Page 4 of Persuading Penny
I arrived at Royal Crescent, impressed as I’d always been, by the incredible Georgian architecture. I’d once visited the museum at One Royal Crescent. It was a wonderful museum that led us back to a very different way of living. I also knew a co-worker whose sister had stayed for a few nights at the Royal Crescent Hotel right in the middle of the crescent. On visiting her sister there, she’d gushed at the beauty and elegance of the hotel.
However, I had never had the opportunity to visit any of the homes and very much looked forward to it.
I knocked on the door.
“Hello,” a handsome man said on opening the door. “You must be Penny Copperfield.”
“Yes, and you must be Hugh Pembroke.”
“Guilty.” Smiling broadly, he gestured for me to enter. “Keely is upstairs in her office. You can go on up and join her.”
“Beautiful place,” I said, unable to ignore the splendor of the place.
“Thank you.”
Immediately, we came upon the staircase that clung to the right wall, a narrow runner softening my every step as I made my way up.
Keely greeted me at the top step. Wearing a long, rather shapeless gray dress, her caramel-colored hair pulled up into a messy bun and her face devoid of any makeup, she looked like the type of woman who had better things to do than to fuss about her looks...at least when she was working from home. “I heard the knock and hoped you’d be here early. We have so much to discuss.”
She led me to her office, a bright room that was drenched in sunlight, and she gestured that I sit in the elegant Louis XVI chair upholstered with a rich yellow and orange striped fabric.
“I was telling your husband what a beautiful home you have,” I said as I took the seat. “Even your office is elegant and chic. That mahogany desk is magnificent.”
Smiling, she sat on her large, brown leather office chair. “Yes. It was a little more than I’d initially wanted to pay, but I think it’s well worth it.”
“I’m sure.”
Her smile faded and she looked more solemnly at me. “The other day, at the book club, you said you were working fewer hours than usual.”
“Yes. The accounting firm I work for lost two major contracts and had to cut back. Being that I’m one of the more recent additions to the team, I was first to be cut. Truth is, I’m incredibly grateful they kept me on at all. They could have very well relieved me of my functions entirely.”
“Somehow,” Keely said. “I have a sneaking suspicion that it’s because they truly value you as an employee and don’t want to lose you.”
I shrugged, unconvinced. “That may be.”
“When you told us this, you also said that the timing couldn’t be worse.”
I shook my head. “These things are always at a bad time, aren’t they.When is it ever a good time to have your work, and therefore your pay, cut by half?”
“Indeed, but I sensed there was more to the story than that,” she said, her gaze intensified. “Look, I don’t want to pry. If you wish to keep your circumstances to yourself, that’s fair, but if you need to talk about it, to open up, to share... I’m here to listen. I think that we could have a far greater work relationship if we know a bit about the other.”
It was unlike me to share my problems with others. I wasn’t given to opening up and letting everyone around me know the difficult times we Copperfields were facing. It was embarrassing and could easily become humiliating. I looked around Keely’s home. It was clear they were not having any financial woes. How could she possibly relate to someone like me who was on the verge of losing her home?
But I brought my gaze back to her, looked at her and saw her earnest desire to have me open up to her.
“Please know,” I said. “It is not my intention to cry and whine about my situation. I will tell you now, but I promise that I will not make a habit of it.”
“Fair enough.”
“My father is no longer able to work,” I said. “Oh, he may help out a neighbor for an hour or two every once in a while, but nothing more. I’ve been helping lately with the expenditures of keeping our house, but I’m able to help out less and less.” I stopped, unsure I wanted to go on. I didn’t want her pity. I didn’t want her sympathy.
“Do you fear being unable to pay your mortgage?”
I nodded. “Actually, we’re already three payments behind. As you can imagine, foreclosure is just around the corner.”
“I see.” Pursing her lips, she looked at me. “A large home, I assume.”
“Nothing grand or ostentatious, but, yes, it is a rather large home; six bedrooms, four full bathrooms, two half baths, a large kitchen, formal dining room, breakfast room, drawing room...all that good stuff.”
