The Christmas Party

  ‘Come and sit with me, Tyler,’ she said, patting the cushion next to her.

  He shook his head and began pacing back and forth across the Chinese rug. ‘Would you mind telling me what that was all about?’

  ‘The first I heard about it was in the car on the way here,’ Melissa told him in measured tones.

  ‘Lance hadn’t given me one inkling that this was coming,’ Tyler fumed. ‘I’m supposed to be his right-hand man.’

  ‘He hadn’t mentioned anything to me either, before tonight.’

  ‘Lance talks to you about everything.’

  ‘Not this. Bud Harman had only spoken to him today. This morning, I think. You know what it’s like at Fossil. These harebrained projects are plucked out of thin air and vanish again just as quickly. If I’d had any information, of course I would have told you instantly.’

  Tyler tutted his displeasure again. She was normally so eager to please him. The thread that bound them together was as insubstantial as gossamer, she knew that, and she never wanted to do anything to risk severing their tenuous connection. Tonight, she couldn’t care less. She’d done her very best for Tyler and it was never enough. She just felt old and drained.

  ‘I’ll have this out with him,’ Tyler said. ‘In the morning. When he’s sober. I’ve seen him bad before, but I’ve never seen him so far gone.’

  ‘Me neither.’ She was worn out by Lance’s drinking too. All the signs were that it was simply getting worse and worse as the years went by. Where would it all end?

  ‘So, what was it that you did want to tell me?’

  Melissa took a deep, shuddering breath. ‘We’re going back to the States,’ she said. It was only voicing it out loud that actually made it seem real. ‘To Washington DC. On Christmas Day.’

  ‘Christ,’ Tyler spat. ‘Why don’t I know about this either?’

  ‘Lance is going to be heading up the SACKED project from there. It doesn’t just affect the UK; Lance is going to be in charge of the global roll-out.’

  ‘God help us.’

  ‘What can I do?’ Melissa asked. ‘I’m leaving, Tyler. This … us … it will all be over.’

  ‘What’s my role in the project going to be?’ He paced some more. It was clear that he hadn’t fully understood what she’d said. ‘Who’s going to be running Fossil in Lance’s absence? Will it be me? It better bloody had be. Has he said anything about that?’

  ‘No. He hasn’t. But I can tell you that’s there’s going to be a new international director.’

  Tyler’s head snapped up. ‘Where does he fit in? I’m assuming he’ll be working for me, so why haven’t I been consulted on this?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ She fiddled with one of her manicured nails. ‘But I do know he’s supposed to be here tonight.’

  ‘Here?’ Tyler looked perplexed. ‘So why haven’t I met him?’

  ‘Perhaps the snow has delayed him.’

  ‘Bloody hell.’ Tyler snatched up the poker and stabbed angrily at the coals in the fireplace. Sparks flew up the chimney. One spat on to the Chinese rug and smouldered. Neither of them moved, and eventually it burned itself out. ‘This is all I need. I’m being kept out of the loop on everything. Why? Lance normally leans on me.’

  ‘He must have his reasons.’

  ‘Well I wish I knew what they were.’

  He was in danger of wearing a track in the rug.

  ‘I’m leaving, Tyler,’ Melissa stressed. ‘I’m going back to America the day after tomorrow. Can we talk about this? What am I to do?’

  He switched his attention back to her. Then he shrugged. ‘What can we do? This has been great, Melissa. While it lasted. But we both knew it had to end sometime.’

  The words almost wouldn’t come, but she knew she had to say this. ‘I don’t have to go.’ Melissa searched her lover’s face. ‘I could stay here.’

  ‘And do what?’ He jammed his hands in the pockets of his dinner jacket, his handsome face dark in the firelight. ‘You need Lance. He needs you.’

  ‘I could leave him,’ she ventured. It was time to put her cards on the table. ‘I could leave him and stay here with you.’

  Tyler recoiled, which told her all she needed to know.

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

  ‘Is it?’ She didn’t want to beg, but she had to state her case. Had she really been nothing more than a fling for Tyler Benson? Did he have any feelings for her other than lust? She had to know once and for all. ‘I’m good for you, Tyler. I know what it takes to be the partner of a man who lives for the company. Together we’d make a great team.’

