Page 14 of One Summer Weekend
As soon as we were on our own again, he said, ‘Did you?’
‘Did I what?’
‘See a ghost.’
‘There’s no point in asking me anything personal, because I won’t give you an answer. It’s one of my ground rules for coaching. Speaking of which,’ – I opened my notebook – ‘I’ve made a list of what we need to discuss.’
‘Don’t, Alicia,not yet. Let’s chill out for a moment.’
My lip curled. ‘Chill out? Isn’t there a risk that I might freeze off certain parts of your anatomy, as you so delicately put it to Nick Suggett this morning?’
His sudden laugh made heads turn. ‘Just when I think you’re a lost cause, you come out with something that creases me up.’
‘What do you mean – a lost cause?’
He hesitated,as if choosing his words. ‘You’re all about work, it’s as though you can’t interact with people – with me – on any other level. Don’t take this the wrong way, but—’
I cut in with, ‘Which other way would you like me to take it?’
‘Look, I work hard too – but at least I know how to relax.’
‘And I don’t?’
‘Not that I’ve noticed. I’ve never met a woman like you before, so …’– he lowered his gaze and traced the tablecloth with his forefinger – ‘… joyless.’
I flinched, but recovered myself instantly. ‘And what’s your definition of joy? Getting laid every five minutes?’
The tracing stopped. ‘Why would you think that?’ he said, not looking up.
‘Oh, come on! In the past month alone you’ve had Lisa, followed by Tracey – although she didn’t last long afterthat little incident in this very restaurant, did she? Then at least six more whose names I can’t remember. And they’re only the ones that get press coverage, goodness knows how many others you’ve slept with.’
For the first time, I saw him redden; and he still didn’t look at me. ‘You’ve done your homework all right. How far back did you go?’
‘Three or four months. That was enough,it told me all I needed to know.’
He drained his glass and gestured to the waiter; then turned to me, his face hard and set. ‘Why’ve you been digging around my private life? You’ve just told me that yours is off limits, so why isn’t mine?’
I unfolded the cream napkin and spread it over my lap. It was starched, unyielding, the epitome of joylessness … I forced myself to make eye contactwith him. ‘I only researched what was publicly and readily available. As there was hardly any information about you or your company in my normal sources, I simply widened the net a little. The relevance of your extracurricular activities is obvious, they give me an insight into your values. If you mess around in your personal life, the chances are you’ll do the same in business.’
Now itwas his turn to flinch, just as the waiter returned. ‘Signor Jack?’
‘A bottle of sparkling water, Luigi. To go with the conversation.’ He looked across at me; this time, his expression was blank.
‘And another thing,’ I said, dismissing any qualms about broaching a potentially sensitive subject in a busy restaurant, ‘why is the fact that today should have been your father’s retirementdate so significant? Because you were obviously stressed out when you realised you couldn’t reschedule the senior management meeting.’
He shifted in his chair. ‘Have you seen any particular signs of stress today?’
‘Not really—’
‘Then forget it.’ His eyes held mine in a mute appeal for co-operation. ‘Please.’
We lapsed into an uncomfortable silence until Luigi brought thewater.
When we were on our own again, I opened my notebook and said briskly, ‘Shall we go through my list?’ He nodded, still without speaking.
Such a relief to focus on business; I outlined my observations as succinctly as possible and finished by asking for his comments. Before he could reply, however, our meal arrived. I decided to continue the feedback session tomorrow; he’d probablyhad enough self-awareness for one day.
The rigatoni primavera looked and smelled inviting. I tasted one mouthful and discovered I was ravenous. Jack’s ‘usual’ turned out to be a hefty steak, with parmesan-sprinkled spaghetti and salad. He pushed it around his plate, then said, ‘I didn’t realise I was doing such a crap job. Looks like it’ll take longer than six months to get me sorted.’
