10

London,
November 2010...


Helen fiddles with her earrings and her hair. Trying her best to stand still, seeing her reflection all around her from the shiny panels of the lift.
A short man beside her, holding a file in his left hand, he met her at reception and has stayed with her. His job is to escort her to the twenty seventh and from there, her eleven o’clock and a sit down with Arco funding.
Nerves again as she runs her fingers through her hair and wishing that Christina was here, she’d be next to her holding her hand and wearing jeans, sweatshirt and that olive green combat jacket.
Helen takes the moment to look down at herself in her dark business suit, specially bought for this, and her mind isn’t really here, it’s with someone else.

A soft noise as the lift stops. A tiny moment where the polished doors glide open and Helen sees the number ’27’ in large figures on the opposite wall. The short man smiles at her and gestures at her, ’after you’.
A heavy swallow and a deep breath, a whisper and Helen walks out of the lift and feels the thick carpet under her heels. A large reception desk, almost the same as the one in the lobby, here a young woman stands up and smiles at her. The short man hands over the file, smiles and so quietly walks away.
The young woman places the file with a large bound book and leads her to the boardroom.
The boardroom is huge and dominated by a highly polished long black table with high backed leather chairs around it. At the head of it, the young woman places those items down, then pulls one of the chairs back.
‘Can I get you anything?’ The woman’s voice is soft, but very business like, the routine as polished as the table.
‘Yes, a cup of tea would be nice.’
A slight nod, ’Certainly. Mr. Bentley won’t be a minute.’
Helen puts her briefcase down next to the chair and sits, something overblown here and noting that there are only two places marked out, every other place is clear.
Very different to Brown and Ferrell, a warm, cosy feel to it, whereas here, it’s so… clinical, so business like and quite non human in it’s operation.
Two large brown doors at an angle to the room, which is predominately glass and Helen wrinkles her nose, not really liking this already.
The young woman stands at the door where they’d come in moments before, she looks downwards as a tall man moves beside her, a powerful stride in a powerful suit, an air of supreme confidence around him and only just acknowledges the woman as he swiftly moves passed.
The door is quickly and so efficiently closed.
Helen’s right, she doesn’t like this at all.

