One Wish In Manhattan (A Christmas Story) (30 page)

O
liver had picked
a booth in a back corner of the restaurant. He’d ordered a Scotch and a jug of water then spent the last five minutes straightening everything on the table into a slightly different place. How was this going to go down? The images were etched on his brain but the betrayal bit him more than anything. His father’s best friend. When had that stopped counting for something?

‘Oliver.’ His mother’s voice drove him from his reverie and he got to his feet quickly.

Cynthia looked effortlessly chic as always in an ice blue shift dress that brought out the colour of her eyes. Oliver leant forward, kissing her first on one cheek, then the other.

‘You’re early,’ he remarked, his eyes shifting to Cynthia’s companion.

There he was. Andrew Regis, wearing that old-school three-piece suit combination he always wore. Head glossy, cheeks coloured by spidery red veins. He thought the extent of his betrayal was this relationship with his mother and that article in the magazine questioning Oliver’s leadership. How wrong he’d been.

‘Andrew.’ Oliver held his hand out to him, going against everything his body’s engine was telling him to do.

‘Oliver,’ Andrew responded, grasping the offering and giving it a firm, professional shake.

Both men waited for Cynthia to slip into the booth before taking their seats. Oliver poured his mother a glass of water and went to offer the jug to Andrew’s glass.

Andrew put his hand over the tumbler. ‘Why don’t we have a nice bottle of red?’

‘What a good idea,’ Cynthia agreed, picking up a menu. ‘Then we can clear the air properly and start moving forward.’

Oliver swallowed, not able to raise a smile at his mother. How was she going to feel about this? Her first venture into the relationship arena since Richard’s death and this! He wasn’t going to soft soap the business side of things. She was on the board. It was her right to know, just like all the other members he was going to have to explain it to. The other part … He put his hand to his tie and slackened the knot. He didn’t think he could do it to her. He forced a smile. ‘I couldn’t agree more.’

C
ynthia had done
an excellent job of keeping the flow of conversation going until the starter arrived. Now, every mouthful of the mushroom-filled ravioli was turning Oliver’s stomach. He shouldn’t be sitting with this disgusting liar of a man. He should be dragging him out into the street and giving him the kicking of his life.

‘Only a week until Christmas and they say the weather is going to turn,’ Cynthia continued. ‘I’m hoping the forecasters are wrong. A little snow is traditional this time of year but a storm cutting off the city is something no one wants.’

Oliver nodded his head up and down. He’d been doing that a lot. He wasn’t sure he could offer up niceties in the circumstances.

‘Brings everything to a halt. Workers can’t make it to work, nothing gets done,’ Andrew chipped in.

Silence descended again and Oliver forced another forkful of food into his mouth.

‘Right, well, seeing as the atmosphere here is decidedly frostier than it is outside, I think it’s time we addressed this head on.’ Cynthia threw her napkin down on the table.

Oliver put his fork down onto his plate and leaned back against the fabric seat of the booth. He watched Andrew’s movements. The man picked up his glass of red wine and put it to his lips. The lips no amount of lies had fallen out of.

‘No one got anything to say? Fine, I’ll start,’ Cynthia said, a heavy breath coming from her lips. ‘Oliver, I owe you an apology.’

He sat up a little more and pulled the cuffs of his shirt into line.

‘I should have told you about my relationship with Andrew personally and I should have told you weeks ago.’ Cynthia looked to Andrew, reaching for his hand. Oliver clenched his teeth tight together at the show of solidarity as Cynthia continued. ‘It’s a difficult time of year for us all and I thought it was better to wait until the New Year before going public.’ She swallowed. ‘But that wasn’t fair on you, Andrew.’

It felt as if Jesus’ tombstone was clogging his airway. He couldn’t sit here and listen to much more of this, watching Andrew create this fantasy right in front of him.

Andrew patted Cynthia’s hand, looking into her eyes like a lovesick puppy. The ravioli started to repeat. He’d had enough.

‘I have something I’d like to say,’ Oliver spoke up. He cleared his throat and picked up the file of paperwork on the seat next to him. He flicked the pages, his thumb making the dust between the sheets fly up into the air.

‘I’m hoping it’s going to be that you’re putting the merger of the two companies back on the table,’ Cynthia stated.

