Power Play: A Novel (14 page)

Mark arrived from New York by lunchtime, and Fiona was thrilled to see him. He hadn’t been home since his spring break in March, and he looked thin and pale, like a real New Yorker, but he was happy and healthy. He was excited about his upcoming trip to Kenya, and told Fiona all about it, while they ate lunch on the deck, and waited for Alyssa to arrive. She arrived two hours later, with a suitcase full of
bikinis and cut-off jeans. And whatever else she needed, she planned to borrow from her mother. Fiona lost half her wardrobe to her, with great frequency, except the clothes she wore to work, which Alyssa hated. She always told her mother she should dress “cuter” for work, which Fiona just laughed at. She didn’t think “cute” was the right look for a CEO. She couldn’t see herself arguing with Harding Williams at a board meeting in a miniskirt, although it certainly would have confirmed his opinion of her.

Fiona still hadn’t had any definite conclusions from the investigative service about the boardroom leak. And finding the source was proving to be more difficult than they’d expected. But they were promising her definitive answers soon. And for the time in Malibu, she wasn’t going to think about it. This was her time with her children, and it was sacred to her. And she was very grateful that at their ages they were still willing to spend time with her.

“So what do you two want to do for dinner tonight?” Fiona asked them, as they lay on the deck at the end of the afternoon. The three of them had gone swimming in the ocean, and taken a long walk on the beach. And Mark had used the surfboard that he borrowed there every year. He was a tall, handsome, dark-haired boy, who was a better-looking version of his father at the same age. The only thing he had inherited from his mother were her green eyes. And Alyssa was the image of her mother. “Do you want to go out, or should we cook dinner here?”

“Let’s barbecue,” Mark suggested, and offered to do chicken and vegetables, which sounded good to both women. And Alyssa offered to make the salad. They ate simple, healthy food, and none of them were enormous eaters. What they cared about most was being together. And what Fiona loved about their vacations was that she
knew she would wake up every morning to the sounds of her children, and be with them all day. It was a real treat for her, and leaving them at the end of the vacation was always wrenching. But they had plenty of time ahead of them, and after dinner on the deck that night, they watched a movie on the enormous wide-screen TV. The house had its own screening room, with big comfortable leather chairs. There was also an indoor pool in a separate building that they seldom used. They preferred swimming in the ocean and walking on the beach.

They were easy days and quiet evenings, and they had been there for a week when Logan Smith called Fiona on her cell phone, and she was startled to hear him, and wondered how he had gotten her number. She hadn’t given it to him, and the last time he had called her at her office. His calling her while she was on vacation felt like an intrusion.

“Is something wrong?” she asked him, wondering if he had some hot tip about NTA, possibly about the boardroom leak before she heard it herself. She was instantly wary, and worried the moment he said his name. She hadn’t recognized his voice.

“No,” he said casually. “I told you I’d call you again sometime. I just wanted to see if I could talk you into that interview I asked you about the last time we talked.”

“That’s why you called me?” She sounded shocked, and neither welcoming nor happy about it, although she had been pleasant to him the time before, but this was different. She was not at work.

“Yes. Why? Is this a bad time?” He sounded suddenly embarrassed at the tone of her voice. She was obviously annoyed that he had called her.

“I’m on vacation with my kids, and I’m not working. And I told you I don’t want to do an interview. Now or later. I don’t do interviews. And I don’t talk business when I’m away with my kids.” And from Fiona’s standpoint, she didn’t want to be a CEO when she was on vacation with them, just their mother.

“I’m sorry. I really am. I wouldn’t like that either,” he admitted. “I hope you’re at least in the same time zone, so I didn’t wake you up or something.” He suddenly wondered if she was someplace exotic like Tahiti, Europe, or New Zealand. She could have been anywhere.

“No, it’s fine,” she said tersely. And then she thought of something. “How did you get this number?”

“Your office gave it to me.” He was apologetic, and she made him feel as though he had committed a crime, calling her while she was on vacation with her children.

