Kitabı oku: «Best Friend To Royal Bride / Surprise Baby For The Billionaire», sayfa 5
On Monday morning everything was ready. Tina, the receptionist, was at her post, and Alex and Marie were sitting in the chairs at the far end of the reception area, along with one of the counsellors, a physiotherapist, and therapists from the pool and the gym. Tina would welcome visitors and summon the relevant person to talk to them.
‘You’re sure we shouldn’t be next to Tina? She looks a bit on her own.’ Alex waved across to Tina, who waved cheerily back.
‘No. We don’t want to frighten anyone away with a horde of therapists waiting to pounce.’
‘But I want to pounce. Actually, I want to go out onto the street and kidnap anyone who walks by.’ Alex was looking a little like a caged lion at the moment.
‘Well you can’t. We’re supposed to be friendly and non-intimidating. We wait, Alex. We’ve got some groups coming soon. Before you know it you’ll have more people than you can cope with.’
‘I hope so…’ He caught his breath, stiffening suddenly as a shadow fell across the entrance. ‘Aren’t they the women you were talking to the other day?’
Carol and Nisha had manoeuvred their pushchairs into the lobby and were standing by the door, looking around. They moved forward to let a group of young mums past, who had obviously just dropped their children off at school.
‘Yes.’ Marie smirked at him. ‘They’re mine, Alex. You can wait here until Tina calls you…’
He grinned at her, obviously relieved that the reception area was beginning to fill up. ‘No one likes an overachiever, Marie.’
‘Too bad. I’m still first.’
She stood up, walking across to where Carol and Nisha were standing.
‘Hi, Marie.’ Carol saw her first, and gave her a wave. ‘We’ve come to check out the mum-and-baby swimming classes.’
‘That’s great. I’ll get you signed up… Would you like to come and see the pool first? It’s in the old gym.’
‘The gym?’ Carol rolled her eyes. ‘That I’d love to see.’
Marie led the way. Both women had been to school here, and by the time they got to the swimming pool the three of them were swapping memories of their years spent here.
‘You’ve worked wonders with it all, that’s for sure.’ Carol nodded her head in approval of the changing rooms and showers, and then stopped short when Marie opened the door that led through to the pool area. ‘Wow! This is a bit different!’
The aqua blues and greens of the tiles and the light playing across the water made this one of Marie’s favourite parts of the clinic. ‘This is the main exercise pool. The hydrotherapy pool is where we’re holding the mum-and-baby classes.’
‘Does it matter if I can’t swim?’ Nisha was looking uncertainly at the pool.
‘No, the hydrotherapy pool is much shallower than this one. You’ll be able to stand up in it. It’s kept at a warmer temperature, which makes it more suitable for babies and children.’
Marie led the way through to the smaller pool, where the same blue-and-green tones lent a more restful, intimate atmosphere. Georgie whooped with joy and started to wriggle in his pushchair, obviously keen to try it out straight away.
‘I think that’s one taker!’ Carol grinned, taking him out of the pushchair and keeping a tight hold on him in case he decided to try and jump in. ‘What do you think, Nisha?’
‘Yes, definitely.’
The matter was settled. Marie had filled two places on the mother-and-baby swimming course, and maybe she’d get a chance to talk a bit more to Nisha.
‘Would you like to come to the cafeteria for some coffee?’
‘That would be nice. There was something I wanted to ask…’ Nisha smiled hesitantly.
‘Oh. Yes—good idea. I’ll leave you to it, then. See you tomorrow, Nisha. Thanks for the tour, Marie.’
Georgie’s protests went unheard as Carol put him back into the pushchair and hurried away, giving them both a wave.
Marie turned to Nisha, who was grinning broadly at her friend’s receding figure. ‘If there’s something you want to talk about we could have coffee in my office.’
‘It might not be anything at all. I’m probably just being silly…’ Nisha twisted her mouth into a grimace.
‘If it matters to you then it’s something. The one thing I’m not going to do is tell you that you’re being silly. You’re the one who tells me what’s important.’
Nisha nodded. ‘It is important to me. I wish you could help me…’
Half an hour later Marie walked Nisha through to the reception area, which was now buzzing with activity. Nisha was grinning, clutching the information pack and the appointment card Marie had given her. Alex was nowhere to be seen, and it was another half hour before he appeared again.
‘Everything okay with Nisha and Carol?’
‘Yes, it’s all good.’
She nodded towards his office, and by silent agreement they walked away from the bustle of people. Alex closed the door.
