Kitabı oku: «I'm Virtually Yours»

To my husband Richard for encouraging me to keep going in the face of rejections.

CHAPTER ONE

Daniel Franklyn’s e-mail arrived late Thursday afternoon just as Polly was about to stop work for the day.

“Hi. I need a VA for 7—12 days in the West Country starting Monday. Interested? DF.”

Irritated, Polly looked at the computer screen. Of course she was interested in taking on a new client and more work but didn’t ‘DF’, whoever he was, understand the whole point of a Virtual Assistant was that they didn’t have to be physically present to do the work? She could stay right here in Carmarthen and do the work in her office.

Briskly Polly typed her reply:

“Dear DF, am interested in being your VA but question the necessity of going to the West Country — particularly at such short notice. Have attached my business brochure detailing the services I offer and my charges. Regards, Polly Jones.”

Polly sighed, looking across at the growing pile of bills on her desk. Electricity, rent and car tax were currently top of the pile. She knew without looking, too, that her not very generous redundancy money in the bank was on its last double figure. She could definitely have used the extra money ‘DF’ would have paid this month.

“You wait, Poll,” Marty, her best friend since forever, had said only last night. “Virtual Assistants are just taking off. I reckon you’ve chosen the best time to go it alone. A couple of months from now and you’ll be so busy you’ll be looking to employ someone to help you with all the work.”

Polly hadn’t bothered pointing out that she hadn’t had much choice but to go it alone. When the national travel firm she’d managed a local branch for had made her redundant in a cost cutting cull, she hadn’t fancied working at the local chicken processing factory, the only opportunity the JobCentre appeared to be able to offer her. Instead, she’d taken a deep breath and decided to use the redundancy money to become her own boss.

“I’m beginning to think my life is jinxed at the moment. Losing my job, no social life to speak of, ‘Virtually Yours’ taking longer than I thought to bring in the business.” Polly had shaken her head. “Can’t help but think I’ve done everything all wrong. Nearly 28 and I’m still struggling to get things right.”

“Don’t be daft,” Marty said. “You’ve got loads of things right. This is just a bit of a blip. You’ll see.”

“Ever the optimist,” Polly had laughed. “Let’s hope you’re right.”

Deep down she knew it took time to establish any sort of new business, especially in these hard economic times. She’d only set up ‘Virtually Yours’ eleven weeks ago, dreaming of instant success. Which of course hadn’t happened.

Lots of enquiries and promises of future work but so far she hadn’t exactly been rushed off her feet. She’d even started sneaking looks at the Sits Vac in the local paper for office work. Signing up with the local temping agency for a few hours’ work each week was beginning to look like a good idea — although the thought of being a lowly typist again didn’t appeal one bit.

A new client account today would certainly have been a boost to her current regular batch of three, but she doubted that Daniel Franklyn would bother to respond now she’d queried the need to go haring off down to the West Country.

Her mobile rang as she was about to log off and close down her computer. She didn’t recognise the number showing on the small screen, or the voice.

“Hi. Daniel Franklyn here. I know it’s unusual for VAs to travel but this is a special case. I really need someone to represent me in the West Country for the next week or so.”

“It’s very short notice,” Polly said. “I do have other work commitments,” she added, crossing her fingers. Not that many and nothing she couldn’t work on from the depths of, “Where exactly in the West Country?”

“Devon. Down near Dartmouth. I’ll obviously pay all expenses plus a bonus at the end of the job. You’ll have full powers to act on my behalf. Be my proxy. With luck it will take less than a fortnight to tie things up. If I could do it myself I would. Unfortunately I’ve been delayed.”

“What exactly do you want me to do down there? Why can’t I do it from here?” Polly asked. “Sorry I didn’t catch that — your voice keeps disappearing.”

“I want you to check out a boat business for me before I commit to investing in it. You’ll need to look at the books, talk to the workers, generally get the feel of the place. Suss out whether I’d be putting my money into a going concern.”

