He drove like lightning in his black Porsche. When they arrived at her office building, Matthew insisted that, as a client, he should receive a personal office tour. “You see where I work each day. I should know more about you, don’t you think?”
“If you really are interested, sure… I’ll show you the office and the floor.”
He grinned. “Excellent. I'm looking forward to knowing a little more about whom I’m paying.”
“You actually share your work with loads of different agencies. We only work on the Silver Swimming Chain.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“So have you met all the consultants from the other firms?”
“Possibly.”
“Do you get night time tours of their offices?”
“Possibly.”
“Do you teach them how to swim, too?”
“Possibly.”
“You’re not giving me much to work with here.”
“No,” he agreed and they rode the lift up to Sophie’s office in silence.
“You ask me to trust you, yet you don’t trust me?” She raised her eyebrows pointedly as she swiped her security badge to open the doors to her office floor. Matthew followed close at her heels.
They entered the grand foyer of Clarks, Clarks and Clarks Advertising Firm. Sophie held her breath, listening to the unnatural quiet of the office at night.
The foyer was, of course, empty. Sophie proudly gestured to the walls, showing Matthew the art displays. Even though she’d been here so many times before, as always, she was captivated by the gallery of advertisements.
“I just love this place,” she said, turning and pointing to another framed advertisement staring back at them. “It’s the firm’s showcase. Our best work.”
“Is any of your stuff up there?”
“I wish. But not yet.” Sophie shook her head. “I love her. She’s grand.” She pointed to a picture of a red-haired woman holding a lip liner, smiling seductively with puckered lips. “That campaign increased sales by three hundred percent.”
Excitedly, she tugged Matthew’s arm. “Look at this advertisement – the toddler crouched under the wooden kitchen table. You wouldn’t believe how his cute, chubby face increased brand awareness.”
“He looks fat.”
“Well he increased sales of kitchen cleaning products tenfold.”
She stopped, her feet in front of the only empty feature wall, waiting to be decorated like a blank canvas.
“This is the only wall empty,” Matthew said.
“Yes,” she mused. “One day, if the powers above favour me, one of my adverts will be displayed there.”
Matthew looked at her oddly. “You really love this, don’t you?”
“Yes,” she said dreamily. “But I’m also trying to change a little bit. Find more work-life balance and all that. Apparently I work too hard, but I can’t help it. I’m consumed by my job.”
“It’s hard to find balance if work is your passion.”
“You might find it the same with swimming?”
“Yes, a little.”
“Still, I seem to be finding that perhaps I’m missing out on other things. Come this way.” Sophie swiped her security pass, leading him past the foyer to the open plan office where all the advertising magic happened.
The place felt eerily empty with not a soul there. “Sometimes there are teams here all night. Brainstorming until we hit the jackpot.”
“There’s no one here at the moment.”
“It’s often like this. Here’s my desk. I’ll just quickly check Bradley’s office to make sure no one's around.” She tiptoed to Bradley’s door and poked her head in. There was no sign of Bradley lurking in his office, which was empty.
Sophie turned round, and Matthew was right behind her. She gasped, her hand coming to her chest. “You scared me. I thought you were back there.” She’d been too absorbed, spying on Bradley’s office, to realise he’d followed her.
“Just curious.” He stepped backwards and paced back to her desk, a huge smile on his face.
Matthew stood waiting like a Greek god, every feature perfect, like he’d been carved from marble and sculpted to perfection. His stance was wide, his head tilted to the side, blond hair hanging loosely over his forehead with every strand in the right spot. “Is here okay? I won’t touch anything.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t apologise.”
“I’m just skittish when the office is dark. I hate being here on my own, but if I absorb myself in a project I seem to forget.”
“So why exactly are you coming here late?”
“Just to get a few things.” She met him by her desk. “I need to get some files I’m pitching for a chocolate bar account and I was planning to do a little bit of work from home.” She eyed him cautiously and wondered whether she should raise his campaign, she did have his undivided attention at this point.
Matthew scanned her desk. He examined the wall between hers and the other desks, eyes running over an animated swimming pool and female racer. The pool spanned horizontally across the wall. The swimming woman was pinned on top of the pool.
“How does this work?”
“Well, when I complete a milestone, I move the racer along the pool, representing how far she’s got towards achieving her goal of finishing the project. This animation helps me with my motivation, helps me keep my project management, creativity and stuff on track.”
“You certainly live your job don’t you?”
“Well you should know. ‘Swimming is for Living’ was one of my campaigns, right? So what about your workplace? Do you work like this?”
