“This isn’t over,” I said to Verity. “Not by a long fucking shot, madam.” She stared, mute. “Get back to your desk,” I said. “I’ll deal with you later.”
She didn’t need telling twice, and Katie breathed out a sigh of relief when she was gone.
“Thank you,” she said. “For not firing her.”
“I should have fired her,” I snapped. “I still should. She should be gone.”
Katie smiled. “I’m used to it, seriously, it’s just a scratch.”
I took her chin in my fingers, angled her face so I could see. I ran a thumb over the cut, and it was just a scratch, hardly a break of the skin. “I hate this,” I said. “I hate that this happened on my watch.”
“In the ladies’ toilet,” she said. “What were you supposed to do? Armed guard me?” She sighed. “I’m used to Verity bitch face, I can handle her shit.”
“I don’t want you to handle her shit,” I said, and the words tumbled out. “I want to keep you safe.”
Her eyes widened and her cheeks blushed. “Thanks… but, I, um… I’m tough. I’m alright…” She reached out and touched my arm. “I’m good, Carl, really. It was nothing.”
But it was something.
It was something tome.
Shewas something to me.
David was uncharacteristically quiet as I gave him the lowdown. I didn’t pull my punches and he didn’t interject. I watched as the man I’d grown to know so well grew old before my eyes. He rubbed his temples as I recounted the aftermath of toilet-gate, and then he put his face in his hands.
I poured him a scotch, shunted it across his desk, but he didn’t even notice.
“It needs sorting,” I said. “Seriously, David, I’m not having this shit going down on my watch.”
He sighed. “So many years of trying. I tell you, Carl, I just can’t get it right.”
I leaned back in my chair. “Why do Verity and Katie hate each other?” I asked. “What’s the story, David? The real story about Katie.”
I tried to convince myself this was just professional interest, that I needed to safeguard my employees and domy job. But my palms were clammy and hot and my stomach was itching inside.
He shrugged. “The story of my fuck-up, you mean?”
It needled me to think he was referring to Katie as the fuck-up. The umbrage was in my throat, about to let loose before he clarified his stance.
“The affair was a fuck-up,” he said. “It was before your time, back when we were still expanding hell for leather. I was working long hours, Olivia was busy with the boys. I was never there, not how it counted, and she was always so bloody bitter, Carl. Seb and Dommie were boisterous kids, they took it out of her. She was tired, I was tired. It was shit.”
“Sounds like life,” I said.
“Debbie was everything Olivia wasn’t. She had so much energy, so much enthusiasm.”
“Debbie is Katie’s mother?”
He nodded. “My secretary. Nineteen years old. Less than half my age.” He smiled, noticed his scotch and took a sip. “Should’ve known better, Carl. Should’ve known to keep it in my pants.”
I shrugged. “You aren’t the only man who can’t keep his dick to himself, sure as hell aren’t going to be the last.”
“We got close. I know they always say that, but it’s true. She listened. She was always listening,actuallylistening, you know? She had the most amazing laugh, the most genuine smile.” He tipped his glass in my direction. “Katie has her smile. You can see every emotion on her face, that girl, just like her mother. Same freckles, too.”
I felt a knot in my stomach. Something uncomfortable and vulnerable and exposed. “Katie’s a beautiful girl.”
He nodded. “I loved her mother, Carl, she wasn’t just a fling. I used to watch her across the office, and I’d dream of a different life. I’d wonder what it would be like to wake up with her in the morning, how we’d spend our evenings, what our home would be like. What our kids would look like.”
My stomach panged at the honesty in his confession.