Chapter 6
Six
S teph woke up startled as a strange sound rang around her. She had barely opened her eyes when she saw that Jon was scrambling across the bed to grab his phone, the source of the noise. He fumbled with it until he eventually answered the call.
“Hello,” he answered as Steph looked at the clock and saw that it was five a.m. Who the bloody hell phoned someone at five in the morning?
As the call proceeded she knew exactly who called someone at that early hour. Their spouse. She lay uncomfortably as Jon continued speaking.
“No, no, I was flying to Dublin, but I had something I had to do last night, so I am flying out this morning.” He gave a short laugh at whatever she had said in response.
“What? Why would you want to come with me?”
Steph felt like an intruder.
“Whatever you want to do, Lucy, but I won’t wait for you. If you’re late you will miss the flight,” he said, sounding irritated.
Steph got out of bed and headed for the relative safety of the bathroom but could still hear his part of the conversation.
“I don’t think that is any of your business. No, nobody you know,” he said and suddenly Steph thought that not only was he talking about her, but that Lucy obviously knew that he was seeing someone and he barely hid the fact. What the hell had she got herself into with him? And furthermore why had she been stupid enough to fall in love with him? Surely she was destined to get hurt by this whole situation. She glanced at her reflection in the mirror and suddenly she didn’t like what she saw looking back, not one bit. How things change, even overnight.
“Steph, can I come in?” he asked from the other side of the bathroom door.
She walked out and as she passed him simply said, “You can do what you want, after all you are the boss.”
As she attempted to brush past him he caught her arm and pulled her back, “This isn’t what you think.” He sighed, sounding as bothered by the situation as she was.
“So that wasn’t Lucy on the phone and she isn’t going to Dublin with you? It’s a fucking good job I said no to the trip myself or that would have left you in a very tricky position, wouldn’t it?” she said angrily, but really only felt sadness.
“Steph, please, don’t do this, not now. I really don’t have time but trust me, we will talk when I get back at the weekend. We’ve put it off long enough.” When he gently brushed his thumb across her lips, she felt completely at his mercy again, and also the familiar ache in the pit of her stomach.
“I don’t think I can do the weekend,” she said petulantly, trying to distract herself from the effect he was having on her standing there with his naked, morning, tussled look.
The alarm suddenly sounded from behind them.
“I need to get ready, but think about the weekend, but if you really can’t make it can we meet on Monday, please?” he asked with a note of pleading in his voice.
“We’re already meeting on Monday, to discuss my contract, remember?” Sadness was beginning to give way to anger as the sound of his alarm went off again.
Jon sprang across the room and turned it off, but as he turned back towards the bathroom he shook his head at her. “I know you’re upset Steph, but I didn’t think we would discuss our relationship with Grant, or anyone else.”
“Sorry,” she said, the last thing she wanted was for them to part on bad terms and the reality was that neither of them had time for this discussion.
“So, Monday night, here or at yours, whatever you want. What have you got planned for the weekend?” he asked as he tried to lighten the mood.
“I am sorting my holiday with Lindsay and I thought I would see Jess if she’s free,” she replied.
He nodded as he watched her leave the bedroom calling behind her, “I’ll make you some coffee.”
Steph was sitting at her desk waiting for Friday’s close of business to arrive when her phone rang.
“Mr Mason from Richards for you,” said Rosie.
“What’s he want?” Steph felt irritated by him. Although the truth was she had been irritated by everyone since Jon had left for Dublin.
“He said it was about the deal, but no more.”
Steph sighed loudly. “Put him through and then you can get off if you want to Rosie,” she said and after the call was put through she put on a more professional persona. “Stephanie Pryor.”
“Hi Steph, it’s Jonah Mason, I think we have a problem with the deal,” he started.
“Why’s that?”
“The board aren’t so keen on the increase in control that your man Brooker is after,” he explained.
“Then turn down the offer,” she said feeling lonely and fed up, but irritated by Richards dragging their heels still, not to mention his use of the phrase your man Brooker because he was many things, but not hers.
“Are you okay? You sound upset,” said Jonah.