  He stared at her agog, which made her feel unsure of her footing.

  ‘I was happy to continue as we were, but this announcement of Lance’s has changed things. It’s made me realise how much you mean to me.’ Her mouth was going dry. There was a drink on the table next to her. She didn’t know whose it was or what it was, but she downed it nevertheless. It was whisky and it burned her throat as she swallowed it.

  Now there was no going back. Tyler had to know how she felt. There may not be another chance. ‘We’re good together. You said yourself that Kirsten doesn’t understand the oil business. I do. I know what it takes to stay at your level. With me behind you, the sky’s the limit. Leave her. Break free, Tyler. You don’t love your wife any more.’

  ‘I do love her,’ he protested. ‘You don’t know what I had to do to win Kirsten. I can’t let her go.’

  ‘Then why do we spend afternoons in hotels together?’ She glanced at the door, towards where the couple had just left. The girl had made it clear that she was well acquainted with Tyler, and Melissa wondered how far that went too. ‘It looks as if I might not be the only one to have enjoyed your attentions. Is that what you think love is?’

  Tyler might think she was easily fooled, but he was a handsome man with power and she knew only too well where that could lead. There were always women who’d find that an attractive combination.

  ‘This is over, Melissa. It has to be.’

  ‘We could meet up if you come to Washington on business.’

  He was non-committal. ‘I’m rarely in the States these days.’

  ‘Perhaps I could come back to London for weekends,’ she suggested. Even to her own ears, she was sounding desperate.

  ‘You know that’s not possible. Lance needs you by his side.’

  ‘Maybe that’s why I feel like his nanny and not his wife.’

  Finally Tyler came and sat next to her. He took her hands in his. Even this small contact with him made her long for him. She wanted to be in his arms again, to receive whatever crumb of comfort he had to offer.

  ‘We’ve had a great time, Melissa,’ he said softly. ‘It’s been fun.’

  Fun. Was that all she meant to him? She hoped, against the odds, that it had been more.

  ‘But now it has to end.’ He moved away from her and lounged on the cushions at the other end of the sofa. ‘You and Lance will have a blast in Washington. You’ll love it.’

  All Melissa could see was an endless round of corporate parties, Lance getting drunk at each and every one. Her taking him home, undressing him, cleaning up after him. Her life would be just the same as it was now. Except without Tyler.

  ‘I don’t love him,’ she said, voicing that for the first time too. ‘I haven’t for a long time.’

  Tyler’s face said that that wasn’t his problem.

  ‘What am I to do?’ Melissa could feel a deep panic gripping her. She was past her first flush of youth, but not old enough to be on the scrapheap. Was it wrong to still want someone who loved her?

  Yet she’d seen Tyler looking at his young assistant, Louise. There was lust in his eyes. Had she ever really seen that when he looked at her? She didn’t think so. The pain of realisation made her chest tight.

  He might not admit it, but even Kirsten’s days were numbered. Men like Tyler Benson always wanted the latest model, whether it was computers, cars or companions.

  ?
??Go back to Lance,’ he said flatly. ‘There was never going to be a future for us. Surely you realised that?’

  She did now.

  ‘Take him home, Melissa. Put him to bed. And, on Christmas Day, fly to Washington. What else can you do?’

  So that was it.

  ‘I look at you and Kirsten,’ she said, ‘and I see how Lance and I used to be. Don’t turn into him, Tyler. It’s not too late to change.’

  ‘I’m going to,’ he admitted. ‘My new year’s resolution is to look after Kirsten more. I’ve had a lot on this year and I’ve neglected her. I’m going to make a renewed effort. You may not think so, but our marriage is strong. Kirsten would never look at another man.’ His expression said that he thought less of Melissa because she, foolishly, had. ‘And I do love her.’

  ‘Then you need to show her. Properly.’ Melissa looked at him. He might protest his love for his wife, but he was just paying lip service to the notion of love and soon it wouldn’t be enough for Kirsten to hang on to. She knew that only too well. ‘If you don’t turn things around, she’ll end up like me, Tyler. Bitter, empty and despising her husband.’

