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Duncan was in purgatory. Suspended between the heaven of kissing Donna and the hell of betraying his dead wife’s memory. Only, it hadn’t felt like a betrayal. It had felt like...home. A home he couldn’t return to if he didn’t get things sorted out.
He barrelled through the door to his office, picked up the phone on his desk and dialled his lawyer.
“What now?” Janine Myer said when she answered the call.
“Is that the way you answer the phone to all of your clients?” he barked at her.
She wasn’t intimidated. It was one of the reasons he was happy to pay her exorbitant fees. “Only the ones who’re difficult and time-consuming to deal with.”
He fought a smile. There was no time for amusement. He was a man on a mission. “I need you to rewrite Donna’s contract.”
“Okay, hit me with it. What changes do you want, and why?”
“First, I want a clause in there that says she can’t quit.”
There was silence.
“Janine?” He paced his office, scowling at the dark walls as he passed them.
“That’s illegal. You can’t force a person to continue working for you. There’s a word for it. It’s slavery.”
“Is there anything we can do to stop her wanting to leave?”
“Try being nicer to her,” came the droll reply.
“I’m trying. Why the hell do you think I’m calling?”
“I wish I knew.” She sighed. “The answer to your first demand is no, we can’t amend your housekeeper’s contract to stop her quitting the job. What’s your second point?”
“I’ve been reading up about the ‘me too’ movement,” Duncan started.
“Wait a minute,” Janine interrupted, then shouted to her assistant. “Brian, cancel my next appointment. This is going to take a while.”
“Funny, very funny.”
“I wasn’t being funny,” Janine said. “Carry on. This, I’ve got to hear.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and wondered if every woman in his life set out to be difficult, or if he just attracted a type. “This whole ‘me too’ movement is about consent first, right?”
“Basically, it’s about asking men to resist the temptation to be arseholes.”
“Right.” He nodded as he walked over to his window. “And part of that is making sure you don’t abuse your position of power.”
“Yes...”
“And I’m in a position of power over Donna. I control her job, income, home, transport, that sort of thing.”
“Is there a point in here?”
“I need you to amend the contract so that Donna won’t feel as though she has to say yes to any personal requests I make of her.”
There was a choking noise on the other end of the line. “You want me to add a clause to her contract stating that if her boss asks for sex and she says no, it won’t jeopardize her job? Do you have even an inkling of how wrong that is?”
“Did I say anything about sex? I just want to ask her out for dinner. And you know Donna, she can’t say no to people at the best of times. I want to give her the power to say no. As far as I can see, that puts me in the right.”
There was hysterical laughter, and Duncan could do nothing other than wait it out. He stared out of the window, and to his surprise, he saw an old woman dressed in a t
winset and pearls, pushing a wheelbarrow full of what looked like glitter across his lawn. He rubbed his eyes. No. She was still there. And she was making decent progress too.
