Page 27 of Minha Dona

“Good.” Caitlin’s hand touched Helena’s arm, just for a second as she turned away. “I’m looking forward to it.”

Then someone else was there, another partner wanting Caitlin’s attention, and the moment passed. Caitlin was pulled away with an apologetic smile, and Helena was left standing on the terrace with a glass of champagne and a racing heart.

She’s wearing the necklace. She touched my arm. She said she’s looking forward to it.

She could almost hear Isabella’s voice in her ear: “Don’t get carried away.”

Too late, Helena thought. Far too late.

***

The welcome dinner was a formal affair, round tables of ten, place cards, a four-course meal with wine pairings and a keynote speech from the Global Managing Partner about the firm’s strategic direction. Helena was seated with a mix of partners from different offices, and as she glanced around the room she saw that it was deliberate. Twenty non-partners had been invited and each one was sat on a different table. She’d been slightly worried that they’d all be grouped together, treated like token attendees who didn’t matter, but there was no chance of that. She was there to meet and be met, and she was relieved that that genuinely was the case.

Caitlin was at a different table, visible from where Helena was sat across the dining room. Helena made herself not look. She focused on the people around her, on being the version of herself that deserved to be in this room… engaged, intelligent, personable. She asked questions, shared insights, laughed at the right moments. She was good at this.

But she was also, beneath all of that, counting the minutes until dinner ended.

The keynote speech ran long. The dessert course was followed by coffee and after-dinner drinks at the tables. Helena took part, smiled, and nodded. Inside, she could feel the nerves building.

It was close to ten by the time the dinner began to break up, tables fragmenting as people stood and gathered into smaller groups. She had two invites from groups to different local bars, while she could see some others who’d travelled further making their excuses and heading to bed.

Helena checked her phone.

Bar in the lobby in ten minutes? The library bar, not the main bar. C x

Helena’s fingers were steady as she typed her reply, even if the rest of her wasn’t.

On my way. H x

She excused herself from her invites to drinks, saying goodnight to the various partners. She took the long way round the dining room, avoiding Caitlin’s table. If they were going to talk, really talk, she didn’t want it to start with an awkward encounter in front of twenty partners.

The library bar at the back of the hotel was quieter than the main one. Lower lighting, wingback chairs, an ambience designed for discretion. A few couples were secreted at tables, a handful of business travellers too, but nobody from the conference as far as Helena could see.

She found a table in the corner, two armchairs angled towards each other, a low table between them, and ordered two glasses of wine, one for her and one for Caitlin. Then she sat, crossed her legs, smoothed her dress, and tried to slow her breathing.

She reached out. She’s wearing the necklace. She said it’s been too long.

Maybe it’s just a drink. Maybe she’s being collegial.

Maybe. But maybe not.

Helena sat in the dim light of the lobby bar and waited for the woman she’d been waiting nine months for already to walk through the door.

Chapter 11

Caitlin walked in seven minutes after Helena sat down, and in those seven minutes Helena had just about managed to maintain her cool, helped by a long drink of the wine she’d ordered. She checked her reflection in her phone screen three times and seriously considered ordering a shot of something strong to settle her nerves before deciding that that probably wasn’t the energy she wanted to project.

Then Caitlin was there, scanning the room, spotting Helena in the corner, and the smile that crossed her face when their eyes met made every second of the last nine months worth it.

She looked different to earlier, and Helena took a moment to realise why… she wasn’t putting on a show for her fellow partners anymore, she wasn’t playing a role now, she could be herself, genuinely herself. Helena tried to calm her excitement at the thought, because surely that could only be a good thing? She was less partner-on-display now and more just… well, just Caitlin.

“Sorry I’m late,” Caitlin said, sitting in the armchair opposite Helena. “Got trapped by the Tokyo managing partner who wanted to discuss cross-border M&A strategy.” She shook her head and rolled her eyes. “On the first night. At a welcome dinner. Who does that?"

“Occupational hazard of being a partner I guess?"

“Apparently.” Caitlin picked up the glass of wine that Helena had ordered for her and took a sip. “Thank you for this. How did you know what I’d want?”

“I remembered.” Helena said it simply, because it was true. This was the same wine they’d drunk when they went on their proper date, the night before Helena had left Houston. Some things you didn’t forget, no matter how many months had passed.