Persuading Annie (17 page)

Seven.

Only Tony and Fi got a higher score, so before the game had started, Victoria was champing at the bit to beat them.

Tony picked up a card which had one word written on it which he would have to draw for Fi.

He looked at the word.

Elephant
.

Easy. He could do that, no sweat. He looked at Fi. If she guessed it right, he decided, he’d propose.

As Annie turned over the egg-timer and placed it next to the board on the coffee table, he drew an elephant in four seconds flat.

Fi stared at it. ‘Anteater.’

‘No.’

‘Badger.’

‘No.’

‘Cat?’

‘No!’

Fi tilted her head. ‘Are you sure it’s not an anteater?’

Victoria suddenly squealed and whispered to Charles. She had guessed what the drawing was. If Fi’s time ran out, she’d get a score for getting it right. Charles started praying while Victoria started her usual tactics.

‘Fi hon, your bra strap’s showing.’

‘Ooh, thanks,’ Fi giggled. She pinged it back into place and suddenly felt gloriously self-conscious.

Tony glanced at the egg-timer. It was half-way down.

‘I’ll draw it again,’ he said urgently.

He drew it again, exactly the same, except bigger.

Fi stared at it, the tension in the room heightened.

Come on, come on, prayed Tony and he held Fi’s hand tight. She smiled at him.

‘Anteater,’ she said finally.

‘NO!’ he said.

‘Don’t shout at me, Tony.’

‘Sorry honey,’ he said. ‘But it’s not an anteater. I promise.’ He squeezed her shoulder and budged up next to her so that they were both looking at it from the same angle.

‘Come on sweetheart, try again,’ he coaxed.

‘It looks like an anteater, Tony.’

‘Well, I’m sorry about that. But it’s not one.’

Tony couldn’t bear to look at the egg-timer.

‘Have you said cat?’ asked Victoria sweetly.

‘Um,’ Fi couldn’t remember. ‘Have I?’

‘It’s not a cat,’ said Tony shortly.

‘I hadn’t said it was yet. Or had I?’

‘Time’s up!’ said Annie.

Tony sank back against the sofa.

‘Good try, Tony,’ commiserated Annie.

‘ELEPHANT!’ yelled Victoria, beside herself with excitement.

‘One point to Victoria and Charles,’ said Annie.

It was now Victoria and Charles’s turn.

Victoria was to draw first. She was a bloody good drawer, everyone knew that. Charles hoped to God she didn’t lose her temper with him – or worse still that he didn’t lose his temper with her. This could get very ugly.

Victoria picked up the card and looked at her word.
Temple
. Hah! Simple.

Slowly but surely, Victoria drew a perfect Athenian temple, complete with Doric columns and frieze. By the time she’d finished, the sand was half-way down the egg-timer. She sat back proudly and looked at her husband with utter confidence.

Charles stared at the picture dumbly.

‘Well, say something!’ she commanded, frustrated.

‘All right. What is it?’ asked Charles, stumped.

Excitement made everyone laugh.

Victoria was angry and hurt. ‘Well, what does it bloody look like?’

‘A-a-a palace?’

‘LOOK AT IT!’ shouted Victoria.

‘Why? Have you written what it is on the roof?’ asked Charles, stressed. ‘This is Pictionary, Victoria, not A Level bloody Art.’

‘LOOK AT IT!’ she repeated.

He looked at it pointlessly. ‘Mausoleum?’

Victoria crossed her arms defiantly.

‘Pentacostal church? Synagogue?’ he tried bravely.

Tony suddenly clicked. He whispered what it was to Fi and she squealed. Of course!

Victoria started to lose it.

She decided another tack. She glanced at the timer. Twenty seconds? She drew a stick man with dots for eye and a nose. She drew an arrow pointing to his temples so furiously that the pencil pierced through the paper.

Charles was even more confused now. How the hell did this picture relate to the picture of the palace?

‘Headache?’ he asked.

Victoria threw her arms heavenward.

Charles looked at it again. An arrow to the head.

‘Murder!’ he shouted victoriously.

‘Don’t tempt me!’ yelled Victoria.

‘Tempt you?’ answered Charles, starting to panic now. ‘I’ll buy you the bloody arrow.’

Sophie, Fi and Tony were now openly laughing. Annie noticed that Jake and David were maintaining a polite indifference to the proceedings, although Jake’s eyes were twinkling and his shoulders seemed even more rigid than usual.

