and took out a wedge of paperwork, then stood from the desk to go rooting for more. He was thicker set these days, rippling under a tailored suit. His ass looked firmer. The gym, maybe. He flicked through the filing cabinet, pulling out papers with an angry flourish. Then he slammed them down in front of me.
Insurance renewal forms. Loads of them. Bureaucratic and complicated. In short, a nightmare.
“You’d better start earning your fifty, then.” A tap at the door and Topaz joined us. She hovered like a fluffy green pigeon, eyes flicking from him to me. He pointed a finger in my direction. “That’s Faye. She’s come back to claim her piece of the pie. Any issues, problems, vomit to clean up, you go to her.”
I managed a laugh. “Yeah, I’ll take over just as soon as I’ve finished this paperwork nightmare, shall I? How about next year?”
His eyes narrowed. “Welcome to my world.” He threw me a pen. “You’d best get a move on, we open at ten.”
***
He watched me struggle for well over an hour. His body was angled towards his laptop screen, but his eyes were on me. I pretended I didn’t notice, arranging the papers in neat little piles, as though I knew what the hell I was doing. I didn’t know what I was doing. Hadn’t a pissing clue, reading the same papers over and over like it would make it any clearer. Maybe Club Explicit had become a tougher beast to manage than I’d given it credit for.
Like I’d really ever thought about it.
Eventually he stopped pretending to type. “Finished yet, partner?”
Pride answered for me. “Should be done in a jiffy.”
“Sure you will.”
I met his eyes, amassing words that should have been spoken a long time sooner. Maybe even the dregs of an explanation. Half an explanation. The phone ringing broke the tension before I could speak, the trill sounding right through the building.
I waited for him to answer, but instead he shoved the handset in my direction. I rolled my eyes at him as I picked up.
“Club Explicit, Faye speaking.”
I floundered around for a pad, be damned if I was passing the call onto him. Saffron, food poisoning, won’t be in. I hung up with a thanks for letting us know. Us know.
“That was Saffron, said she won’t be in this evening.”
“Better get cover, then.”
“You’re seriously going to be like this? It’s a bit pissing childish.” I folded my arms.
“Filing cabinet in the corner. Top drawer. Find a replacement.”
“Jesus Christ, Andy.” The file was full of names I didn’t recognise. My stomach churned as reality struck. As if I could just walk back in like nothing had happened. Tears pricked. Stupid tears. I coughed them back before I returned to my seat, poring over names and photos and job titles until I found a potential. I lifted the handset, began to dial, but he reached over for the call end button before it connected.
“You can’t come back, Faye. Power share never works. I’m in charge here now.”
I slapped his fingers away. “We’ll have to make it work. I’m back in. Co-owner, just like the director’s agreement states.”
“I’ll buy you out. Give me a few weeks to get a valuation and the cash together.”
I don’t know why the thought hurt so bad. “I don’t want out.”
“It isn’t about what you want. You don’t even know this place anymore. You don’t belong here.”
“I’ll get to know.”
“So you can interfere like Lady fucking Wisdom? Trample over everything I’ve done?”
“So I can contribute.” I sighed. “Please stop, Andy. Just stop.”
He tapped a pen on the desk, over and over. That wasn’t new. He’d always done that when he was thinking, or twitchy. “You’ve got some fucking nerve waltzing back in here. Real fucking nerve.”
I was losing him and I knew it. “I just want to help, whatever it takes until we find our feet again.” I tried another smile. “I’ll work the bar, check in coats, whatever you want...”
“Whatever I fucking want?!” His pen bounced between my hands as he launched it. “I want you to fuck off. I want you to leave my fucking office and piss off back to whatever seedy fucking pussy den you crawled out of.” He took out his wallet as I stared, flicked through credit cards. “I’ll book you a fucking flight right now. My fucking treat, Faye, have it on me. Go fuck yourself.”
I grabbed the pen from the floor, slid it back in his direction as he clacked