Page 1 of Far from Home
Chapter 1
‘Tough day?’
‘Tougher than yours by the look of it.’
Amy dropped her briefcase onto a chair and slumped down alongside Gavin on the sofa, feeling completely washed out. He must have stopped off at his place on his way here from work and she saw that he had had time to change out of his suit into jeans and a T-shirt. From the way he was sprawled out on the sofa, he looked as if he’d been here for hours. His eyes were glued to the vast TV screen that occupied most of the opposite wall. He had persuaded her to buy it last Christmas and nowadays he was round here almost every night, and he seemed to spend an inordinate amount of time just sitting staring at movie after movie – when he wasn’t out schmoozing clients. Tonight she immediately recognisedThe Wolf of Wall Streetwith Leonardo DiCaprio and she snorted. Talk about coals to Newcastle.
He waved vaguely in the direction of the bottle of Sancerre Premier Cru that she had been saving for a very special occasion. It was on the table in front of him and already half empty. ‘Drink?’ There was only one glass and that was in his other hand, and she debated whether to get up and go and look for one for herself, before deciding she was too weary. Needless to say, he didn’t offer to get one for her.
She glanced back at him. ‘Have you eaten?’ No reply, so she nudged him with her elbow and tried again – louder. ‘Gavin, have you eaten?’
He nodded absently. ‘I had a burger at the squash club.’
She glanced at her watch. It was nine fifteen. He must have left work really early – unlike her. Theoretically her working day was supposed to finish at five, but it had been getting longer and longer as she climbed the ladder towards the glass ceiling. There were some – like her immediate boss, Scott – who reckoned she’d already smashed her way through it, but she knew better. Before she got that corner office on the seventeenth floor she knew she’d have to be prepared to fight tooth and nail in what was still very much a boys’ club.
She was mildly surprised to see Gavin pause the movie and turn towards her. ‘You look shattered, Amy. What’s happened?’
She stretched her arms above her head in a vain attempt to relax her neck muscles and chase away the nagging headache. ‘Nothing bad… but it could have been a disaster.’ Seeing his enquiring look, she explained, ‘We had a thirty-seven-million-pound deal going through involving yuan, rupees and ZAR. For a while this afternoon it was all looking very wobbly and we stood to lose a small fortune.’ She corrected herself. ‘Make that a large fortune. You could have cut the tension in the office with a knife. It finally all went through just a matter of seconds before close of play in Cape Town.’ Even just the memory brought a cold chill to her stomach and she reached out, grabbed his glass of wine from him and drained it without tasting it. Yes, she thought to herself, it had been a tough day.
‘Still, think of it this way: your bonus this year is going to beat all records.’ He returned to his movie and she knew she’d be lucky to get any more out of him for another hour or more.
‘Yes, I suppose you’re right, but I could do without days like this.’
Something in her voice must have got through to him, although he didn’t take his eyes off the screen. ‘Why don’t you have something to eat? You’ll feel better afterwards.’
Pleasantly surprised, she mustered a little smile, despite his attention still being trained on the movie. ‘What’s in the fridge?’
‘Not a lot, unless you like carrots and onions. Don’t ask me why you have so many.’
‘I thought for once you were going to do the shopping.’ It had sounded too good to be true when he’d offered last night.
‘I was running late for squash. Don’t worry, I’ll do it tomorrow – or you can.’ He somehow managed to reach for the phone without taking his eyes off the TV and handed it to her. ‘Get yourself a pizza. It should be here in twenty minutes or so.’
They had already had pizza twice this week and she shook her head. ‘I’m not that hungry. I’ll go and make myself a bowl of porridge and then I’m crashing out.’
‘Cheer up. Tomorrow’s Friday and then you’ll have the whole weekend to rest and recuperate.’
‘The way I feel right now, I’ll probably sleep straight through to Monday morning. God, I’m tired.’
She heaved herself to her feet and went through to the kitchen, feeling unusually dopey. The porridge packet was in the cupboard alongside the slick Neff oven and she bent down to retrieve it. As she did so, her head started spinning, everything around her blurred and she toppled forward into unconsciousness.
‘You had me worried back there for a while.’
The touch of his hand on her arm roused her and she opened her eyes to see Gavin sitting alongside the bed with an expression on his face that somehow managed to combine concern and relief at the same time. She gave him a little smile.
‘I had me worried, too, Gav.’ Her voice sounded as weak as she felt.
‘At least it wasn’t a heart attack.’ His expression darkened. ‘But it was the next best thing. The paramedics were really worried and the doctors in A&E were all over you like locusts. They told me what they think it was but I’ve forgotten the word. Basically a collapse due to overwork and excessive stress.’
‘What time is it?’
‘Eight thirty.’
‘AM or PM?’
‘It’s eight thirty in the morning and, before you ask, it’s Friday.’
‘Have you been here all night?’