‘Ten seconds to go and remember – it’s only a game!’ grinned Annie, enjoying herself for the first time all evening.

Victoria went into overdrive. She jabbed at both pictures again until Charles in utter desperation said:

‘Head Palace,’ he eventually tried, ‘and that’s my final offer, you MAD WOMAN.’

‘Time’s up,’ said Annie apologetically.

‘TEMPLE!’ shrieked Victoria, thereby preventing anyone else from guessing. ‘IT’S A BLOODY TEMPLE!’ she screamed. ‘What do you think these are?’ she yelled, poking at the perfect Doric columns with her pencil. ‘SAUSAGES?’

Charles took several long, deep breaths.

‘No,’ he said calmly. ‘You don’t get sausages the size of a PALACE.’

‘It’s a temple, not a palace!’ she shrieked.

Annie decided the situation needed calming down.

‘Victoria? Am I going to have to confiscate your pencil?’

Victoria turned away, her face flushed, tears of anger squeezing out of her eyes.

Next it was Jake and Sophie’s turn. Annie used the opportunity to study him and Sophie together intently. Sophie didn’t need to try very hard, safe in the knowledge that beauty made ignorance loveable, and he indulged her every weakness and foible. It made for very boring viewing.

Finally it was Annie and David’s turn. Right, thought Annie. I’m going to win. Annie picked up the card, looked at it and smiled.
Farce
.

Calmly and without a hint of hurry, she drew a stage, with curtains at the side.

‘Stage,’ said David urgently.

Annie shook her head.

‘Curtains.’

She shook her head again.

‘Theatre.’

She shook her head and continued to draw.

David watched for a moment.

‘Stage.’

‘No.’

She started drawing the set. It consisted entirely of doors, some open, others shut.

‘Doors!’

‘No.’

Jake suddenly gasped. He’d got it. He whispered to Sophie. Riled, David found new levels of enthusiasm.

‘STAGE, CURTAINS, THEATRE.’

Annie ignored him.

‘STAGE, CURTAINS, THEATRE.’

She shook her head and kept on drawing.

Annie continued to draw doors. David sat staring at it, shaking his head, baffled, until suddenly it made sense. He shouted out the answer loud and clear. Annie was so grateful that she hugged him.

‘How the bugger did you get that, old chap?’ asked an impressed Charles.

‘He used his brain,’ muttered Victoria.

The rest of the game continued with few upsets.

To relief all round, Victoria and Charles eventually won.

‘No thanks to you,’ Victoria congratulated her husband.

Finally, they all sprawled out, exhausted by their efforts, staring at the board.

Eventually Victoria broke the silence. ‘Oh Annie, can you look after the boys Wednesday week in the evening? I’ve got a reserve appointment to go and see my osteopath. My migraines are getting worse. She could only fit me in at 9.30 in the evening. Bloody ridiculous time, but I’ve simply g
^{ot to}
g
^o
.’

Annie smiled apologetically. ‘Sorry Vicky,’ she replied quietly. ‘I’ve got a hot date.’

‘Oh?’

The entire room seemed interested, except of course, for Jake, who was quietly tidying up the boardgame.

‘With Eddie the Teddie?’ asked Fi.

‘No,’ replied Annie haughtily. ‘That would be unethical.’

‘Oh! So it’s unethical to shag father’s chief exec,’ started Victoria, ‘but it’s not unethical to shag his plumb—’

‘Yes, all right, thank you,’ interrupted Annie. ‘Why the sudden interest in my love life? Are you all too bored with your own?’

‘No, we just think you’re wasted being single,’ said Charles sincerely.

‘How clever of you Charles! To try and compliment me and insult me instead.’

‘Oh. Sorry.’

‘Anyway. The point is I can’t babysit Wednesday week. I might be having a long night.’

This had the desired effect. Sophie and Fi whooped and Victoria and Charles laughed. Jake read the Pictionary cards studiously.

‘Obviously I’d look after the boys tomorrow if I could,’ Charles said, ‘but there’s an emergency meeting at the golf club.’

‘Golly! Sounds important!’ exclaimed Victoria. ‘Are you voting on whether the cucumber sandwiches should be served with their crusts on?’

Charles didn’t answer.

‘Bring the boys here,’ said Fi, anxious to stop a row. ‘They can join in our Pilates class and then we’ll get them ready for bed to be picked up later.’

