Frankie should have known it was too good to be true.
But the thing is, Paul was completely lucid when he materialised from his office on Thursday morning, looking so pleased with himself, practically bouncing on his toes. He clapped Frankie on the shoulder and asked her to take a quick walk outside with him.
‘I’m feeling the need for a bit of fresh air.’
‘Sure thing. Fresh air sounds great.’
It had been almost a full week since the incident that had pulled her away from the sports carnival, and he’d actually been really good all week. Barely any strange comments or vague looks. Well, apart from his funny turn on Tuesday – the day he was supposed to go looking at fidget spinners with Poppy. Even if he hadn’t said a few odd things that morning, she still would have accompanied the two of them to the shops to keep an eye on him. But in the end, she thought it best to leave him safe in his office, chatting away on the phone with Linda, and she’d taken his place with Poppy.
That shopping trip had been interesting. Walking alongside Poppy and thinking to herself, I know you. I know the real you. You’ve complained to me about your parents not understanding your life choices. I’ve encouraged you when you were out trying to pick up. The two of us are friends, and you have no idea.
Sometimes hearing Poppy and Annalise’s side of the story through NOP made Frankie feel more empathetic towards the two of them, made her want to forgive them for the nasty things they’d said about her. Other times she’d catch them looking at her with utter disgust, and she’d remember that Poppy had tried to out her to Linda for an affair that wasn’t happening, and she’d stop feeling so forgiving.
But when they’d run into Poppy’s ex and his new partner and baby, Frankie saw Poppy’s anguish and she couldn’t help herself. She had to stand up for her.
Now, Frankie and Paul walked down from the office, crossed the road and headed into Watt Park. Once they were in the park, they meandered along, quietly at first, and Frankie wondered as they walked what Paul was thinking, whether he was confused, if he was wondering where they were or what they were doing out there. Or if he was still with her. But then he spoke and it turned out he was fully lucid.
‘I really appreciate how you’ve been helping me these last few months, Frankie. I know it’s put a lot of added strain and stress on you and I haven’t liked doing that to you. But I do think I can at least make it up to you a little. Linda and I were going through the company finances together last night and we’ve earmarked an amount as a bonus for you, to show you just how much we do appreciate your help. It’ll be about fifteen percent of your salary. We can run it through with your next pay run.’
Frankie was thrilled. With Dom’s constant chatter about money these last couple of weeks, a bonus would be fantastic. And it was startlingly lovely to hear Paul sound so much like his old self.
‘Paul, you have no idea how perfect your timing is. This is fantastic, thank you so much. Fifteen percent? Are you sure? That sounds generous.’
‘Yes, I’m absolutely sure. The extra effort you’ve put in more than warrants it. And the other good news is that we’ve almost got the ownership issues all sorted out, so we’ll make an announcement soon about my condition and you won’t have to keep covering for me.’
‘Paul, that’s wonderful.’
She realised the look on his face had taken a sad turn. ‘Not that I’ll be happy to lose you as my boss,’ she added quickly, ‘I just mean, surely it will make things easier on you as well, right?’
He nodded. ‘Yes, you’re right. It will.’
She never thought to ask him to put the offer in writing.
* * *
That night Frankie made sure the kids were in bed early. She cracked open one of the nicer bottles of wine and ordered dinner for her and Dom from their favourite Thai takeaway place. She was looking forward to telling him that he could stop pestering her about silly things like the cost of her shampoo. Hmm, maybe best not to open with that.
Somehow, her bright and breezy manner irritated Dom the moment he walked through the door.
‘What’s with all this?’ he asked, indicating the neatly set table. They usually ate in front of the television.
‘Thought it might be nice for a change.’
He seemed instantly suspicious, ‘Why are you being so . . .’
‘So what?’
‘So . . . cheerful?’
‘I can’t be cheerful? I have nice wine, an attractive husband, and a massaman curry from All Thai-ed Up on its way.’
‘The expensive place?’ he said, sounding irritated. ‘What’s the occasion?’
‘I have news!’ she half shouted, well aware that she sounded slightly frenzied, but unable to help it. She was so desperate to rally, to stop him from ruining this great news with his new ultra-negative attitude.
Dom stared back at her. His eyes slowly widened. ‘Shit! You’re not pregnant, are you?’
Frankie glared back at him. ‘Do I look pregnant to you?’ she snapped.
‘Uh . . . no?’
She chose to let that go . . . for now. ‘No, I’m not pregnant. I’m getting a bonus from work – a big bonus!’
Dom’s brow knitted. ‘A bonus?’ he said. ‘What for? Don’t most companies do bonuses at the end of the year, at Christmas time?’
