A Safe Pair of Hands (18 page)

Unfortunately that was not to be.

Marcy came back from her lunch looking upset, and
fretful.

“
Mums got to go and have some tests done,” she said worriedly.
“They – the people at the hospital, they say that some of them are
quite invasive; and will be very distressing for her, but they need
to do them!”

Sadie took one look at her colleague and just knew that Marcy
was not going to be fit to do anything constructive that afternoon;
she realised that her attention would all be on her mum.

Sadie knew that if it had been her own mum, then she would
have felt exactly the same.

“
Why don’t you take the afternoon off, go and get your mum and
take her shopping or something, to take hers and your mind of
things for a bit,” Sadie suggested sympathetically.

Marcy looked at the small pile of paperwork on her desk, and
the slightly bigger pile on Sadie’s desk.

“
I can’t leave my work and yours to do all this on your own,”
she argued glumly as she began to unfasten her coat.

“
Nonsense; most of these papers are bits of ‘read me and
forward me on’, which will take a few minutes each – at
most.”

“
Oh well, I suppose if it won’t be too much for
you...”

“
No, it won't – I promise I can handle it all, without too much
trouble – and anything else that might appear.”

Marcy nodded her head, as she refastened her coat. “I promise
that I will make it up to you,” she said as she strode out of the
office, digging her mobile out as she went.

Sadie sat listening, as Marcy's voice carried back to her.
“Mum... yes, I know love... look I was thinking that we should go
and do some shopping, and I have the afternoon free... yes now if
you've not got on your bus yet... good, if you walk back into the
town centre, I will meet you in – five minutes... okay, see you in
a bit.”

Her voice became muffled and then died off all together as she
obviously stepped into the elevator.

Sadie gave a little sigh, as she walked across and picked up
the small pile of paperwork.

As the more qualified, and the faster worker of the two of
them, more paperwork tended to land on Sadie's desk, and certainly
Nick had almost always given his paperwork to Sadie... in fact he
had always treated Sadie as though she was his personal assistant.
She had always been the one to liaise with him over almost
everything. She was confident that she could handle all of the
work, but she knew that it would more than likely take her the rest
of the afternoon to finish it.

She worked the next hour thankfully with no interruptions, and
was able to wipe out all of Marcy's paperwork.

She was just starting on her own, when Jason walked in. “I've
just been to Mr Hargreaves's office, but he's not answering, and
his door is locked?”

“
Well, he did have to pop out earlier, and so maybe he's
running late?”

“
You said that he wanted to see me, I'm guessing it's about the
Jewellers account again.” he said almost nervously.

“
It is rather an important client,” Sadie said calmly. “And it
is the first time that you have been given a free rein on one...
and so he probably just wants to keep an eye on you, make sure that
you are coping okay.”

“
Well, when you put it like that... I guess that it's not
something that I should worry about then?”

“
Worrying never really did achieve much – but sometimes we just
can't help ourselves – can we?” she sympathised with a little
smile.

Jason leaned over a little and his blue eyes lit up with
interest. “Maybe I could take you out sometime...” he began
awkwardly.

“
Ah there you are Jason,” Nick cut in sharply. “Sorry to have
kept you waiting, if you want to come to my office –
now.”

The dull colour flooded Jason's face and he looked positively
guilty.

Sadie smiled at him in reassurance, and her gaze swept past
him to fix almost accusingly on Nick.

He smiled tightly at her as he stepped away from the door to
allow Jason to walk ahead of him. But as soon as Jason was out of
the room, and out of earshot, Nick leaned in and murmured in a low
voice, so quiet that she only just heard him. “I am looking forward
to tonight, the table is all booked, for seven thirty, so be ready
for me to pick you up at about seven.

Sadie gave a little sigh as she found herself once again
alone, but still with a lot of paperwork to sort
through.

She dismissed the other two men from her mind, and set to with
a sense of determination.

She might not be able to finish early but she was damned well
going to leave on time!

Chapter Nineteen

Sadie rushed into her house, having left work only five
minutes later than her usual time, that afternoon. She had been
right in thinking that a lot of her paperwork would be a quick
peruse and forward on; and she had cleared her desk with half an
hour to spare and a throat that was dry from lack of
fluids.

Jason had left Nick's office with a positive spring to his
step and a bright cheerful grin, but he had not stopped by her
office to tell her the outcome of their meeting, nor to follow up
on his surprising invitation.

Although she was naturally curious, she was relieved as well,
she would have refused his invitation, of that there was no
question, and she really did not want things to become awkward
between the two of them.

She sat back with a little sigh of relief and arched her back
to loosen it after sitting in the same position for a couple of
hours.

The phone had only rung a couple of times, and on both
occasions, they had been about querying something, or notifying her
of something, and neither times did it divert her attention for any
length of time.

It also seemed like the guys up on the top floor, were also
slowing down as Christmas fast approached, since none of them sent
anything down either.

And even Nick did not produce anything for her to do at the
last minute.

And so for once in a very long time, the work that Sadie
started the afternoon with was the work that she finished the
afternoon with.

“
What happened to Marcy?” Nick asked from the
doorway.

