Chapter 16
When they arrived at Exposure, there was a hoard of photographers outside the gate. They started to shout and take pictures as soon as they set eyes on the Ferrari. Once through the gates and inside the car park, Freya noticed Jonathan’s car was already there.
‘Well, I suppose the press pack would be here. I expect I’m all over CNN.’ She let out a heavy sigh.
‘Just ignore them or say no comment. There isn’t much they can do with that.’
‘Apart from thinking I’m a moody cow.’
‘Which they should already know by now.’
‘Hey!’ She hit his arm playfully.
‘Listen, I’ve got to go. I’m late for my meeting and you know what Sandra’s like about schedules.’
‘Sure, you go. Pick me up about five?’
‘Five it is. Hey, do you fancy going downtown tonight? Playing a little roulette? Visiting a few bars?’
‘Stopping at the all-you-can-eat for twenty dollars restaurant?’
‘Naturally.’
‘That sounds great. Oh bugger, where’s my handbag?’ She looked around the footwell.
‘Did you have it when you left home?’
‘I don’t know, maybe not. I was in such a hurry, I probably left it there. Don’t worry, it just has my mobile in it and I’m sure I can do without that for a day. Well perhaps not, but I’ll deal with it. You go; I don’t want to make you later than you already are.’
As she went to step out of the car, Jonathan appeared at the entrance to the office and came out to greet her.
‘Hi. New hair colour. I like it. Here, let me help you.’ He took her hand and helped her get out of the low car.
‘I’m fine, thanks.’
There was that awkward feeling again in the pit of her stomach.
Jonathan bent to look in through the open door of the car and he levelled a smile at Nicholas.
‘I heard the car pull up. She’s a beauty. It’s Nicholas, isn’t it? Hi there, I’m Jonathan. It’s a real pleasure to meet you,’ he said, holding out his hand.
‘Actually, I prefer Nick. I’ve heard a lot about you.’ They shook hands.
‘What have you been telling him, Freya? No stories about me terrorising the neighbourhood in my teens, I hope.’ He laughed.
‘Well, I…’
This was truly weird and she couldn’t wait for it to be over.
‘Freya tells me you want to make a big investment into her Every Day project,’ Nicholas continued.
‘Yes, I do. I have to admit, I’m not usually one for charity work, but coming from a reasonably poor background myself, I thought Freya’s vision for the needy was inspired.’
‘You’d better go, Nick. You don’t want to be late for your meeting.’
If she thought pushing the Ferrari would help, she’d be doing it.
‘I’m sorry, I’m holding you up. Please, don’t stay on my account.’ He stepped back from the car.
‘I hope it goes OK. Give me a call later,’ she urged, leaning into the car for a little privacy.
‘I will. I’ll see you.’ He kissed her lips.
‘It was nice to meet you, Nick. Maybe we could get together some time, have a drink,’ Jonathan called.
‘Yeah, sure.’ Nicholas pulled up the windows and drove towards the exit.
‘That is a great car. I have one myself of course, but not that particular model. And mine’s yellow. I was told the red version was just a little too Magnum.’ He followed the car with his eyes as Nicholas left through the gate.
‘I’m sorry I’m late; I’ve had a bit of a hectic morning. Can I just check in with Sasha before we go to lunch?’ Freya asked moving towards the door of the building.
‘Of course. Shall I wait in the car?’
‘Do you still have the driver?’
‘Yes I do.’
‘Then you’d better go and keep him company. I won’t be long.’
She pushed open the door and entered the reception area. The part-time secretary was behind the desk.
‘Hey, Avril. Where’s Sasha?’
‘Hello, Miss Johnson. Sasha had to go out on an appointment so she asked me to come in a little early. I didn’t mind.’
‘Oh, OK. Well, make sure I pay you for the extra time, won’t you? Keep reminding me, Avril. Write it on a Post-It and stick it to a patisserie bag if you have to.’ She leafed through her appointment book.
‘I will. Patisserie bag, noted.’
‘Right, well, I’m going on a lunch appointment with Mr Sanders. I should be back by three but I don’t have my mobile with me so you won’t be able to contact me. I assume Sasha has briefed you about the journalists.’ She backed towards the door.
‘Yes she has; we are making no comment. Miss Johnson?’ Avril called before Freya could exit.
‘Yes, Avril.’
‘I do like your hair that colour. It makes you look very mature.’
‘Mature? Mature as in old? Oh my God, does it?’ She scrutinised her reflection in the glass panels of the door.
‘Perhaps that was the wrong word.’
‘Perhaps I was too hasty saying I would pay you overtime.’
She left the building and made her way over to Jonathan’s car. She opened the back door.
‘Do I look old?’ she asked him.
‘Hmm, you’ll have to get a little closer for me to tell. I can’t quite get a good enough look at the bags under your eyes from this angle.’
‘God, it’s useless asking you. Where are we going for lunch?’
‘Where d’you want to go?’
‘Can we just get a hot dog or something? I really don’t feel like a restaurant.’
‘Of course. Ken, take us to the best hot dog vendor around here,’ Jonathan called to the driver.
‘I promise I won’t get chilli sauce on your seats.’
‘Who said I was going to let you eat in the car?’
Twenty minutes later, Ken stopped the car in a pull-in just across the road from a fun fair.
