Part 34 (1/2)
”Becky appears to have offered my services to Nathan Temple in return for a handbag,” says Luke curtly.
”A handbag?” Gary looks stunned.
”It wasn't just any old handbag!” I exclaim, rattled. ”It was a limited edition Angel bag! There's only a few of them in the whole world! It was on the cover of Vogue! All the movie stars want one and everything!”
Both men look at me as though I'm speaking Martian.
”And anyway,” I say, my face burning, ”I thought doing a hotel launch would be fab! It's five-star and everything! You'd get to meet celebrities!”
”Celebrities?” echoes Luke, suddenly losing it. ”Becky, I don't need to meet those kind of celebrities! I don't need to be launching some tacky criminal's hotel! I need to be here, with my team, focusing on my new client's needs.”
”I didn't realize!” I say desperately. ”I thought it was a brilliant networking coup!”
”Calm down, boss,” Gary says to Luke soothingly. ”We haven't promised him anything-”
”She has.” Luke gestures toward me, and Gary now seems at a total loss.
”I didn't . . . promise exactly.” My voice shakes a little. ”I just said . . . you'd be delighted.”
”You realize how much harder this makes it for me?” Luke is holding his head in his hands. ”Becky, why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you tell me about it in Milan?”
The room is very still.
”Because the Angel bag cost two thousand euros,” I say at last in a tiny voice. ”I thought you'd be cross.”
”Jesus Christ . . .” Luke sounds at the end of his tether.
”And then I didn't want to bother you! You were so busy with the Arcodas pitch. . . . I thought I'd deal with it myself. And I was dealing with it.”
” 'Dealing with it,' ” echoes Luke incredulously. ”How were you dealing with it?”
”I told Nathan Temple you were ill,” I gulp.
Comprehension dawns on Luke's face.
”The bunch of flowers,” he says in even tones. ”Was that from Nathan Temple?” Oh G.o.d.
”Yes,” I whisper.
”He sent you flowers?” says Gary in disbelief.
”And a fruit basket,” says Luke shortly.
Gary gives a sudden snort of laughter.
”It's not funny,” says Luke, his voice like whiplash. ”We've just won the biggest pitch of our lives. We should be out celebrating. Not having to deal with b.l.o.o.d.y Nathan Temple sitting in our foyer.” He sinks into a chair.
”We don't want to make an enemy of him, Luke,” says Gary, pulling a small face. ”Not if he's going to buy the Daily World.”
Luke's face is tense and motionless. I don't dare say a word.
Then abruptly he stands up. ”We can't sit here all day. I'll go and see him. If I have to do the job I have to do the job.” He gives me a look. ”I just hope the handbag was worth it, Becky. I really hope it was worth it.”
I feel a sudden stab of pain.
”Luke, I'm sorry,” I say. ”I'm really sorry. I never meant . . . I never realized-”
”Yeah, Becky,” he interrupts in weary tones. ”Whatever.”
He leaves the room, followed by Gary. And I just sit there. Suddenly there's a tear rolling down my cheek. Everything was so perfect. And now it's all ruined.
Sixteen.
THIS HAS BEEN the worst week of our entire marriage.
I've barely seen Luke, he's been so tied up with work. He's had meetings every day with the Arcodas Group, plus there's been a huge crisis with one of his banking clients, and one of his main account managers was rushed to the hospital with meningitis. It's all been total mayhem.
And today, instead of having a chance to relax and regroup, he's got to fly out to Cyprus to visit Nathan Temple's hotel and start planning the launch. A launch which he doesn't want to do, but has to-because if he pulls out with some excuse, Nathan Temple might get offended. According to all the business press, it's looking likely that Nathan Temple's going to buy the Daily World newspaper. So as Luke said, he can't afford to antagonize him.
”Can I do anything?” I say nervously as I watch him put s.h.i.+rts into a suitcase.
”No,” he says shortly. ”Thanks.”
This is how he's been all week. All quiet and scary and barely looking me in the eye. And when he does look me in the eye, he looks so fed up that I feel a bit sick.
I'm trying really hard to keep positive and look on the bright side. I mean, it's probably totally normal for couples to have blips like this. Just like Mum said. This is the Second Big Row of our marriage, and the air will clear again and everything will be fine. . . . Except I'm not sure the Second Big Row should come two days after the First Big Row. And I'm not sure it should last a whole week.
I tried e-mailing Mum on her cruise s.h.i.+p to ask her advice, but I got a message back saying that the Mind Body Spirit cruise was a retreat from the outside world, and no pa.s.sengers could be contacted until next Friday, when they dock in Athens.
Luke zips up his suit carrier and disappears into the bathroom without even looking at me. He'll be gone in a few minutes. We can't leave each other like this. We just can't.
He comes out again and dumps his shaving kit in his suitcase.
”It's our first anniversary soon, you know.” I'd been hoping Luke and I could do something romantic, like a candlelight picnic. ”We should . . . plan something.”
”I'm not even sure if I'll be back in time,” says Luke.
He sounds like he doesn't care, either. Our first anniversary and he's not even interested. Suddenly my head is hot and I can feel tears pus.h.i.+ng at my eyes. The whole week has been awful and now Luke's leaving and he won't even smile at me.
”You don't have to be so unfriendly, Luke,” I say in a rush. ”I know I've made a mess, but I didn't mean to. I've said I'm sorry about a zillion times.”
”I know,” says Luke in the same old weary tones.
”What do you expect me to do?”
”What do you expect me to do, Becky?” he retorts in sudden exasperation. ”Say it doesn't matter? Say I don't mind that just when I should be putting all my efforts into the Arcodas Group, I find myself flying off to some G.o.dforsaken island?” He clicks his case shut. ”You want me to say I'm happy to be a.s.sociated with some tacky hotel?”