Page 19 of Faking It (and falling in love)

“She’s always so shy about this story, aren’t you?” said Alex, turning her head to look at Philippa, who felt as if she might vaporise on the spot. She kept having to remind herself that this wasn’t real. “I was talking to this bloke about what I do and if I’m honest, he was starting to behave a bit leery towards me.”

“Ugh,” said Alison. “I’d hoped those days were over, but clearly not. Poor you.”

“I was trying to work out how to extricate myself,” said Alex, “when suddenly an arm appeared around my shoulder fromPhilippa, who told everyone she was my girlfriend. That got rid of him pretty sharpish.” Philippa had recovered herself and was looking at Alex. “And now look at us.”

Alex turned to face Philippa, reached out her hand and stroked Philippa’s cheek. Philippa froze. She looked into Alex’s eyes, and the panic building inside her began to ease.

Philippa raised her own hand to rest on Alex’s for a moment before they resumed their positions.

Alison looked thrilled by their demonstration of affection, while Gerry was paying more attention to the arrival of the main courses.

Philippa had chosen a delicately presented beef wellington, perfectly laid out on a bed of greens surrounded by a red wine jus. She opted to admire her food rather than look at anyone else at that moment.

“Now then,” said Gerry. “We ought to get down to business, I suppose.”

“Yes,” said Philippa. “You said you had a proposal for me. I’m interested to hear more about it.”

“Well,” said Gerry. “As you know, the big finance firms tend to have staff support arrangements as part of their benefits packages. So we contract with a counselling provider, life insurance companies, and health insurance, too.”

Philippa nodded. He continued. “As part of those arrangements, we have legal support for those who need it, too. Now historically we’ve used big national firms for that, but I feel like we have a responsibility to do business with our neighbours wherever possible – you know, supporting the Brum economy.”

“That makes sense,” said Philippa.

“The contract with the firm that provides our family law services is ending soon, and I wondered whether Samfire and Partners would be interested in bidding to replace them. We’ve had an influx of younger staff, and I think we need a newapproach to this sort of thing. I obviously couldn’t guarantee you’d be successful, but before I go any further, I wanted to see if you’d be interested.”

Gerry picked up his knife and fork and began to dissect his seabass fillet.

Philippa took a deep breath, knowing that this could be a significant opportunity, especially given how many people worked for Gerry’s company. “Of course I’d be interested. I’d have to talk to the other partners, of course, but I can tell you now that I know this is a great opportunity to form a strategic partnership that could be beneficial to both us and you.” She fixed Gerry with a confident look, aware that this was what she was good at. She could feel Alex looking at her, but she knew she shouldn’t look back and break the spell.

“Good,” said Gerry. “I’m pleased to hear that. You’ve always struck me as very capable and strategic. I admire people with vision, and I can see that in you. It’s important to me that we support our staff, and while I know we’d need to work through the details, bringing in Samfire and Partners would give our teams the reassurance that we care about them. When our people went through difficult times, we’d know they’d be able to get a certain level of support through you that we’d paid for, and they might go on to have a longer relationship with your firm in the future.”

“Exactly,” said Philippa.

“We’d have to work out the financial details, of course.”

“Naturally,” said Philippa. “But count us in.”

“Excellent,” said Gerry, summoning the waiter to order another bottle of wine. “In that case, we have something to celebrate.”

Chapter Fifteen

“Wow,” said Alex, as she and Philippa climbed into the cab Gerry had insisted on ordering for them, unaware that they had no official plans to go home together.

“Wow, what?” Philippa shuffled across the seat to make room for Alex. She was working on the basis that they could just get the driver to take them to one home then the other.

“You’re bloody impressive, do you know that?”

“You’re drunk,” said Philippa with a wry smile.

“Perhaps I am, but that doesn’t negate my point.” Alex fastened her seatbelt and gave the driver her address. “You exuded such confidence and poise in that conversation. Given the size of his firm – it’s just possible I googled it – this could be a massive deal for you. And yet you stayed so cool and calm. I loved it!”

“Ha! Well, that is my job, after all. Calm and poised at all times, whether with one’s client, or facing the opposing side.” Philippa was flattered to have impressed Alex, who seemed to exude effortless cool at every opportunity, professional or otherwise.

“He asked you if you had the capacity to handle additional business, and you didn’t bat an eye. You said yes, without hesitation,” said Alex as the taxi sped down the A38 south of the city. “Do you have the capacity?”

“No!” replied Philippa, with a laugh. “But I’ll make sure I do. If I win this contract, I can bring in new staff.” She paused. “Really, he was asking ifIcould handle it.”

“And you can?” said Alex.

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