CHAPTER FORTY

‘I’m coming with you,’ Mattie said the following morning as she and Mark and Charlie were in his study going through the proposal one final time before the next day’s meeting. Mattie had changed into one of her old London work suits, even donning heels and slicking back her hair. She knew that if she was to have any hope of convincing them to let her be a part of the presentation she had to look the part, even for the dress rehearsal she had planned for them. She placed her hands on her hips and lifted her chin defiantly as Mark looked up from the proposal document she had prepared. Including images and maps, it ran to more than fifty pages.

He raised his eyebrows when he saw her outfit. ‘What?’

‘Hear me out, Mark. One of the things I did best in my job in London was to present strategies. Advertising, marketing, rezoning – it’s all essentially the same thing. We have to sell this to Jeremy Bell. It’s a pitch. I’m the best person for this job.’

Mattie took the document from him, clicked onto a slide presentation she’d put together and began to speak. Ten minutes later, Mark gave Mattie a low whistle.

‘Now I get the reason for the fancy duds,’ he said. ‘Well, I’m sold. How about you, Charlie?’

Charlie gave Mattie a nod. ‘She’s got the gig.’

Neither of them noticed her wipe her sweating hands on her trousers. She gathered up the presentation materials and was just about to close her laptop when she noticed an email. From Jamie Soames.

She left Charlie and Mark in the study and took her laptop to the back verandah. As she sat down, Gin came and curled up next to her. She gave the cat a distracted stroke before opening the message.

She gave an involuntary gasp as she read his email. Jamie had been so impressed with her work on the DeVere spring jewels campaign. He was looking for a creative director. He mentioned an eye-watering salary, her own office, a car, complete creative control for the future of the business. Would she be interested? He needed a quick decision.

It was the kind of job Mattie had dreamed of. It was all she could do to stop herself replying there and then.

Mattie was up early for the drive to Sydney for the presentation. They had to be in Macquarie Street for 11am sharp and Mattie had insisted that they plan to get there at least an hour early. ‘We can’t risk being late.’

‘Don’t worry, Mats. We’ll get there in plenty of time,’ Charlie said. They were driving to the city together, Mark having left at lunchtime the day before for a meeting with his wine distributors.

‘Who are we presenting to, apart from Jeremy?’ she asked.

‘The planning and environment minister, the tourism minister and the local government minister, according to Mark.’

‘Quite a line-up.’

She noticed, as they sped along the highway, that Charlie was uncharacteristically quiet. Perhaps it was the early morning, or the gravity of the situation weighing on them both, but they spoke little, each lost in their own thoughts.

Once they’d parked and found the offices, there was plenty of time for a coffee. Mattie got out her phone to call Mark, and Charlie ordered for them. They’d arranged to meet him twenty minutes before the meeting, but she just wanted to check everything was okay. She saw a text from her brother.

‘Oh Christ!’

‘What’s up?’ said Charlie, who’d returned with their coffees.

‘Mark. He can’t make the meeting!’

‘What?’ His cup shook as he replaced it on the saucer.

‘Apparently something’s up with Rose. He’s had to drive back to Kalkari.’

‘Faark! That’s all we need. No offence to Rose, of course, but this meeting’s really important.’

‘He knows that. It must be serious for him to miss it.’ Mattie tried dialling his number but the call rang through to his voicemail.

She put her phone down and they looked at each other, both quietly horrified. ‘It’s just you and me, mate,’ she said.

Agitated, Charlie ran his hands though his hair.

‘Don’t stress. It’ll all be fine,’ she reassured him, taking a deep breath. ‘I’ve done hundreds of these things. I’ll cover Mark’s part of the preso – I know it inside out and backwards in any case, I’ve spent that much time on it, and you know your stuff, right?’

Charlie nodded and looked at her in admiration. ‘You’re a pretty cool customer, Tilly Cameron.’

‘Come on then,’ she said, all business. ‘Let’s go and sock it to ’em.’

More than an hour later, the two emerged from the building into bright sunlight. Mattie and Charlie looked at each other, a mix of exhaustion and exhilaration on their faces.

‘How do you think it went?’ he asked.

‘They sure put us through the wringer. But at least they listened, and asked the right questions. Which, I might add, you were able to answer with ease.’

He grinned. ‘You weren’t too bad yourself, Mats. Especially when Jeremy asked about revenue projections.’

‘Well, that was all Mark’s work, but thank Christ his figures were sound.’ The warm day had meant that her hair, which had been slicked back, was now falling around her face again and she impatiently brushed it away. ‘I think I need a walk before we drive back,’ she said. ‘I’d forgotten about that kind of pressure.’

‘It didn’t show. When we were in there, I mean. You were amazing. You’re a woman of many talents, Mattie Cameron – presenter, photographer, exotic dancer …’

She turned away so he couldn’t see her blush. So he hadn’t forgotten about that night in the club. ‘How about we go down by the water?’ she said.

‘Exactly what I had in mind. It’s not far away and it’ll be cooler down there.’

‘Let me just try to call Mark again.’ Mattie dialled, but there was no answer. She left a brief message telling him that the presentation had gone as well as could be expected and that she hoped everything was okay with Rose. As she was about to hang up, she noticed a missed call from her dad. What could he want? She dialled his number as they walked towards the harbour.