“My assistant is on vacation. The temp must have given it to you. I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. But I like focusing on my kids when I’m with them. My office knows not to call me unless something dire happens.” She sounded slightly mellower as she explained it to him, but not much. “I’ll be back in two weeks. You can call me then, but I’m not going to give you an interview,” she reiterated, and he was beginning to believe her. She sounded definite about it, which blew all his hopes for a story about her. He was counting on her feeling differently about it when he called her again, and that was obviously not the case, and she made it clear to him. And in a way, he admired her for it, her total lack of interest in being in the limelight. She apparently had strong family values as well. She seemed like a nice person, and not what anyone would have expected of a woman in her position. It confirmed everything he
thought about the difference between men and women in jobs like hers. Most men wouldn’t have been annoyed if he called while they were with their kids. Fiona was serious about both her jobs, as mother and CEO.

“Look, maybe you’ll let me take you to lunch when you get back, so I can apologize for intruding on you, and prove that I’m not as rude as you seem to think.”

“I don’t think you’re rude, just pushy,” she said, laughing and being honest with him. “You’re hot after a story you’re never going to get from me. I don’t do PR for the company. I’m the CEO. I run the business, that’s enough.”

“That’s what makes you so interesting, Fiona. All the male CEOs I meet are press whores. You aren’t. And they bore me to extinction. They’re dying to have me write about them. You won’t give me a five-minute interview, and I won a Pulitzer, for chrissake. I’m good,” he said, almost pleading with her, and she laughed again.

“I know you are. I’ve read your pieces, and my sister said so. She loved your series on Mandela. I just don’t want to be in the press. I don’t need it, I don’t want it, and I don’t like it. I’m not a movie star. I run a company. It’s not sexy to read about, and how I do it is no one’s business. And as long as my stockholders are happy, that’s all I need. The general public doesn’t need to know me. And I like being anonymous, and leading a quiet life with my kids, so you’re barking up the wrong tree on that one. And I’m no use to you as a source because I don’t tell secrets, so you won’t get anywhere with me.” It was as clear as she could be.

“I get it. I’m sorry. Really.” He sounded both discouraged and embarrassed. “I’ll call you for lunch sometime, although you’ll probably tell me you don’t eat lunch and don’t have time.”

“Actually, that’s true.”

“Have a great vacation,” he said, and meant it, and hung up a minute later, and Fiona called the temp in her office and told her not to give out her cell number again, and the girl said she wouldn’t, and apologized for having given it to Logan.

After that Fiona forgot about him, and concentrated on her kids. They were thoroughly enjoying the house in Malibu, and Alyssa was ecstatic when John came down and stayed with them for four days, and Fiona was pleased to discover that she really liked him. He was bright, kind, polite, and wonderful to Alyssa, and he and Mark got along like two brothers, and even went fishing together. Mark was two years older than John, but John was mature for his age, and he was a wonderful addition to the group. And Fiona had never seen her daughter as happy. She got a chance to talk to her about it when the two boys were out surfing together.

“It’s looking pretty serious between you two,” Fiona commented. She had no objection to it, but they were both young, and she didn’t want Alyssa thinking about marriage yet. She said they weren’t, but she readily admitted that they were in love with each other, and Fiona was letting them share a room. He was a truly great kid, with all the right values. And he had a profound respect for both his parents, which Fiona was pleased to hear.

“We’re just having fun, Mom,” Alyssa said, looking relaxed. “I don’t want to get married for another ten years, if then. And I still want to go to business school, and I want to work for a few years before I do. Johnny’s going to apply to Harvard too. It would be cool if we both get in, or maybe Stanford, but that’s a long way off. We’re not making any plans for the future, we’re just enjoying what we’re doing now.”

“That’s the way it should be, sweetheart,” Fiona said, and leaned over to hug her daughter. It was so nice being able to do that and be together every day. “I really like him.”

“He wants you to meet his parents. Maybe we could all have dinner together sometime in September. They’re in Tahoe for the summer. Or at least his mom is, his dad is working and commutes on weekends. It sounds like his dad works as hard as you do.” Fiona wasn’t surprised to hear it. “His mom went to law school, and has a law degree, but she never practiced. She’s a stay-at-home mom, which seems kind of too bad to me,” Alyssa said, unable to understand a whole other generation of women who had gotten educations, and then married and never worked. “She helps his dad entertain clients. And took care of the kids. It sounds really boring,” Alyssa said, and Fiona laughed.

