeling settling in my stomach. I jumped out before the doors closed to be greeted by some of my colleagues, eager to know what JP had wanted.
“Oh you know, he’s cost cutting. He wanted me to suggest which one of you should be let go,” I replied.
Jimmy followed me to my desk. “Seriously, Jess. You don’t get tracked down by JP unless there is a big problem.” Over his shoulder I could see Andrew grinning.
“What did you know about this, Andrew?” I called over to him, ignoring Jimmy.
“I told him that you should hear it from the boss himself,” he replied.
“Thank you,” I said smiling at him. I turned back to Jimmy. “JP was really happy with the new product launch. It has gained us some market share in the Pharmac industry already.”
Jimmy looked pleased for me. “That’s cool, Jess. You should know that Will really covered your arse with JP this morning.”
“Thanks, Jim. I know, I owe him big time,” I acknowledged.
Chapter 4
October 25
I had just walked up the four flights of stairs to our flat and unlocked the door later that evening when my mobile rang. We had moved into the light and sunny top floor apartment in a red-brick Victorian block near the King’s Road in the summer. I dumped my bag on the narrow hall table just inside the door and retrieved my phone. A photo of Colin’s face taken at our wedding six years earlier lit up the screen as the incoming call icon flashed.
“Hi, how much longer are you going to be?” I asked. “I have something to celebrate.”
“I’m going to be late. We’ve had some trouble,” he said.
“What’s happened?” I asked as concern from the tone of his voice knotted my stomach.
“We’ve had a break-in. I need to check that everything is secure.” He sounded distant.
“Be careful, won’t you. It’s still not a great area, you might have to up your security,” I said.
There was a pause as Colin said something to someone in the background.
“Don’t wait up.” He hung up without saying goodbye.
***
I was dozing on the couch around 11:30 pm when I heard Colin’s key turn in the lock. I stood, stretched and walked into the little reception area to greet him.
“I told you not to wait up,” he said running his hand through his wavy hair. It was more auburn than ginger and over recent months I’d noticed the first signs of grey at his temples. He had the type of skin that never tanned and his tidy beard had a definite Gallic tone.
“S’okay,” I said and then gasped as I took in his disheveled appearance. “Colin, what happened?”
His left eye was puffy and almost closed over and dried blood was smeared around the backs of his hands.
“It’s worse than it looks.” He brushed past me into the kitchen.
“Seriously?”
“It’s fine, Jess. Don’t fuss,” he replied.
“At least let me clean you up. What happened? I thought you said it was just a break-in?” I said following him, pulling a packet of frozen peas from the freezer and handing them over, indicating that he should put them on his eye.
“It was a break-in. I almost had the guy too, but he got away.” He winced as he applied the icy bag to his eye.
I poured some warm water into a bowl and added a few drops of antiseptic and using a clean cloth, began dabbing at the knuckles on his right hand. It must have stung, but he was stoic and sat still at the tiny kitchen table beside the window letting me work. I patted his hand dry with a clean cloth and applied first aid cream and band aids to the deeper cuts.
“Thanks. Florence.” He stood, pulling himself to his full six feet four inches in height and strode from the room. Several seconds later, I heard him talking on the phone in the study. I tidied up the kitchen and switching the light off, stood in the doorway of the study waiting for him to finish.
“Who do you think it was? Just local kids?” I asked.
“No. The guy I almost caught appeared to be older. Well-dressed. Professional. No. I’m thinking corporate espionage. I‘m in the running for a large new contract and I think someone is trying to undercut me,” he replied.
“Colin, that’s awful. Have you contacted the police?”
“Already being taken care of.”
“When can I come and visit, I’m dying to see the new warehouse?” I asked.
Colin shook his head. “Not yet, the renovation work isn’t finish
ed.”
“Well, on a happier note, I had a major success at work today,” I said.
“Really? Did your balance sheet balance?” he said without looking up.
“Ha, ha. No, remember that new product that I’ve been working on with Will, the new guy?” Colin looked up with a blank expression. “Well, it’s been a huge success and we’ve won some important business because of it,” I continued, but not before I noticed the slight change in his expression.
