Page 77 of Snow Going Back

‘Meh, it could use some work,’ Amy countered. ‘But the point is, you wanted to save people even then. And fly all round the world on adventures. But then life happened, and you got all caught up in contracts.’

‘Thanks, Amy,’ Kate said.

‘What for?’ she asked.

‘Just being you,’ Kate told her.

Amy shrugged with a nonchalant smile. ‘Anytime, Supergirl. Being me is what I do best.’ She winked. ‘Anyway, what else is going on?’

Kate’s expression darkened as she was reminded of Sam. She told Amy everything, leaving no detail out, and watched as her friend grew more and more angry with each word.

‘Thatpig!’ she seethed. ‘I can’t believe this! What do you think they’re plotting? It’s obviously to do with getting hold of the company, but I can’t work out the angle. It doesn’t make sense.’

‘Yeah, I don’t know, either…’ Kate felt the pain gnaw at her insides again and bit her bottom lip to ward off the tears. She felt so betrayed. She’d trulytrustedhim. But she couldn’t share that with Amy right now. Not over the phone. ‘Look, I need to go. I’m packed up and booked into a local hotel. I want to get out before he gets back.’

‘Alright, but call me later, OK?’ Amy asked.

‘Sure.’ Kate looked away, knowing she wouldn’t. It was too painful. ‘See you soon.’

She ended the call and stood up, looking around the bedroom she’d lived in for the past two months one last time. She cast her eyes from the freshly made salmon-coloured bed to the diary neatly laid on the table beside it to the picture of Cora on the walland finally to the scissors still next to the sewing machine on the desk. She smiled sadly, feeling a tug in her chest.

‘Goodbye, Cora,’ she whispered. ‘It was really good getting to know you.’

She picked up her suitcase, pausing only to place the boxed necklace on the bed, then turned and left for the last time.

FORTY-THREE

Two days later, Kate stepped out of the car and stared up at the Coreaux Roots building. Burying herself in work, the way she always had when she needed to distract herself from the harder parts of life, she’d written up all the paperwork and sealed off all loose ends. She’d set it all up to make Edward Moreaux the sole owner of the company and all its assets, other than the house, which she’d left to Sam. Whatever he’d done to her had nothing to do with this. Cora would have wanted him to have the house, and Cora was who she was here for.

Another car pulled up beside her, and Kate put on a professional smile as Edward got out and stretched his legs. She walked over to him and waited politely for him to gather his cane and turn towards her.

‘Thanks for meeting me here,’ she told him. ‘I’ve got all the contracts with me; we just need to sit down and go over a few things in the office, get it signed and then we’re done.’

‘And then it’s all legally mine?’ he queried, glancing at the building critically.

‘Yes,’ she confirmed. ‘Well, as soon as I’ve filed it, which I’ll do this afternoon. Shall we?’

They walked into the building, and Kate led the way to Cora’s old office. She had a key now, which had been sorted out after she’d made Jenna acting CEO.

‘I’ll run through some basics with you, but most of what you’ll need to know you can find out through Jenna, the office manager. She’s been acting CEO in this interim and knows how to run everything better than anyone here on the office side of things. And if I were you,’ she added, ‘I’d promote her with a pay rise as soon as you can. You can’t afford to lose her, and she’s more than earned it.’

Edward’s gaze flickered sideways at her, and he gave a strange smile. ‘We’ll see,’ he replied. ‘I’ll keep your personal feelings in mind, but I like to judge people’s worth myself. I imagine this place comes with rather a lot of dead weight, too.’

Kate frowned but didn’t reply. As the company lawyer, it wasn’t her business to get involved past the point of signing things over correctly, but that comment didn’t fill her with confidence.

‘There are a handful of senior site managers on the operational side who, again, will be of great help. They’ve been running this place for years. One of them celebrated fifty years here last month.’

‘Didhe now?’ Edward asked, lifting an eyebrow in interest. ‘That is a long time indeed.’

‘It is,’ Kate agreed. ‘And very impressive. Right, here we are.’

She opened the door and gestured for him to enter ahead of her. Cora’s office was a big bright room with a wide desk and a cosier, less formal seating area to one side. Kate imagined this was where Cora used to look after Jenna as a baby, a thought that always made her smile. She moved towards it but then realised Edward had gone straight to the desk. He sat down behind it and ran his hands over the polished wood with a quiet chuckle.

Kate watched him for a moment, seeing the exultation in his smile and hating it. It was understandable, she supposed, to feel excited and happy at inheriting such a big and lucrative company. But some show of modesty wouldn’t have gone amiss out of respect for Cora.

She walked over to the desk, pulled the first of the two contracts out of the envelope and handed them over.

‘It’s all there, and my signature is already at the back.’ She flipped to the last page to show him. ‘Feel free to take some time to read it over, then sign whenever you’re ready.’

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