A feeling of immense calm descended on him, and it came to him that everything was all right and as it should be. He had made his peace with his father – too late, perhaps, but he no longer felt the need to rewrite the past. He had his own life now, a life that he had made for himself, with work, a home, even a family of sorts. He had been happy – whether because of his father or in spite of him hardly seemed to matter any more.
Finally rousing himself, he got up and went to the door. ‘Where’s Kate?’ he asked casually.
Louise hesitated, and Will came back into the room.
‘She’s gone,’ Louise said shiftily, peeping up at him from under her lashes but not quite meeting his eyes. She made a show of getting back to work, standing up and shuffling papers around on the desk.
‘Gone? Gone where?’
‘Home – to Ireland.’
‘Oh!’ Will was surprised. ‘When’s she coming back?’
‘She’s not. She’s left – for good.’
‘What? When did she go?’
‘The night before you left for England. The night Tina caught the two of you together.’
‘You know about that?’
‘Oh come on, Will,’ Louise snapped. ‘The whole world knows about that. You didn’t think Tina would keep the gory details to herself, did you?’
Registering the anger in her eyes and her accusing tone, Will suddenly became very still. He moved closer to Louise, his eyes flinty. ‘Tell me you didn’t have anything to do with her going,’ he said, sounding uncharacteristically menacing.
‘Only in that I drove her to the airport, booked her ticket and paid for it with the company credit card,’ Louise told him.
Will was momentarily lost for words. Then he hissed, ‘You’re fucking fired.’
‘I fucking quit!’ Louise flung back.
‘What?’ He blinked at her uncomprehendingly, completely taken aback.
Louise was taken aback too. Oh my God, did I really say that? she thought, panicking. She loved her job. She loved the band. Leaving them would be like abandoning her children. And how could she leave Rory? But she couldn’t work for someone who treated people as Will had treated Kate, she told herself staunchly, resolving to stand her ground. She would never have believed him capable of such callousness.
They stood staring at each other, stunned into silence, both fuming.
Finally Will spoke. ‘You can’t quit,’ he said arrogantly – and irrationally, Louise thought, considering he had just fired her. ‘Just get Kate back here.’
‘No,’ Louise said, refusing to budge though Will was towering over her intimidatingly.
‘What is your problem with her?’ he raged.
‘I have no problem with Kate!’
Will raked a hand through his hair distractedly. ‘Oh come on, it was obvious you were against her being here from the start. But I thought you were getting on well.’
‘We were! I really like her.’
‘So why did you take the opportunity to get rid of her the minute my back was turned?’
‘I didn’t “get rid” of her! Shewantedto leave.’
‘Well, she was on a contract,’ Will said, clutching at straws. ‘She can’t just waltz off whenever she feels like it. And why were you in such a bloody hurry to help her go?’
‘Because I like her and I didn’t want to see her get hurt. So when she came to my room that night crying her eyes out and desperate to get away, I was more than happy to help. I knew what was going on, Will.’
‘You know nothing about what happened between me and Kate,’ Will interrupted angrily, eyes blazing. ‘Christ, Louise, you of all people should know better than to believe everything you read in the fucking papers!’