“So what do you get out of it?” he asked.
“I got called to the Head of Trading’s office and congratulated,” I said with a grin.
Colin looked incredulous. “I wouldn’t call a pat on your head a major success,” he said emphasizing the word major with sarcasm.
“Well it will reflect in my bonus later in the year,” I added, his taunt stinging.
Colin waved his hand dismissing me. “We’ll see, they’ll have forgotten by then.”
“Don’t be mean,” I said pushing off the door frame and turning away as tears smarted in my eyes. “Why can't you be happy for me, for once?”
“I’m just being honest. Would you rather I lie?” Colin asked.
I shrugged and began walking away.
“Hey, Jess,” he called after me. “Were you in the study earlier?”
I paused and turned back toward him. “Yeah, just paying a couple of bills and filing some paperwork.”
Colin studied me. “I hope you weren’t snooping in my stuff.”
“Snooping?”
“I brought home some sensitive commercial documents to review and they’ve been moved.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I didn’t touch your stuff. Besides, I’m your wife. It wouldn’t matter if I did.”
“Just don’t, alright.” He held my gaze for a moment before pushing past me and walking down the hall into the bedroom.
I watched his retreating figure and shook my head wondering what had possessed him.
Chapter 5
October 26
After-work drinks were in full swing at The Tower, the tiny two-roomed pub on the corner opposite the bank that was our team’s regular haunt. Whilst a number of modern wine bars had sprung up in the area, The Tower had clung firmly to its historic roots, right down to its ancient wooden bar and cozy corner tables.
“It’s still not as busy as it used to be,” Rachel said looking around. “Bloody terrorists.”
“It’s what they want, isn’t it?” Dave said. “To disrupt our way of life, make us scared.”
“I think Londoners are a pretty resilient bunch,” I said. “I read last week that theatre numbers are back up and it’s getting harder to get tables at the best restaurants again.”
“Good, we can’t let them win,” Dave agreed.
A little while later, Jimmy was regaling us with a tale of drunken debauchery following the New Zealand Rugby team, the All Blacks’, win over England, the previous weekend when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up and Colin was standing beside me.
“Hi. This is a surprise,” I said. Colin never, I mean never, joined me for after work drinks. I had long since stopped inviting him. He kissed my cheek and removed his jacket, tossing it over a nearby chair. The conversation lulled as my colleagues eyed Colin as though some exotic creature had been catapulted into our midst.
“I think you know everyone,” I trailed off. Dave came to my rescue, shaking Colin’s hand. “How are ya, mate? I’d hate to see the other guy,” he said peering at Colin’s face.
Marie and Rachel murmured “Hi.” Jimmy leaned across and shook Colin’s hand. But Colin’s attention was directed at Will.
“I don’t think we’ve met,” he said.
“Will.” William introduced himself.
“Nasty cut,” Colin commented looking at the back of Will’s hand.
“Yeah, that’s what you get for fighting with a window, they always win.” Will laughed. Colin studied him unsmiling.
I stood dumbstruck, knowing I should offer to get Colin a beer, but also not wanting to miss what felt like an impending train wreck. Colin was in one of his moods, I could just sense it. What was he doing here?
“A beer would nice, Jess,” he said.
“Sure, sorry,” I murmured, turning and pushing my way through the crowd to the bar. It wasn’t until I got there that I realized that I hadn’t offered to get anyone else a drink. Shit. He had thrown me, turning up like this. Luckily Marie arrived at my side a moment later with everyone’s order.
“You okay, you’ve gone very pale?” she asked.
“Yeah, fine,” I replied, forcing a smile.
“Sure? Unusual for Colin to turn up,” she said.
“Isn’t it just,” I said. My heart was racing. “Can you go back to the others? I hate to think what he’s saying in my absence. Y’know he can come across badly at times.”
“Sure, Jess.” She gave me a sympathetic look and slipped back through the crowd.