‘I had a talk with Nisha; she says she hasn’t felt right about sex since having her baby. She’s worried about her relationship with her husband.’
He nodded. ‘So what did you both decide?’
‘Nisha’s coming back to see me tomorrow. I’ll examine her, and she’s given me permission to write to her doctor so he can send her for some tests. Once we’ve ruled anything physical out we can discuss relationship therapy here.’
‘She looked as if she was happy about that?’
‘Yes—she said she’d get her husband to come with her tomorrow. He’s tried to talk to her about it, but she says she panics and shuts him down.’
‘Just talking about it helps.’ He threw himself into his chair, staring at the ceiling. ‘Of course, I’m a proven expert on talking about things.’
The heavy irony in his tone set off an alarm bell. Something was up with Alex. His hand was shaking, and it didn’t seem that hopeful nerves about their opening day was the cause.
‘What’s up?’ She sat down.
‘It’s…’ He waved his hand dismissively. ‘Telling you it’s nothing and that we should be getting back isn’t going to wash, is it?’
‘No. There are plenty of people out there to greet visitors, and we’re confident the staff here can manage without us for ten minutes. Aren’t we, Alex?’
‘Yes. Absolutely.’ He puffed out a breath. ‘In that case… I had a boy who came in to ask about bodybuilding classes. He’s only ten. I talked to him a bit, and told him that he’d have to bring one of his parents with him before he could sign up for any kind of exercise class with us.’
‘Why did he want to do bodybuilding?’ she asked, knowing Alex must have had the same instinct she did.
‘It turned out that he’d skipped off school, so I got Tina to phone the school and they sent a teacher down to fetch him. He’s being bullied.’
‘Poor kid. And he wants to be able to fight back?’
‘Yes. His teacher’s going to talk to the parents, and I told her we would enrol him in our anti-bullying programme. He’s a little overweight, so if he wants to do exercises then I’ll get Mike to devise an exercise programme that suits his age and build.’
‘That makes sense.’
‘Yeah… But when he realised I wasn’t just going to sign him up for bodybuilding he threw a tantrum and then…started to cry—’ Alex’s voice broke, suddenly.
‘That’s good, Alex. You got through to him. He must have a lot of negative emotion bottled up.’
Alex was committed to setting up a programme for both kids and adults who were being bullied. He’d applied his customary insight and thoroughness and then left it to a specialist.
Marie had supposed that someone with Alex’s charm and natural leadership ability couldn’t possibly have first-hand knowledge of being bullied, so he’d left the finer points to the experts he’d recruited. But she’d based her supposition on what she’d thought she knew about Alex. The happy childhood she’d imagined for him.
‘You know, I always wanted you to have been happy as a child.’
He looked up at her. ‘Yeah? That’s nice.’
‘Not really. I just wanted to know someone who’d grown up normally. It made me feel better—as if that was something I could shoot for.’
‘Ah. Sorry to disappoint you, then.’ He turned the corners of his mouth down.
‘But, thinking about it, I guess it might have been a bit difficult to make friends when you were little.’
He was gazing at his desk, as if something there might provide an answer. ‘My father didn’t think I should play with any of the kids who lived nearby because I was a prince. I was taught at home until it came time for me to be packed off to an exclusive boarding school. I was a shy kid, with a name that invited a thousand jokes. Of course I got bullied.’
And so he’d become the student who everyone liked. He’d listened to what people said and charmed them all. Marie had never looked past that.
‘I wasn’t much of a friend, was I?’
His eyebrows shot up. ‘What? You were kind and honest. You brought me colour, and you showed me that however hard things are there’s always time to celebrate the good things. I wanted…’
He fell silent suddenly, and in the warmth of his gaze Marie knew what he’d wanted. He’d wanted her. She’d wanted him too. Honesty was good—but this was one place they couldn’t go.
‘I wanted to be like you.’
His smooth refusal to face that particular fact was a relief, because Marie couldn’t face it either. She’d never really moved on from wanting Alex.
‘Will you do me a favour?’ she asked.
‘Anything.’
The look in his eyes told her he meant it.
‘You’ve got a lot you can give to the anti-bullying programme. All those feelings and the things no one ever said. I want you to get more involved with it.’
He laughed suddenly. ‘Don’t underestimate me by giving me the easy option, will you.’
‘You want me to underestimate you?’
‘No, not really. Keeping me honest is what you do best.’ He held his hands up in a gesture of smiling surrender. ‘Yes, I’ll do it. And now we really should be getting back to our visitors.’