“That’s what corporate wives do, or used to. Nowadays most women work. Maybe she’ll do something when John’s younger sister goes to college.”

“She does volunteer work, at a homeless shelter.” It sounded noble to her, but Alyssa much preferred a life like her mother’s, where she was working at her own career. It was exactly what Alyssa wanted to do when she finished school. And her mother had demonstrated to her that you could have kids and work, and even have an important career. And John had said he would prefer that too. She had talked about her parents’ divorce with him, and how angry her father had been about her mother’s career. She never wanted to be in a situation like that, and she knew her father’s resentment of it had destroyed her parents’ marriage. Her father and his mother were throwbacks to another time. And Alyssa was a modern young woman who wanted a big career like her mom’s. And John was a modern
young man, who expected his wife to work, and would be proud of her, if the relationship lasted and they got that far. And they secretly both hoped it would, but it was much too soon to tell.

Fiona liked everything she heard from her, and what she had seen of John in the past four days. And she was looking forward to meeting the Westons in the fall and getting to know them. She and Marshall would have much in common, although women like Liz Weston were less her style. Hers was a life that Fiona would have hated, but she liked their son a lot, which said a great deal about them, and both his parents were part of that equation, not just one.

On the last night of John’s stay they went to an Italian restaurant in Malibu, and the four of them had a great time together, laughing and talking. John felt like one of the family, and Fiona said at dinner that she was going to miss him, and he said he hated to leave too. They had decided that Alyssa was going to visit him in Tahoe, after Malibu. And John invited Mark to come up for a weekend before he left for Kenya, and he was looking forward to it too.

John was teasing Alyssa about her pathetic fishing skills and disgust over taking the fish off the hook when two women walked into the restaurant and sat down at the table next to them. They had two little girls with them, and Fiona noticed immediately that they were identical twins. Alyssa glanced at them and smiled, and Fiona commented on what beautiful children they were, but so was their mother. She was a spectacular-looking young woman with a halo of soft blond hair, and the twins looked just like her. And the woman with them appeared to be a friend. The twins smiled shyly at Alyssa after she smiled at them, and their mother glanced over at the group at Fiona’s table because they seemed to be having so much fun. Fiona noticed that the young woman’s eyes were sad as she gazed at
them. There was something wistful about her, as though she were unhappy about something, and she was very sweet to her children. John glanced over and smiled at the little girls too, and then went back to teasing Alyssa, until she couldn’t take it anymore and threatened to throw food at him if he didn’t stop.

“John Weston! You stop that right now, or I’m not coming to Lake Tahoe!” she threatened him, and he leaned over and kissed her and said he was only kidding. But as soon as Alyssa said his name, loud enough for the next table to hear her, Fiona saw the young blond woman’s head turn instantly, and she stared at John intensely, as though studying everything about him. She was mesmerized by him. No one else at the table had noticed. The young people were all bantering with each other and talking about fishing, but Fiona saw the woman’s eyes, and something about her wrenched at Fiona’s heart. For the next hour, the woman stared at John and no one else, examining his every move and gesture, as though she were looking for someone she had lost. Fiona saw her whisper something to her friend, who then stared at John too. The two women couldn’t keep their eyes away. And when Fiona’s group left, the two women watched John until he left the restaurant. He never noticed, and Fiona didn’t say anything. And once they were gone, Ashley looked at Bonnie with a devastated expression. Her own daughters’ half brother had been only inches from them, and never knew who they were.

She had recognized Marshall’s son instantly the moment she heard his name. He looked just like his father, and like he was having a great time, and he had smiled several times at her girls, who had been fascinated by the group at the next table and all the fun
they were having. But it pained Ashley yet again to realize that she and her daughters didn’t exist in Marshall’s world. No one knew about them and maybe never would. Kezia and Kendall had two half brothers and a half sister they knew nothing about, and who knew nothing about them. They existed in another world, hidden by their father, and yet their paths had crossed that night anyway, by sheer chance.