Page 12 of Love By Sunset

‘It’s about the café. It’s complicated.’

‘How complicated?’

Sighing, Emily fiddled with her mouse. ‘While legally it’s still part of the estate, morally it’s not. The guy who runs it has worked there since he was twelve. He took over the running of it for the owner way back, and a few years after that, the owner handed it over to him to run as he liked. But as far as I can gather, there was no formal agreement.’

‘Easy, then. He doesn’t own it.’ He rose from his chair, mouth tight. ‘I don’t know why you’re wasting my time on this.’

‘But Gerry,’ Emily leaned towards him, a hand held out to stop him, ‘good will and intent. What about those? He could go to court. It might take months to sort it out.’

‘Well, tough luck. He’d be an idiot to try, and I hope he’s got an excellent solicitor who’ll advise him against it, because his chance of winning is low. Who is he, anyway?’

‘His name’s Jake Bradstock. He’s an ex-surfer. He was injured and had to quit competitive surfing. Running the café is his only option now.’

‘Surfer?’ Gerry’s eyes had narrowed even further. ‘Not by any chance the guy Sasha mentioned yesterday? The one you thought was hot?’ His lips twisted derisively. ‘Well, well, well! Looks like he’s sucked you in nicely with his sob story.’

Emily stared at him, not recognising this man at all. Why had he changed, and as far as she was concerned, changed for the worst?

‘You know what?’ she asked, her voice dangerously calm. ‘You deserve a slap across your self-satisfied and greedy face for that. This company has always—’ Emily thumped a fist on her desk, ‘alwayscared about the underdog and the environment. What he looks like has absolutely no bearing on this at all. If this was one of our normal projects, we’d be taking him into consideration and wondering how we could accommodate him into our plans, as we’ve always done!’

There was a long silence as Gerry stared at her, eyes still narrowed, his mouth flattened into a thin line. Emily stared defiantly back. She wouldn’t give in on this one. Gerry had argued the toss too many times of late, and lack of ethics was not what their company was about.

Eventually, Gerry spoke, his tone soft but his words steely. ‘I’ve had enough of the do-good approach, Emily. It has to stop, do you hear me? It’s taking good profits away from the company. We’re growing, and I want to see us grow big.’

Closing her eyes, Emily shook her head, sadness seeping through her like fog. She rubbed her forehead before looking at her business partner, her eyes clear and direct. ‘No, Gerry. When we formed this company, the agreement was we would sympathetically develop any plots we acquired, and we’d accommodate environmental or personal issues as best we could. As far as I know, we haven’t changed that.’

Standing, Gerry thrust his chair back so violently that it fell over onto the parquet floor. ‘I want this development, Emily. Day-dreaming bloody surfer. He should’ve got the café legally transferred while this Mr Whitchurch was alive. He’ll be given notice, and he must leave. You know we want that parcel of land to create a lido, a heated salt-water pool and easy access to what is one of the area’s biggest beaches. Direct access to a carpark pulls the tourists in. No-one wants to walk miles with beach gear.’

Looking at the man she’d worked with since they left university, she realised what she’d felt at the end of last week was true. A break-up was becoming inevitable. ‘We’ve always been ethical and considered things like this,’ she repeated. ‘I’m not changing the company policy, Gerry.’

‘Yes, and as I keep saying in reply, it loses us money. Money I’m not prepared to pass by any more. This Jake is in the wrong place, which is in our way. He must go. Why get all sentimental about it?’

‘Because he’s a real, live person, not just a name. He’s sweet. He’s a bit feckless. And he’s lost his competitions, so the cafe is filling a sizeable hole in his life. I’m human and I care about his welfare more than any extra profits, and so should you!’

Gerry threw back his head and laughed. ‘Spare me,’ he said, when he’d caught his breath. ‘You’re being amazingly stupid. I won’t back down. One café in the way of those plans we’ve drawn up? Approach will develop that estate, and Jake whatever he’s called will have to find something else to do. He can be a waiter at the hotel, why not?’

‘Oh, but Gerry…’ Emily murmured, cool determination lacing her voice, her eyes narrowed, ‘our contract states every development has to have the agreement ofbothof us. Just remember that. And just remember how much it would costyouif you took that to court to break! Start thinking of ways we can work with him, why don’t you?’

After a moment’s tense silence, Gerry turned and walked out of her office, closing the door with some force behind him.

Once he’d gone, Emily dropped her head into her hands. Whatever happened between her and Jake,ifshe went back, was irrelevant. She cared about him and his welfare. She liked his relaxed lifestyle where owning the café gave him leeway to continue surfing and made him who he was, and she wasn’t prepared to see him tossed to one side.

Emily couldn’t pinpoint when she’d first noticed Gerry’s changing attitude toward their deals, but now she acknowledged it, and it was out in the open. He felt ethics were impeding profits. He only saw a final whole and wanted to go for it, regardless of whatever and whoever was in the way. The gauntlet had been well and truly thrown down, and she suspected Gerry thought she’d get fed up of fighting him and eventually put up and shut up.

Well, he was wrong. Once this thing was sorted, she was going to dissolve the company. She was fed-up with the confrontations and no longer wanted to be involved.

A knock caused her to look up. Sasha stood in the doorway, a mug of coffee in each hand. Giving her a wry grin, Emily waved her in.

‘Ouch,’ Sasha said as she sat down.

‘Ouch indeed,’ Emily murmured. ‘Has word got round that fast?’

‘Wasn’t difficult. You’d left the door part open, and we all heard some of it, so we know that you and Gerry are at loggerheads about this development because of a surfer who owns a café, or might not own a café, which is in our way. I’m so sorry, Emily. I made a comment about him yesterday afternoon when we met to assess progress. It was a throwaway, but Gerry must have tucked it away. I didn’t mean to cause problems.’

‘Gerry’s wrong to bring in anything about a relationship which hasn’t even happened yet. What I feel emotionally isn’t impeding my business sense.’ Sighing, Emily picked up her coffee. ‘Once upon a time, we used to care about things like this.’

Sasha looked sympathetic. ‘He’s changing. We’ve all noticed. He’s more abrupt, demands more work, and greedy with it. Such a shame.’

‘It is indeed.’

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