CHAPTER SIX
YESTERDAY HAD BEEN a success. The flood of people who’d wanted to be first to explore the new clinic had subsided into a steady but satisfying trickle. Alex had received a couple of calls from local doctors, enquiring about referring patients to the clinic, and he’d shown a consultant from the nearby hospital around. She had a young patient whose family were currently travelling an hour each way to get to a hydrotherapy pool, and was pleased to find a closer facility that would meet the girl’s needs.
Today there was a new challenge.
Alex assumed his best trust-me-I’m-a-doctor smile, and when he looked down at Marie he saw a similar one plastered uneasily across her face.
‘Oh, really, Alex.’ Sonya Graham-Hall flapped her hand at the photographer from the local paper, indicating that he was to stand down while she gave her clients a good talking-to. ‘Can you try not to look as if you’ve eaten something that doesn’t agree with you? You’re supposed to be welcoming. And stand a little closer to Marie. You’re a team…’
Marie was looking a little overawed by Sonya. Alex took a step towards her, feeling the inevitable thrill as her shoulder touched his arm. He bent towards her, whispering an old joke from medical school, and she suppressed a laugh. He couldn’t help smiling, and heard the camera click rapidly.
‘Wonderful!’
Sonya beamed at everyone, and Alex stepped forward to shake the photographer’s hand and thank him. Then Sonya marched across the reception area to where the local reporter was standing, leading him towards the front doors.
‘What’s she doing?’ Marie looked up at him. ‘Can’t he find his own way?’
‘It’s Sonya’s modus operandi. She’s making sure he knows what he’s meant to write. Although he probably won’t realise that’s what she’s done until after he’s filed his story.’
Alex knew Sonya’s husband from school, and knew she was the best PR representative in London. She was so much in demand that it was usual for her to interview clients, rather than the other way round. Alex had been lucky, though, and a phone call had not only managed to secure Sonya’s services, but they were on a pro bono basis, because she loved the idea of the clinic. There was something to be said for the public school network.
‘She’s formidable, isn’t she?’ Marie’s smile indicated that she thought formidable was a really good thing. ‘I’m a little scared of her.’
Alex couldn’t fathom what Marie would have to be scared about. If he’d been asked to define ‘formidable’, the first person who would have come to mind was Marie. But not quite in the same way as Sonya, who relied on killer heels, designer jackets and an upper-class accent that would have sliced through concrete.
‘She knows so many important people…’
‘It’s her job to know people. Anyway, don’t we prefer to think of everyone as important?’
Marie frowned, nudging him with her elbow. ‘Of course we do. You know what I mean.’
Alex knew. Marie had already told him that she felt like a fish out of water with the great and the good, but they were exactly the kind of people who had the money and influence to help them make this project grow into a whole chain of clinics in different parts of the country. He wished Marie would stop thinking of them as somehow out of her league, because she was just as good as any of them.
‘Right, then.’ Sonya returned, beaming. ‘I think he’s on track. While I’m here, perhaps we can review where we are with everything else.’
‘Thanks, Sonya. My office?’
Alex led the way, hearing Sonya chatting brightly to Marie, and Marie’s awkward, awestruck replies.
Sonya plumped herself into one of the easy chairs, drawing a slim tablet out of her handbag. In Sonya’s eyes, paper was messy, and she didn’t do mess.
‘Ooh, look. I love these. Such lovely colours. Can I have one?’
She leaned forward towards the coffee table, catching up the sheet of brightly coloured stickers that Marie had presented him with this morning. They had the name of the clinic on them, along with the main telephone number and website address, but Alex suspected that their real intent was to bring yet another much-needed shot of colour into his office.
‘Help yourself. Marie has had a few printed. Shall we get some more?’ Marie was already squirming in her seat, and Alex decided to embarrass her a little more.
‘Definitely. This is just the kind of fun thing we want. Something to get away from the boring medical image.’
Alex felt his eyebrows shoot up.
‘You know what I mean, Alex. Of course the medical part is the most important, but we want people to feel that you’re approachable and not a stuffy old doctor.’
‘Yes, we do.’ Marie spoke up, reddening slightly at her audacity, and Sonya nodded.
‘Now. I have the local radio interview set up—you’re on your own with that one, Alex.’
‘I can handle it.’ Alex reckoned he could talk for ten minutes about the clinic easily enough.
‘I’m sure you can. But I’m sending you a list of keywords and I want you to memorise them.’
