‘So, here we have the papers for you to sign,’ he says, carefully lining them up in order as he presents them to Alice.
‘As I understand it, you are the sole owner of AT Designs?’
‘Yes,’ she says croakily, before clearing her throat. ‘Yes.’
‘And Mr Nathan has explained everything to you regarding the covenant?’
Alice looks to her husband beside her, who nods and puts his hand on hers.
‘Excellent. So, I need you to sign here, here and here,’ says Mr Yahamoto, demonstrating with a pen, before he offers it to her. She declines and reaches into her bag on the floor for her ‘lucky pen’, the one Tom had given her to celebrate signing the contracts on their first house. It was the one she’d used for anything important since, superstitiously believing that it would bring her joy and luck. Her fingers clasp around its embossed silver case, feeling the weight as she lifts it out.
‘Could I borrow your pen after all?’ she says to Mr Yahamoto, apologetically. She places her pen on the table, watching it wobble as it finds its place.
‘Of course,’ he says, handing her his bog-standard biro.
She scrawls her signature wherever a pencilled cross is marked.
‘So, this signifies that you have now exchanged, and ten per cent will be transferred to the vendor.’
Alice smiles tightly, still toying with the cheap biro in her hand. How significant, she thinks, that the most monumental of decisions for Alice and Tom Designs has been signed off with a pen other than the one Tom gave me.
‘Completion will take place next week, but we have all the papers we need to do that, so I do not anticipate there being any problems.’
‘It’s been a pleasure,’ says Alice, standing up from the table and offering an outstretched hand.
‘The pleasure is all mine.’ The lawyer bows, then holds the door open for them. ‘Ah, Miss Alice,’ he calls out, just as she steps into the lift. ‘Your pen. You forgot your pen.’
‘Keep it,’ she says as the doors close.
32
The champagne has gone to Alice’s head. She didn’t feel it before, but now that she’s sitting on the toilet, its seat heated, she’s finding it difficult to focus. She’s trying to concentrate on the back of the door, but it’s moving, as if she’s on board a storm-tossed boat. She reaches out for the toilet paper, but it’s not quite where she thought it was – her hand a few centimetres short.
‘Shit,’ she says out loud, wondering how many drinks she’s had and wishing she’d had just one less. She likes the way alcohol numbs her nerve endings, which normally happens sometime between glasses three and four. But she feels like she’s had a bottle, and some.
Then she remembers the tablets she took to calm her nerves on the plane, not thinking for a second that the double dosage would do anything other than send her to sleep, which they had. But now she can’t help but wonder if it was a good idea to drink with them in her system.
The operating instructions for the toilet seem to be swaying in front of her eyes and she snorts with laughter every time she pushes a button and it does everything apart from flush.
‘You have had far too much to drink,’ laughs Nathan as she weaves her way back to the table.
‘I thought we were celebrating,’ she slurs, sitting down heavily on the chair being pulled out for her.
He reaches across the table, taking hold of one of her hands. ‘Shall we go to the room?’
‘Ooh, is that an invitation, Mr Darcy?’ she asks loudly, starting to get up again. The heel of her shoe buckles beneath her ankle and Nathan moves in to steady her.
She knows she’s lost the ability to moderate her volume level. ‘When I get you upstairs, I’m going to—’
‘Ssh,’ laughs Nathan. ‘I’m not sure everyone in the restaurant needs to know.’
When they get out of the lift she shrugs off his attempt to steer her down the corridor towards their room and leans against the wall as he struggles with the key card.
‘I’m going to keep you up all night,’ she says, moving towards him and grabbing hold of the lapel on his jacket. She wants this, needs this. It had been weeks since they’d had sex.
‘I want you to make love to me like you’ve never done before,’ she says as she kisses him, her tongue teasing his, her teeth biting down softly on his lips.