Page 59 of Lie For Me

The young waitress approached Jack and asked him where he’d like to sit and what she could get him for breakfast.

‘Can I sit on the terrace?’ he asked, keen to avoid other guests as they trickled in. ‘And just coffee, for now, thank you.’

The waitress smiled shyly.

‘Sure, no problem.’

She smiled, nodding towards the French doors before scurrying off.

He sidled through the doors onto the terrace and found a spot in the shade. Even at this early hour, it was hot. The final preparations for the big day were in full swing. The reception itself was taking place in a huge marquee on the hotel grounds, as the function room couldn’t hold all the additional guests coming to the party in the evening. A florist pushed a large cart of flower arrangements across the lawn in the direction of the marquee, and the wedding planner marched past, high heels sinking into the grass, clutching a large box full of lavender ribbon and swags of fabric.

A small boy was stomping around and around the edge of the fountain while his father urged him to be careful and not fall in. Further down the gardens, a woman was being walked by two spaniels. She disappeared abruptly into a hedge just as Jack’s coffee arrived.

Jack opened his phone and read the email again.

Hi Jack,

Good to meet again last week and finalise the terms of the sale agreement.

Please find attached the contract from Casston Media & Communication’s lawyers confirming the terms of the sale, including you working with them for a period of 12 months from the sale of the company to ensure a smooth transition for the business, your clients and staff.

As you know, Casston is keen to press ahead, and per the recent meeting, would like confirmation from you by Monday next week that you wish to proceed.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Regards,

Steven

Jack put down his phone and took a gulp of his coffee. The email was dated five days ago and was the final step in a process that had been going on for months, ever since Casston Media & Communications had approached him about buying BrandFriendsSocial.

Jack had never imagined he would build a company and then sell it on; he had imagined he’d build something and keep on building it. But he also knew that selling would allow his company to become part of a bigger operation, with more support and opportunities for his clients and more development for his staff. He had other business ideas he wanted to develop, ideas that would only be possible to work on once he had the time and the funds from the company sale. Consulting in New York for a year—on more reasonable hours than he worked now—wouldn’t slow that down too much, and the new contacts he would make could prove valuable.

He pulled up the file on his phone with the new app idea he was developing and scrolled through the outline business plan. The plan was for an app that acted as a one stop shop for all events and activities in any area. No more getting frustrated scrolling multiple websites to try to find out what was on, or missing out on popular seasonal events in your area—like the kids meeting Santa—because the app held it all in one place, would learn a user’s preferences and alert people once tickets went on sale for events they wanted to go to. It could even track your location, so when you went away it would let you know what was on nearby. Jack smiled as he thought of the impact this could have both for families trying to plan days out, and for visitor attractions trying to reach their audience. He felt the rising excitement of a new venture, a feeling he hadn’t had since the early days of BrandFriendsSocial. He loved what he had built, and he loved his team and (most of) his clients. But the day-to-day management of the business had taken its toll; it wasn’t where his passion lay. He wanted to go back to the beginning, to build something from the ground up again. Letting go of what he had created would be a wrench, but the time was right. He had been working on the new app in fits and starts for a couple of years, but getting it off the ground needed time and resources he didn’t currently have. Selling the company solved both problems and would let him fall in love with his work again.

A couple of weeks ago, he had imagined that when the final sale agreement came through, he’d sign it within hours. But he’d had the email for five days and done nothing yet, running closer and closer to the deadline. Jack read the email once more and scrolled through the attached contract.

‘Sale to include the transfer of all clients, assets and personnel….’

‘CEO of BrandFriendsSocial to continue to work with the company for a period of 12 months following the sale, from the New York Headquarters of Casston Media & Communications…’

A year in New York had seemed like an exciting prospect when it was first brought up a couple of weeks ago, but now that it was close to becoming a reality, he was less sure. Friends knew he was in talks to sell the company, but they didn’t know it might now mean him moving away for at least a year. That aspect of the sale terms had emerged later. Even Lucy didn’t know he might be leaving, and he had only a couple of days left to tell her before he had to sign the papers. He wished he had persisted in telling her that day in the café and not let the conversation carry them in another direction. It would have seemed like nothing then––just telling a friend about something going on at work and an adventure he might be going on. She would have been delighted for him and promised to visit him, and they would have made plans, checked flights and even penciled in dates. Lucy would have spent the rest of the morning talking in a terrible New York accent and periodically singing New York by Frank Sinatra. She would have been unswervingly supportive of what he decided, he knew that. But he didn’t tell her—it felt easier not to somehow, not to say out loud that he might be going, to just enjoy the day as it was.

He had thought he’d tell her the next day, and then the day after that. And as the days passed, and he began to feel the full significance of a year away from all he knew and loved he put it off. He knew deep down that it was the kind of news that changed everything between people; the dynamic would shift between them as soon as Lucy knew. They’d be walking on different paths. He wanted Lucy and all his friends to be just as they were—the life they all lived together preserved as it was. He would just slip away for a while, then slip back again. And now they were at her brother’s wedding, signing the contract was imminent, and departure was just a few weeks away. There was no good time to talk about it—not now, not there.

The boy running around the fountain finally slipped and fell in, and a watery wail rose up as his father hurriedly scooped him out and pressed him to his chest, getting soaked in the process. Jack could hear desperately soothing repetitions of oh dearie me punctuating the wails, as the father hurried the soaking, squalling child away from the quiet gardens.

A hotel worker puffed as he pushed a huge trolley precariously laden with wedding chairs covered in lavender bows along the bottom of the terrace towards the marquee. A bow got snagged as the procession passed a hedge. The trolley came to an abrupt stop, and the hotel worker mumbled, fuck’s sake, as he tried to unpick it, then suddenly realised Jack was sitting nearby, blushed and grimaced, sorry.

Jack smiled and shook his head—no problem.

Maybe more lavender bows would get stuck in shrubs along the way.

‘Oh. There you are.’

A tousled honey-coloured head stuck sideways out of the door and blinked in the morning sunshine like a badger coming out of its den. Lucy squinted and frowned at the sun and said, ‘urrghh,’ before scurrying across the terrace to join him in the shade. She had thrown on a loose sundress, and he could see a few more golden freckles across her cheeks and shoulders after the kayaking trip the day before. The sudden rush he felt at seeing her took him by surprise, and he busied himself rearranging cups and cutlery on the table.

‘Too early to be so bright,’ Lucy grumbled as she dragged her chair further into the shade.

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