‘The guy who runs the hot dog stand at this fair has been cooking dogs for over thirty years,’ Ken told them.
‘Well, Ken, I would say that constitutes being the best hot dog vendor around here. So shall we go and see what thirty years on the job has taught him?’ Jonathan asked Freya.
‘You want us to go to the fair? Have you felt how cold it is out there?!’ She looked out the window at the amusements.
‘Well, I could see if the hot dog man delivers or send Ken over there, but wouldn’t it be more fun to go ourselves? I’ll give you my coat,’ he offered.
‘No, that’s OK. I have triple layers.’
‘Come on, Freya, you used to love the fair,’ he reminded. He opened the car door.
‘When I was young, unlined and unbagged and had decent hair.’ She stepped out and the ice-cold wind hit her straight away. She buttoned her coat up all the way and wished she had a hat.
They entered the fair, found Max’s Hot Dogs and bought two large sausages in rolls with onions and chilli sauce.
‘Ferris wheel?’ Jonathan suggested, biting into his food.
‘While we’re eating?’ Chilli sauce drizzled down her chin.
‘Why not?’
‘Well, from what I can remember about going to the fair with you, you used to throw up on the Ferris wheel.’ She let out a laugh.
‘That was a story made up by Carl Curtis because he was jealous I had a girlfriend and he didn’t. He liked Emma, remember, but she wasn’t interested. You and I went on the big wheel several times together. I remember a lot of things about that ride but throwing up isn’t one of them.’
Freya felt her cheeks redden and she hid her face by taking a huge bite of sausage and almost burning her lips.
‘Come on, let’s have a ride on it. Or are you too grown up and old to enjoy the simple pleasures in life?’
‘No, I’m not too old and I’m not going to puke either. I’m the girl who ate a four-course meal and half a dozen puddings on a cross channel ferry in a force seven storm. I have no idea what motion sickness is.’
‘I’m arranging some plans to be drawn up of the site at Gatebrook to show how I envisage the development.’
They were high above the park now, swinging in the air as they slowly rotated around the wheel.
‘Good, well I can show you what we have planned for Chesterville and we can coordinate the two.’
‘I saw The Gazette today,’ Jonathan stated.
‘Oh, you did. You and the entire country. I’ve had journalists phoning the studio all morning apparently and all because I made one stupid, but private, remark.’
‘I know it isn’t any of my business and you can tell me to shut up if you like. But don’t you think this awkwardness with Eric’s been going on too long now?’ He looked across at Freya.
‘Awkwardness?’ Freya said, looking straight back at Jonathan.
‘Well, you said one of the main reasons you fell out with him was because you thought he’d parted us deliberately. Now I’ve told you that wasn’t the case. Perhaps your getting married is the perfect time to lay matters to rest.’
‘Did you get me up on this Ferris wheel to talk about this because you knew the only way out was down?’
‘One of my weak points is family. I don’t like to see families torn apart just because no one will budge an inch on anything. I mean, you could both hold your hands up and say, “OK, I’ve made mistakes” and then you could move on, start afresh.’
‘If I wanted to feel like I was appearing on Oprah, I could probably get an audience with the woman herself.’
‘I am sure Eric doesn’t like the situation any more than you do. Who would want to be estranged from their daughter?’
‘Look, can we stick to talking about the project please? There was more to it than being pissed with him for making you leave town, believe me.’
‘Sometimes, in business, you have to do things you aren’t proud of to get what you want.’
‘What exactly are you saying? That the things he did were justified?’
‘Obviously, I can’t comment on anything specific he did back then. But speaking as a businessman, I know what a cut-throat place the business world can be. I know what risks you have to take.’
‘Well, Jonny, it was never about what he did to make his billions. It was how he behaved when he walked back through the front door of the house every night. It was how I’d hide in my wardrobe if he was in a black mood. It was about him telling me over and over again how he wanted a son and what a disappointment I was. And it was about him stabbing me in the arm with a bread knife.’ She pulled at the collar of her jumper and revealed her shoulder. There was a small but deep scar at the top of her arm.
‘You always said that scar was where you scraped it on a nail,’ Jonathan remarked. He swallowed.
‘I did, didn’t I? Now I wonder who made up that story?’
She was shaking now. Not because the wind was twice as cold up high in the sky, but because she’d been forced to remember those times again. Her childhood with that monster.
‘My God.’ He put his hands to his mouth.
‘So you see, you may have this happy-family ideal in your head, but it is never going to happen in my world.’ She straightened the collar of her jumper.
‘I didn’t think the article was true. I was sure Russell Buchanan was cashing in on you and embellishing things.’
‘You read that article about me?’
‘It was all over the papers.’
‘But you didn’t believe it? Why not? I told you what my parents were like.’
‘I don’t know. I just didn’t think anyone could really do those things to their child.’
‘You don’t know my father. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants and that article in the paper today has probably just made my life hell again.’
‘You think Eric will be displeased?’
‘It’s been reported in the national press that his only child’s told someone he isn’t coming to her wedding. Then she topped it off by saying he was dead. That translates to she wishes he was dead. Wouldn’t you be displeased? He’ll be furious.’
‘What do you think he’ll do?’
‘You want me to be honest?’
‘Yes.’
‘I think he’ll probably try to kill me.’