I sighed as I waited to be served. Colin could especially be an arse in a group where he wasn’t comfortable and given his attitude towards those ‘wanker bankers that you work with’, I just knew that this wouldn’t be his finest moment. I shook my head and admonished myself no sooner had the thought formed. I shouldn’t be thinking those kinds of thoughts about my husband. I should be glad that he was here. It was just that I had worked so hard to build my own identity at work, separate from the Mrs. Colin McDonald that the rest of the world seemed to only see me as, and I liked that person better. I didn’t want her undermined.
I carried the drinks back to our group. They were laughing as I arrived.
Colin took his beer from me without thanks. “I was just telling them what a disaster you are in the kitchen.” He laughed.
I bristled. “I wouldn’t say I’m that bad.”
“What about the half-cooked birthday cake or that dreadful roast dinner?” He raised his eyebrows at me.
I looked at him for a moment willing him to stop whatever he thought he was doing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw an unspecified emotion pass across Will’s face and a look of thunder take residence on Marie’s. So I did all I could think to do and laughed at myself. “Ah, you got me there.” I couldn’t explain that the oven was playing up when I made the birthday cake, we got a new one shortly after, and the roast was burnt because he was at the golf club for three hours longer than he said he would be and I fell asleep on the sofa waiting for him.
“So you Englishmen have shot yourselves in the foot voting to leave the EU,” Colin said, turning to Will as Andrew joined us. “From what I hear the banking sector will be the first to relocate to Frankfurt. You’ll all be speaking German before you know it.”
“Yeah, I still can’t believe the outcome,” Andrew said. “That’s democracy at work, I suppose.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Colin said. “Scotland overwhelmingly voted to stay in the EU, yet we’re going to be dragged into this mess with you lot.”
“It was a whole country vote,” Andrew added.
“Was it though? The sooner Scotland breaks away and saves itself, the better.”
I spent the next half hour on edge, my evening ruined. Once Colin got into a nationalism debate there was no distracting him. I had spent many an evening at various pubs in Edinburgh while at university listening to him debate the merits of independence from England.
“Jess, who does your dad work for?” Colin asked during a lull in the conversation a little while later.
I looked at him puzzled. “He’s a partner in his law firm, you know that.”
“What I meant was who are his clients? Does he work for the government or private sector?”
“I don’t really know to be honest,” I said. “I think mainly corporates, but I can ask him. Why?”
I noticed that Will had ceased his conversation with Jimmy and was listening with undisguised interest.
“Nothing. Just a couple of mates going into business who need some legal advice,
” Colin replied.
“Point them his way. I’m sure he can find someone to help if he isn’t the right person.”
Colin drained his beer. “Okay, let’s go, Jess. I have an early meeting tomorrow.” I still had half a gin and tonic in my hand. Colin pulled his jacket on and turned towards the door. I sighed and looked around for somewhere to leave my drink.
“I don’t think Jess has finished,” Will said in a quiet voice.
Colin went very still and turned to look at Will, head cocked, as though sizing him up. Colin was a big guy, broad as well as tall, but Will had a similar physique. After several seconds Colin shifted his gaze to me. “Hurry up then.”
“I’m done,” I said placing my glass on an adjacent table and gathering my things. “See you all tomorrow.”
Colin put his arm around me and ushered me out onto the street. As soon as we were outside, I turned on him.
“What was that all about?”
“What?” he replied.
“Putting me down like that in front of everyone.”
“Oh, Jess, stop being so sensitive. I was having a joke, for God’s sake, trying to fit in with your banking mates.”
“At my expense,” I replied.
“Whatever. I’m sorry that I bothered to come. I see you’re still hanging out with that loud-mouthed Kiwi,” he added. “And who’s the English guy think he is? I don’t like him.”
We travelled home in silence.
***
I arrived home to an empty house early the next evening. Colin had left me a scribbled note on the kitchen table.
‘Gone to Dubai re new contract. Be two or three days.’
I was a little ashamed to find that I was relieved. I was still hurt from his comments over the previous few days and all I wanted was a long soak in a hot bath and an evening to myself.
I was up to my neck in raspberry scented bubbles when the phone rang. Fortunately I had taken it into the bathroom with me, so grabbing a hand towel off the rail next to the bath, I dried one hand, and answered it.