Warhol's Prophecy

‘Yeah, well, if you want my advice—’

‘I don’t.’

‘If you were going to have an affair, then why have it with someone who works for us, Rob? For Christ’s sake, talk about shitting on your own doorstep. I mean to say, that’s why her bloody marriage broke up, isn’t it? She was always knocking around with other blokes, and her old man finally gave her the push. You weren’t the first, you know.’

‘Give it a rest, Frank. OK, so she’s divorced. So she’s been around a bit. If it’s a problem, it’s my problem.’

‘Not entirely, Rob. If it affects the running of this firm, then it’s my problem too.’

‘And did it? No. I tell you what, Frank. You stick to worrying about your fucking cholesterol, let me worry about Sandy. That’s all over now anyway, you know that.’

‘Does Hailey know it?’

‘Jesus, what is this? Woman’s Hour? Stick to running this business, Frank. Forget the Agony Aunt routine. Any problems I’ve got with Hailey, I’ll sort them out.’

‘It might seem like I’m sticking my oar in but, if it does, I’m doing it because I care about both of you. I mean we’re mates, not just business partners, aren’t we? If I had any problems with Maggie, I’d talk to you about them.’

‘Hailey and I are OK, right? We’re working things out. I didn’t exactly sit down and consider the pros and cons before I had that affair with Sandy. I didn’t think about any of the consequences, because I didn’t expect to get caught. But I did, and that’s the end of it. Now, if there’s nothing else, why don’t you give Sandy a shout and we can tell her what to put in this letter?’

Burnside paused a moment, then opened the office door again.

‘Sandy,’ he called, ‘have you got a minute, please?’

The two men locked stares, Burnside finally looking away, stepping to one side to allow their secretary access to the room.

Sandra Bennett smiled at both men as she entered, the smile a little more muted as she looked at Rob.

He ran swiftly appraising eyes over her: the slim legs and narrow hips, the shoulder-length ash-blonde hair. Narrow, finely chiselled features, and those eyes – inviting.

An invitation you couldn’t turn down, Rob pondered, shifting in his seat.

She was wearing a black jacket and skirt. Simple. Efficient.

She sat down opposite Rob and crossed her legs, smoothing a crease from her skirt, aware that he was studying her. There was still a part of her that welcomed that gaze, and all that might lie behind it.

‘Take a letter, Miss Bennett,’ said Burnside, grinning.

‘Frank, you’re not usually this formal.’ She smiled.

‘We need to be this time,’ Rob said. He explained to her what was going on with the vans they wanted to buy, watching as she made notes on her pad, stopping occasionally to look at him, unsettling him by the length of one or two of those glances.

Burnside was chipping in with his own ideas but, when Sandy looked up at them after each flurry of scribbling, it was Rob’s gaze that she caught and held.

Finally she got to her feet, and tapped the notepad with her pen.

‘I’ll sort it out,’ she said, smiling.

And she was gone.

‘Give them hell, Sandy,’ Burnside chuckled after her.

‘What else can I do for you, Frank?’ Rob wanted to know, looking up at his partner still standing in the doorway.

Burnside appeared vague.

‘You’re still here,’ Rob continued. ‘So is there something else?’

‘Just be careful, Rob,’ said the older man. ‘Like I said, I know it’s none of my business, but . . .’

Rob cut him short. ‘That’s right,’ he said flatly.

‘If it’s any consolation, I can understand why you did it. I mean, she’s a good- looking girl, I don’t deny that, and—’

‘Spare me the shoulder to cry on, Frank. I said it’s over, and it is.’ He got to his feet, crossing to the door, holding it open for his partner, who hesitated a minute then left. Rob closed the door, but lingered next to it.

Through the glass wall that formed the front of his office, he could clearly see Sandy sitting at her desk, fingers flashing quickly across the keyboard of her VDU.

Waiting for her to turn round and look at you?

‘It’s over,’ he said under his breath.

He wondered if these words of reassurance were for his own benefit.

It was a moment or two before he went back and sat down again.

6

‘I GOT LOST today, Dad.’

Becky said the words almost gleefully, smiling happily first at Rob then at Hailey.

They had eaten dinner in the kitchen, as they always did; the room that had once been the dining room having been transformed, about a year ago, into a study, and what had once been the study having been redecorated to turn it into a playroom for Becky. What the hell: they only ever used the dining room once or twice a year, when their parents visited and Hailey cooked for more than just the three of them. They weren’t exactly dinnerparty types. The room was wasted, Rob had said. So for the last eleven months they had eaten every meal in the kitchen. Some had been consumed in an atmosphere close to despair, especially in the last six months, but the meal this particular evening had been an enjoyable one. Not just because of Hailey’s culinary skill, but also because they had all laughed and joked. The conversation had flowed easily, Rob had looked a little more relaxed than usual, and Hailey had been grateful for the change in his character.

Both of them had tried hard to keep their true feelings hidden from Becky, ever since the discovery of Rob’s affair, and, most of the time, they had been successful.

Of course, Becky wasn’t stupid and, especially when Rob’s indiscretion had first come to light, she had been only too quick to spot a difference in her parents. Puzzled when her father, in particular, snapped at her so vehemently for apparently trivial things, there had been tears. But on the whole the emotional upheaval that both Hailey and Rob had been – and were still – going through was well disguised.

At first, Rob didn’t react to his daughter’s last words. He merely sipped his glass of mineral water, lost in his own thoughts.

‘Dad, I said I got lost,’ Becky repeated, unsure whether her father had heard her.

‘Where?’ he said finally, a slight edge to his voice.

Becky began to tell him.

‘Or should I say how?’

He was looking straight at Hailey now.

‘I didn’t want to worry you,’ she said. ‘Everything was all right in the end.’

‘Well, that’s OK then, isn’t it?’ he said. She wasn’t slow to catch the note of sarcasm in his voice.

No, it was something even stronger.

Disdain?

Anger?

‘A man found me,’ Becky continued. ‘He was really nice, wasn’t he, Mum?’

Hailey smiled and nodded, aware of Rob’s eyes boring into her.

‘Well, that’s fine then, sweetheart,’ he said, getting to his feet and kissing the top of Becky’s head.

He carried his plate across to the sink, then returned and collected those of Hailey and his daughter. As he looked across at Hailey, she saw his eyes narrow slightly.

‘Can I watch a video before I go to bed, Dad?’ Becky wanted to know.

‘Just half an hour,’ Hailey offered.

Becky scrambled down from the table and disappeared through into the sitting room, leaving Hailey and Rob