Stella was waving madly from across the street. He couldn’t have missed her if he tried.
‘Hi Mac!’ she exclaimed as he got to her. She threw her arms around his neck with unusual exuberance, even for Stella. ‘It’s so good of you to come.’
‘Are you kidding? I’m glad you asked me,’ he assured her.
She winced. ‘I had second thoughts after I called you. I mean, who wants to spend their Saturday visiting someone else’s empty apartment?’
‘I do!’ he insisted. ‘So, is this the block?’ He turned to look up at the building behind them.
‘This is it.’
‘Pretty sexy,’ he remarked.
‘I know!’ she swooned. ‘Isn’t it just?’
He smiled at her. ‘Shall we go in?’ he said, offering his arm.
She let out an excited little shriek and took off, dragging him along with her. They virtually ran up the stairs and along the corridor, till Stella came to a halt in front of a dark purple door, 1E.
‘Don’t you just love it?’ she said, stroking the door proudly like she was a hostess on a game show. ‘It’s “aubergine”.’
He was catching his breath. ‘I’m just glad it’s only on the first floor. I’m too old for this.’
Stella laughed. ‘Poor Mac. Come inside,’ she said, unlocking the door. They stepped into an airy, light-filled space, not huge, but more than adequate. There was a kitchen off to one side, and a doorway off to the other, probably to the bedroom and bathroom. Directly opposite was floor to ceiling glass, with doors leading out onto a small deck.
He put his arm around her shoulders. ‘You done good, girl.’
‘I did, didn’t I?’
‘Are you going to give me the full tour?’ he asked.
‘Till you’re bored stupid,’ Stella declared, taking his arm and leading him across to the kitchen.
She proceeded to show him every detail of the small apartment, every nook, corner, crevice, cornice, cupboard, shelf, sink, drainhole and vent. She also painstakingly itemised her plan for the placement of each piece of furniture, down to the cushions on the sofa. And he listened, asked questions, and murmured approvingly at all the right places. He was just happy to see her so happy.
‘So I still haven’t heard exactly how all this came about,’ he asked eventually.
‘We’ll have to sit down for that.’ They sat on the floor at right angles, leaning their backs against a wall each. ‘Next time you come, I promise I’ll have furniture, and a cold drink.’
He waved that aside. ‘So what’s going on at work?’
‘Well, Evan Pratt’s a dickhead, Mac. That’s the only way I can put it. Actually, there’re a few ways I could put it, but they’re all along the same lines. Pratt by name . . .’
He smiled. ‘He had to beat a pretty impressive field to get the job.’
‘Oh, don’t get me wrong, Mac, he’s highly qualified and intelligent and all the rest. But he’s a dickhead. His people skills are shocking, and as for subordinates, of which I was one, he’s atrocious. I may as well have been the dirt under his shoes.’
‘So what did you do?’
‘I handed in my resignation. I thought, bugger it, I don’t have to put up with this.’ She looked at him pointedly. ‘You spoiled me, Mac. I wasn’t prepared to work for anyone who didn’t give me due respect.’
‘Good for you,’ he nodded. ‘But you’re still there?’
‘I know!’ she exclaimed wide-eyed, as if the thought of it amazed her. ‘Evan accepted my resignation without blinking. He obviously thought it was no biggie to replace me. Then about a week later, Cheryl, Karen Gibson’s assistant–’
‘Yeah, I remember Cheryl.’
‘Well, she was collecting money for my farewell gift and she went to Bob, which was a bit cheeky when you think about it, asking the CEO to put up. Anyway, according to Cheryl, Bob nearly had a conniption when he heard it was for me. He talked to Evan first, I suppose to check I hadn’t been stealing the office supplies or something. Then he called me in and asked if he could take me to lunch – to Salt, no less.’
‘He took you to Salt?’
‘Hmm, you never took me there as I recall, Mac.’
‘I’ve never been.’
‘All right then,’ she shrugged. ‘Well, I power-lunched with the CEO and he told me how valuable I was to the organisation, that although I’ve been in a support role, it’s been a vital one, and he’s always been aware of my contribution. Yada yada, he went on, Mac. I thought he wanted to get into my pants or something.’
He laughed loudly.
‘Finally he said he wanted to consult with Human Resources to define a new role for me and that he was prepared to negotiate a very attractive package. A package! For me! No one’s ever talked about packages to me before, Mac, unless they were from the mailroom.’
‘That’s fantastic, Stella,’ he said warmly. ‘So what did they come up with?’
‘I’m kind of a team leader for all the assistants, I guess. I go to all the big meetings now, co-ordinate, report, talk about bottom lines and best practice and core competencies and synergy and keep everyone in the loop and think outside the square so we have a win-win situation at the end of the day.’ Stella paused, grinning slyly. ‘And I do lunch quite a bit.’
Mac was laughing. ‘And how are you handling it?’