‘And if the date’s a no-hoper, I’ll pick them up and take them home,’ concluded Annie. ‘Otherwise, Vicky can pick them up after her appointment.’

‘Oh yes,’ said Victoria. ‘That’ll be perfect for curing my migraines. Picking up two small tired boys. Thank you team.’

Charles started helping Jake clear up the game.

While Annie walked back from the kitchen after clearing away the cups, she overheard Fi and Tony by the front door.

‘I’ll flirt with whoever I want to flirt with,’ came Fi’s voice. ‘If you can’t handle it, you know what you can do.’

There was silence for a while and then the door slammed shut.

And then she heard Fi say out loud,

‘And it looked like a bloody anteater.’

13

WEDNESDAY WEEK WAS
rather a big day. Not only was it Annie’s blind date with Cass’s Greek god in the evening, but in the morning it was the next time she had to sit face to face with Jake for a long period of time. The consultants were giving an update meeting after the first few weeks of their work and Susannah had specifically requested Annie’s presence there. Now that George and Katherine were in New York Susannah felt it necessary to have a family presence in the room.

‘It will give the right impression,’ she’d explained. ‘Try to act important, dear.’

Annie was surprised at how much calmer she felt about being in the same room as Jake now that she knew what to expect: he would simply ignore her. Which she decided would be easy to deal with, now that she knew to ignore him first. While trying to act important. In fact, she’d probably be so busy trying to act important, she’d hardly have time to ignore him. She’d have to squeeze it in when she could.

Sitting between them were Edward, Susannah and David.
Annie watched Jake cough a welcome cough and straighten his tie.

‘Well, hello people,’ he began and gave them all a disarmingly boyish grin.

Instantly disarmed, Annie frowned hard at him, as if physically trying to put a stop to the disarming process.

Jake paused for a fraction of a moment, put off by such a sudden and strong sign of hostility. Damn her. He’d show her something to frown about. He spoke fast.

‘Last week we went through the ‘As Is’ and ‘To Be’ BPR analysis outputs and found opportunities for efficiency gains. The next step is simply to operationalise it.’ Breathe. Nod of handsome head to emphasise. ‘I think you’ll all agree communication is the key.’

Now Annie was really frowning. Was he talking English?

‘Excuse me?’

Jake looked up and smiled patiently at her, making her feel like a three-year-old who’d just informed him that she had a new pixie dance to show him.

‘I didn’t understand a word of that.’

Jake was momentarily flummoxed. The Annie he knew of old would never have confessed that. She always hated looking like an idiot in public. Meanwhile Susannah gave her a fond smile, as if her pixie dance had already begun.

‘It’s just business jargon, my dear.’

‘I understand it’s jargon,’ replied Annie, embarrassed. ‘I just thought if there’s any point in me being here, I might as well understand what’s being said.’

She looked back at Jake and raised her eyebrows, which had the unintended result of making her look half her age. Edward gave her a sideways glance – she really was exceptionally pretty. And refreshingly open about being dense. A winning
combination in a girl. He was also grateful for her question – he had no idea what Jake was on about either. He gave her an encouraging smile. Annie felt as if her pixie dance was going fantastically well.

‘Of course,’ Jake replied tensely. ‘That was very remiss of me. I’ll try and put it into language you can understand. Um. Right. Where shall I start?’

‘How about Once Upon A Time?’ suggested Annie.

They all laughed. Only Jake understood that she was mocking him and not herself.

‘We do tend to get carried away with our jargon,’ he continued. ‘I apologise.’

Hah. One-love, thought Annie. Maybe this was going to be easier than she thought. Maybe Jake was still as readable as he used to be. Hold on, he was talking …

‘… So as agreed at the last meeting, we’ve started our Business Process Re-engineering – a … process – hence the title – which refers to the processes by which we get things done: re-engineering means improving them, i.e. increasing speed, quality etc.’

Annie nodded slowly, her eyes fixed firmly on Jake in a vain attempt to concentrate on what he was saying and not on what she was thinking. It would be a darn sight easier if he didn’t seem to be struggling so much with every word. Gosh – so many frown lines …

Jake frowned hard as he tried to concentrate on what he was saying instead of what he was feeling. It would help if that bitch stopped trying to stare him out. Keep going, just keep going … ‘And now, we have to … operationalise, um, implement all those processes that came up from the … BPR analysis.’

There was silence. He’d finished. Annie thought about
what he’d just said. Now was the time for her to say something that showed insight and intelligence.