  ‘I should be getting back to the party, before I’m missed,’ Tyler said.

  He stood up, surreptitiously glancing at his watch, and she knew she’d been dismissed. After their time together, the clandestine afternoons spent blissfully in his arms, the deliciously secretive texts, this was how it was all to end.

  ‘I’ve loved you, Tyler,’ she said. ‘I want you to know that.’

  She stood too and kissed him, her lips, probably for the very last time, lingering on his cheek. She’d wanted someone to love her, to care for her, to make her his world. That was never going to be Tyler Benson. He was just like Lance. He’d always put himself and the company first. She should have known that.

  ‘You’d never tell Lance about us?’ he said, slightly nervously. ‘It wouldn’t do anyone any good.’

  Least of all you, Tyler Benson, she thought. Melissa sighed. ‘No, Tyler. I won’t tell him.’

  Her back was rigid with the effort of trying not to cry as she unlocked the library door. The precaution that hadn’t been necessary at all. And, with as much dignity as she could muster, she left.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  I look around at my colleagues in dismay. The rate at which they’re downing Jägerbombs is quite alarming. If only the company would stop dishing out all this free alcohol then they could save a dozen jobs. Mind you, I can’t talk. I was only going to have a couple of drinks tonight, just to be sociable, but I’m filling my boots with free champagne while it’s going. It could very well be my last chance.

  The Christmas party is now starting to look like a bad night in the Wild West. All sense of decorum has been ditched and the dance floor is full of demented revellers. Karen is still going strong, though I have no idea how. That girl knows how to party. And some.

  She seems, thankfully, to have abandoned all thought of getting off with Josh Wallace and currently has her legs wrapped round the waist of Ted Turner from Alternative Fuels, a man who wouldn’t normally say boo to a goose. She’s showing her knickers to the world. And I suppose I’m just grateful that she’s actually wearing any. He’s currently swinging her upside-down and she’s gathering the remnants of party poppers from the floor with her long blonde hair. I’m feeling quite sick just watching her; I fear there will be many regrets in the morning. Part of me wants to move in and stop her, but I’m sure she wouldn’t thank me for it. I’m hoping she’ll forgive Josh for having paid more attention to me than her; I don’t want to make an enemy of her.

  Josh and I are standing on the sidelines, watching.

  ‘Want to join the bun fight?’ he asks.

  ‘I’m not sure I do,’ I admit. ‘This is all a bit frenzied for me. At this time of night, I’m normally tucked up on the sofa in my jim-jams watching News at Ten with my parents. Some nights I even find that too exciting.’

  ‘We should make an effort.’

  ‘I guess so.’ I throw down the rest of my champagne. Josh holds out his hand and takes me on to the dance floor.

  ‘I should stand on the edge,’ he says. ‘No one should be allowed to see me dance.’

  ‘They’re all too drunk to notice,’ I remind him.

  The band are in full flow with ‘Fairytale of New York’. The staff sing along raucously and we inch our way into the centre of the floor, which is pulsating with colour. Arms and legs are flying everywhere with a glorious lack of co-ordination. It’s only a minute before I’m biffed by someone I recognise from Specialised Products.

  Josh pulls me into his arms in a protective way. It’s a casual movement, but I notice how my heart starts to race. Hmm. Then the tempo changes. He holds me tightly as we sway around, hardly moving to ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’. It’s an intimate moment amid the madness, but even that doesn’t last. A second later, Karen bounces into the woman next to Josh and then ricochets against me.

  One of her false eyelashes is flapping loose and her lipstick is smeared round her mouth. Strands of pink, yellow and blue streamers litter her hair.

  She pushes her face close to Josh’s and shouts, ‘Bloody great party, eh?’

  ‘Great,’ he agrees with slightly less enthusiasm.

  ‘Dance with me,’ she demands.

  ‘Louise and I were just going to sit down,’ he answers. ‘Take the weight off our feet. We haven’t got your admirable stamina. Maybe later.’

  ‘I won’t forget,’ she says, wagging a finger in his general direction. Then she launches herself at Ted Turner again.

