‘We’ll be going to the airport in fifteen minutes,’ she says, clearing her throat. ‘You sure you’re going to be all right?’ She resists the overwhelming urge to throw herself onto Sophia’s bed and cling to her.
If she could only pretend that this is just another ordinary day, when her former husband was who she thought he was, and she wasn’t about to get on a plane and fly thousands of miles away, she’d be fine. What if it crashes? What if I die? What if the children need me? The irrational thoughts reverberate around her head as she turns to look at her daughter, wondering if it’s the last time she’s going to see her beautiful face. No, she chastises herself. I am not that woman anymore.
‘Grandma will be here in time to make you tea,’ she says in a bid to drown out the negative thoughts.
Sophia rolls her eyes. ‘I don’t understand why she has to be here. I’m nearly sixteen – I can look after myself.’
‘That may be so, but there’s Livvy to think of,’ says Alice, hanging on to the door for support. ‘It’s not fair for you to have the responsibility.’
‘Well, why doesn’t she go to Grandma’s and I stay here?’
Alice sighs heavily. ‘We’ve been through this enough times. Will you please just do as you’re told? You know the plan, and that’s the end of it.’
‘When are you going to start treating me like a grown-up?’ Sophia huffs as Alice walks out.
‘When you start acting like one,’ says Alice, under her breath, acutely aware that she sounds like her own mother twenty years ago.
She goes into her bedroom, where Nathan is packing, and can’t help but notice the difference between their organization skills. Whilst her case is lying open with its contents hastily chosen and messily arranged, Nathan has laid out his outfits on the bed, each with the corresponding pair of shoes and colour-coordinated accessories.
‘Hi darling,’ he says, pulling her towards him. ‘All okay?’
She smiles tightly.
‘You sure you want to do this?’ he asks as he kisses her.
‘Absolutely,’ she says.
‘What time’s your mum coming?’
Alice looks at her watch. ‘She’s going to pick Livvy up from school and then do the girls’ tea here.’
‘And you’re okay with it all?’ He hesitates before going on, as if fearful of opening a can of worms. ‘About leaving the girls?’
‘Yes,’ she says, ignoring the weight that is sitting on her chest. ‘No problem.’
‘And we’re going to have fun, as well as see to business?’ he says.
‘Of course,’ says Alice, and she means it, because she can’t remember the last time she let her hair down. She might need to up her medication in order to get herself there, but she’ll get there – she’s determined to.
‘I can’t believe the turnaround in you,’ he says, kissing her on the nose. ‘One minute you’re adamant that AT Designs should save money by holding back on our expansion plans, and the next you’re offering a million pounds for a site in Japan that you’ve not even seen. What changed?’
She could tell him. She could say that the man she’s been doing it all for, to keep his memory alive, not wishing to let him down, was nothing but a cheating bastard. But she doesn’t want to give Tom the credit. She wants Nathan to think that what she’s about to do is what she wants to do, rather than having been dictated to from beyond the grave.
‘I think you’re right,’ she says. ‘It’s about time we put ourselves on the map, and if we have to come out of our comfort zone to do it, then I’m prepared to take that chance.’
‘I love you, Mrs Davies,’ he says.
‘And I love you, Mr Davies,’ she replies, without wishing for a second that she was still Mrs Evans.
31
‘It doesn’t look big enough, does it?’ says Alice in astonishment at the sliver of barren land she’s standing in front of.
‘You’d be amazed what they can fit on this,’ says Nathan, ‘especially here in Tokyo. They’re used to building tall and thin, because space is always at such a premium. They just go upwards.’
‘So, it’s going to be five floors?’ she asks.
‘Yes,’ says Nathan. ‘It’ll be the same height as the athletes’ village over there. We can’t go higher than that.’
Alice shields her eyes from the midday sun as she looks across the river to the vast, brand-new white block standing proudly amongst the cranes and metal-framed structures that will create