“Err — I wouldn’t have to actually go on board any boats, would I? I’m not good on boats.” The actual word was ‘terrified’ but Polly didn’t think Daniel Franklyn needed to know that.

“No,” Daniel answered shortly, his transatlantic accent cutting through her protests. “You can stay on terra firma at all times.”

“It’s a lot of responsibility to give a VA you don’t know,” Polly said. “Are you sure you don’t have a business contact down there who can act on your behalf?”

“My lawyers are doing all the checks they can but I want a more personal view of everything. You’ve got a Business Management qualification haven’t you? So you’re more than capable of assessing this company for me. So do you want the job? Yes or no? You come highly recommended but you’re not the only VA around you know.”

No, Polly thought silently, I’m not. But I’m probably the only one free enough to drop everything to go and work in Devon for however long it takes.

On the other hand though, it did sound like a dream assignment and one, if she did a good job of course, that would help spread her reputation out into the big wide world. Fleetingly she wondered who had recommended her to Daniel Franklyn.

“OK,” she said taking a deep breath and coming to a decision. “I’ll drive down this Sunday. E-mail me all the info so I can familiarise myself with things before I go. Oh, and as I’ve not worked for you before, I’d appreciate some money before I start accumulating too many expenses like petrol and hotel bills.”

“Sure thing,” Daniel said. “I’ll transfer some dollars to the lawyers tonight.” He named a three-figure sum that took Polly’s breath away. Whoever Daniel Franklyn was, he certainly didn’t appear to be short of money.

“That should cover things for the first few days,” he added. “Just one more thing. If anyone asks, you are working for a company called Worldsend Enterprises. My name is not to be mentioned. Got that?”

Before Polly could ask “Why not?” Daniel continued.

“Book yourself into the best hotel the town has to offer — I hear The Royal has a great spa. Right, got to go. Something’s come up. I’ll be in touch.” And the line died.

Polly closed her mobile. A client with a no-expenses-spared attitude was a welcome addition to her client base but what did she know about Daniel Franklyn? So far her clients had come by personal recommendation and although he’d said she came highly recommended she knew nothing about him. And this thing about not mentioning him by name — what exactly was that about?

Thoughtfully Polly typed ‘Daniel Franklyn’ into Google. Nobody there on the first two pages sounded as if they could be ’her’ Daniel Franklyn. Next she typed ‘Worldsend Enterprises’ into the search box and found their web page — which was ‘Under Maintenance’ and unavailable. A brief notice apologised and said to check back in a few days when the site would be up and running again. Hmm. Fat lot of help that was.

Polly bit her lip. She’d committed herself to going down to the West Country now and she did need the money. Apart from the bills on her desk, her ancient car was coming up for its mot next month — her car!

She’d forgotten the state it was in. Would it get her all the way to Devon? There was a strange knocking noise when she went round corners that would probably turn out to be expensive to fix. And she’d completely forgotten about Rosie. What was she going to do with Rosie?

Ben Robertson pushed his breakfast toast away and finally opened the letter he’d been ignoring for the past ten minutes.

“The loan company are getting heavy. Say if we miss another payment, they’ll call in the loan immediately.”

Lillian rubbed her eyes tiredly. Sleep had again evaded her for most of the night as she’d tossed and turned worrying about the business. They so didn’t need the loan company piling additional pressure on. She looked at Ben.

Seeing the dark circles under his eyes and the worry lines across his forehead she knew he hadn’t slept much either. She’d be glad when everything was sorted — one way or the other. She hated seeing Ben like this. At their time of life she’d expected things to be getting easier, not more difficult. All this business with the yard and finance was definitely taking its toll on both of them.

“Can they do that?”

Ben nodded. “Yes. We can only pray that the season starts early and the weather is kind to us this year. And hopefully this ’Worldsend Enterprise’ deal comes off.”

“You don’t think we could be getting into even murkier waters?” Lillian asked quietly. “We don’t know much about them, what with their offer coming totally out of the blue.”