  ‘Let’s get out of here while the going’s good,’ he whispers in my ear. ‘We can find somewhere quiet to put our feet up for half an hour.’

  He’s still holding my hand as we weave our way through the dancers and set off down the corridors of the main house in search of sanctuary. As we go, I see the chairman’s wife heading towards us, her face as white as a sheet. A few metres behind her is Tyler Benson, expression grim. I wonder what’s wrong now.

  ‘Quick!’ I tug Josh into an alcove and we press close together as they both pass without seeing us.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ he whispers.

  ‘I don’t know why, but I just didn’t want to bump into Tyler.’ If he sees us heading away from the party together, he’ll only make something of it, and that’s the very last thing I want. ‘He had a face like thunder.’

  ‘Tyler likes to be in control,’ Josh says. ‘Something tells me he isn’t at the moment.’

  When we’re sure they’ve gone, we emerge again. In the corridor we encounter a waiter and Josh stops him. ‘Can we get some coffee served somewhere quiet?’ He slips the man a tenner.

  ‘Go into the library, sir.’ The waiter indicates a huge door just down the corridor behind us. If I’m not mistaken, that’s where Melissa Harvey and Tyler Benson just emerged from. ‘I’ll bring it to you in five minutes.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  So we head to the library. Josh opens the door for me and together we step inside.

  ‘Wow.’ I can’t help but gasp. ‘This place is fantastic.’ As befitting a stately home, I guess, it’s an incredible library, all dark wood and luxurious furnishings. This has been decked out for Christmas too and there’s a large tree, trimmed in red, at one end. The lights twinkle invitingly. Baskets of poinsettia are dotted about, adding a festive splash of colour. Very sumptuous and tasteful. Clearly someone with a bit more festive restraint than my mum has done this. Self-consciously, I snap a few pics on my mobile for her.

  Totally in awe, I wander along the mahogany shelving, running my fingers enviously across the endless rows of leather-bound books. It makes the little stack of paperbacks on my bedside table look slightly inadequate. ‘I’ve never been in anywhere like this before.’

  ‘Amazing, isn’t it?’

  ‘How can one family have all this?’ I turn back to Josh. ‘Would you fancy living somewhere like this?’


  ‘I hope to one day. Well, maybe not quite so palatial. I have ambitions, Louise. I want to have a big house, my own land, ponies for the kids. That kind of thing.’

  ‘At the moment, I’d just settle for a place of my own where I could pay the bills without going overdrawn.’

  It seems strange to be alone in this majestic room with Josh, but I’m a bit tipsy and feeling slightly reckless. Besides, he’s funny, handsome and ambitious. I haven’t met anyone like him in a long time. On the very rare occasions I have, in the past, been dragged out with my friends to nightclubs, all the men there seem to be losers. Who wants a bloke that you can meet in a nightclub? Most of my mates pick up random men on the internet, but they don’t seem to be without their issues either. Most of them are either weird and looking for casual sex, or married and looking for casual sex. Even I can see that Josh Wallace is quite a catch.

  The lights are turned off in here, but there’s a warm glow from the roaring fire and the Christmas-tree lights. Along the mantelpiece there’s a garland of holly entwined with more poinsettia flowers. These ones are silk though, not real. Mum would definitely approve.

  I flop into the cushions of the squishy sofa with a sigh of relief and kick off my shoes.

  ‘Oh, this is bliss.’ I rub some feeling back into my toes on the plush rug.

  Josh goes to stoke the fire, and at the same time there’s a knock at the door.

  ‘Come in,’ Josh says, and I giggle.

  ‘You make it sound like it is your house,’ I whisper, still feeling as if I have to speak in hushed tones.

  ‘Just practising,’ he says.

  The waiter comes in and places the coffee down on the table. He nods to us before disappearing again.

  The coffee set is fine china and there’s a little plate of handmade chocolates for us. ‘How exciting.’

  ‘Shall I pour?’ Josh asks.

  ‘Thank you. White, no sugar, for me.’

  He crouches and carefully pours the coffee, his hand steady and confident.

  ‘This was a nice idea,’ I say. ‘Thanks.’