“I’m fine, but the deal is a one off, Brooker told you that. So your lot should take it or leave it and at this moment in time I couldn’t give a toss which,” she declared making him laugh.
“If this is you at knocking off time on a Friday I would hate to see you when you get up on a Monday morning.” He laughed again, a rich, throaty laugh that made her laugh too. “Although that’s not strictly true,” he added making her regret her tone and bad mood because the last thing she wanted was to have to fend off his clumsy attempts at flirting or banter, whatever the hell it was.
“Sorry,” she said sincerely and then asked, “What would your lot happily give up for Brooker?”
“Well, Mr Richards would like to retain the controlling interest, so with the other shareholders stakes taken into consideration I really think that they are looking at Brooker getting no more than 33%,” he replied.
She laughed loudly and then asked, “Have you met my boyfriend, I mean boss,” she stammered cursing herself. “Sorry, I am waiting for a call from my boyfriend and it is late on a Friday.” She hoped she had covered her mistake up.
Jonah laughed again at her. “It’s a good job it is Friday. So what are you saying, about the deal?” he asked serious again.
“I am saying that I can speak to Mr Brooker next week, but he wants the controlling interest because if Mr Richards retains that, who’s to say that he won’t make more poor choices and lose Brooker money as well as Richards money? Also, Richards is a relatively silent member of the board from what I can gather. I mean, his involvement has been noticeably lacking in this deal so why should he retain control? You see that don’t you?”
“Yeah, course, but if you would run it past your boss and get back to me next week, or if you want to discuss it over the weekend I am free, my wife is at her mother’s in Newcastle all weekend,” he said shocking Steph. “The other day when I said you were very attractive, I actually meant highly fuckable.”
Steph laughed at Jonah and herself, him for being so obvious and herself for seeming to attract him.
“My wife won’t be back until Monday,” he said now, as if she was considering his offer, which she wasn’t.
“I don’t think so,” she replied tartly, hoping to convey the strength of her dismissal “But I will call your office early next week, bye Mr Mason,” she said and hung up. “What the fuck is it with you at the moment that you can only attract bloody married men?” she asked herself as she picked up her bag and decided that she had really had enough and was going home.
She had just got in her car when her phone rang and she saw it was Jon.
“Hi darling, how are you doing?” he asked tenderly.
“Fine, well, maybe not fine, but okay,” she rambled. “How’s Dublin?” She was desperate for a change in subject.
“Same as it was when you asked me this morning. You sound upset,” he observed.
“No, I have just got in my car to go home,” she told him.
“Home? It’s only just four o’clock. You never leave this early,” he replied.
“Today I do. The Richards deal is still unresolved,” she told him hoping to avoid asking anything too inflammatory like, are you and your wife having fun? or have you shagged her senseless or stuck anything up her arse? if she stuck to work.
“What is their problem?” he asked.
She laughed as she explained, “They think you are asking for too much, they don’t want to give any more than thirty-three percent and that would leave Mr Richards with a controlling interest.”
“When did they contact you?” he asked between mutterings that she couldn’t quite understand.
“About ten minutes ago, Jonah Mason called to ask if you would be receptive to that.”
“And what did you tell him?”
“I said that you were a crazy control freak, that I could speak to you next week, but that I thought you would want the controlling interest because if Mr Richards retains that who’s to say that he won’t make more poor choices and lose Brooker money as well as Richards money,” she explained and was sure that she could sense a smile at the other end of the line.
“Exactly that, darling. What else did he say to you?” Jon sounded more suspicious now.
“He offered to discuss it over the weekend if I wanted to as he is free, due to the fact that his wife is away all weekend. I really know how to attract them don’t I?” She sighed again but refrained from telling him how highly fuckable Mr Mason found her.
“I can see why you’d think that, but presumably you declined Mason’s offer?” He sounded a little nervous and she found that quite satisfying although the inference that there was ever a world where she wouldn’t have declined the offer irked her and her tone was indicative of that.
“Obviously! I may be slutty Steph, but one married lover at a time really is my limit.”
