Page 106 of A Christmas Celebration
‘It does,’ I nodded, wholeheartedly relieved that he hadn’t been in any way involved but wondering what this meant for Angus’s words about the return he wanted to see.
Brodie looked at me, his eyes widening as understanding dawned.
‘You thought I was involved,’ he stated, sounding appalled. ‘Oh my god, is that why you…’
‘I did have my suspicions after you’d told me who you worked for,’ I cut in to confess. ‘Especially as it seemed like you’d just turned up in the area and no one knew much about you.’
‘I see,’ he said, sounding more upset.
‘But my hatred of Davey and Clarkson runs deeper than you having worked for them, Brodie.’
‘What are you talking about?’
I pulled in a breath.
‘The money they used to donate to the charity I worked for,’ I explained, ‘funded a wealth of volunteering positions and since those selfish bastards played fast and loose with the millions that didn’t belong to them…’
‘The funding has been lost,’ Brodie surmised.
‘And so were the jobs.’
‘Yours included?’ Brodie gasped.
‘I was probably going to go anyway,’ I said, not wanting to get caught up in explaining the other details surrounding my decision to leave. They weren’t relevant to this particular conversation. ‘But the loss of the company donation meant there wouldn’t have been another contract available to me even if I’d wanted it.’
‘Oh, Paige. I’m so sorry.’
‘I’m more sorry for all the people we can’t now help.’
‘I had no idea.’
‘There’s no reason why you should, but,’ I then carried onbecause we weren’t finished with the revelations surrounding the implications of finding out the name his former employee had had just yet, ‘there’s more.’
‘More?’ Brodie frowned.
‘Yes. I heard you talking to Angus,’ I blurted out, ‘in the kitchen at the hall. He said he was expecting to see some sort of return from you before Christmas and after you’d told me about your work, not to mention who you worked for, I assumed…’
‘That it was of a financial variety?’
I nodded.
‘And then after you said you’d met him in London,’ I added to try and further justify the assumptions I had made, ‘I didn’t think I could possibly be wrong.’
‘Had I been in your position,’ Brodie generously said, shoving his hands into his hair again, ‘I would have most likely thought the same, but to be fair we could have met in London for any number of reasons.’
‘That’s true,’ I said, biting my lip and looking around. ‘But Angus wasn’t talking about money anyway, was he?’
‘No,’ Brodie said.
It was a huge relief to hear him confirm that.
‘So, what does he want then?’ I asked, feeling as if a weight had been lifted. ‘What exactly is it that my godfather is expecting from you?’
Brodie looked at me for a moment.
‘I will tell you,’ he eventually said. ‘But only because I don’t want there to be any more confusion between us.’
‘Me neither,’ I said vehemently.