“
What? Oh, she had some personal things that she had to deal
with, so I told her that I would cover for her,” she looked at him
a little anxiously. “It was the first time, and because there
wasn't too much paperwork, I was able to finish all of her work –
and mine as well, with time to spare.” She waved her hands across
her empty desk as if to emphasise the point.

Nick frowned. “These personal things... are they something
that I should be aware of?”

“
Well... it was just that her mum has had some health problems
recently, and Marcy found out today that the hospital wants to do
some rather extensive tests... Marcy was upset and I think that her
mum probably was as well...”

“
Yes, I would imagine so. Well since no harm has come from her
absence and you have no complaints, then I suppose it must be
okay.”

She still looked a little worried though, and so he smiled
reassuringly. “Honestly I have no issues with it, Sadie... I trust
the two of you to work out your schedules between you. As long as
there is at least of one of you in here at any time, to filter
through all of the paperwork, then I am happy that we have some
control up here.”

She returned his smile with relief, and his lips widened into
a grin.

“
Although I have to say you do look a bit frayed at the
edges.”

“
Yes, I was just about to make myself a coffee... can I get one
for you while I am at it?”

He strolled over to Marcy's desk and sat in her
chair.

“
Thank you, while you do that I will man the phones for you...
just in case they ring.”

“
Thank you,” she scooped up her cup, and fled the room, anxious
to make the drinks and get back so that Nick would feel free to
return to his own office. He was the boss of the company and
everything about her said that he should not be 'manning the
phones'.

She walked back carrying the two mugs, to find Nick talking on
Marcy's phone.

He gave her quick absent smile as she put the coffee down in
front of him.

“
Yes, I approved that purchase order myself, so there should be
no reason for delaying its processing.”

“
Do you want me to take over?” she whispered anxiously, but he
just shook his head, and gave a little flick of his
hand.

“
I sent it down to you myself, and I expect the order to be
made to the supplier, by the end of today... no excuses please,
just see that it gets sorted – I want this order to be fulfilled as
quickly as possible.”

He put the phone down shortly after, and Sadie just knew that
even now that buyer was on the phone to the supplier and assuring
that delivery of whatever it was would be made by the end of the
following day.

She sat down at her own desk and cupped her hands around her
mug.

“
Oh by the way,” Nick said suddenly. “I called my cousin –
Phillip up, like you suggested, and it seems like he needs just
about everything for his flat.”

She looked across at him. “So what will you do?”

He shrugged his shoulders, and smiled a little smile. “I
thought that I would take him shopping on Saturday – he has a long
weekend off, and he has some money saved. I told him that I would
like to contribute as well, something he was terribly grateful
for... and I was hoping that you might want to tag
along?”

“
Me? Why?”

“
Well you did such a nice job of your own home, and a woman's
perspective is always good... two men together can get single
minded, so we could do with some balance, if we are going to give
him a nice first home... and just because I thought that it might
be nice... and anyway I would very much like to introduce you to
each other.”

Her eyebrows lifted in surprise, he was over stating his cause
a little bit, she thought; and he seemed a little anxious all of a
sudden, almost as though he was afraid that she might refuse
him.

She smiled in reassurance, I would very much like that – thank
you; after all you were so kind as to offer to host my dinner party
on Friday.”

He seemed to relax, and after a moment of silence, he began to
tell her about the conversation that he had had with his
nephew.

It seemed that his parents and the rest of the family had cut
him off totally, after his refusal to try to worm the family into
Nick's life – and finances. And Nick was worried that Phillip might
be a little lonely.

“
Does he have any friends?” she asked sympathetically,
loneliness could be soul destroying, especially at this time of
year.

“
I think there are maybe a couple of workmates, but other than
that... I don't think so.”

They sat chatting for a little while, but then Sadie glanced
at her watch, and Nick stood up immediately. “It's gone five
o'clock Sadie, so don't let me keep you any longer.” he paused for
a moment. “How are you getting home by the way – do you need a
lift?”

Sadie slipped her coat on. “Oh I've got my car back thanks for
asking, they brought it to the car park this morning.”

*

She got stuck in the rush hour traffic though, and so by the
time that she got home she only had just over an hour to get ready
for her date with Nick.

She dove under the shower, and then wrapped in a towel she
looked through her wardrobe.

She had a pretty pink lacy dress, but it seemed a bit too
summery.

She thought that trousers and a top would not be suitable for
the restaurant that Nick was taking her to.

She dug deep into her wardrobe until she found what she was
looking for.

It was the alternative to her little black dress; it was her
little blue dress.

She dug out the silver strappy sandals and a bag that matched
them perfectly, and then satisfied with her outfit she sat down at
her dressing table, ready to curl her hair a little and dust on her
makeup.

She dressed quickly, and then flew back downstairs, to sit in
her kitchen and sip tea, whilst she nibbled on a couple of
biscuits. Dinner time and sandwiches at her desk seemed like a long
time ago now.

*

The evening was lovely, Nick's eyes told her that she looked
nice, and the restaurant was of a really nice quality.

The owner fussed over them gently and made sure that they had
everything that they wanted.

And Nick's eyes told her that he had everything that he
wanted.

He had said that they would be able to talk, but most of the
surroundings, the food, and the atmosphere were lost to Sadie as
she sank under the gaze of Nick, and if anything was said, then she
could not remember what that might have been.