Page 42 of The Facilitator: Part 2
Although mistaken with thehusband,I didn’t correct her. “I’ll be sure to pass on yourmessage.”
I left Gabriella in the sex toy room and wandered back through to the fetish clothes. I had no intention of attempting to squeeze myself into a rubber cat suit, but I was very interested in a picture on the wall. I steppedcloser.
It could very well have been Veronica’s partner standing there in jeans with a hood. The woman who knelt at his feet was tied intricately withrope.
“I’m not sure I can see the pleasure in that,” I heard. I turned to see Gabriella walk towardsme.
“No, I saw it at the club though. I think I’d be bored shitless by the time he’d tied all thoseknots.”
“It’s an art form, forsure.”
“It’s made me hungry,” I said, and then laughed at the absurdity of thatstatement.
We made our purchases and left. We laughed all the way through lunch at what we’d seen and even harder when Gabriella told me of the variety of vibrators, bullets, handcuffs, and floggers she’d bought and planned to hide in Alex’ssuitcase.
“I won’t be embarrassed if we get searched,” shesaid.
“Oh, and hewon’t?”
“Darling, he did go to Eton,” shereplied.
I choked on the sip of wine I’d just taken. “I have no idea of the correlation between sex toys and Eton. And I’m not sure I want to know,either.”
“I’m sure they were all bum…” she started before I cut heroff.
“Oh, look, the waiter is standing here listening,” I said,loudly.
With that, we both started laughingagain.
A little while later, arm in arm, we walked back to the office where we would pick up cars and head in differentdirections.
“I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve had today. You are going to look stunning,” I said as we reached our officeblock.
“As will you. I’m thrilled to have you as a girlfriend and it makes leaving even harder now. I don’t want to get all tearful, but we will be coming back regularly, and you will be coming to stay with us, won’tyou?”
“Of course, there is no way Mackenzie is going to wave you two off and then not mourn you, Gabriella. You’ve been a constant his wholelife.”
She placed her hand on the side of my face and smiled before she walked to her car and it sped off. I was left standing on a busy street with tears in my eyes. Gabriella was someone I had connected with in such a way that her departure was going to hurt. That made me wonder just how painful it was going to be for Mackenzie. She had followed him from country to country. They had worked beside each other for many years, he would feel her loss more than anyone, I wassure.
“MissPerry?”
I looked over to see my car idling by the kerb. I smiled and walked over. I was helped into the back seat and rested my eyes as we drove home. It had been a rare day from work but the minute I was in the house, I hung my new dress in my closet and grabbed my laptop. I sat in the kitchen with the autumn sun streaming through the French doors and caught up with what I’dmissed.
And what I’d missed was a news report that had been emailed to me. Jerry was never in the news, he might have been an astute businessman but he wasn’t wealthy enough, or well known enough in business circles, to be snapped by the press. There he was, leaving Claridge’s with Addison on his arm. They were both laughing, she had her head thrown slightly back, but I noticed her eyes facing the camera as if the pose wasstaged.
American socialite leaves top London hotel with wealthy businessman on her arm. Addison Miller, ex-wife of venture capitalist and controversial advisor to the Secretary of State for Business, Mackenzie Miller, leaves Claridge’s in the early hours this morning after a £200 per head black tie dinnerevent.
I looked at the sender’s email and didn’t recognise it. All the email contained was the headline from a trashy newspaper and the photograph. I wondered why so much of the headline was about Mackenzie. I wondered more why someone thought I needed to see it. I was taken back in time when a video had been emailed to me. At least this time it wasn’t about my partner. I forwarded it to Mackenzie’s private emailaddress.
Any idea who would have sent this to me?I typed in the subjectbar.
A few minutes later I received a textmessage.
I’ll be home in an hour, discussthen?
I replied to let him know that would be absolutely fine, and I had a surprise for him. I was determined, just the once, to cook him a meal. It was a very rare occasion that I was allowed, other than a basic breakfast, and I found I missed it. Even though I’d eaten out at lunchtime, I had a craving for ham, eggs, and chips. I laughed, Mackenzie would have whipped up a gourmet meal in minutes, instead he was getting a good old-fashioned dinner from mychildhood.
I was sure Mackenzie would have some expensive chip fryer somewhere that used minimal fat, but there was nothing like double-cooked chips in a saucepan. Twice I had to wave a tea towel over the heat sensor when it went off, but just as he came through the door, I had managed to have everything undercontrol.