A grin spread across Matthew’s face. “As you probably already known I’ve taken over from my father and I have huge shoes to fill. I’ve been using the office at the swimming centre because, to be honest, I love swimming and I have loads of friends there. Working at the swimming centre makes me feel more ‘normal’. When your dad is as rich and as powerful as mine, sometimes people forget who you actually are, if that makes sense? All they see is the suit and the pound signs. That’s why I try and dress down and I like to wear the swimming centre uniform. I don’t like to take myself too seriously. I like to base my office there, but there is a little bit of pressure from the board to move me into a more central location. They keep telling me that I need to act ‘more appropriately’. You know the Silver Group doesn’t just own swimming centres, we own shops, theme parks, hotels and the list goes on. My dad was a busy man. So although the swimming centre is my pet project, the board has given me the task of turning around the hotel group too. So I’ve been looking at the hotel chain at the moment. I tend to take a notebook around with me everywhere to see what areas I can improve.”
Sophie’s ears latched onto the term ‘hotel’. This was her chance to softly pitch Clarks' services. She needed to be subtle. Gentle in her approach. Not the hard sell.
“Clarks has actually helped quite a few conglomerates in similar positions. We’ve helped revitalise brands. If you wanted, I could spend a little bit of time with the team to generate a few ideas and see if we could assist you. Only if you wanted us to, of course. I don’t want to be that type of girl who sees pound signs whenever I see you. I kind of like you in your blue shorts.”
Matthew laughed. “I don’t know.” He paused. Sophie understood; there was something more going on here. Their relationship was getting complicated. She saw him so regularly at the pool, was one of his clients essentially, and they were also building a friendship. “What’s your idea for the swimming centres?”
“We’re working on a few different approaches.” She laughed because as she looked at him sitting there, ideas whirred in her brain. For the briefest of moments an image flashed through her mind of Matthew in his swimming trunks. She looked at the carpet. Hadn’t she already steadied her heady thoughts? Then another image of Matthew, without swimming trunks, flew into her thoughts.
She
blanked her expression, struggling not to gasp. She swallowed. She couldn’t reveal her dreamy thought of him being naked in a swimming pool.
She’d change the subject, get her head together. Stay professional. “I’m really sorry to have to ask about the hotel chain – it seems to be all you talk about at the moment. It’s stressing you out.” She bit down on her lip, hoping he’d take the hint and change the subject.
“Yeah, a little. But that’s the name of the game.” He shrugged and straightened the collar of his polo t-shirt. His whole demeanour changed and his shoulders shifted back. “So tell me, Miss Smart, what's your latest campaign idea for the Silver account?” His face became as readable as stone; his gaze was blank. It must be a business trick he’d learnt somewhere, perhaps why the Silvers were multimillionaires.
She flashed her most winsome smile, although she swore in her mind. There were a few ideas that her team had come up with. She wasn’t one hundred percent happy. With a little bit more time thinking, dreaming, they’d get there….
She met his stare with confidence. She grinned, that was another advertising trick she’d learnt – fake it, until you make it.
“I’d rather do a formal pitch with a full art presentation and everything.”
Matthew remained perched on the edge of her desk. “Nah. Just shoot. Tell me what you’ve got.” His gaze still locked with hers. “Like I said, I want to be involved every step of the way. I want to know every idea your team comes up with, just in case you discard it and I love it.”
“Come this way,” she said, her mind whirring fast. Could she do this? Could she come up with a spur of the moment idea on the spot? She knew the team was close. But were they that close?
Playing for time Sophie led Matthew to the white board in the ‘think tank’ space. Her fingers tightened around a blue marker pen as she wrote large capital letters on the whiteboard reading: DINKYs.
“Double Income No Kids Yet. That’s who we’re targeting,” Sophie explained. “Since we’re in the recession, these young professionals still have deep pockets, while everyone else has had to tighten their belts.”
“That seems reasonable….” He followed her into the area and sat down in one of the brightly upholstered sofas, facing the whiteboard. He looked expectantly.
“We know you wanted to use real people and not animation.”
“That’s right.”
“What sells is risqué.”
“Fair enough.”
“We know you like challenges too.”
“Indeed I do,” he said.
Ideas were shooting through her brain. Again, the image of Matthew racing round the pool without swimming trunks, stormed her thoughts. “Have you ever been skinny dipping?” she tried.
“Sorry?”
