Page 113 of Duplicity

Elaine says something, and Marlowe nods effusively and squeezes her arm before finally, finally turning towards my office. I scoot my chair back in a panic and go to greet her, but I’m not sure what to do with my arms. I shove my hands in my pockets, finding my fidget toy.

We took a daytime flight home on my jet a couple of days ago, having decided together that it would be less exhausting for Tabs than a red-eye. Look at us making joint parenting decisions! It was a great call, affording the three of us some quality time together and giving Tabby one hell of a kick. I insisted Marlowe take yesterday off to get her and Tabby back on London time. I, too, took a day for myself and spent most of it in the gym. Being in the office without Marlowe is no fun at all.

‘Hi,’ she says from the doorway. She looks exactly like she always looks at work—glossy and gorgeous and like every CEO’s wet dream—and not at all like how she’s looked this past week. I feel extremely conflicted. On the one hand, I could stare at Work Marlowe all day long. On the other, I now know that she uses her workplace appearance as a type of armour, shielding the real her.

I had a week with Real Marlowe, all messy buns and pale-faced exhaustion and soft, cheap clothing. I know how it feels to be with her in a way that’s raw and vulnerable and human, and I don’t know if I’m ready for us to be Work Barbie and Work Ken again. I really don’t.

‘Hey.’ I stop a few paces in front of her. ‘You look, um, rested. How’s Tabs?’

Her lovely face softens at the mention of her little girl. ‘She’s pretty good. Still talking about the jet.’ She smiles.

‘It must have been hard leaving her this morning.’

‘Yes and no. It’s always hard leaving her, but I felt better about walking away this morning than I would have done if she hadn’t had the op. Her sats say it all. The valve is working like a dream. Now she just needs to focus on recovering her overall health and gradually upping her fitness levels.’

It makes sense. Marlowe told me that Tabby loves sports but that she’s had to play it very safe on the exertion front over the past year or so, as her old valve came under more and more strain. Even for an otherwise healthy little girl, I guess it’ll be a journey to rebuild her cardio fitness.

‘So you won’t be signing her up for the five different dance classes she was talking about on the flight?’

She laugh-groans. ‘Not just yet. At least we still have a few weeks before term starts. God help us.’

‘Is her school good for extra-curricular stuff?’ I ask as casually as I can.

‘Please. It’s a standard state primary, so no. I’ll have to look at getting her a couple of classes elsewhere—on the weekends, maybe.’

I have some thoughts about that. I have some ideas that involve Tabs going to a gorgeous private school with tons of pastoral care and endless extra-curricular activities to choose from, but I won’t play that card just yet. I can’t imagine Marlowe would appreciate thatat all.

‘Sounds sensible,’ I say noncommittally. ‘Come and have a seat. There are a couple of things I want to put in the diary.’

She visibly springs into professional mode. ‘Of course. Should I get my notebook?’

‘No, you’re good.’

We take a seat on the sofa that runs along one side of my office. I’ve fucked Marls on it plenty of times, and the air feelsfull of all those sexy little ghosts. She crosses her legs elegantly and I make a herculean effort not to watch.

‘So the first item,’ I say crisply, ‘is that I want to see Tabs again. When can we make it happen?’

She blinks in surprise. ‘Oh—I don’t?—’

I push on. ‘I had an idea. Hear me out. Gabe and Athena are heading up to my parents’ place this weekend. I was wondering if you guys fancied joining. I thought we could take Friday off and head up early—it might be nice to get out of London and give the little invalid some fresh air?’

‘Oh, wow.’ She looks taken aback. ‘I don’t know—wouldn’t we be in the way?’

‘Absolutely not. My parents should havethe more the merriertattooed across their foreheads. I can’t promise it’ll be relaxing, but it’ll definitely be fun. They love a full house.’

She worries at her lower lip. ‘What if they figure out that I work for Seraph? If Athena barely survived that scandal, I definitely couldn’t.’

I laugh. Athena got outed in front of my family by a total twat at a gala dinner. It was horrific, but my parents got over themselves eventually. ‘Sweetheart, you look like a fucking chorister. You’re the most wholesome woman I’ve ever seen. There’s no way on earth they’d ever, ever suspect. Besides, there’s no funny business going on here, is there?’Not anymore.

‘I suppose you’re right. But they really wouldn’t mind?’

‘Quite the opposite. They’d be thrilled to bits. We’ll tell them the truth—you’re my assistant and Athena’s friend and you and Tabs could do with a bit of R&R. They know about you already—they know I was in the US with you. It’ll do you both good. There’s a pool and tennis courts, and lovely woods for a stroll… it would be a good place for Tabs to find her feet again, physically speaking.’

I’m pitching it as a casual weekend in the countryside, but there’s more to it than that. There’s the fact of getting time with Marlowe and Tabby for an entire weekend, obviously, but there’s also the matter of showing them that I don’t come in a vacuum. I’m part of a warm, noisy and incredibly influential family who look after their own. If they were to become part of my family at some point, they’d never want for anything again.

It’s not a case of flaunting our wealth but of painting a picture of a life where everything feels easy, where nobody suffers from a lack of means, where anything is possible. I’m aware that my parents’ pad will seem like Disneyland to Tabs, and I’m not trying to manipulate the situation. I’m really not. If Marlowe, for whatever reason, decides to walk away from this, from me, I don’t want to break an eight-year-old’s heart by giving her a glimpse of all she might have had.

But Idowant to show them both that all the magic, the abundance, that we spoke about in the hospital aren’t one-off “treats”. They’re not flukes.

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