“Don’t speak about yourself that way.” He’d lost his nervous edge and had reverted back to bossy. “I have to go now, but call me when you’re free tonight, I erm, I . . .” he hesitated and then recovered, “I miss you, Steph.”
“I miss you, too,” she replied and almost wished she didn’t because she was tiring of knowing that there was a more important woman in his life.
Steph had spent Friday evening with Lindsay and Charlie and after she and Lindsay had agreed which holiday to book, Steph realised that Jon had forwarded all of their holiday requests to his people including the naturist one and they had provided a like for like quote, but Steph and Lindsay had opted for a well rated 3 star all-inclusive resort in Marbella. Charlie had asked her several times, when Lindsay was out of hearing distance if she was okay and if she and Jon were okay? She had responded with a degree of tact and discretion merely saying fine . She had arrived home by eleven o’clock and had spent about half an hour on the phone to Jon and was a little confused about how he could be talking to her while Lucy was surely in the vicinity but decided against asking. He told her that he was flying back on Saturday morning and despite several attempts to coax her into meeting up, she had resisted. Just.
On Saturday she spent the day with her sister Jessica and her nephews Adam and Oscar; they had started off at the park before grabbing burgers and then after dropping the boys home to their dad, the two sisters partook in a little retail therapy. It was as they were taking a short break over coffee that Jess stopped dropping hints and just asked her younger sister what was on her mind.
“Things not so good with your hotshot married lover then?” she asked bluntly.
“Things are just fine,” she replied.
“So why the long face and the whole day with me then?”
“No long face and I like to spend time with you and the boys,” replied Steph defensively.
“Oh, so you and Mr Hottie will be seeing each other later then?” she persisted.
“No, we don’t live in each other’s pockets and he’s away until today and we could have met up tomorrow, but . . .” she said and then realised that she had inadvertently revealed that they, she, was deliberately not seeing him when she could have.
“But?” queried Jess suspiciously.
“But, nothing!” cried Steph wishing she had stayed home alone for the weekend.
“You are a dreadful liar, Steph and you’re obviously upset. Please talk to me. I love you and I want you to be happy and settled and as I know your bloke’s secret marital status you can talk to me.” She reached across and squeezed Steph’s hand in reassurance then grinned as her younger sister softened.
“Oh, Jess, I don’t know where to start, but I will try. He is the perfect man for me, except for the wife. She is beautiful, and I think she knows about me. She has gone to Dublin with him.” She sighed. “I am confused, I don’t understand it, them, why would she turn a blind eye? Jon is not the sort of man you would ever want to share, I certainly don’t, and yet they rarely spend time together. I see him on Wednesdays and Fridays and then we usually spend the weekend together and other nights we talk even if we don’t meet up,” Steph told her sister. “I don’t even know where she lives, but she doesn’t share his flat in London. I have things there, but there is no evidence of anyone else ever being there. I met her in his office one time and she said to him, it would be nice to see you at home at the weekend, but he didn’t go home.” Confusion and emotion oozed from every word as they clogged her throat.
“It sounds a bit too much like hard work, sis, just give him the elbow, personally if not professionally,” Jess suggested.
“I can’t,” she cried. “I love him, Jess.”
“Oh dear.” Without another word, Jess got to her feet and fetched them some more coffee.
Upon returning with two large, flat whites Jess studied her younger sister’s sad expression and hugged her tightly. “You need to tell him how you feel Steph. Give him the opportunity to choose you.”
Steph shook her head and asked, “But what if he doesn’t feel the same or ends things? I don’t want to lose him.”
“What if he chooses you and he does feel the same? What if his marriage is over and he just needs you to admit that you want something more than a fling?” asked her sister frowning now. “You owe it to yourself to be honest with him.”
“He told me at the beginning that divorce wasn’t an option so even if he does feel the same he can’t act on it,” said Steph sadly.
“Then you need to make a choice, baby sister, because you are too young and beautiful to waste yourself on someone who can’t give you everything you want and if you and Jon are done then you can move on and find someone who is available, someone like him, not like Simon.”
“I don’t want anyone else, Jess,” she admitted sadly. “It would be so much easier if I did and even then I would never allow myself another Simon.”
