The Importance of Being Emma (36 page)

I took a deep breath and chose to be extremely economical with the truth. ‘I guess his professional pride has taken a bit of a battering. Dad asked him to mentor me, but it hasn’t worked out.’

John gave a loud guffaw. ‘You mean Mark got Henry to pay for something he’s been doing free of charge for years? Crafty devil. So why hasn’t it worked out?’

‘
I’ve no idea. Why don’t you ask him?’

‘
Oh, don’t worry, I will.’ And he strode out of the kitchen like a man on a mission.

Chapter Twelve

~~MARK~~

Early on Boxing Day, the phone beside my bed rang and rang – until I answered it, purely in the hope that the caller would then leave me in peace.

A voice barked in my ear, ‘We’re coming home.’ It was Father, sounding on the verge of an apoplectic fit.

‘
I know, in February,’ I muttered, my brain fogged with sleep and whisky.

‘
No, we’re coming home
now
. Well, as soon as we can. Once we’ve put into port, we’re going to get off this bloody boat and stay on dry land until we find a flight. Might manage it before New Year if we’re lucky.’

I sat bolt upright. ‘You’re not ill, are you?’

‘
Nothing like that, it’s the lifestyle. Far too much food and no decent exercise, I’m longing to be back on the golf course. I’ve been complaining to Saffron for weeks but she wouldn’t listen until today.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Got herself weighed this morning and went beserk. She’d put on three pounds – only three bloody pounds! I feel as if I’ve put on thirty, I’m going to have to spend the next six months getting it off.’

I took a deep breath. ‘Look, if you’re – ’

He ignored me and went on, ‘She’s driving me round the bend, it’s no fun seeing so much of her, I can’t – ’ He broke off, then said more calmly, ‘Sorry, I interrupted you, what were you going to say?’

‘
Just – if you’re coming home early, how do you feel about me going straight back to India rather than staying until February?’

He laughed. ‘No problem, I’ll be glad of the excuse to be in the office for hours on end. Missing Tamara, are you?’

I hesitated, debating whether to tell him about Tamara in case it made him even more stressed; I decided to get it over and done with.

‘
Actually, we broke up a couple of months ago.’

‘
Ah.’ He didn’t sound particularly surprised. ‘Sorry to hear that, but it’s best to find out now. I mean, I did wonder if you were planning to settle down – ’

‘
Definitely not. Not with her or anyone else. Anyway,’ I said in a brisker tone, ‘let me have the flight details as soon as you know them. In the meantime, I’ll get Mrs Burn to give the house an early spring clean.’

After the call I lay back, hands clasped behind my head, thinking about the implications of returning to India ahead of schedule. On the work front, it was unfortunate; there were a couple of initiatives I’d have liked to see through to completion, particularly the Parkinson contract. But this paled into insignificance beside the impact on my personal life; within one or two weeks I’d be thousands of miles away from the future Mrs Emma Churchill, in a place that could trigger no memories of her.

For the first time in a long while, I felt almost cheerful.

~~EMMA~~

Although our offices were closed for two weeks over Christmas and New Year, Harriet returned to Highbury after only a few days with her family. When she called me up to announce that she had something to show me, my thoughts went immediately to the earrings that Flynn had bought. He’d gone back to the Lake District until New Year, still refusing to tell me what he was up to with the BBC, but I wondered if he’d left them for her at her house.

I wasted no time in inviting her over. We sat next to each other on the sofa in the drawing room, warming ourselves in front of the fire and agreeing that, this year, we’d both have preferred to spend Christmas Day somewhere else. She explained that she’d have liked to stay in Highbury and looked wistful, no doubt imagining a romantic encounter with Flynn. But I didn’t elaborate on my situation, the strain of seeing Mark and the repercussions – or lack of them – from that night at Forbury Manor. I merely said that I hadn’t felt as relaxed as usual with my family.

Eventually she produced what she’d come to show me. It was a little jeweller’s box. I tried to suppress a sense of déjà vu – even though I could see it wasn’t the one Flynn had given me so half-heartedly. She prised it open and thrust it under my nose.

There was no need to act amazed; I would never have guessed what it contained, ever. ‘Um, what exactly are these?’

I was even more confused. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘
What I mean is, this
was
my life when I fancied Philip. Daft, innit? But now I’ve moved on, so I thought we could burn these, symbollocks like.’

‘
Symbolic,’ I said automatically; then, ‘No, symbollocks is far more appropriate where Philip’s concerned. But you mustn’t burn any of them until you’ve told me what they are.’

She settled herself more comfortably on the sofa, cocked her head on one side and studied the contents of the box.

‘
We’ll start with this.’ With an embarrassed smile, she showed me a little bottle of Tippex.

I stared at it blankly.

‘
Don’t you remember?’ she screeched. ‘Philip was in our office and I’d spilt a bit of coffee on those mock-ups you’d spent ages over and my Tippex was all dried up so I couldn’t use it. And you didn’t have any so Philip brought some and said we could keep it. I put it in this box and I used to take it out and touch it, because
he’d
touched it.’

‘
I do remember it now.’ I bit my lip. ‘And I’m ashamed to say I had two bottles of Tippex in my drawer all along. But I pretended there wasn’t any, so that he’d run round after you.’

She shrugged, replaced the Tippex in the box and picked up a folded piece of yellow paper. When she opened it out, I saw that there were a few words scribbled on it: ‘milk’, ‘Rice Krispies’, ‘Anusol’.

‘
Philip’s shopping list.’ She frowned. ‘What’s Anusol?’

I couldn’t help giggling. ‘Dad’s got some, it’s for piles. Poor Philip, now he’s got Gusty – which must be considerably worse. Where on earth did you get this?’

