paperwork, blank. “Katie hasn’t officially applied yet, Carl. She’ll need talking through the procedure.”
“You’re starting late,” I said to her. “You’ll have some work to do. A lot of work to do.”
She closed her eyes, embarrassment practically steaming from her. And then she shrugged. “Sure, whatever.”
Her nonchalance made me bristle.
David’s phone started buzzing on the table top. “No rest for the wicked,” he said. He checked out the caller ID before sighing and indicating the door. He slapped my back on the way past.
“I’ll leave her in your hands, Carl,” he said. “Take good care of my little girl now.”
He could count on that.
“Sit,” I said, and Katie sat.
I took David’s seat and stared at her, and she stared at me.
“This is fucking awkward,” she said.
“No fucking shit,” I said. I reclined in my seat and weighed her up, piecing together the situation. “So, you’re the love child?”
“Something like that.” Her expression was sour. “I’m the love child and you’re the sugar daddy. Brilliant. Just brilliant.”
“You said he was a blank space on your birth certificate.”
Her eyes were like fire. “He is a blank space on my birth certificate! He’s an idiot, a prick, I don’t know how you can even stand to work with him.”
I couldn’t comprehend her venom. “David’s the best man I know, Rick excluded. The best man I’ve ever known.”
“Poor you, then,” she snapped. “Your standards must be pretty low.”
“No,” I said. “They’re not.”
I pushed the application form in her direction, but she didn’t take it. “I’m here because he’s blackmailing me,” she said. “Holding Harrison Gables to ransom unless I do six months on this intern thing.” I looked at her blankly until she continued. “Harrison Gables is a horse whisperer, from the States. The best.”
“I see.” I pulled the application form back. “In that case this intern thing isn’t for you. I’ve already got one joyrider on my programme, I don’t need another.”
She pursed her pretty lips. “Verity?”
“Yes, Verity.” I slid the paperwork back in the file. “I’ll tell your father your application was unsuccessful.”
“You’ll what?!”
“I’m serious,” I said. “I turned down over fifty worthwhile candidates for this year’s scheme. Fifty people who wanted it, fifty people who’d have worked hard for it, fifty people who were devastated when they didn’t make it. We have room for twenty on this programme, and right now I have eighteen who want to be here and one who doesn’t. I doubt Verity will last another week as it stands, and I’m not taking on another timewaster.”
“You’ll fire Verity?!” she laughed a bitter laugh. “That’ll be quite a turn up for the books. Princess Verity usually has the whole world fawning at her pretty feet.”
“Not here she doesn’t,” I said. “Not with me.”
“She won’t let you fire her,” she scoffed. “Not with Harrison Gables at stake.”
“She won’t get a choice, believe me.”
Blue eyes looked at me and softened. “I don’t like telling people about my father. I wasn’t trying to lie, or hide anything, I just don’t…”
“Surely you did due diligence?” I said. “When you were scoping out our profile, Rick and I, surely you… checked? Surely you recognised where I worked? Surely you knew? You should have known, Katie, rather than rolling up at some stranger’s house without the most basic idea of who they were.”
“I did check you out. I checked both of you out. I knew you worked for some swanky agency in Cheltenham, some tech thing. I didn’t know you worked with the sperm donor. His office is in Stroud, not Cheltenham. Your company name isn’t even the same as his.”
“It’s a subsidiary,” I said. “Surely you’d have recognised it?”
She shook her head, but I found it hard to believe. “I’m serious,” she said. “I’ve spent most of my adult life trying to forget about David Faverley and his stupid life and his stupid businesses. The last thing I’d have been interested in is which stupid companies he owns and which he doesn’t. I couldn’t care less.”
I leaned closer. “Why hate him so much? I don’t understand.”
“Because he’s an asshole! Because he’s a judgmental prick! Because he ruined my mum’s life! Because every time he’s ever looked at me I felt worthless, because of him, because I’ve never been good enough for an asshole like him. And I don’t want to be,” she said. “I don’t want to be good enough for him, not ever, he can go fuck himself.”
This wasn’t the Katie I knew, not that I really knew Katie at all.