Sonya swiped her finger across her tablet, and Alex heard a ding from the other side of the room as his desktop computer signalled that he had mail.
‘Really? Keywords?’
‘Yes, of course, darling. Think of it as like…’ Sonya waved her hand in the air, groping for the right words.
‘Like talking to a patient? Sometimes you have to emphasise what’s important without confusing them with a load of irrelevant detail,’ Marie ventured.
‘Yes, exactly.’
Sonya gave Marie a conspiratorial smile, indicating she was pleased to see that at least one of them was on track, and Marie reddened again.
‘I’m still working on the TV appearance, and there are a couple of functions that I’d like you to go to if I can get you an invitation.’ Sonya leaned forward in her seat. ‘You still have reservations about promoting the royal aspect in the media?’
Alex felt the side of his jaw twitch. ‘If by reservations you mean that I’m absolutely sure that I don’t want any of that in the media, then, yes, I’m still absolutely sure.’
‘But it’s such a good story, Alex. It would catch people’s imaginations. It doesn’t get much hotter than this—you’re a doctor, very rich, royal, and to top it off a handsome bachelor.’
Alex shook his head, and then Marie spoke. Like an angel coming to rescue him.
‘We’ve agreed a policy about this.’
‘Ah… Yes?’
Sonya turned to Marie, clearly wanting her to elaborate. And Alex wanted to know what policy he’d agreed, as well.
‘The compelling nature of Alex’s story is the problem—it could quite easily prompt a media circus. Our values are that the clinic is the one and only important thing. Once it’s a bit more established we could look at it again, but now’s not the right time.’
Nicely said. Alex shot Marie a thankful look and she received it with the quiet graciousness of a queen.
Sonya nodded. ‘Yes, that makes sense. Why didn’t you say that before, Alex?’
‘Marie sums it up a great deal better than I can.’
Sonya flashed him a look that told him she agreed entirely with the sentiment, and then moved on. ‘Now, I’m rather hoping you have something presentable to wear, Alex.’
‘I have a suit…’ Just the one. It was the suit he wore for job interviews, and he hoped it still fitted.
‘All right. I’ll send you the names of a few good tailors, just in case.’
Alex’s computer dinged again and Sonya swiped her finger across her screen, in clear indication that she’d ticked that particular item off her list.
‘I’m very pleased with the website—are you getting anything via the enquiries page?’
‘Yes, quite a few things. Sofia’s coordinating that.’
‘Good. She seems very efficient. And the mural for your reception area? There are lots of possibilities there. How ever did you find these people? I’ve had a look at their previous work and it’s stunning. Inspirational, even.’
‘That was Marie’s idea.’
‘Of course…’ Sonya’s questioning gaze swept towards Marie.
‘Oh. Yes, well… They’re a group of artists who do wall art for charities and public spaces like hospitals and libraries. They choose the organisations they want to be involved with and work for free—we just pay for their materials.’
‘And who’s in charge?’ Sonya enquired.
‘Corinne Riley’s their coordinator. She’s about as much in charge as anyone is. She’s an artist, and works part-time as an art therapist. Her husband, Tom, is head of Paediatrics at the hospital where I used to work.’
‘And would they consider a magazine article, or even a short TV piece featuring their work here?’
Marie shrugged. ‘I could ask. I know Corinne’s very interested in spreading the word about how art can change spaces and involve people.’
‘It’s fascinating…’ Sonya’s mind was obviously hard at work on the possibilities. ‘Yes, please. And I’d love an introduction if you feel that’s appropriate?’
Alex smirked, wondering if Marie was taking notice of the fact that Sonya had just asked her for an introduction. It seemed she was, because she smiled suddenly.
‘I’ll email Corinne today and get back to you. Do you have any particular time in mind?’
‘If she sends me a couple of dates which suit her I’ll fit in with them.’
Sonya swiped again, and Alex braced himself for the next item on her agenda.
‘You do have a suit, don’t you?’
Now that Sonya had left, Alex’s office seemed a little quiet. Marie had waited to ask the awkward question.
‘Somewhere. Unless I left it at the dry cleaner’s…’
Marie frowned at him. ‘It’s not that suit you bought for your job interviews, is it?’
‘What’s wrong with that one?’
‘It’s not going to fit you any more.’
Alex put his hand on his stomach, sucking it in, and Marie laughed.
‘I meant across the shoulders. You’ve lost those few extra pounds you were carrying.’
So she’d noticed. Alex couldn’t help smirking. ‘You think I’ve lost a bit of weight?’
