‘Jed? I want to speak to you…I must speak to you…’ Cryssie said, and hearing her voice made him smile.
‘Of course…When?’
‘Now—tonight. I need to speak to you…in private.’ There was a pause. ‘It’s important.’
He grinned to himself. Of course it was!
‘I’ll pick you up in about forty minutes.’ He hesitated, thinking quickly. ‘There’s a country pub I know. Where we won’t be disturbed,’ he added.
Cryssie’s knees trembled as she put down the receiver. How was he going to take this! She knew very well that he didn’t like having his plans overturned but—well, for once in his life he was going to have to accept it. And what about her? she asked herself, her shoulders drooping for a second. Was she really letting this opportunity slip away for ever? And—much, much more vital—could she close the door on a relationship that she had never dreamed would ever come her way? Every time they had been close, and he had touched her, had left an indelible mark on her consciousness, her memory. She swallowed hard on the lump in her throat.
She made her excuses to Polly, who glanced at her anxiously.
‘Are you going to see Jed?’ she asked.
‘Umm…yes, I think so,’ Cryssie replied vaguely, hating the way she was always having to be evasive to Polly—and to everyone else. Well, that was all going to stop! If she could gather up all her strength to face her employer with the unpleasant facts, she might be able to return to the straightforward and uncomplicated life she’d lived before she’d met him.
Presently, as they drove into the countryside, he glanced across at her. ‘I’m very flattered that you seem so anxious to see me, Cryssie,’ he said. ‘I hope you’ve been doing a lot of thinking!’
Cryssie closed her eyes for a minute, to stop the tears she felt from actually materialising. And why was she about to cry? she asked herself. Was it for Jed, or Milo, or Polly…or for herself? She was honest enough to admit that this time her tears were purely selfish.
Jed drew up outside a small pub almost at the end of a narrow country road. It was well-lit and inviting, and as he went in before her Cryssie wished that time would stop, and that there wouldn’t be any need for her to inform him of the drastic step she was about to take. Not just because she knew he would be absolutely furious, but because she was practically being ripped to pieces by her divided loyalties. To her colleagues, to her family, but mostly to him!
He found a quiet corner table for them in the lounge bar, and looked down at her curiously as he pulled out a chair for her to sit down. ‘Would you like a glass of champagne?’ He smiled at her mischievously. ‘I hope this is to be a celebration!’
She didn’t look up. ‘You choose,’ she said dully, and he turned at once to go to the bar.
Presently he returned, with a glass of champagne for her and an orange juice for him. Cryssie immediately took a gulp of her drink before glancing up and looking at him for the first time. Those intense windows of his soul had their usual impact, and she blurted it out before losing her will-power. ‘I cannot work for you, Jed. Nor marry you. I’m sorry. Something has happened which makes it impossible. It’s over between us. Please don’t say anything to make me change my mind. Please!’
Now the tears began to flow, and he let her weep silently for several seconds. ‘You will give me the privilege of an explanation, I hope, Cryssie?’ he said flatly.
Taking another clean tissue from her bag, she dabbed at her eyes and nose, realising that she must look a complete mess. She hadn’t even put a comb through her hair since she’d come home from work. She looked up, her eyes red and swimming, and suddenly the words poured out while he listened.
‘A few days ago,’ she began, ‘Dave and Joe—two of the senior members of staff—called us all together with a serious proposal. They want to start a co-operative and for us to continue trading under another name—“New Hydebound”. Dave’s got a relative who’ll let us use a restored barn on his land where we can set everything up. There’s good dry storage space for supplies, and a sort of office space for the computers.’ She paused to drink some more wine before adding quickly, ‘And they seem to have done their homework. They’re getting a loan from the bank and putting up their houses as collateral.’
She paused, biting her lip until it hurt. ‘And I’m forced to go with them—because it would be almost impossible without Rose and me. Between us we’ve always done the cataloguing, ordering, invoicing—all the technical stuff a newcomer would take months to grasp. And the accounts have always been my job.’ She didn’t dare look him in the eye. ‘So how could I say, well, you all carry on, because I’ve got a super job lined up with the Hunter group—I don’t need New Hydebound?’ She shook her head helplessly. ‘If I did that, the whole idea would almost certainly stall.’ She gulped, closing her eyes briefly. ‘As for your other…offer—well, that’s irrelevant now, isn’t it? I’ve simply got to throw my lot in with this idea, help to make it work.’