Page 39 of One Summer Weekend
But I can’t, Jack – not while I’m still your coach. Trust me on this – it won’t work.
I cleared my throat. ‘As I said at our first meeting, coaching requires rapport—’
‘But I’m not talking about the coaching.’A pause, while he overtook a dawdling caravan. ‘Look, Alicia – right here, right now, we’re in between the two sets of roles – aren’t we? We’ll never get this chance again, and there’s so much I have to say to you. Let’s spend the rest of the day together!’
Scary to hear that animation – no, excitement – in his voice. Reminds me of the union meeting, when he outlined the new corporate vision.Except then I was impressed, whereas now …
He went on, as if oblivious to my silence, ‘We’ve got enough sandwiches to feed an army, or we could go to a pub – my local does a great Sunday lunch. And, of course, I’ll take you into Manchester for your train home whenever you want. How does that sound?’
Fraught with danger. Need to put some distance between us, in case I say – or do –something I’ll regret.I said, with cool conviction, ‘Please drop me at Preston station as soon as possible – I noticed on Friday that it wasn’t too far from the motorway. And thanks for the offer of lunch, but I’ll eat my sandwiches on the train.’
A pause; then a terse ‘Ouch’.
I risked a glance at his face, but its shuttered look told me nothing. I pressed my point home regardless;perhaps it was as much to convince myself. ‘Wehaveto return to our proper roles, executive coach and coachee—’
‘If that’s what you think we are.’
‘The role play was a means to an end – you said so yourself when we arrived at Threlkeld. From an executive coaching perspective, we’ve made some progress – just not as much as I was expecting.’
‘And from other perspectives?’
‘Such as?’
‘We made far more progress as a man and a woman.’
‘But, as I’ve said, that was merely a means to an end—’
‘If that’s what you want to believe.’
I did want to believe it. I had to, even though the memories collected along the way were proving impossible to erase. I lapsed into silence – it was by far the safer option.
After a while he said, ‘What happensnext?’
I fought back a bitter little laugh; was he talking about us as a coach and coachee, or as a man and a woman? As always, it was easy to pull on my professional mask. ‘Well, based on the last few days, I produce a summary of your current reality—’
‘My “current reality”? How the hell would you know anything about that? I don’t even understand it myself.’
I continued, asif he hadn’t interrupted, ‘Then I send it to you for review. Obviously, I would restrict it to the learning that this weekend provided about your business relationships—’
‘How can you? For me, it’s jumbled up with all the other stuff.’
He was right, of course; except that I couldn’t afford to admit it. I said, as calmly as I could, ‘Once you’ve reviewed the summary, we can exploreyour options and agree which one’s best.’Little do you know – you’ll be doing all that with someone else.
‘You make it sound simple.’
I stared out of the window again. ‘Simplification is one of the advantages of a structured process.’
‘But it’s not simple, is it? Not any more. Everything’s changed since you kissed me last night …’ His voice trailed away.
‘Surely you don’tthink—’
‘I don’t know what to think, Alicia. All I know is – I’m finding it bloody hard to separate the coach from the girlfriend.’
I sensed him glance swiftly at me, but I refused to meet his gaze. ‘It’ll be different when we’re back in a business setting.’ The sudden patter of rain on the windscreen was a welcome distraction. ‘Looks like your warning about the Lakeland weather wasn’tin vain. How far is it to Preston?’
‘You’re sure about Preston?’ His voice was flat with disappointment.
‘I’ll get the train from there, if you don’t mind.’