She made a thing of eying him up and down. She was teasing, but her gaze made his stomach tighten with apprehension. When she grinned, it felt as if a warm wave was washing over him.
‘You’re in good shape, Alex. But you’ll probably need a proper suit for these functions that Sonya was talking about.’
Alex sighed. ‘Yes. Probably.’
‘How many suits did you have when you were a child?’ Marie homed in unerringly on the exact reason why Alex never wore a suit.
‘Oh, about a dozen, all told. New ones each year.’
‘That sounds excruciating.’
‘It was.’
But he was doing things on his own terms now. Marie had told him that, and she wasn’t going to underestimate him by reminding him again. In the silence he could feel her presence pushing the memories back and turning his gaze forward.
‘You’re right. I’ll order two new suits; that old one probably doesn’t fit me any more.’
She nodded. ‘You’ll be your own kind of excellent and glorious. What about some striped socks to match?’
Alex chuckled. His father would have blown a gasket at the thought of his wearing striped socks with a suit. Or with anything else, for that matter. Having to be excellent and glorious suddenly didn’t seem so bad.
‘Okay. Striped socks it is. You can choose them.’
The clinic’s first week was reassuringly busy. Marie and Alex had agreed on a ‘walking around’ approach, to see how things were going and to iron out any teething problems, and they took turns with it. One dealt with patients and any urgent paperwork, and the other simply walked around the clinic, visiting all the different departments and talking to people.
It was working well—the staff were encouraged to talk about any difficulties they had, and the clinic’s clients were beginning to know that either Marie or Alex would always be somewhere in the building if they wanted to chat.
‘Hi, Terri. How are things going?’ Marie saw a young mother with whom Alex had been working approaching her.
Terri’s older child had been born with spina bifida, and although surgery had closed the opening in her spine, the little girl had been left with weakness in her legs and needed a specialist exercise regime.
‘Good, thanks. This place is an absolute godsend.’ Terri beamed at her. ‘All that travelling we used to do to get to a hydrotherapy pool for Amy, and now we can just walk around the corner.’
‘You’re enjoying your swimming?’ Marie grinned down at Terri’s eight-year-old daughter and Amy nodded.
‘I’m going to swim too.’ Five-year-old Sam had been walking next to his sister’s wheelchair, hanging obediently onto the side of it. ‘I’m going to be a really good swimmer, and then I can help Amy.’
Terri grinned. ‘It’s great for both of them. We couldn’t afford the time to take Sam to a class as well, but the hydrotherapist says she’ll book Amy’s sessions at the same time as the junior swim class, so Sam can swim too. Usually he just has to sit with me by the pool.’
‘That’s great.’
It was exactly what the clinic was for. Helping whole families to cope. Terri was looking less tired than she had when Marie had first met her.
‘What’s that?’ Sam had left his sister’s side and was standing on his toes, peering through the window into the courtyard.
‘It’s our garden. If you’ve got time, you can come and have a look.’
Marie shot a questioning look at Terri and she nodded. Opening the door, Marie let Sam into the courtyard and he started to run around, stopping in front of each planter to look at the flowers.
Terri parked Amy’s wheelchair next to the water feature, so she could reach out to touch the plants around it. Then she sank down onto a nearby bench.
‘This is lovely. I could stay here all day.’
Sam and Amy were amusing each other, and Terri gave a satisfied smile.
‘Hello, Amy.’ A woman stopped in the corridor by the open door. ‘How are you, dear?’
‘Very well, thank you, Miss Fletcher.’ Amy sat a little straighter in her wheelchair and Marie suppressed a smile.
Jennifer Fletcher had been one of the first people through the doors when the clinic had opened. A retired primary school teacher, she seemed to know every child in the district, and had taught a number of their parents as well.
‘This is lovely.’ Jennifer craned her neck to see the garden, obviously hesitant to inspect it more closely without being asked.
‘Come and join us, Miss Fletcher.’ Terri grinned at her.
‘It’s about time you called me Jennifer.’
Miss Fletcher walked slowly across to the bench and Marie moved to make room for her.
‘What brings you here…um… Jennifer?’ Terri was clearly reticent about calling her old schoolteacher by her first name.
‘I’ve been having a few aches and pains since I retired last spring, so I decided to come along and see if I could join an exercise class. I had a full physical, and the doctors have found I have an inflammation in my right hip.’
