Page 48 of Love Is: Two Bodies One Soul

ChapterFifteen

Thursday,George was first in the office but only by a matter of seconds.

‘Morning,’ he called from his office as Owen arrived.

Owen waved a response and slipped into position at his keyboard, ready to type up yesterday’s assignments – the politicians, the vox pop and a very embarrassing medical check-up. The subsequent silence was broken only by the sounds of him starting his computer.

Suddenly George roared, ‘What the fuck is this?’

Looking up, Owen saw George rearing from his seat. Next thing, George was standing in his doorway, glowering across at Owen.

‘Is this your doing?’ George pointed back to his computer.

‘Is what my doing?’

George stamped across to Owen. ‘Log into our shared folder and have a look at the images from yesterday. Tell me you didn’t get Lexie to do that. I saw you cosying up to her yesterday.’

Owen thought, ‘cosying’, chance would be a fine thing, as frowning, he opened the folder and scrolled through the images. There seemed nothing wrong with the vox pop or the politicians’ images, except for the one where Lex had caught him frowning at the man from UKIP.

Was it any wonder? The UKIP politician had remembered Owen’s last legless performance on the BBC and taken malicious glee in sharing his memories with Lex. It didn’t help that it was obvious she already knew. He still didn’t want her reminded what an idiot he’d been.

‘Not those, not those … scroll on,’ George snapped, breathing over Owen’s shoulder.

Owen moved the mouse wheel.

‘Halcyon!’

Both men turned at the deceptively frail sound of Justin Blanchard.

George muttered, ‘Oh, shit! That’s all I need.’

Owen asked in a quiet aside, ‘Are they not supposed to be here today?’

‘No, they’re not,’ George replied through gritted teeth, plastering a smile on his face for the magazine owners.

The brothers tottered forward, supported by silver-topped walking canes, and George cooed over them as he ushered them towards his office. At the door, he turned back to Owen. ‘Since Kate’s not in yet, would you mind doing the honours with the coffee, Owen?’

* * *

When he deliveredcoffee and biscuits into the meeting, Owen interrupted a heated dialogue, from which he extracted two facts before George and the brothers fell silent: The Blanchards were putting WIV up for sale immediately, and if a buyer couldn’t be found quickly, WIV would close at Christmas. George looked devastated.

Setting the tray down, Owen shared what he hoped was a silent ‘need some help?’ message with George.

An almost imperceptible shake of George’s head gave him the answer.

Probably just as well, Owen thought as he left the office. The Blanchard brothers had hated him, ever since he’d included them in an exposure on the less reputable elite of British society.

He returned to his desk and to Lexie’s work, still curious to know what had riled George. Scrolling once more through the images, he reached the Harley Street section. And there it was. He didn’t recognise himself. No one would recognise him, not even his own mother. He chuckled and murmured, ‘Good on you, Lex.’ She’d followed the remit, taken shots of him without a shirt, even a couple without his boxers for the weighing, but in every single one, she had angled her camera, so his face was out of shot. The images could have been anyone.

‘What an angel,’ he said, a strange but pleasantly warm sensation building in his chest. She’d spiked George’s plan while still doing exactly what she’d been told. ‘Clever girl.’

Owen leaned back in his seat, taking the long view of Lexie’s work and wondered how he could thank her. Yesterday’s attempt to make peace had failed. Almost everything he’d said or did annoyed her. He couldn’t allow the bad start between them fester into something worse, and most of all, he had to say thank you for what she’d done. But what could he do?

Flowers? No, that didn’t seem enough.

A gift? No, he didn’t know her well enough to buy something she’d like.

A meal out? Maybe … perhaps he could take her to dinner tonight? It would have to be cheap – he had little money to spare despite the salary advance. But there was a family-run place in China Town he knew well. It had excellent food and didn’t cost a lot, but would she accept? Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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