I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day - Milly Johnson Page 0,22

set of golf clubs.’

‘How many children do you have?’ asked Jack.

Luke paused before answering. ‘None,’ he said eventually. He wetted his lips with his tongue. ‘None yet. Tell me about the two older guys? Father and son?’

‘A married couple,’ said Jack. ‘I think Charlie said he was a jeweller or a diamond merchant and Robin was, before they got together, his chauffeur.’

Luke didn’t bat an eyelid at that disclosure. ‘Hmm. Carmen worked for me in our accounts department before we became romantically involved,’ he said. ‘I truly never noticed how stunning she was, even though I used to see her all the time around the building. Then she said hello to me in the supermarket one day after work and I didn’t recognise her with jeans and a big woolly jumper on. I thought, Who is this gorgeous woman saying “Hello, Mr Palfreyman”? You hear the expression “having the scales ripped from your eyes” but you don’t ever think you can be that blind yourself.’ He took another drink. ‘What’s the story with you and Mary then? Just business or…’ He didn’t finish the sentence but the inference was clear.

‘Absolutely just business,’ said Jack, adamantly. ‘She’s about ten years my junior for a start.’

‘Carmen’s eight years my senior. Age is but a number, my friend.’

‘Yes, I suppose… though Mary’s not…’ My type, he was going to say‘…I wouldn’t take advantage.’

‘I wasn’t suggesting as much, I was merely wondering if there were any romantic feelings pinging between you.’

‘Not at all.’

A conversation to be continued in the morning perhaps, or maybe never if the weather miraculously improved, thought Luke. He was suddenly consumed with a wave of weariness, thanks to relief at having eventually found shelter, a soup-and-sandwich-filled belly and the generous slugs of Scottish malt. He tossed the remaining contents of his glass into his mouth.

‘Time for me to hit the horizontal slab,’ he said.

‘Me too,’ said Jack. ‘It’s been a long day.’

Luke switched off the main bar lights by the door. The embers of the large fire glowed gently, their orange light reaching into the dark. It was safe enough to leave, he decided. It looked as sleepy as he now felt.

Jack followed Luke up the stairs, the thought buzzing in his head that in all the years he’d known Mary, it had never crossed his mind to think of her with any feeling. And of course she didn’t think of him in that way either. She worked for him, he paid her salary, that’s as far as it went. Mary was as much part of the office furniture as his desk and his stapler were. How could there be anything more to it than that?

Chapter 8

Bridge and Mary had snuggled down into their twin beds, warm as toast. The central heating was underpowered, which made the beds extra cosy. The mattresses were soft, probably terrible for the back, but bouncy-comfy. It felt not unlike a teenage sleepover, as they started to talk in the dark.

‘He’s very good-looking, your boss,’ said Bridge. ‘Not quite modern man enough for me, plus he’s too tall. I like someone I don’t have to climb in order to stare into their eyes.’

Mary chuckled inwardly at the image of Bridge scaling the north face of Jack. ‘Yes, he is tall. Funny that, because his dad wasn’t much taller than me and I think his mum was pretty short from what I hear.’ Jack was nothing like Reg Butterly to look at, who was stubby and thickset with a permanent scowl on his face, unless he was talking about his son.

‘Jack said in the kitchen that he realised he’d never made you a drink before, that true?’

The thought of Jack making drinks in the office tickled Mary.

‘Butterly’s isn’t the most progressive place on earth, I’ll give you that but it’s gradually coming out of the dark ages. I wonder sometimes if Jack is afraid to change things in case he thinks he’s betraying his dad by doing so. Reg Butterly wasn’t one for change. He was very much an “if it isn’t broke don’t mend it” kind of bloke.’

‘He sounds an amazing businessman,’ said Bridge with a sarcastic humph.

‘The scones sold themselves for him, he was lucky, but it was only when Jack took over that it went massive, because he’s not the type to sit on any laurels. Slowly but surely he’s changing things. At least he always says thank you, which is more than Reg used to. I don’t think he said it once