Jennifer beamed at Marie. She’d had the distinction of being the first patient to try out the new MRI scanner, and it had shown that, instead of a touch of arthritis, the bursa in her right hip was inflamed. Jennifer had professed delight at the thought that this could be rectified, and was already seeing the clinic’s physiotherapist.
‘I’ve got a full exercise programme and I think I’m doing rather well. It’s early days, of course, but the physiotherapist here says that core strength is important as you enter your seventies.’ Jennifer looked around the garden. ‘You’ll be adding a few bedding plants?’
‘It’s a work in progress. We’ve planted some seeds, and we have some cuttings over there in the corner.’ Marie pointed to the yoghurt pots, full of water, where the cuttings were beginning to grow roots.
She saw Amy’s head turn, and the little girl leaned over to see. ‘I don’t suppose you’d like to help us plant some, would you, Amy?’
‘Mum…?’ Amy turned to Terri.
‘Of course. But we mustn’t take up Dr Davies’s time.’ Terri flashed Marie an apologetic look.
‘That’s all right. If Amy would like to help with the garden—’
‘Well, I would, too…’ Jennifer spoke up.
It seemed that the garden had just acquired its first few volunteers.
Marie brought some of the pots over, moving a table so that Jennifer and Amy could work together, planting the Busy Lizzies. Sam had taken a couple of action figures from his mother’s handbag, and he was playing with them.
‘Would you like a drink? I’ll pop over to the café.’
Everyone else was occupied and Terri deserved a break.
‘You know what…?’ Terri gave her a wry smile. ‘I’d like to just stroll over there and get something. On my own. If you or Jennifer don’t mind staying here with the kids, that is…?’
Marie knew the feeling well. Terri craved a moment to herself, so she could do something ordinary. She’d felt like that when she was a teenager. Wanting just five minutes that she could call her own, without one or other of her brothers wanting something.
‘Of course. We’ll be another half an hour with this, if you want to sit in the café?’
‘No, that’s okay. Can I get you something?’ Terri pulled her purse out of her bag. ‘My treat.’
If Marie wanted coffee, she had the lovely machine in her office. But that wasn’t the point. It was clearly important to Terri that she get it, and she should accept the offer.
‘A cup of tea would be nice. Thank you.’
Terri grinned, turning to Jennifer. ‘Would you like a drink?’
Fifteen minutes later she saw Terri strolling back towards them, chatting to Alex. He was carrying a tray with four cups and a couple of child-sized boxes of juice, and when he’d handed the drinks around and stopped to find out how Jennifer and Amy were he strolled over to Sam to deliver his drink.
‘They never quite grow up, do they?’ Terri was drinking her coffee, watching Alex and Sam. The little boy had shown Alex his action figures, and the two were now busily engaged in making them jump from one planter to another. Sam jumped his onto the water feature with a splash and Alex followed with his, and the two figures started to fight in the swirling water.
By the time Terri said that they should go home, Alex’s shirt was dappled with water. The pots were gathered up and labelled as Amy’s, so that she could watch her plants grow and transfer them to the planters when they were big enough. Sam said goodbye to Alex, promising that they would continue their fight the next time he was here, and Alex thanked him gravely.
‘I’m hoping your mother wouldn’t have minded too much…’ Marie nodded towards the water feature.
‘Mind? She’d have loved it.’ Alex grinned at her, coming to sit down on the bench.
‘Good. And of course all that splashing about was entirely for Sam’s benefit?’
It had occurred to Marie that Alex’s love of silly games was because he’d never got the chance to play them when he was a child.
‘Of course.’ Alex brushed at his shirt, as if he’d only just noticed the water. ‘I have absolutely no idea why you should think otherwise. Ooh—I had a call from Sonya.’
‘What does she want us to do now?’
Sonya’s calls generally meant smiling for one camera or another, but every time they did it Sofia Costa received a fresh wave of enquiries.
‘It’s an evening do at the Institute of Business. They throw a very select party once in a while, so their members can meet people who are doing groundbreaking work in various charitable and medical fields. Most big businesses like to have their names associated with a few good causes, and making those contacts now will help us in the future.’
Even the scale of Alex’s wealth wasn’t going to finance his dreams of creating and running a chain of clinics all over the country. This was about the future—one that Alex was going to build for himself.
‘That sounds great. Does Sonya know someone at the Institute?’
‘No, but it turns out that a couple of the Institute’s board of directors went to my school and they vaguely remember me. Sonya’s managed to swing a couple of invitations.’
Ücretsiz ön izlemeyi tamamladınız.
