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‘Harry... Look, I’m really sorry to hear that...there are obviously a lot of very stressful things happening at the moment.’ Megan had never spoken about Harry’s wife or sons, feeling that she had no right to even think about that part of his life. That she was the outsider, the child that should never have happened.
‘She went off with someone else. Can you understand how that makes me feel? She won’t get a penny, my solicitor will see to that.’
‘I can’t... I can’t talk about that with you. It’s not right.’
‘You were always the one, Megan. The boys are like their mother, but you’ve always been the one that was like me. Even when we argued, you were as stubborn as I am. I want you to come to Australia with me when I leave.’
A father. One that loved her. It was what Megan had always wanted, and Harry was dangling that prospect in front of her now. Of all the things he could have said, this was the cruellest. Megan blinked back tears, wondering what she could say to him. He was obviously upset and she couldn’t help but feel for him.
A knock at the door made them both jump, and Harry snatched his arm back across the table. Megan could see a shadow behind the glass, and she got jerkily to her feet to open the door. Jaye was standing outside, holding a tray with cups and a teapot.
‘You shouldn’t ha
ve brought the tea yourself...’ Harry’s voice behind her. That was one trait Megan didn’t share with him, she didn’t have the ability to conceal her feelings at the drop of a hat. That mercurial switch that allowed Harry to declare complete love at one moment and then pretend he hardly knew you the next.
‘The kitchen staff are busy.’ Jaye walked past Megan into the room, and set the tray down on his desk.
* * *
He had meant to deliver the tea and leave. But one look at Megan’s face changed Jaye’s mind. He’d seen her angry before, and he’d seen her wrestling with a problem. He’d seen her covered in mud, hot and dusty and wet through. But he’d never seen her like this. She was so pale that her cheeks looked almost hollow, and her eyes were dull, almost as if she were in shock.
Jaye poured a cup of tea for Harry and put it in front of him on the desk. ‘I’m sorry to intrude, but I wonder if I might borrow Megan for a couple of minutes.’
‘Of course.’ Harry seemed almost pleased with the idea. ‘It’s good to see that Megan’s indispensable. Good people are...’
Jaye nodded. Good people were indispensable, but not when they were obviously so upset that they could hardly frame a sentence. Megan had opened her mouth and then closed it again, as if she couldn’t find any words to say.
‘Thank you. Back in a minute.’ He bundled Megan out of the room, shutting the door behind them.
She looked around, as if she was unfamiliar with her surroundings. Jaye opened the door of Ranjini’s office and, finding it empty, beckoned her inside.
‘What’s the matter, Megan? Is everything all right at home?’
‘Fine.’ Megan was standing by the door, her gaze fixed on the floor. ‘Everything’s fine.’
‘But you’re not.’
She shook her head.
If they were going to carry on like this, it was going to take a good deal longer than the couple of minutes he’d promised she’d be away for. And this sudden reticence was so unlike Megan that he knew something bad had happened. Jaye took her by the shoulders and she looked up at him.
‘Megan, this isn’t a game of twenty questions. What’s the matter?’ Perhaps he didn’t have the right to ask. At this particular moment Jaye didn’t care.
‘Harry’s... He wants me to...’
‘What?’ Jaye waited, not moving. They could work it out. They were good together, and they could do this.
‘His wife’s left him, and he says that he’s not well. I don’t know if any of that’s true but... He wants me to be his daughter.’ A single tear rolled down her cheek. Tears would have been almost a relief at this moment, but her face was still inexpressive, as if she didn’t dare feel anything.
‘Let me help you with this.’ Jaye could feel her slipping away from him.
She shook her head. ‘I... You don’t want to be mixed up with it. It’s my problem.’
‘We’re friends, aren’t we?’ He’d dared to hope the future might bring something more, but right now a friend was what Megan most needed.
She looked up at him, her eyes wide and warm. ‘Yes.’
‘Then it’s my problem too.’