Excitement funnelled through her veins, she was on the brink of an idea. He had suggested wanting to hear all ideas. He might like this one. “The idea is ‘Skinny Dipping’. Dare to get skinny by ‘dipping’. Since you like challenges, this idea will become the Silver Swimming Centre challenge. It’ll be a competition, using a dare to encourage people to increase their fitness by getting in the water.” She spoke very quickly. “This is only one of the ideas. Of course the rest of our creative team has loads of other creative genius ideas.”
He nodded his head. “Hmmm…..”
“So imagine a girl on the beach. The last frame of the commercial is where a girl throws her bikini top at the camera. Of course we don’t have nudity in the shot and instead a shadow runs into the water. It’s not exactly X-rated and the public won’t object.’”
Matthew’s expression remained deadpan. “You ever skinny dipped before?” He didn’t even blink.
“Pardon?” A quiver coursed through her and she folded her hands.
“Well you did ask me.”
“That’s true,” she said.
“Have you ever taken your kit off? Skinny dipped?”
She bit her lip. “Um…,” she whispered, hoping he didn’t hate the idea. She frowned. “I didn’t expect that reaction to be honest.”
He tilted his head. “I see.” He nodded. “A bit of a prude?”
Sophie gave a shaky laugh. “I’m not a prude. I’m just learning to swim, remember? And I was kind of hoping for other feedback: a slight curve of your lips we sometimes call a smile. Gushing, maybe?” She exhaled.
“Well, I guess I’m enjoying making you suffer.”
She closed her eyes, only for a moment. “You hate it.” She ran her hands through her long brown hair. This was a disaster.
“I love it.” He grinned.
“You love it!” Sophie clapped her hands in excitement. “You scared the hell out of me. You had me a bit worried. I think it’s one of my best ideas.”
“But as to my instant reaction.” He shot her a sidelong glance. “I wanted to find out whether you had skinny dipped. I’m assuming not?”
“I’m the girl who’s taking swimming lessons and you’re asking me whether I’ve skinny dipped?” She arched her eyebrows questioningly. “I told you, so now you tell me.”
Sophie noticed his lips twitching. He was definitely flirting with her.
“I didn’t notice any photos of anyone on your desk?” he said, evading her question. “No pictures of family… surprising for daddy’s little girl. I would have thought there’d at least be a picture of him here.”
“Nope, no picture of Dad.”
“Nothing of Mum?”
“Nope.”
“You’re not a photo type of girl then, are you, because there’s nothing of your boyfriend?” Matthew looked down at her hand, examined it for a moment. “Boyfriend is correct, isn't it? You’re not married are you? Or maybe you swing the other way? I mean, it’s okay whatever your situation is but when it comes to you, I have been known to miss important facts,” he grinned, “like you not being able to swim while working on my own ‘learn to swim’ campaign.”
Sophie shot him a glance. “No, no pictures.”
“No pictures because….”
“Long story. I broke up with someone a little while ago. A man.” She caught Matthew’s expression and laughed. “I can’t believe that I’m clarifying my sexuality which is really quite irrelevant.”
He howled with laughter. “You never know these days.”
“I really don’t know whether that’s a compliment or not.”
“You’re been quite elusive when it comes to some facts.”
She stared at him. “You’ve been quite evasive when it comes to getting into contact.”
“Fair enough.” His gaze twinkled. “So about the boyfriend, what happened?”
“He didn’t like my promotion at Clarks… apparently I work too hard.”
“You do seem to work too hard, considering we’re the only ones here and you're planning to take more work home. You want to win a chocolate account do you?”
“Yes. Barney’s Chocolate Bars.” A thought occurred to her; why was she telling him all this? Just because he’d asked, it didn’t mean she had to reveal anything about her private life. Yet she knew nothing about him.
“So that was a real explanation about all those chocolate wrappers in your Mary Poppins bag.”
She swivelled to face him directly. “I had to taste each bar. It’s all part of the job.”
“That must have been quite a task for you. Easier than swimming?” Matthew raised an eyebrow. “So how long has your boyfriend been out of the picture?”
“That’s a little tricky – half my stuff is still at his house. But he is seeing someone else.” Sophie's stomach suddenly tied itself in knots. “I ran into him two days after I’d moved out. I was out buying the dreaded swimsuit and he was with someone else. Possibly an overlap there.”
“Oh,” he murmured. “That sucks.”
“It's fine. I mean, it’s not fine. You know what I mean. It wasn’t meant to be. My trust in the male population isn’t high at the moment.”
br /> “I understand.”
Sophie’s heart beat rapidly. She looked down at her hands as they twisted in front of her. She threw a glance back in his direction. “What about you? What’s your story now that I’ve revealed all my deep dark secrets?”
