Page 51 of Pyg

Alice peered around the doorway of Jeremy’s office. He’d left the door open after his final client departed and had since been shuffling papers and tapping away at his keyboard.

“I’m going to head off shortly, if that’s okay? Did you need something?”

“Ah, Alice. Yes. Is Catherine still here?”

Alice leaned back from the doorframe to glance around at the closed office door of Catherine Truscote. She’d been ensconced in there all afternoon. With the amount of coffee Truscote consumed, Alice was surprised the woman didn’t need the loo more often.

“Er, yeah. She’s in her office.”

The corners of Jeremy’s mouth pinched together. “Fine. Would you come in and close the door for a moment, please?”

“Sure.” Alice clicked the door shut behind her.

Jeremy gestured to the chair in front of his desk and fixed Alice with a kind smile. In the three months she’d been working at T&D, she’d really warmed to him. His patient benevolence was a stark contrast to Truscote’s manner, which was icy at best.

“Sorry, I know you’re keen to get off home. I won’t keep you long. I, er…” Jeremy rubbed the light stubble on his chin and broke eye contact. “Do you, er… I was wondering… if you have plans this weekend?”

Oh, bollocks. Not this again.Alice shifted in the chair. Had she somehow led him on? Sometimes men got the wrong idea about her, but she could never quite work out how that happened because she’d never once been interested in a man.And besides, isn’t he married?

Jeremy must have sensed her discomfort as he held up his hands. “Oh, no, sorry, I didn’t mean… I just meant, are you busy? If not, then I wondered whether you’d like to do a little overtime?”

Alice cocked her head. There hadn’t been any mention of overtime before now.

“Look, it’s okay if you’re otherwise engaged. It’s just that my wife, Francesca, chairs the women’s group at our country club. It’s their AGM this weekend, but their secretary has let them down.” He winced. “Emergency root canal, I believe. Painful business.”

“Right, so…”

“Francesca called me in a dither and asked if she could borrow my… well, you. She said she’d met you about a month ago, do you recall?”

Alice nodded. “I wouldn’t say we ‘met’ exactly.” She swallowed with the vivid recollection of the uptight brunette who’d waltzed into Reception like she owned the place. Ignoring Alice’s attempt to engage, she charged straight into Jeremy’s office, closing the door behind her. Alice must have been on her lunch break when the woman left, but the musky smell of her perfume lingered in the room all afternoon.

“Well, it seems you made an impression on her.” Jeremy chuckled.

“Oh, really? We didn’t even speak.”

“Francesca is very astute.” Jeremy’s pale blue eyes settled on Alice’s face, and for a moment he looked lost in thought. “Anyway, what do you say?”

“To what?”

“This weekend. Are you free?”

“I… er…” Before Alice could cobble together a plausible excuse that didn’t involve binging Netflix whilst wrapped in her duvet, Jeremy powered on with his pitch.

“It’s at Stonehurst Abbey, all expenses paid, and I’ll give you double-time for your trouble. They’ll need you most of Saturday and possibly some of Sunday. Knowing Francesca, the schedule will be pretty full-on, so you can take a half day Monday to recover. How does that sound?”

“Oh, well… yeah, I guess that’d be…”

Jeremy clapped his hands together, his cheeks flushed with relief. “Fantastic. Fran will be delighted.” He slid open a drawer and retrieved a manila file, which he pushed across the desk toward Alice. “All the details are in here. Francesca will fill you in on everything else when you arrive tomorrow.”

“Right, great. Thanks.” Alice stood to leave.

“Oh, one more thing. Discretion.”

“Sorry?”

“Your discretion about this… little favour, would be appreciated.”

“How so?” Alice frowned.

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