‘
At his house after the photo shoot, it was next to the computer. He mustn’t have wanted us to see it ’cos he threw it in the waste paper basket, but I fished it out when I went back for your camera.’

There were some other ‘relics’: the stub of a pencil, well chewed; a half-eaten chocolate bar; and a rather suggestive doodle on a scrap of file paper.

She gave a deep sigh. ‘And now I’m going to chuck the whole lot on the fire.’

‘
Not the Tippex, it’s flammable!’ I snatched the bottle out of the box. ‘Actually, there’s quite a lot left in here, don’t you want to keep it?’

A steely look came into her big blue eyes. ‘No. It’s all got to go.’

‘
Throw everything else on the fire, then, except the box. I don’t think that’ll burn easily, I’ll put it in the dustbin later.’ I paused. ‘You know, I have a funny feeling you’ll be getting another little box soon, but I’m not going to say any more.’

‘
You’re so clever, ’cos I’ve just been thinking about starting one for – ’

I held up my hand. ‘Don’t even breathe his name. If you don’t tell me, then I can’t interfere!’ I added, with a laugh, ‘But of course I know who you mean and I think it’s lovely.’

‘
Do you? I thought you’d say he’d never want to go out with someone like me in a million years.’

‘
Oh Harriet, I wouldn’t dream of saying anything like that. For a start, I don’t know him that well – ’

‘
Don’t you?’

‘
Not well enough to discuss things like that, at any rate. Anyway, I’m not saying another word about it.’

She gazed dreamily into the fire. ‘Bet he’s a great shag. I couldn’t take my eyes off him when he was dancing at the Christmas party, best butt there.’

‘
I’ve seen better,’ I said tautly, suppressing a vivid recollection of Mark’s back view.

‘
Have you? And there’s me thinking you need to get out more! By the way, why don’t you come to the pub on New Year’s Eve? There’s bound to be someone you fancy, specially when you’ve had a few Lambrinis.’

I forced a smile. ‘Thanks, but I don’t really feel like it. Dad and I’ve been invited to the Westons’ and I don’t really feel like that either, although for once Dad really wants to go.’ I had a sneaking suspicion that he wanted to interrogate Kate about her pregnancy.

Harriet’s eyes narrowed. ‘Who else’ll be there?’

‘
Mary Bates and Jane. David and Sandy Perry. Izzy and John, if Izzy can get Sarah Perry to babysit. Mark. And Flynn’s driving down from – ’

She cut in with, ‘How about you come out with me for a few hours, then I go with you to the Westons’? That way, you’ll keep both me and your Dad happy. We’ll make sure we get to Randalls just before midnight.’ She dug me in the ribs. ‘I’m gagging for a New Year’s kiss from you-know-who!’

I was silent. Under normal circumstances, given a choice between eating sand and drinking Lambrini with Harriet and her friends, I’d have opted for the sand, every time. But if it meant that she and Flynn got together, going to the pub with her was the least I could do.

At last, I said slowly, ‘I’ll check with Kate. If it’s OK for us to come along later, then I’ll go out with you first.’ I just hoped that my sacrifice would be worth it.

~~MARK~~

When I phoned John to tell him about Father and Saffron coming home early, he responded with a grunt and promptly changed the subject.

‘
Emma says you were mentoring her, but it didn’t work out. Why’s that?’

‘
She didn’t know, or at least she claimed she didn’t. Mind you, if your mentoring sessions were anything like what I saw on Christmas Day, no wonder they failed.’

He paused, then said, ‘Two people making each other unhappy.’

Ouch, how perceptive; I tried to fob him off. ‘Really? Your imagination must be working overtime.’

‘
Well, give me a reason not to make my imagination work overtime. Tell me what’s going on.’

‘
I mean it. No mentoring, no real communication, nothing. We’re in limbo. Between the old relationship and the new, I suppose.’

He was persistent, I’d give him that. I decided to start at Ashridge and hope I never reached Forbury Manor. ‘I made a pass at her.’

‘
Not exactly, but – ’

‘
You idiot. You bloody idiot.’ For a few moments, he was lost for words; then he went on, ‘I just can’t believe you’d do that. Does Henry know?’

‘
Do you think I’d have been at Hartfield on Christmas Day if he did?’

‘
True. And she told you where to go?’

‘
Yes.’ Well, she had eventually, hadn’t she?

He gave a snort. ‘No wonder she can hardly bring herself to look at you. It must have felt almost incestuous.’

That really got under my skin. ‘But we’re
not
brother and – ’

‘
I only said “felt”, Mark. Calm down, for God’s sake,’ he said sharply. ‘So when did you start fancying her?’

‘
Oh, I don’t know. I suppose it was back in September, as soon as I saw her again … No, maybe it was long before that, maybe I’ve always fancied her, even though I didn’t realise it at the time.’ I paused and decided I may as well come out with it. ‘Actually, it’s much more than that. I love her, I want to spend the rest of my life with her. Except it’s all gone pear-shaped.’

He wasn’t listening; he was off down Memory Lane. ‘That’s just like me with Izzy. I woke up one day and suddenly it all fell into place, that she was the one, that she’d always been the one. Although she took some persuading at first, she wouldn’t even – ’

I tried again. ‘John, there’s something else. Emma and I – we got drunk at the Highbury Foods Christmas do. And – and somehow we ended up in bed together.’

That guaranteed his undivided attention.

‘
Jesus.’ He let out a long noisy breath. ‘A bit more than a pass, then.’

‘
Yes. We had a blazing row the next morning, about various things.’ I swallowed. ‘I was a substitute, you see, for – well, it doesn’t matter who. And it’s been – difficult – ever since.’

‘
You’re telling me! So you still fancy her, but she fancies someone else.’ He gave a short laugh. ‘And really, how could she fancy you anyway?’

‘
Thanks a bunch.’