“Just at the right moment as far as I’m concerned,” Ben said. “I know it’s a risk but what’s the alternative? We can’t let the business go without putting up a fight. A sleeping partner prepared to let us continue to run the business sounds like a good offer to me. And at least Worldsend is a nautical business so it must know all about seasonal fluctuations. Not like this bunch of sharks,” and he threw the paper angrily down onto the table.

“Will’s not happy,” Lillian said. “He still says we should try and manage without outside investment. The barge will be earning money this season and there’s another instalment due on the new-build this month. He reckons if we did some more advertising, set up a website…”

“Show him that letter,” Ben said. ‘He’ll change his tune when he sees how close we are to being sold down the river. Can’t see a website changing our fortunes overnight.”

“That’s another thing. D’you think Worldsend knows how desperate we are?” Lillian said.

“If this woman they’re sending to look at the business knows her stuff, they soon will. Just pray she’s got enough foresight to see how good our future prospects are.”

“Are you going to tell her about the loan? And,” Lillian hesitated, “other things?”

“She’ll see the loan when she opens the books — you got ‘em up to date?”

Lillian nodded as Ben continued.

“And no, I’m not going to mention ‘other things’ so don’t you go saying anything either. Nothing’s happened for a few weeks now so hopefully we’ve seen the last of it. Right, I’m off to the boatyard. I’ll see you later.”

Tiredly Lillian cleared the breakfast things away before going upstairs to get ready for work. Today she definitely needed to apply what Ben laughingly called her warpaint to disguise the shadows under her eyes and to give her the courage to face this high-powered businesswoman Worldsend were sending to inspect them.

Shame she didn’t have either the time or the money to get her highlights done. If she wasn’t careful she’d end up bald, she was pulling out so many grey hairs recently.

Will sat on the deck of the barge enjoying his second coffee of the morning with his breakfast toast and watching the river come to life. He reckoned it was the best bit of the day, waking up out here.

Not for a single moment did he regret his decision to move out and live on the barge the instant the living quarters were renovated. He might have told Ben and Lillian it was a question of security with all the funny business that had been going on, but in reality he’d loved the thought of living out on the river and had grabbed the opportunity.

He was enjoying looking after himself too, cooking in the spacious galley with its gleaming equipment. Lillian had admitted to being envious of the new cooking range on which he’d produced a more than passable lasagne followed by a pavlova the other evening when she and Ben had motored across for supper. Lillian had also been full of admiration for the conversion work he’d done on the barge.

Opening the barge as a floating sailing school was going to work, he knew. Even with some open bulkheads and the few planks that still needed replacing at the stern of its seventy-foot length, the barge was already beginning to feel and look like the sailing school it would become in a few more weeks. But there was still the little matter of finishing it off and buying the necessary dinghies before they could open. Will sighed. They were so close to being ready.

The individual cabins were finished and waiting for the mattresses and the bedding and the other items that would make them a comfortable retreat for the budding sailors. The saloon where the theory lessons would take place before anybody was let out on the water was equipped and life jackets were stowed in the lockers ready for action. All that was needed was the cash for the rest of the equipment.

Throwing the last of his toast to the gulls, Will squashed the question uppermost in his mind: Where the hell were they going to find the rest of the money needed? Negative thoughts he didn’t need. He’d get the money somehow.

With hindsight they’d been bloody stupid to take out that loan but at the time… Will shook his head, not wanting to remember how desperate they’d been. At least they’d managed to make a payment last month thanks to that delivery job he’d done over to St. Malo.

Now though, watching a shag preen itself on the large black mooring buoy the barge was tied up to, he found himself wondering just how long he would be allowed to live on board — how long in fact the Elizabeth Ann would remain a part of his life.

As for these ‘Worldsend Enterprises’ people who’d suddenly poked their oar into the business wanting to inject money, were they going to turn out to be loan sharks in a different guise? He was damned if he was going to greet them with anything more than politeness until he’d discovered if they had a hidden agenda.

It was his inheritance — his life — that was at stake here and he wasn’t just going to give it up without a fight. He’d make damn sure, too, that this Polly Jones woman, whoever she was, knew that when she arrived.