Page 56 of Behind Frenemy Lines

“Anyway, I’ve been thinking about Sanson,” he went on. “The relationship needs a refresh. The way it’s limited to you and Rosalind is a real risk to us. What if she moves on?”

Arthur’s lack of embarrassment took the wind out of my sails. He wasn’t speaking like a man who was conscious of having done anything wrong. I found myself scrabbling for the indignation that had borne me down the corridor.

“I agree we could do more to strengthen the Sanson relationship,” I said. I’d been trying for years to persuade Arthur to let me introduce colleagues in other practice areas to Sanson, with limited success. “I’m happy to get others involved. But I would have appreciated a heads-up before you spoke to Rosalind.”

Arthur nodded slowly. “I should have spoken to you about it.” He raised his eyes to mine. “But I haven’t been sure if you wanted to talk to me.”

I didn’t roll my eyes, but it took a conscious effort not to do it. “I would have liked you to talk to me aboutthis.”

“But not about anything personal?”

I didn’t know what to say to that. As I hesitated, Arthur’s lip curled, wry.

“I’ll be honest, Kriya,” he said. “These last few weeks have been challenging. I’ve tried to give you space, since that seemed to be what you wanted. But it hurt to find out you didn’t trust me enough to be honest about your relationship with Charles. I consider you a friend. It’s been tough realising that’s not how you see me.”

I recognised this self-pitying mood in Arthur. Since the divorce, he had a tendency to wallow. I was used to making the necessary sympathetic noises about Arthur’s woes, but I’d never been identified as the source of those woes before.

Well done, Kriya. You happy-happy rushed down the corridor to scold your boss. Now he’s turned it on you. What are you going to do?

“There’s nothing between me and Charles,” I said, then stopped.

It did sound like a lie, now. I could hear the ring of falsity in it. From the way Arthur was pursing his lips, I could see he heard it, too.

It wasn’t a lie, though. The spark of chemistry, a fake kissin the alcove of a hotel, even an entire wedding where we were pretending to be dating for one specific auntie’s benefit, didn’t amount to a relationship. And anyway, whatever was going on between me and Charles, it was none of Arthur’s business.

“But even if there was, are you surprised I might not want to tell you?” My palms were damp, my heart hammering against my ribs, but I held Arthur’s gaze. “What happened in Hong Kong did affect how I see you, Arthur. I don’t think it’s surprising if I don’t feel as comfortable sharing certain things as I might have before.”

Arthur was practically vibrating with coiled energy. He sprang to his feet and went to the window. “I apologised. I wish it had never happened.”

NotI wish I’d never done it,I noticed. “And I appreciated the apology, but—”

“Our relationship is so important to me,” said Arthur, turning away from the window. “We’ve been through so much together, over the years. You’ve seen sides of me Kelly never saw.”

I did not like the way Arthur was looking at me, or the way he was comparing me to his ex-wife. If only Victoria was in the pod on the other side of the door today. I would have been much more comfortable with witnesses around.

I needed to redirect this conversation away from the personal, back towards work, and my grievance.

“And I hope we’ll continue to work together for many more years,” I said. “But it’ll take time to rebuild that trust. What won’t help is if you make decisions that affect me and my clients without consulting me.”

Arthur’s shoulders drooped. He sat back down, sighing. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Thank you,” I said.

I was very ready to escape, but then Arthur said:

“I do think it’s not a good use of your time to be draftingemails for Rosalind. You need to be focusing on bigger-ticket work.”

The abrupt reversion to normal work talk was dizzying. If I’d been less bewildered, I might have pointed out that my relationship with Rosalindhadled to big-ticket work several times. Our old firm’s New York Product Liability team had been kept busy for three years on a class action against Sanson US that Rosalind had originally referred to me.

But the reminder wouldn’t have helped. Arthur had a chip on his shoulder about that case, since the work hadn’t gone to him.

“I’d like you to get Emily involved in the Sanson work,” said Arthur. “If you can start pushing the BAU stuff down to her, that will free you up for higher level work. I’d like you to lead on the Xinwei project, for example. That’s the sort of thing we need you to be doing.”

“OK,” I said, mostly because I wanted to get out of his office. This was the kind of conversation I didn’t mind having with Arthur, but I had no way of knowing when he might strike off again and start talking about his feelings.

Sure enough, Arthur looked up and said:

“Kriya. Are we all right?”

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