‘It’s for all my hard work,’ she said, refusing to let his suspicious tone affect her, even as a voice in the back of her head was nagging at her. What if he did get a text from Poppy that day? What if he was still wondering if she was cheating on him with Paul? She pushed the voice aside. ‘But the point is,’ she said, ‘more money means we’re one step closer to our dream home, right?’
He nodded. ‘Yeah sure, of course, babe.’ But he didn’t sound nearly as excited as she’d hoped. ‘Congratulations.’ He stepped in and gave her a kiss on the forehead. ‘It’s great news,’ he said, and she could tell he was trying his best to inject some enthusiasm in his voice but wasn’t quite pulling it off.
Frankie pulled back from him. ‘Dom, is everything okay?’
‘Of course,’ he said, ‘Let me go and change. I’ll be right back.’
He headed off upstairs and Frankie was left feeling completely deflated. She’d thought this news would have made his night. She also looked down at her stomach and poked at it. She hadn’t put on any extra weight lately, had she? No, she bloody well hadn’t, Dom was just being a typical male.
* * *
‘Remind me whose idea it was to play squash?’ Frankie asked George from accounts as they picked out their hire racquets and headed down to join the rest of the staff.
‘Some new person in HR,’ he said. ‘Apparently, he’s right into team-building exercises. I don’t think this is going to be the last.’
It was Friday afternoon, and there was really far too much work to do to have almost the entire office down the road at the squash courts for the afternoon. Somehow the request from HR had slipped past her straight to Paul and he’d approved it without thinking through the consequences.
‘How is squash team-building?’ she asked. ‘Isn’t it all about getting on the court and thrashing your opponent?’
‘I think you can play doubles, can’t you?’
‘Jeez it’d be crowded on the court, wouldn’t it? Still, you’d think a proper team sport – like netball or soccer – would make more sense.’ She spotted Poppy and Annalise at the back of the group, although surprisingly they weren’t standing side by side, which was highly unusual. Frankie wouldn’t have minded a game of soccer with them on the opposing team. It would be nice to show them they weren’t the only ones who knew how to kick a ball.
‘Oh God,’ said George as they got closer, ‘look, Steph and Martha both have all their own gear. They’re going to take this so seriously.’
‘Excellent,’ Frankie said, ‘this is going to be a blast.’
They were split up and sent to their various courts and Frankie found herself facing Linda. So much for the team-building element – they were playing one on one.
‘How’d you get roped into coming along to this?’ Frankie asked as they made their way onto the court.
‘I dropped by the office the other day and Marcus conned me into coming along,’ Linda replied.
‘That must be the new guy who planned this whole thing. I haven’t even introduced myself to him yet.’
‘Too busy, huh?’ she asked sympathetically as she took up her position and prepared to serve the ball.
‘Exactly,’ she said, and was caught off-guard as Linda hit a perfect serve and she had to dart sideways in order to return it.
Linda hit the ball back and Frankie took a swing and completely missed it. ‘By the way,’ she said as she walked to the back of the court to retrieve the ball, lowering her voice in case other staff on the adjacent courts could hear them, ‘I just wanted to thank you for the bonus. I’m beyond thrilled. You don’t even realise how perfect the timing is.’
Linda took the ball from her. ‘What bonus?’ she said, and served the ball with perfect accuracy yet again. ‘What are you talking about?’
Frankie hit it back and struggled to chat while concentrating on the game. ‘Paul told me yesterday about my bonus that you two agreed on,’ she said between breaths. ‘It’s such a great surprise.’
Linda loped forward elegantly, somehow able to keep up the conversation without losing her breath or breaking her stride. ‘I’m sorry, Frankie, but I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
She smacked the ball with surprising strength, but this time Frankie didn’t even try to return the ball, instead letting it fly past her ear, hit the glass behind her and bounce to the floor. She let her racquet hang by her side as Linda picked up the ball and turned to face her.
‘But . . .’ said Frankie, ‘he was definitely completely himself when we spoke. I’m certain of it. And he told me you two had worked out the finances together. And that everything was about to be sorted by the lawyers too.’
Linda shook her head. ‘Oh, darling, he was way ahead of himself. Of course we’ve talked about giving you something once this is all sorted out to show you how appreciative we are of your help. I mean, you’re doing a lot of overtime, and that’s while trying to look after a family as well. But he shouldn’t have promised you that. Not yet. Cormack’s not in a position to pay you a bonus right now. And it’s still the kind of thing the board needs to approve. We can’t run this past them at the moment, not until we have everything under control.’
‘Oh,’ Frankie said, unable to help the disappointment showing on her face. She couldn’t believe she was going to have to tell Dom her windfall was a lot further off than she’d thought.
‘I wish I could give you better news, Frankie. I’m sorry, I really am, but there’s no bonus coming – not right now.’