A smile slowly formed on her face. ‘Piece of cake, Mac.’
He shook his head. ‘It doesn’t surprise me. I feel guilty now for holding you back.’
‘Excuse me? I was a very junior assistant when you started, Mac, and you didn’t have to take me with you, but you did. I learned heaps working for you. Besides, Bob said you always raved about me, I know that’s the only reason he was even aware I existed. And it’s the only reason I’m in this position.’
‘Well, I don’t know about that, no one could be more deserving, Stella. Congratulations.’
‘Thank you,’ she nodded graciously.
He glanced around the room. ‘So how are your parents coping with you leaving the nest?’
Stella rolled her eyes. ‘Oh, they’re lighting candles and saying rosaries. They think I’m going to become a fallen woman, or worse, that I’ll never get married because I don’t need a man to provide for me now.’
He smiled faintly. Stella looked at him. ‘Okay, that’s well and truly enough about me. How are you, Mac? Tell me all about Nicholas. I was hoping you might bring him today.’
‘I’m on a bit of a short leash as far as time with Nicholas goes.’
‘Oh?’ Stella frowned.
‘Georgie’s breastfeeding, it makes it hard to take him away for long,’ he dismissed.
‘So how old is he now? Have you got a picture?’
‘Oh, I might have one,’ he grinned sheepishly, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket. ‘He was a month old last week,’ he said, slipping a photo out and passing it to Stella.
‘Oh, Mac, look how much he’s grown since the hospital!’
‘And that was taken a week ago. He changes by the day.’
Stella smiled at Mac. ‘He still looks exactly like you.’
‘Everyone says that, but I can’t see it.’
‘Oh no, you’d never have to wonder if you were the father.’ She winced. ‘Not that you would have any reason to wonder that.’
He shrugged.
‘How’s Georgie?’
‘Fine. She seems fine.’ He cleared his throat. ‘You know, I saw Anna last week,’ he said shifting the subject.
‘You did? How is she?’ Stella passed back the photo and he put it away in his wallet again.
‘She was all right, I think. She’s going overseas for a while. Before she left she wanted to see me, and the baby.’
Stella raised an eyebrow. ‘Isn’t that a little weird?’
‘I thought so at first, but in the end it was very . . .’ He paused, thinking. ‘We didn’t say much, but I could tell when she looked at Nicholas that she was feeling the loss, and I felt it too. And then we wished each other the best, and I think we both meant it. I know I did, and I believe she did too.’
‘That must have felt good, to make peace with each other,’ said Stella quietly. ‘And Georgie was okay with all of that?’
‘She was completely okay. Whatever Anna wanted was fine with her, whatever would make Anna happy.’
Stella frowned, watching him. ‘What’s going on, Mac?’
‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing.’
‘There it is again.’
‘What?’
‘The tone.’
‘What tone?’
‘The constipated tone.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Like you’re holding something in. Just get it out, Mac.’
‘You’ve put up with enough of my shit over the years, Stella. You don’t have to do that any more.’
‘Mac, will you cut it out?’ she insisted. ‘You’re my friend. You came all the way over here today to see my flat just because I asked you. Give me the same chance to be a friend to you.’
Liam sighed, rubbing his forehead. ‘Things haven’t worked out the way I’d hoped, that’s all it is.’
‘Things with Georgie?’
He nodded.
‘It’s early days yet, Mac, she’s just had a baby . . .’
‘She doesn’t love me any more,’ he said flatly.
‘Are you sure? It’s pretty hard to stop loving somebody.’
‘I’m sure. I still remember what it felt like when she loved me. It was the best feeling in the world.’ He paused, thinking about it. ‘She couldn’t love me any more or I’d have to feel better than this.’
‘Oh Mac,’ Stella sighed. ‘Maybe you should do what I did. I wasn’t going to stay in a situation where I wasn’t happy. I had to be prepared to leave.’
He looked directly at her. ‘I can’t leave Nicholas.’
‘Of course, I wasn’t thinking.’ Stella bumped her head lightly against the wall behind her. ‘It’s a bit like purgatory, isn’t it?’
‘Sorry?’
‘You went to Catholic school, didn’t you, Mac?’
He nodded. ‘I know what purgatory is. The place you go when you’re not bad enough for hell but you’re not good enough for heaven, where you serve time for your sins.’
‘That’s right,’ said Stella. ‘I remember being told that the worst part about it apparently is that you’re aware of heaven, I think you might even be able to see it, how perfect and wonderful it all is, but you’re shut out and you can’t get to it.’
‘Stella, if you’re trying to make me feel better, you’re doing a really miserable job of it.’
‘Sorry Mac. I just think you’re tormenting yourself being around Georgie so much. If it really is over, then how are you supposed to get over her? It seems cruel.’
‘I don’t really know what choice I have, with Nicholas involved.’
‘You’re not going to be any good to Nicholas if you’re unhappy all the time. There must be another way, Mac.’