Oliver shook his head. ‘No.’ He looked to Andrew. ‘But that will be perfectly OK with Andrew because he never really wanted it in the first place.’

He held the older man’s gaze, looking to see if these first words would start everything dropping into place.

‘Oliver,’ Cynthia said. ‘Why would you say something like that? That article in
Business Voice
was nothing but bravado. Andrew knows it was the wrong thing to do and he’s going to print a retraction as soon as the deal is back on the table.’

‘You’re not listening, Mom.’

‘He’s right,’ Andrew responded. ‘I had my doubts at first.’

Oliver baulked. Was he about to confess? He hadn’t been expecting that.

‘I wasn’t sure to begin with, Cynthia. You know Richard and I always had very different views on the direction of our businesses.’ He sighed. ‘That was always the reason we never worked together. But when you raised your concerns about Oliver’s ability to carry the company forward, I knew I had to look at it again.’

‘You liar!’ Oliver let every drip of loathing come out along with the words. ‘That isn’t true.’

‘Oliver.’ The plea came from Cynthia.

He was hit by the expression on his mother’s face. She did have concerns but not about Andrew, about
him
and his ability to run Drummond Global. This was so wrong. He couldn’t delay the inevitable any longer.

‘Don’t say anything else, Mom.’

‘Oliver, I know you’ve found things tough this past year and all the support the board has tried to offer you’ve categorically turned down. I didn’t know what else to do,’ Cynthia continued.

‘If you or the board had a problem you should have come to me,’ Oliver stated.

‘You always shut me down.’

‘That’s just not true.’ Oliver shook his head.

Cynthia sniffed, tears forming. ‘I was trying to protect you, hoping you would work it out for yourself. I know running this business isn’t what you dreamed of but it’s your father’s and Ben’s legacy. I thought at least that meant something to you.’

It was like his mother had stamped on his chest with her court shoes on. Was that how she really felt? Did she think that he didn’t care because it wasn’t his dream? Before the Globe, his father and Ben were the only reasons he had for driving the company on.

‘The two companies merging was for your benefit, Oliver, not mine,’ Andrew stated, looking pious.

Oliver drew his lips into a firm line. ‘Bullshit.’

‘Oliver!’ Cynthia exclaimed.

He snapped open the file of papers and pushed them past the water jug, into the middle of the table.

‘The merger was a distraction, nothing more. He never wanted it to happen. The only reason he got so distressed when I called a halt on it was because he wasn’t sure he had enough time to implement his real plan, the one he’s been working on since my father died.’ Oliver glared at Andrew. ‘If I hadn’t pulled Drummond Global out of the deal, you would have done it yourself. Because it was all fabricated.’

‘What?’ Cynthia said, looking to Andrew.

‘As is your relationship with my mother,’ Oliver continued. He was gritting his teeth now, trying to maintain his cool but wanting to reach across the table and grab this excuse for a man by the scruff of his neck.

‘I have no clue what you’re talking about,’ Andrew said, throwing his napkin down onto the table.

Andrew looked rattled now. His cheeks a little redder, his forehead beading with perspiration. The man was finally starting to realise what was about to go down. Soon, when all his deception was laid bare, he was going to be on his knees begging for mercy.

Oliver found the relevant page in the file on the table. ‘Mom, the whole merger was simply a distraction. It was all just a diversion tactic so we were both off our game. You’d be caught up in your love affair and I’d be caught up looking at clauses that didn’t matter, while Andrew here used one of my employees to pass him classified information.’

He watched Cynthia’s reaction, saw her shift her hand away from Andrew’s. ‘What is he talking about, Andrew?’

‘I have no idea, but I’m not going to sit here and be accused of something so absurd.’ Andrew got to his feet. ‘I wasn’t sure about coming tonight but your mother insisted. And,’ He drew a breath. ‘It’s that time of year – reconciliation, peace and goodwill to all men and all that jazz. I thought I owed you the chance to apologise …’

‘I have nothing to apologise for,’ Oliver exclaimed. ‘You on the other hand ...’ He narrowed his eyes at Andrew. ‘I’ve been through Peter Lamont’s emails. He may have deleted, emptied and cleared history and all the usual kind of stuff, but I found all the evidence I need.’

