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‘What am I going to love?’ Ben interrupted, and swept Liz into an impromptu hug, actually lifting her off the ground. ‘I think it might be Liz, whatever you’re talking about! Liz, that was amazing!’
He set her back on the ground, kissed Gretchen on the cheek and pumped Eric’s hand in greeting.
‘Happy, then?’ Liz asked, the wind a little knocked out of her, and discomfited with Ben’s sudden display of affection. She just couldn’t work him out at all.
‘Ecstatic. I’ve just been talking to loads of people, and they all loved the Old Maids. You’re a genius. A lifesaver.’
‘No, I’m just good at my job,’ Liz replied, stiffly.
‘A lady from the Royal Warrant just spoke to us,’ Gretchen interjected. ‘It looks like you’ve got an in there, thanks to this one.’ She inclined her head at Liz. ‘I’d say she deserves a raise.’
‘She certainly does,’ Ben agreed, cheerily. ‘She can have it! She can have what she likes, after that. It was brilliant!’
‘That’s not necessary.’ Liz looked away. Yes, she and Ben had had amazing chemistry onstage, but that was over now, and Liz felt oddly deflated.
Ben took a step back, and his face changed from joyful to guarded.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, quieter. Liz shrugged.
‘Nothing. Just tired, I guess. There was a lot of anticipation leading up to this. I probably just need some time to myself.’ She knew she was making excuses, but she didn’t know what else to say. He regarded her quietly for a moment.
‘Listen, can we talk? Alone?’ He took her arm, and she nodded.
‘All right.’
THIRTY-EIGHT
‘That went well,’ Liz said, politely. Eric, obviously sensing that Ben and Liz needed to talk, had taken Gretchen outside for a cup of tea and a cake, supporting her as she walked slowly, holding his arm.
Now that the presentation was over, Liz was unsure how to talk to Ben, after their argument the night before. It hadn’t even been an argument, really: she had been upset, Ben had comforted her, and then she’d ruined everything by insulting him.
‘Yeah. Thank you. I mean that. For all your hard work.’ Ben cleared his throat.
The crowd around them had dissipated because of the coffee break between sessions, and Liz and Ben were left standing together at the front of the conference hall. Liz started packing up, taking her memory stick out of the laptop drive and gathering up some of the props she’d used: Carol had mocked her up some whisky bottles with the new label on them and she had some promotional boards she’d shown.
‘You’re welcome. It’s my job,’ she said, levelly.
‘Well, you did your job very well.’
‘Thank you,’ she replied, curtly.
‘Look. I need you to listen to me for a minute, and not interrupt. Is that okay?’ Ben looked uncomfortable: he wrung his hands, and then seemed to notice what he was doing and put them behind his back. ‘Agh. I don’t want to do this here.’ He looked around at the people milling at the back of the room. ‘Meet me outside, okay? There’s a balcony.’
‘Do what? Okay…’ Liz followed Ben to the side of the room where there was a door she’d never noticed before. He opened it and she followed him through onto a narrow balcony that overlooked the red roofs of the British Library, which was next to the hotel. ‘Wow. This is some view. I didn’t know this was here.’
‘No. I discovered it two years ago when I was looking for somewhere to escape the conference.’ He gave her a shy smile.
‘Why are we here?’ Liz folded her arms over her chest. ‘Are you going to sack me? I suppose you’d be within your rights. Things got kind of heated last night. But I would say, I think I’ve done a very good job on the Old Maids project and I’d expect to see that reflected in a separation agreement.’
‘Sack you? No. Why would you think that?’ Ben let out a frantic-sounding laugh. ‘Goodness. That’s the opposite of what I want. I couldn’t run this company without you.’
‘Well, what then?’ Liz frowned.
‘Okay. Here goes.’ Ben gripped the metal rail of the balcony they stood on and gazed out over London for a moment. ‘Last night, you mentioned my wife. Alice.’
‘Yes. I’m sorry. It’s none of my business,’ Liz sighed. ‘It was just that… I couldn’t understand why you were being so kind to me about my struggles with fertility, when that had happened.’ She hedged around saying something more specific likeI heard you threw your pregnant wife out on the street. What’ve you got to say about that, you heartless bastard?
‘It is your business. At least, I’d like it to be.’ Ben ran a hand through his hair. ‘Agh. This is all coming out wrong. I mean, I don’t want Alice to be your business. But I want you to understand what happened between us.’