“I have never seen you like this about a guy before. What is so different about Jon?” Jess asked curiously.
“Everything. He is like nobody I have ever known and he makes me different, oh I don’t know. I can’t understand what I mean myself, but I don’t think I would ever meet anyone that could come close to Jon ever.” She was more confused than ever now.
“Look, just think about talking to him,” Jess said, essentially ending the topic of conversation. “What are you doing tonight? You are welcome to come back with me and enjoy Saturday night TV and a takeaway.”
Steph smiled across at her and was glad for her sister’s support but declined her invitation.
“Thanks, but I really should go home, I’ve got some work stuff to finish off,” she told Jess who shrugged and smiled.
Steph was drinking a glass of wine and working through some figures when her phone vibrated next to her. She looked down and smiled when she saw that she had a message from Jon.
Hi darling am back at home now. Are you ok? How have you been? Which holiday did you and Lindsay decide on? I’ve missed you more than I thought was possible. When will I see you? Jon x
Glad you are home safely. I am fine. I have been ok, not ok, a bit out of sorts, confused. Lindsay and I went with all-inclusive to Marbella. I have also missed you. I thought we had agreed to see each other on Monday? Steph x
So you are not fine then! Can I help? Marbella, very nice choice darling. Not the naturist choice then? I think we need to talk about that, don’t you? If we have both missed each other why don’t I come round, Monday is a long way off! Jon x
Maybe I am not fine. Can you help? Maybe you can. I wondered if you had seen the naturist choice, that was a joke, lol. I told you that I had plans for the weekend and we have made plans for Monday. Steph x
Tell me how to help you to be ‘fine’. I didn’t laugh at naturist choice! I handed the details over to our travel advisers before checking them. What are your plans then? I don’t think I can wait until Monday. Jon x
Steph read the message a couple of times and as she decided on her reply her phone rang.
“Hi, darling, this whole texting thing isn’t working for me and if I can’t see you, I can at least hear your voice,” Jon said.
“So I see, or hear at least.” She smiled down the phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Just some last bits of work that I didn’t finish on Friday,” she told him honestly.
“I see. So all this business about a weekend with your friends and family was just a ruse to avoid seeing me? Great.” He sounded genuinely sad.
“No, maybe, yes,” she admitted and then attempted to explain her reasons as she remembered what Jess had said earlier. “I would normally have seen you this weekend, but you were going away and then the whole Lucy thing happened and I am obviously a really crappy mistress because I instinctively lashed out and tried to punish you in the only way I could, by not being available to you.”
“I suspected as much, but I wish you would talk to me rather than sulking about things.”
“And I wish I had come to Dublin with you,” she said and was shocked by the revelation that she hadn’t planned on revealing and actually had only just realised it herself.
“I asked you to come with me, Steph!” He sounded exasperated by her desire to do one thing and then do the opposite.
“I know, but even if I had agreed I wouldn’t have been able to come with you, would I? Not you, me and your wife!”
“No, but it really isn’t what you think. We need to t–” he said before Steph interrupted.
“Talk! We need to talk! You always say that when the subject of Lucy comes up and yet we never do,” she said irritated by him and their situation again.
His own irritation was on the rise, “This isn’t all on me, just remember that you are usually the one who shuts down those conversations.”
Silence fell between them, Jon not willing to take those words back and Steph refusing to agree with them anywhere outside of her own head.
Jon picked things up, a little softer again, “We will talk this time. We have to. I will come over now and we will talk everything through tonight,” he suggested.
“No,” she protested. “I really do have some work to do and I have already told you that I wouldn’t be free this weekend . . . maybe we should have a bit of a break and then we can decide exactly what we want.”
“If that’s what you want!” said Jon unusually petulant now.
“It is. I will see you Monday at work and then we can still meet in the evening if we’re both ready to talk,” she suggested seriously.
“As you wish!” he said coldly. “I will expect you in my office first thing Monday with Grant to discuss your future,” he said before adding, “Enjoy the rest of your weekend, goodbye Stephanie.”
“Bye Jon,” she replied and briefly wondered whether this was the beginning of the end and would it be better all round if it was?