‘Show me,’ Cynthia said. ‘Sit down, Andrew.’ Her tone was fierce.

‘This is preposterous,’ Andrew stated, sinking down into his seat.

Oliver looked to his mother. ‘Mom, I don’t think you should be reading the emails.’

‘Why not? If he’s been deceiving me I want to see it with my own eyes.’

Oliver pulled the file back towards him. ‘All you need to know is Peter Lamont has been passing him details of the Globe in order for him to launch his own tablet before we do. Similar specifications, slightly modified, but basically a carbon copy of something my technicians have been working on for the past year.’

Now Andrew was the colour of someone who might explode at any moment. Cynthia dragged the file towards her, her eyes roving over the text.

‘I’ve nothing to say,’ Andrew started. ‘This is all a big misunderstanding. We were about to become one company, Peter Lamont was simply pre-empting what was going to happen in a few weeks – the merger, the two companies joining forces and aligning their plans.’

‘That wasn’t for you or Peter Lamont to decide and it’s too late. I know
everything
.’ He emphasised the word ‘everything’ to leave no doubt.

His mother was still looking at the emails, if she turned over too many pages she would get to the photographs. He didn’t want her to see them. Oliver put the flat of his hand over the file and pulled it back towards him.

‘Mom, you’ve seen enough,’ Oliver said, swallowing.

Oliver shifted his eyes sideways, looking to Andrew, who was at least having the decency to appear awkward and uncomfortable now.

‘Just believe me that whatever you think you had with this man, it wasn’t real,’ Oliver stated.

Cynthia turned in her seat, her eyes boring into Andrew, him looking straight ahead into the mid-distance.

‘I want to know, Oliver,’ Cynthia said, her voice determined yet mixed with fear.

Oliver picked up his glass of red wine and swallowed it in one gulp, then he took a deep breath and reached across the linen cloth for his mother’s hand. He gently pressed their skin together in, what he hoped, was a show of solidarity.

‘He wasn’t just having business dealings with Peter Lamont.’ Oliver swallowed. ‘He’s been sleeping with him.’

Andrew leapt up then, his wine glass falling to the floor, the table rocking so much the plates all shifted. Cynthia took back her hand, plastering it to her mouth as shock set in.

‘I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in my life and you need to keep your voice down because accusations like that are very dangerous things to make,’ Andrew said, pointing a finger at Oliver.

Cynthia was starting to cry, hiding her face away in a napkin, her body directed towards the wall. He wanted to ease her pain but he wasn’t sure what he could do now apart from get rid of Andrew as quickly as possible with the minimum amount of fuss.

‘Unfortunately for you, and for me, because I had to listen to it … I have full audio detailing far more than I ever wanted to know.’

A sob came from Cynthia then and Oliver got to his feet.

‘I will make this very public by tomorrow unless you put a halt to your copycat production plans. You will go on record retracting that article shaming me and my company and you will cite stress as the cause of your mental breakdown that led to the merger folding. Other than that I don’t care how you spin your way out of this, but you do not slander me, my mother, or Drummond Global or I swear to God I will be handing a memory stick over to my PR girl and she will finish you with it!’

Oliver was shaking violently, his whole body tremoring as fury shot from every pore. This man disgusted him. If his father could see him now, his best friend, lying and cheating, betraying Cynthia, dragging the Drummond name through the dirt, he wouldn’t be able to stop himself physically attacking him.

‘Go!’ Oliver ordered. ‘Get out of this restaurant and get out of our lives. I don’t want to ever see your face again!’

He held himself steady as Andrew turned to look at Cynthia. The man opened his mouth to speak but, perhaps thinking better of it, he slid himself out of the booth. Oliver watched him collect his coat from the rack on the back wall and walk towards the door.

‘He’s gone,’ Oliver said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

‘Oh, Oliver,’ Cynthia said, the tears flowing freely.

‘It’s OK, Mom,’ Oliver said, sitting down and reaching for her hand once more.

‘I had no idea. You have to believe me. When he did that magazine article I was furious and …’ Cynthia started.

‘Sshh, it’s OK, I know.’ Oliver swallowed. ‘He fooled us all.’

He squeezed his mother’s hand and swallowed back the bile in his throat. This was what happened when you put your faith in someone and took your eye off the ball. He was never going to make the same mistake again.