The man in the suit stands by the windows, a series of odd movements before he turns and smiles, ’Good Morning, I’m Graham Bentley. Nice to meet you, Miss Taylor.’
He walks so quickly to where Helen only just about gets up in time to shake his hand, a strong grip and a firm shake, ’Please, sit down…’
Helen sits, not taking her eyes off him, his tanned face that’s so clean shaven and a gleam in his dark blue eyes, he moves the file to his left and faces Helen again.
‘So, to business.’
‘Yes, you’re interest in Brown and Ferrell.’
A sly smile from him, ’Yes, Brown and Ferrell. Good performances over the last two years, certainly busy enough for a firm of it’s size.’
That almost sounds like a sneer, Helen smiles, thinking that she’s glad that Christina isn’t here.
His elbows land on the table, ’Yes, we are interested. However, the revamp could be expensive.’
‘Revamp?’
‘Yes, it’s a relic of a long time ago, Miss Taylor, not exactly what I would call of the now.’ Now he sounds quite curt and almost rude.
‘Brown and Ferrell is a very old company, Mr. Bentley, I think it’s one of the reasons why it does so well.’
‘I disagree. From what I have learned, that is all down to you, not the company itself.’
Helen shifts slightly, blushing and the door opens as the young woman appears with a tray.
‘Ah, tea.’ Bentley smiles.
For Helen, it’s a welcome relief.
‘Should we proceed, I will have to make a decision on it.’
‘Sorry? On what?’
‘The future of your company.’
‘It’s not mine, I’m the Managing Director, it doesn’t belong to me.’
Bentley nods, ‘Yes, I am well aware of that. I know that a Miss Benson is the owner and I also know that she died two years ago. Forgive me, but what I perceive here is that the company is yours in all but name.’
‘I was entrusted as MD, so that’s what I do.’
He smiles again, ’Don’t sell yourself short. You are an extremely valuable asset, I hope that James Deacon and that board understand that as I do.’
‘Miss Benson requested that I take on the role and I wouldn’t want to let her down.’
‘Rest assured, Miss Taylor, you have nothing to fear in that department.’
Helen drinks her tea, a look around to see if the young woman is there somewhere, but it’s just the two of them again.
She puts the solid looking cup down, ’Are you seriously considering an offer?’
‘No. what I am considering is an all out purchase. I don’t always make offers, Miss Taylor, we have done a financial and personnel appraisal, and we are quite happy to proceed. We have to agree terms and this is why I am dealing with you directly.’
‘I did wonder why the board had been so quiet.’
Bentley shakes his head, ’They are quite redundant. They know that, I bought them and now I want to buy Brown and Ferrell.’
‘Your intentions towards it?’
A sigh from him now and a smile, a soft one, changing the hardness of the lines on his face, ’That remains open to discussion. There are two schools of thought. One is that we buy and close. Two is that we buy and overhaul it and keep it as is, some of your clients are very loyal and that we do value and above that is you yourself.’
‘Me? Why me?’
Bentley sits forward, moving the cup away from him and his hand touches the file, ’Once we have bought Brown and Ferrell, you won’t be running it. I have someone else in mind for that.’
‘Oh, so you’re going to buy me off.’
‘Yes and make you a counter offer, something of a challenge perhaps, but I think you’ll do the right thing.’
Helen laughs, ’Why don’t you just spit it out. I hate all this running around in circles nonsense.’
‘Good, because that is what I have learned about you. Very well, my offer to you personally is to take control of our Los Angeles office. The head of that is retiring and I can’t think of anyone better. I do not need an answer from you right now, I have another meeting with our legal team, but what I would like to ask is that you think about it and let me know directly. This is of course confidential for the time being. Can I say one more thing?’
‘Yes, you can.’
‘Should you accept this, you will be extremely well rewarded, even if you decide that you don’t want this, you will be well taken care of.’
‘Thank you. And I will think about it and I will be in touch as soon as possible.’
He stands up, his hand moves inside his jacket pocket and pulls out a dark coloured wallet, he produces an ivory coloured business card, ‘My personal number. Thank you for meeting me, Miss Taylor. It was a pleasure and I do hope we can do business together.’ He quickly slips the wallet back, ‘I’ll have Gillian show you out. Thank you again.’ He bows slightly and swiftly leaves the room.
Helen looks at the card again before putting it in her briefcase.


Feeling like she’s running on fast forward and not quite able to pick up her breath, Helen parks the car, switching the hazards on.
What…what exactly happened there?
Fifty three minutes and is there a point at which she stopped blinking and this happened?
Brown and Ferrell. For sale? Or a done deal already?
From Graham Bentley, it’s already done, just have to sign on the dotted line and that’s it.
But… is this the right move?
Why hadn’t James said anything? How much had his silence been bought for?
A stupid grin thinking about the board of trustees. Without James they’re impotent, he’s always been on her side, but at least he would have said something.
Unless..
Oh and what about Christina?
How is she going to react, knowing how she feels about the company and her affection for Robert and Steven?
A breath and trying to slow it all down and a rub of her nose.
Her stomach ties itself in knots, could this be where they start again, where she and Christina make a new start for themselves?
Where no one knows them and Christina’s history would be unknown and she could be herself and not hide.
That’s not to say that she’s hidden at all, it’s just sometimes…

He didn’t actually say when. He’s playing a waiting game, for her to go away, think about his offer and get back to him and then he’d pounce.
Helen’s history of Brown and Ferrell goes all the way back to April or was it May of nineteen ninety two?
A scratch of her head, the month doesn’t matter, but it is eighteen years ago that she started with them and a year later, there she is, on the top floor and a personal assistant no less and those years were great, they were, where Robert and Steven sat back and let her take over, where she was in command and she relished it.
The twenty one year old Helen Amanda Taylor taking all this on and it never fazed her, she took a breath and got on with it and then, January two thousand and eight came along and a young woman by the name of Christina Benson took that step and took Helen with her.
So much. Some dark places but some that are so light and Helen lost, but gained with someone else, gained so much.
She switches the hazards off, putting the Jaguar in gear.
If I do accept, can I have one of these as a company car?
Helen pats the steering wheel, turning into traffic and a drive to that someone who waits for her, who’s always been there.

(To be continued…)