He gave a small laugh. “I’m single, I suppose. But my heart is kind of attached.”
“Really? That sounds complicated. Why did you want the surfing wallet so much, was it about that?”
“I suppose I’ll have to tell you at some stage. The surf wallet, your surf wallet, as funny as it sounds, it was the exact same wallet that my girlfriend, Rebecca, had when she was fifteen. When I saw yours the memory really took me back and I couldn’t help but think of her. That’s why I wanted the wallet. My girlfriend – fiancée really – Rebecca... she died about eighteen months ago. It was a boating accident.”
Sophie paled. “Oh, God. I’m so sorry.”
“She would have liked you,” he said, after a while.
“Oh,” Sophie said awkwardly.
“We’d been together for so long, since high school, that the oddest thing is that every place I go has a memory of her. Whether it’s something she did or something she said. The memories used to flood back in waves. I was literally afraid to go anywhere because a memory would appear. A memory of being together at the pool, or racing around the supermarket, or the time I taught her how to drive. Every place would stir reminders and I’d be back with her. It hurt so much knowing she’d never come back and there was nothing I could do about it.”
Sophie swallowed. “I can't imagine how hard it must be.”
“I was so angry when she died. How could she leave me? We were supposed to be together, forever. And I know it wasn’t her fault, but she’d gone somewhere I couldn’t follow. So, I decided to do different things so I wouldn’t reminisce anymore. That’s when everything changed….”
She gave him a curious look. “How so?”
“Just small things. I started driving different routes, even if it was an hour out of my way, because I remembered all the roads to her house. I sold my car. Got rid of the bed linen and bought masculine black silk sheets. I was trying to be manlier since I didn’t have to compromise anymore.” He chuckled. “I quit swimming. I moved house.” He paused. “I now go to different coffee shops and restaurants. But doing things differently doesn’t change the fact that she’s not around, that she’s gone. I finally realised that I couldn’t forget her, couldn’t just change everything in my life and erase her memory.”
“Definitely.”
“I couldn’t avoid some things forever, like swimming – and if she ever found out I’d quit swimming she’d be so angry at me. So, I got back in the water, for her really. And I started coaching again. To be honest I only started coaching again when I met you. She’d have been mad at me if I hadn't tried to help.” Matthew grabbed Sophie’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Electricity pulsed between them. “Thanks to you, I met someone who made me think getting in the water was still important.”
Sophie now knew why, despite having hotels to worry about, Matthew had set up his headquarters at the Highbury pool. It was for Rebecca.
“I’m mad at myself for trying to forget her. That’s why I wanted your wallet. I would have paid thousands of pounds for it because of all the memories the wallet brought back for me. I was so stupid trying to forget her, because now when I close my eyes I can’t really remember how her voice sounded or how tall she was. My memory’s fading, and I feel so stupid for trying to forget her when I should have been trying to hold onto the small part I had left.”
“You must miss her so much.”
“I do, I did. I thought she would be mad at me for living normally and being happy, but then I realised she’d want me to be happy.”
“Of course she would.”
“I try not to think about her, but I guess moving on will come in time. It wasn’t meant to be.”
“I'm sorry.” Sophie's mind was whirling. “It’s okay. You’ll be alright in time.”
“So, I’m in this strange position, single and out of the game for a long, long time. I’m not sure if I’m actually ready to dive back in yet. I don’t know.” He shoved his hands in his pockets.
“The heart’s complicated.”
“Miss Smart, I have a proposition for you.”
“The last time you had a proposition for me, you wanted my wallet. Then you offered me swimming lessons. I’m not sure if I want to hear it.”
“Come on. Take a risk on me. Trust me.”
Sophie blushed as he gazed at her intently. “Why don’t we go for a drink? Let's get you out of this office. Forget about things we can’t control. I need to dig myself out of self-pity. Besides, I think it's time for you to further develop your work-life balance, because quite frankly, there’s no one else here. Why should you be here? And after this chat, I feel like getting really drunk.”
She paused for a moment. Assessed him. He was a client after all. “Okay,” she said slowly. “Sure, it’ll be fun.” Her knees felt all wobbly, like they weren’t her own, and she wondered if he'd call friends to join them or whether it would just be the two of them.
Almost as if he'd read her mind, he spoke, “I have a few friends from the pool. They’re always up for a drink or two.”
Sophie didn't know whether to feel relieved or put out. They wouldn’t be going together, alone. “I could call my flat mate Carol and my best friend Mickey.”
With a grin and a gesture, Matthew indicated the way out of the office.
Chapter 10